Leak staffer ousted Frist aide forced out in an effort to assuage Dems By Alexander Bolton

The Hill ^ | 02-05-04

[MamaLucci]

Leak staffer ousted

Frist aide forced out in an effort to assuage Dems

By Alexander Bolton

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) top aide on judicial nominees is expected to announce his resignation at the end of this week — a sacrifice offered by the GOP leadership in hope of persuading the Democrats to wind down the fight over leaked Judiciary Committee memos.

The aide, Manuel Miranda, had spearheaded the Republican effort to push President Bush’s judicial nominees through the Senate in the face of fierce Democratic opposition.

Miranda declined a request for comment. But The Hill has learned that he agreed to resign under pressure from Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The Democrats have not agreed to scale back their demands for wide-ranging punishments following a full-blown leak inquiry.

Since switching from the Judiciary Committee to Frist’s office in February last year, Miranda had overseen a multi-pronged strategy to confirm judges whom Democrats had blocked with filibusters and other procedural tactics.

Miranda helped galvanize the Senate Republican caucus and outside constituent groups such as Hispanics and Catholics behind the nominees. In previous years, most of the Senate Republican caucus, apart from members of the Judiciary Committee, remained aloof from the fight.

The aide’s departure signals that Senate Republican leaders will likely pull back from confrontation over Bush’s judges. Last year’s high-intensity battles included a GOP-staged 40-hour marathon debate on blocked nominees.

As an aide in Frist’s office, Miranda was able to organize the Judiciary Committee with outside groups that communicated the Republican message on judges. Without the heft of Frist’s office behind the campaign to confirm Bush’s judges, the Senate Republican Conference, will have a tough time overcoming turf battles with the committee.

If they can tamp down the furor over the leaked memos, Republicans could focus on the content of the documents, which illustrate the influence outside groups such as the NAACP and People for the American Way have had on Democratic decisions to block nominees.

“It’s capitulation to the old Democratic trick that if you catch us with our hands dirty, we’ll blame Republicans for dirty tricks,” said a GOP aide.

Miranda admitted to the sergeant at arms that he had read Democratic memos that a Republican staffer on the Judiciary Committee accessed through a glitch on the panel server. But it is unclear what rules if any Miranda broke. His defenders say that the files were openly available to Republicans through their desktop computers and that there is no such thing as a property right to a federal document.

Sergeant at Arms Bill Pickle’s investigation of how internal Democratic memos were leaked to the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times has halted the momentum Republicans built last year on judicial nominees. It has also generated bad publicity for Republicans.

Frist’s staff told The Boston Globe two weeks ago that Miranda had been placed on paid leave pending the results of the investigation. But Miranda’s fate may have been sealed by Pickle, who urged Frist chief of staff Lee Rawls to sack him, according to several Senate aides.

Miranda confronted Pickle in an e-mail last week.

“Do you think that it is appropriate to go to the GOP bicameral [retreat] today and lobby Frist staff and senators to have me fired, as I am told you have been doing? Do you think that will at all taint the report which you are soon to issue? Do you think it is proper?” Miranda demanded of the sergeant at arms.

Frist spokesman Bob Stevenson said no staff in the Majority Leader’s office reported being lobbied by Pickle.

“I have no idea what he’s referring to,” said Stevenson in response to the allegation.

Democrats had threatened Hatch Monday to hold up the proceedings of the Judiciary Committee unless he agreed to schedule a briefing by Pickle for Republicans and Democrats on the the investigation’s progress.

Pickle will reportedly participate in a senators-only briefing next Tuesday. His office’s investigation, which has interviewed over 100 staffers and seized several computers, is expected to conclude soon.

Some GOP senators resent the way the controversy turned from Democratic to Republican impropriety.

“Right now I think that was pretty unfair,” Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said of the probe’s focus on Miranda. “I don’t have the impression he did anything wrong and we just completely quit looking at was done and what was found [in the memos]. I don’t know the details, but I would not be a friend in firing a highly qualified staffer.”

“Miranda has really been the quarterback on the Republican side for much of the Senate activity on this,” said Sean Rushton, the executive director of the Committee for Justice.

Republicans are also losing senior counsel Rena Comisac, who headed the Judiciary Committee’s nominations team. She will start working at the Justice Department next Monday.

Responsibility for judicial nominees in the majority leader’s office will now be assigned to Bill Wichterman, Frist’s director of coalitions.

But some conservatives are worried that Wichterman, who handles a wide array of issues and coalitions, will not be able to devote the same specialized attention as Miranda did to judicial nominees.

[MamaLucci]

Hatch is a disgrace. I used to give him the benefit of the doubt, but no more. He is more dangerous to conservative causes than McCain or Chaffee, IMHO. Hatch is trusted to do the right thing, and then never delivers. At least with the RINO's you know what to expect.

[Diogenesis]

The Republicans -- the other surrender monkeys.

[ken5050]

I agree with everything you say..but I believe that Bush, and Rove are playing for far bigger game...they're going for the whole shooting match...W wins, and the GOP picks up 4+ seats in the Senate, and 15+ in the House...we're gonna have ONE more cloture vote in the Senate after the election, and the Dems will be told that if they don't allow the votes on the nominees..then the GOP will go nuclear..

[MamaLucci]

Now, more than ever, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE JUDGES!!!

Perhaps we should call Hatch and Frist's offices and explain this to them?
How sad.

[skip2myloo]

I wish I could agree with you, but I don't believe the GOP could ever act like a partisan majority even if they controlled 99 Senate seats !!

[TomGuy]

Amazing. Every time a Dem gets in hot water, a Pub ends up resigning. Remember the several House members who resigned after Clinton was caught?

Pubbies should resign as the majority party. They seem to be capable of only acting as the minority party.

[MamaLucci]

....I don't believe the GOP could ever act like a partisan majority even if they controlled 99 Senate seats !!

Sadly, I must agree with skip2myloo on this.
They just can't risk the NY Times being mean to them. :(

[ken5050]

Did you hear Frist's speech to CPAC at the Reagan birthday dinner?...there's probably a transcript here on FR...maybe C-span has a video clip..may I suggest you try and find it, and read or listen to it, preferably the latter...it was magnificent..he took the gloves off and went right at the Dems..IMHO, it was the first speech in his '08 campaign for the WH....

[Steve_Seattle]

Goddammit - everyone in Washington leaks, but the only ones who ever pay for it are Republicans. This makes me REAL mad.

[ken5050]

Please read my #28..it was meant for you as well...FYI..I'll bet either of you a modest contribution to FR i the winner's name that Spector will not be the chair of the SJC...other than he might take it for a few days..at the start of the congress, then step down..I believe the deal has to be set in place...it's impossible to believe that anyone in the WH can imagine him heading the confirmation hearings and floor fights..it'd be like imagining W appointing Wes Clark as the next SecDef..

[skip2myloo]

Firing his staffer hardly sounds like an act of one taking off ones gloves ??

[MamaLucci]

Why the need to find a scapegoat in Miranda? Everything I've read on this says while it may not have been completely ethical, Miranda's actions were not illegal. The fierce culture war we are engaged in is not for the faint of heart, and sometimes to win you have to play dirty. Instead, they sack the only guy on staff that seems to have some fire in his belly over the rat obstruction of judicial nominees. Frustration doesn't even begin to explain how I feel about our Senate "leadership". /rant.

[MamaLucci]

...everyone in Washington leaks, but the only ones who ever pay for it are Republicans.

Exactly.

[ken5050]

It's possible that they want to defer this until after the election..look, the recess appointments were a huge surprise to many here..I loved them..tend to view them as a warning shot...and a sign that the fight is still on...had it been pushed now, the Senate Dems could have staged a walkout, a stall....why give them a national forum...

[hchutch]

It seems the Republicans are the only ones who seem to have a functioning sense of right and wrong - the Democrats have driven just about anyone who has out of their political coalition.

For me, that's one important reason for supporting them - yeah, it means the cheaters sometimes pull stuff off, but do we really want to turn towards a philosophy of "the ends justify the means" - much like Bill Clinton has?

[Zeppo]

a sacrifice offered by the GOP leadership in hope of persuading the Democrats to wind down the fight over leaked Judiciary Committee memos

Won't they ever learn? Appeasing a tyrannical enemy never works. It only fuels their fanaticism and their desire to extract more concessions. The Republicans have been fooled so many times by the Dems that I'm beginning to wonder whether the fools are in charge. Um, Hatch is involved? Case closed.

[MamaLucci]

Deferring a fight until after an election is not my idea of leadership.
The truth is, beltway insiders like Hatch simply do not have the courage
of their convictions.

[ken5050]

I don't think this is Hatch's decision...I believe the WH and Frist are together on this..strategry AND timing....BTW..did you see my earlier comment to you about Frist's speech...please let me know your thoughts after listening to it...regards..

[MamaLucci]

Within the law, all's fair in love and war....and make no mistake, this is a war.

[MamaLucci]

please let me know your thoughts after listening to it...regards.

Yes, I will do that. Thanks.