Posted on 11/26/2003 3:30:36 PM PST by glock rocks
Demo data hacked, Hatch admits
Utahn 'shocked' memos were accessed, leaked
By Lee Davidson
Deseret Morning News
WASHINGTON — Saying he is shocked and mortified, Sen. Orrin Hatch announced Tuesday that at least one GOP aide on his Judiciary Committee "improperly accessed" Democratic computer files that were leaked to the press.
The apparent effort to embarrass Democrats has blown up in the face of Hatch and Republicans — bringing more focus on how the memos were leaked than on how they showed that Democrats might have hindered confirmation of conservative judges to sway outcome of pending cases and please liberal groups.
"I was shocked to learn this may have occurred. I am mortified that this improper, unethical and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files may have occurred on my watch," Hatch told a Capitol press conference.
"I have placed one individual on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of the investigation being conducted by the Senate Sergeant at Arms, William Pickle."
He declined to name the staffer or to say exactly how the files were accessed. Republicans and Democrats on his committee share the same computer system. While access across party lines is supposedly restricted, staff have said that some holes in security were found last April and supposedly corrected then.
When sensitive Democratic memos were leaked this month to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times, committee Democrats said the memos must have been stolen. They asked Pickle to seize and secure committee computer records, which he did.
Hatch initially decried the complaints as mere Democratic theatrics to divert attention from what the memos said. "Whenever they get their hands caught in the cookie jar, then they start to attack the process," Hatch told the Deseret Morning News last week.
Still, he said he ordered two former prosecutors assigned to his committee to interview 50 staffers about any possible connection to the leaks. He said one aide admitted improper access to some of the 14 leaked memos — but denies being the one who leaked them to the press. Hatch said another former staffer may also be involved.
Hatch said that information was turned over to the Capitol Police and the Senate sergeant at arms, who "has taken steps to engage an expert firm to conduct a forensic examination of the computer records" to help identify who accessed the leaked files.
He said the computer of the staffer on leave was confiscated and the aide is cooperating with the ongoing investigation.
Hatch said no one has yet been charged with any crime, and no crime may have occurred. "But I do feel that the ethics of this body have been breached," he said.
"Each senator has an expectation of receiving confidential, candid advise from his or her staff members. There is no excuse that can justify these improper actions."
He said the investigation will also be used "to make sure we design a more secure system for the computer."
The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times had reported that Democratic memos they obtained showed Democrats were working closely with liberal groups to decide which judicial nominees to block. Democrats focused, for example, on Miguel Estrada because he is Hispanic and they didn't want Republicans to make political gains with Hispanics.
Estrada, the first Hispanic nominated to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, later withdrew after Republicans for months could not break the Democratic filibuster against him.
Also, the Washington Times said a separate memo showed that staffers for Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., sought to delay two nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to ensure it would still have a liberal majority when it heard a key Michigan affirmative action case.
Last week, Hatch had taken some delight in the disclosures from the memos.
He told the Deseret Morning News then, "If what is reported in the media is true about the memoranda . . . then it proves everything I've been saying. That is that Democratic senators are completely under the thumb of these inside-the-beltway vicious groups that have been libeling and slandering our judicial nominees."
He is, check out this thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1029560/posts
Oh wait, that was done by Democrats, and it's actually illegal.
huh? orrin is from Pennsylvania. I'm starting to think we reelect him for entertainment value.
Don't hold back on our account.
...Tom Dasshole is deeply saddened.
Thanks, Orrin, for playing right into their hands and letting the contents of the memo get pushed aside by how it was obtained. The fact that the 'rats have been planning to use our national security and our literal safety for partisan gain gets successfully pushed aside by the 'rats.
It appears Rove doesn't want to get the current White House occupants labeled as "mean spirited"
by dragging out the investigations of the grifters.
He may have a point there, as much as it pains me to say it, Rove just may be a genius.
At a minimum, he'll do what's necessary to get W reelected.
I don't think I want to guess what my great grandchildren's history books portray, though.
I don't care how the story comes out, "leaked"...whatever!
I Like The Truth!
FMCDH
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