|
Goodling asked DoJ applicants political questions |
|
By Susan Crabtree
|
|
Posted: 05/23/07 01:26 PM [ET] |
|
Monica Goodling, a former liaison between the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the White House, testified Wednesday that she “crossed the line” in asking political questions of applicants for career positions such as immigration judges and members of the Board of Immigration Appeal.
In Goodling’s opening statement, she said she regretted those “mistakes.”
“I do acknowledge that I may have gone too far in asking political questions of applicants for career positions, and I may have taken inappropriate political considerations into account on some occasions,” she said.
Later in the testimony, Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott (D-Va.) asked Goodling whether she believed she had broken any laws by asking those political questions of career applicants.
“The best I can say is that I know I took political considerations into account, I know I crossed the line,” Goodling responded.
Scott repeated his question if any law had been broken.
“I believe I crossed the line, but I didn’t mean to,” Goodling said.
Goodling, testifying for the first time since she resigned her position in April, played a role in the firing of several U.S. attorneys last year, working with Kyle Sampson, then-chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Sampson likewise resigned his position earlier this year. The committee negotiated an immunity agreement for Goodling in exchange for her testimony.
During her testimony, Goodling admitted delaying the hiring of Seth Adam Meinero, a Howard University law graduate, for a post in the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia because of a “snap judgment” about his resume that she said she now regrets.
The DoJ’s inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility have launched investigations of Goodling for possible violations of civil-service laws that guard against politicizing the selection process of career positions at the department. |
