Friday, October 28, 2005
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
White House had eye on WND's Miers stories
Senators felt blindsided by investigation of Texas
scandals
Posted: October 28, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
Harriet
Miers |
As opposition mounted from President
Bush's right flank over his selection of Harriet Miers to the Supreme
Court, the White House and key senators nervously monitored WorldNetDaily
stories that uncovered day-by-day the nominee's relationship to Texas
scandals threatening not only her confirmation but the president's
political fortunes.
Bush announced
Miers' withdrawal yesterday amid mounting opposition from his
conservative base and doubts by both Republican and Democratic senators
about her qualifications.
The series of WND stories that began
the day after the Oct. 3 announcement of Miers' nomination had "Unfit
for Command" co-author Jerome Corsi effectively swapping political sides
with a Bush nemesis in a "plot twist worthy of Dallas,'" wrote John Fund,
columnist for the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com, last
Friday.
Fund told WND yesterday that the White House and senators "paid a lot
of attention" to Corsi's stories.
"Senators in particular were surprised that the White House had not
communicated that this issue could come up and had given them nothing to
respond to on it," Fund said.
"I think they felt they were flying blind, and weren't looking forward
to the hearings."
Corsi, whose 2004 best-seller was credited widely with helping Bush win
the White House, found serious trouble for Miers and the president in his
investigation of scandals surrounding the White House counsel's term as
chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission and as managing co-partner of a
Dallas law firm.
The investigative reporting culminated with news last Friday that Larry
Littwin ? the controversial former lottery director under Miers ? had been
released from a gag order, freeing him to appear at the confirmation
hearings to give "potentially explosive" testimony damaging both to Bush
and Miers.
The Senate Judicial Committee hearings were set to begin Nov. 7.
Corsi believed that Littwin, according to an examination of hundreds of
contemporary Texas newspaper accounts, would have been able to establish
under oath that a contract with the firm hired to operate the lottery was
preserved on a no-bid basis by Miers in order to "keep the lid on" the
National Guard controversy involving then-Gov. Bush.
In his column, Fund
wrote that if Democrats had tried to subpoena Littwin, they would have put
Republican senators in a "fix."
"GOP senators can use their committee majority to block any subpoena
but would come under withering fire over accusations they were aiding a
cover-up of Ms. Miers' days at the Lottery Commission," Fund wrote. "If
Republicans go along with a subpoena, the hearings become a circus."
In an interview, Corsi clarified that his reporting had nothing to do
with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group opposed to Sen. John Kerry's
candidacy that spawned "Unfit for Command."
However, it was research he came across during the 2004 campaign ?
concerning former Lt. Gov. Ben Barnes and the Texas Lottery Commission
scandals ? that led to his pursuit of the story.
"It was with no particular enthusiasm that I was investigating this,"
he said. "I was trained as a young man in the discipline of investigative
reporting, and I did the best I could to report what I was finding out,
wherever the chips may fall. It was not an axe to grind, to get Harriet
Miers. These were issues of interest to the public that need to be
reported."
Unintended consequence
Corsi's series began with
a report that the nomination of Harriet Miers as associate Supreme Court
justice may have an unintended consequence for President Bush ?
renewing questions about the long-forgotten issue of his National Guard
service and charges of influence peddling by Barnes, the man who raised
those allegations in a CBS News interview in 2004.
Corsi explained that in 1995, the year Bush won the governorship of
Texas, Barnes ? who later claimed in a "60 Minutes" interview with CBS'
Dan Rather that George H.W. Bush approached him to secure a National Guard
appointment for his son ? secured a contract for a company called GTECH to
run the Texas Lottery.
Barnes was granted a contract worth about 4 percent of the revenue
generated by GTECH ? some $3 million a year. But, by 1997, with the
company embroiled in controversy over allegations of political kickbacks,
payoffs and overcharges, his contract was bought out by the company for
$23 million.
Two years later, Littwin, the former lottery director, filed a lawsuit
alleging he lost his job as a result of political influence wielded by
GTECH. He alleged in his lawsuit that much of GTECH's clout was the result
of the work of Barnes, who affirmed under oath he had helped get the
governor into the National Guard and out of military service in Vietnam.
The Littwin lawsuit was settled out of court with a $300,000 payoff ?
and an unusual agreement that he would destroy all documents produced by
the litigation, including any copies of the Barnes deposition, Corsi
reported.
GTECH moved to settle with Littwin only after its ability to defend
itself was damaged when a federal judge ruled that Miers, then chairwoman
of the Lottery Commission, did not have to give a deposition in the case.
In an Oct. 6 story, Corsi reported Miers
was at the center of an investment fraud as co-managing partner of
Locke, Liddell & Sapp in Dallas. Miers firm was involved in a $30
million scam for which it had to pay $22 million to settle a suit charging
the firm aided in defrauding the investors.
While there is no evidence Miers knew about the actions of partners who
represented the clients until investors began filing lawsuits against
Locke Liddell, she publicly defended the firm's actions, saying it never
should have been named as a co-defendant in the case.
A WND
story Oct. 7 reported GTECH had been hounded ? and sometimes
successfully prosecuted ? for years by charges of improper influence
peddling and money laundering schemes by its consultants. Another
report by Corsi provided further details.
WND
later obtained the original petition filed on behalf of the defrauded
investors, which charged that Lock Liddell's lawyers were a knowing part
of the scheme.
"All the White House had to do was go to the Internet, but then the
person vetting Supreme Court candidates was none other than Harriet Miers,
at least up until the point where she got the nomination," Corsi wrote.
In an Oct.
11 story, Corsi recounted how Miers' Texas law firm was investigated
by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for agreeing to
write favorable tax opinions for clients regarding Ernst & Young tax
schemes that are now under criminal investigation.
The next day, Corsi
filed a report based on a Texas Lottery Commission interoffice memo he
obtained. The memo ? written days after Miers' unexpected March 21, 2000,
resignation ? was a message from the finance director to the executive
director arguing changes needed be made to stop short-changing winners. A
little more than a month later, the controversy over Lock Liddell's $22
million settlement hit the local newspaper.
By Oct. 13, the White
House's impatience with challenges to the Miers' nomination from both
the right and the left began to show as presidential press secretary Scott
McClellan shot back at reporters, asking rhetorically, "Isn't it my right
to talk and say what I want to?"
The verbal jousting began as a reporter asked about a possible
withdrawal by Miers.
McClellan bristled at the suggestion, saying, "Those who know Harriet
Miers are strongly supportive of her nomination, and strongly support her
being confirmed to the United States Senate [sic]."
President Bush pointed to Miers' record managing Locke Liddell as one
of the major qualifications for her Supreme Court nomination, but further
reports by Corsi showed
how her tenure at the helm was "rocked by one investment scam scandal
after another."
Based on the Corsi series, WND
CEO Joseph Farah declared in his Oct. 13 column: "Harriet Miers is
never going to be grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee. She is going
to withdraw her name from consideration before such hearings ever begin.
You can take that to the bank."
Then on Oct. 21, Corsi
reported Littwin had been freed to testify at the planned confirmation
hearings in November.
In addition to the potentially "explosive testimony" concerning Bush's
National Guard controversy, Littwin
also would have shed new light on allegations that the approximately
$160,000 in payments to Miers' law firm made by Bush's gubernatorial
campaigns were to keep the lid on the Guard scandal.
On Monday, Corsi reported the
FBI is investigating Miers' role in the Texas lottery scandals that
resulted in the firing of a director, the decision to halt the process of
accepting competitive bids and the quashing of an audit.
WND also revealed lawyers and investigative staff for the Senate
Judiciary Committee were preparing to question Littwin.
Bush base cries foul
When Bush announced his choice of Miers, many of the president's most
loyal supporters immediately
reacted with anger and dismay, saying they felt betrayed after
campaigning for a president who claimed his models for a Supreme Court
justice were Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas ? "originalists" and
"strict constructionists" with a bold, unapologetic conservative judicial
philosophy.
The Miers opponents from the right believed Bush was unwilling to
engage in a serious battle with Senate Democrats and moderate Republicans
over a strong conservative nominee and, instead, decided on a "stealth"
pick with a minimal paper trail who stood a better chance of being
confirmed.
Bypassed were conservative favorites such as appeals court judges
Michael Luttig, Samuel Alito, Janice Rogers Brown and Edith Jones.
"Trust me," Bush urged his supporters, pointing to his record of
appointments to federal court positions.
Focusing on the abortion issue, the White House tried to allay the
fears of conservatives by highlighting Miers' membership in a pro-life,
evangelical church and, according to some sources, by privately assuring
key leaders of her determination to overturn Roe v. Wade. Evangelical
leader James Dobson, after
a phone conversation with top Bush adviser Karl Rove, initially
declared "tentative" support for Miers but voiced doubts as more
information emerged and a groundswell of conservative opposition
developed.
Yesterday, Dobson said the president's acceptance of Miers' withdrawal
was "a wise decision."
Emergence of speeches made by
Harriet Miers in the 1990s further eroded Republicans support for
her nomination to the Supreme Court |
"In recent days I have grown increasingly concerned about her
conservative credentials, and I was dismayed to learn this week about her
speech in 1993, in which she sounded pro-abortion themes and expressed so
much praise for left-wing feminist leaders," Dobson said.
Conservatives were upset this week by news of two speeches in which Ms.
Miers said "self-determination" should guide decisions involving religion
and the law, and in which she cited liberals Janet Reno and Justice
Ginsburg as female role models, the New York Sun reported.
Dobson concluded, "Based on what we now know about Miss Miers, it
appears that we would not have been able to support her candidacy.
Thankfully, that difficult evaluation is no longer necessary."
Perhaps more important to the success of Miers' nomination, her visits
to the offices of 28 senators reportedly did not go well as criticism
emerged she was being vague about her judicial philosophy. Sen. Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., ranking minority leader on the judicial panel, called her
answers to a 57-page committee questionnaire incomplete to the point of
being insulting.
Byron York of National Review said that according to informed sources,
the last day of the Miers nomination, Wednesday, began with President Bush
meeting with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Majority Whip Mitch
McConnell and others at the White House to discuss the problems facing the
nomination.
Staff conversations between the majority leader's office and the White
House took place throughout the day, York said. At a meeting in Vice
President Cheney's office in the afternoon ? which included the vice
president and nomination strategists ? the fading support for the
nomination was discussed.
Then in the early evening, according to York, Frist had a phone
conversation with White House Chief of Staff Andy Card in which the
majority leader gave "what's being called a frank assessment of the
nomination's prospects."
A final decision was made shortly thereafter, York said, and Miers
called the president at 8:30 p.m. to say she would withdraw, setting up
the formal announcement for yesterday morning.
When the president issued a statement
announcing he had reluctantly accepted the withdrawal, he emphasized he
could not give in to demands from the Senate to release White House
documents protected by executive privilege.
"It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained
access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure
at the White House ? disclosures that would undermine a president's
ability to receive candid counsel," Bush said.
That particular "exit strategy" was outlined
last Friday by veteran columnist Charles Krauthammer of the Washington
Post, who called the document standoff "the perfectly honorable way to
solve the conundrum."
Krauthammer, one of a number of prominent conservative pundits who
opposed the nomination, set up the solution this way:
Miers withdraws out of respect for both the Senate and the
executive's prerogatives, the Senate expresses appreciation for this
gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities, and the White
House accepts her decision with the deepest regret and with gratitude
for Miers' putting preservation of executive prerogative above personal
ambition.
Faces saved. And we start again.
Previous column:
Guaranteed:
Miers to withdraw
Previous stories:
Harriet
Miers' calls it quits
Anti-Miers
TV ad hitting airwaves, Internet
WithdrawMiers.org
launched
FBI
probes Miers, Texas lottery scams
What
lottery chief will tell Senate
Miers'
panel to hear explosive testimony
Miers'
firm busted 3 times for aiding investment cheats
McClellan
gets testy over Miers' questions
Tom
DeLay prosecutor tied to Miers-run lottery
Dobson
reveals 'privy' Miers info
Democrats
to force Dobson to testify?
Gang
of 14 gives approval to Miers
Miers
firm fined big for cheating investors
Miers
revolt brews among GOP senators
Miers
in middle of Bush National Guard scandal?
Mystery-woman
Miers: New clues to resume
Miers
pick: 'Betrayal' or 'excellent choice'?
President
taps Texan who's never been judge
Miers
gave to Gore, Bentsen
Harriet
Miers' statement
Were
winners cheated on Miers' watch?
Harriet
Miers enabled abusive tax shelters?
Harriet
Miers contributed to Hillary's election in 2000
Was
Harriet Miers asleep at the helm?
How
Miers' law firm helped defraud investors
Federal
crimes, GTECH and influence peddling
Harriet
Miers at center of investment fraud
Cover-up
deep in the heart of Texas
Is
Harriet Miers 'Unfit for Judging'?
