Former U.S. attorney and current Department of Justice (DoJ) attorney Bradley Schlozman said he “may have” boasted about his record of hiring Republicans or conservatives for career positions at the department after stating flatly that he never “crossed the line” by asking political questions of prospective employees.

The concession came during testimony Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Nearly two weeks ago, former Justice Department official Monica Goodling said she had crossed the line in asking political questions of applicants for career DoJ positions.

“I probably did make statements like that,” Schlozman said.

But Schlozman, who served as the acting assistant attorney general for civil rights, said he did not believe he violated rules against politicizing the hiring process of career positions. He said he had asked some potential employees to remove political affiliations and information from their résumés because he regarded it as irrelevant to the hiring of a career post.

Throughout the hearing, frustrated Democratic senators thundered at Schlozman to answer questions directly and at times ridiculed his responses or simply said his responses to their queries left them perplexed. No Republican senators were present for Schlozman’s testimony.

Democratic senators also questioned Schlozman about his role in issuing indictments against voter-registration recruiters for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a community activist group, one week before the November 2006 elections.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) hammered Schlozman about the indictments, demanding to know why he had issued them when Justice Department regulations explicitly recommend waiting to pursue voter-fraud prosecutions until after an election.

Schumer’s office provided reporters with an excerpt from internal DoJ guidelines on the subject.
“Most, if not all, investigations of an alleged election crime must await the end of the election to which the allegation relates,” the guidelines state.

Schlozman testified that the head of the public integrity division of the Justice Department had given him the green light to issue the indictments.

He repeatedly said that politics were not a factor in the decision in the ACORN indictments.
“The Department of Justice does not time prosecutions to elections,” Schlozman said.

An angry Leahy shot back: “Oh, yes they do!”

At one point, after Schlozman argued that he didn’t think the indictments would have any effect on the election, an incredulous Leahy asked if he read newspapers or watched television. Holding up a copy of the “red book” of department regulations, Leahy also said he believed officials at DoJ treated them as a “door stop” rather than something to read and follow.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) also asked Schlozman about how he came to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in Missouri following the resignation of his predecessor at the post, Todd Graves, in March 2006.

Schlozman responded that he did not know much about it.

“I have no idea” why Graves was asked to resign, he said. “In fact, I didn’t know he had resigned until I read about it in the Kansas City Star.”

When asked whether leaders of conservative organizations such as the Federalist Society provided recommendations or passed along résumés to him for career positions, Schlozman vacillated.

For instance, Schlozman said he might have received guidance from Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society.

“I may have gotten a recommendation from him for a candidate,” he said.

Career lawyers within the Justice Department have accused Schlozman of playing a key role in politicizing the DoJ’s Civil Rights division’s mission away from its original mandate to ensure that voters who traditionally have faced discrimination have full access to the polls.