Lurita Doan: GOP hack, on the govt's payroll

This testimony just blew me away. It's Lurita Doan, the Administrator of the U.S. General Services Administration, testifying before Congress about illegal political activity by the GSA.

Way to go all Oliver North/Ronald Reagan before Congress, Ms. Doan. (I'm referring to the Iran/Contra Scandal when President Reagan and Oliver North made "I can't recall" the reigning champ of political euphemisms in America, replacing I'm not a crook. Reagan's comment was knocked off the top spot by Bill Clinton's "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.")

Here's a quick explanation of the Doan controversy from WaPo's Wednesday edition:

Witnesses have told congressional investigators that the chief of the General Services Administration and a deputy in Karl Rove's political affairs office at the White House joined in a video conference earlier this year with top GSA political appointees, who discussed ways to help Republican candidates.

With GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan and up to 40 regional administrators on hand, J. Scott Jennings, the White House's deputy director of political affairs, gave a PowerPoint presentation on Jan. 26 of polling data about the 2006 elections.

When Jennings concluded his presentation to the GSA political appointees, Doan allegedly asked them how they could "help 'our candidates' in the next elections," according to a March 6 letter to Doan from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Waxman said in the letter that one method suggested was using "targeted public events, such as the opening of federal facilities around the country."

On Wednesday, Doan is scheduled to appear before Waxman's committee to answer questions about the video conference and other issues. The committee is investigating whether remarks made during the video conference violated the Hatch Act, a federal law that restricts executive-branch employees from using their positions for political purposes. Those found in violation of the act do not face criminal penalties but can be removed from their jobs.

She attended the meeting, allegedly made those statements, yet this is the first time she's seeing these PowerPoint slides? Um, sure.

This is exactly the kind of abuse of power that needs to be stopped in government, and the chief reason why Democrats were sent to Congress last November - to clean up all of this corruption.

I wonder how much of this stuff has happened in the last 6+ years that we don't and may never know about?

What really peeves me is when people say, "Every administration does this sort of stuff, but these people are just getting caught." No, no, no. A thousand times NO. That does not excuse abuses of power and in some cases criminal wrongdoing by this administration and its party.

Any president and any party that partakes in this type of behavior to maintain and strengthen power should be called to task before the American people, and we are seeing that now.

Good. That's called checks and balances, and that's how Democracy is supposed to work. Asinine dolts like Tom DeLay love to try to fire up the right by saying, "This is what the next two years is going to be like." Right you are, Tom. And that's because we've suffered under six years of stupid, mindless, incompetent rule at the hands of Bush and his cabal.

And Doan is yet another example of this. She should be removed from her job if these allegations are true, and the evidence looks pretty strong.

We've all met liars in our lives - take a look at this tape and you make the call about whether she's being truthful or not. A five-year old can conclude she's not being truthful. She completely wilts under the questioning of Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA).

Doan, like so many others in this administration, should go.