Today
Sections
More
Features
advertisement
|
your ad here
Home of the San Francisco Chronicle
- Bay Area & State
- Nation
- World
- Politics
- Crime
- Tech
- Obituaries
- Education
- Green
- Science
- Health
- Weird
- Opinion
Displaying 1 - 10 of 32 |
Next »Obama Transition
New DOJ honcho Tony West tells us what's coming up
Tony West leaves the Bay Area this week to start his new gig Thursday as assistant attorney general for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. (He's scheduled to be sworn in on Friday.) But before he left, he chatted with us about a few issues -- careful not to step on new boss Eric Holder's toes. Or the toes of the guy he spent two years raising cash and campaigning for -- President Obama.
On whether the DOJ should prosecute those who carried out or designed the Bush-era torture policy: "I think the president has spoken quite clearly on that issue and I probably don't need to add much to that."
While West didn't opine on how the Obama-era DOJ seems to be following the Bush-era DOJ's policy when it comes to invoking government secrecy to defend its wiretapping program, West did note that "I know that the attorney general is conducting a review of all of the state secrets privilege assertions that we've seen in recent years. And it's my understanding that that review is not yet complete. I'll certainly know more when I get on the ground and start on Thursday than I know now. But my understanding that those privileged assertions are part of a system-wide review the attorney general is conducting right now."
What about rendition cases?
"A lot of these issues regarding national security are part of a various policy reviews that are going on. I think that you'll begin to see some determinations come out of that review process. I think it's fair to say that a lot of these issues are part of this attorney general's review."
Hmmm. Should we read into that the time DOJ could be changing its policies from its predecessor?
"I think we have to wait and see what the review yields in terms of a direction one way or the other on these particular cases. Every case is different and my understanding is that they are all subject to this review."
Speaking of hot-button cases, West may have to recuse himself from some cases. He served as a lawyer for Mark Klein, the former AT&T; technician who testiviated that the telco was sharing cusomters' phone calls and emails with the feds.
"I think I'll take my cues from the ethics professionals at the Department of Justice with regard to what I should recuse myself from. I think as a general matter, if I've been involved in case or my firm has been actively involved in a case then it would be appropriate for me to recuse from any decision making regarding that case."
West also might have to recuse himself from another case.
"I am aware that we (his soon-to-be former firm of Morrison & Foerster) represent one of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. I don't know the name of the detainee, but I know that the firm has taken on, like a lot of private firms, has taken on the representation there. I certainly would assume that the advice from the ethics professionals would be that I recuse myself from any decision-making on that case."
One of his top priorities will be making sure that our precious tax dollars -- like through the various bailouts -- aren't being squandered.
West's confirmation process seemed fairly uneventful. Was he surprised not to get much blowback from conservative senators for his representation of John Walker Lindh, a.k.a. the Marin County "American Taliban?" (Which would be another case West would have to recuse himself from should it crop up.)
"Of course, you're ready for anything," West said. "But I think the country is in a different place today that we were then. So I can't say that I was too surprised."
West will have a small place in Washington, D.C., but his main residence will be in New York, where his wife landed a job late last year with the Ford Foundation. Their daughter begins law school at Harvard in the fall. They'll keep their Oakland home.
So the only time you'll get back to the Bay Area is to campaign for your sister-in-law, San Francisco DA Kamala Harris, a state attorney general hopeful, right?
Oops. Maybe not.
"We'll see if I can engage in any partisan political activity. To be honest I don't know how it works -- I need to get advice on that from the ethics folks. Because she is my sister-in-law, I'm wondering if there is some type of family exception. Of course, I'll do whatever they advise."
| April 21 2009 at 05:45 PM
SF's Tony West confirmed at Ass't U.S Attorney General
Tony West, the San Francisco attorney who we told you about over a year ago was an up-and-comer, was confirmed tonight by the U.S. Senate as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He joins a growing number of Californians -- particularly from Northern California -- with influence in the Obama Administration.
In a note to supporters Monday, the Morrison and Foerster attorney said:
"Friends --
"First, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the good wishes so many of you have been sending over the last few months. Your kind notes, words of encouragement and friendship were a great source of support during the confirmation process.
"Just a short time ago, I learned that the U.S. Senate voted to confirm me as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. I wanted to share the news with you as soon as I could.
"I'm looking forward to this new role and the challenges that lie ahead."
Morrison & Foerster
Tony West: New guy at DOJ
Bet he's glad that he declined a post in Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums' administration to focus on the Obama campaign. But don't be surprised if West returns to California one day. Not only does he have the backing of bold-face political names like former Mayor Willie Brown and Rep. Barbara Lee (and his sister-in-law is San Francisco D.A. and CA AG candidate Kamala Harris), but anybody who can help raise that kind of coin is tapped into the state's top Democratic fundraisers.
| April 20 2009 at 04:30 PM
Obama switch on civil rights post leaves Latinos fuming
When Obama named Maryland Secretary of Labor Tom Perez as his nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, Friday, some Latino leaders cheered. The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials called Perez "exceptionally qualified."
But many raised a cry of dismay, not over Perez's qualifications, but because the job had been offered to another Latino civil rights expert, California's Thomas Saenz, and then abruptly rescinded the day before the Perez was named.
Saenz, a former top lawyer at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and now counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, is famed in Latino civil rights circles for leading the successful challenge to California's Proposition 187. That was the 1994 ballot measure that would have denied education and health services to undocumented immigrants.
But word of Saenz's selection -- which became public in February -- stirred up a swirl of opposition in the conservative blogospere. Apparently the Los Angeles attorney was told that the push-back from immigration restrictionists was more than the administration wanted to take on.
"They were thinking it was going to be a hard confirmation and they didn't want to expend the political capital," UC Berkeley's Maria Blanco told The Melting Pot. "If they weren't willing to fight for him, what does it mean for immigration reform? That's what everyone's worried about."
Obama may get an earful this week. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has a White House meeting with him Wednesday and they're expected to push for a commitment to an immigration bill this year. On Thursday the president will be in Los Angeles, and rumor has it he'll hold his town meeting at an East L.A. high school that MALDEF helped save.
Immigration restrictionists, meanwhile, are taking aim at Perez, who served for years on the board of an immigrant service organization, Casa de Maryland.
| March 17 2009 at 06:38 PM
Napolitano treads carefully at Homeland Security
In her first appearance before Congress as head of Homeland Security, Secretary Janet Napolitano was lambasted by New York Republican Rep. Pete King for failing to use the word "terrorism" in her remarks. Then she was quizzed by San Jose Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren over a surprise immigration raid Tuesday in Bellingham, Wash.
The bi-partisan questioning reflects the tightrope Napolitano must walk between the demands of the law-and-order crowd and those of the civil rights folks. It's a balancing act she became accustomed to as governor of Arizona, where she combined toughness and compassion in her approach to illegal immigration.
At Homeland Security she may be poised to shift the way immigration enforcement is carried out, though she's not tipping her hand yet. She is certainly adopting a new tone on terrorism than her Republican predecessors.
Testifying Wednesday before the House Committee on Homeland Security, she said pointedly that her job is to protect the nation from threats "both natural and manmade," and that terrorist attacks are covered by that definition.
Regarding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at a Washington State engine factory Tuesday, Napolitano said she had not been informed of the action in advance and called for a review.
In fact, in her first month as secretary, Napolitano has called for a comprehensive review of every facet of the sprawling federal agency, which is charged with everything from border control to hurricane relief. This week she named a career prosecutor, John Morton, to head ICE. And she chose Esther Olavarria, a former immigration adviser to Sen. Ted Kennedy, to be her deputy assistant secretary for policy.
Napolitano's moving carefully but she did tell the Congressional committee that in law enforcement, as in life, one has to make choices, said Lofgren, who took that to mean that low-level prosecutions of unauthorized workers could give way to more targeted investigations of organized crime.
Lofgren was also glad to hear Napolitano say she would tackle the avalanche of guns being smuggled into Mexico for drug cartels. "If things are destabilized in Mexico, you can imagine the refugee crisis we're going to have on our border," said Lofgren. "And we've done almost nothing about it."
| February 26 2009 at 03:22 PM
Solis nomination for Labor in trouble? Interim boss already in place
Looks like another Obama Cabinet nominee could be in trouble -- Rep. Hilda Solis, the proposed Labor Secretary. And quietly, the administration has acknowledged that it could be a long haul. This week, Team Obama quietly appointed an interim Labor Department chief.
The latest chapter came Thursday before a long-delayed vote on Solis, a Los Angeles County Democrat, before the Senate Labor Committee again postponed consideration, apparently because of a disclosure that Solis' husband paid $6,400 yesterday to settle a tax lien.
Administration officials had hoped for a vote this week, almost a month after the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing on Solis. The committee's Democratic majority should have the votes to approve the union-friendly nominee.
But the new administration has simultaneously been bracing for a protracted battle: On Monday, Obama appointed career Labor Department manager Ed Hugler to serve as acting secretary until Obama's nominee can be confirmed.
After weeks of delay -- and speculation that Republicans on the committee were blocking Solis -- the committee's chairman, Sen. Edward Kennedy, and ranking Republican member, Sen. Michael Enzi, issued a joint statement Thursday morning canceling the vote but denying that an anonymous senator had placed a hold on the nomination.
"Today's executive session was postponed to allow members additional time to review the documentation submitted in support of Representative Solis' nomination ..." the statement said in part. "We will continue to work together to move this nomination forward as soon as possible."
Republicans on the committee have challenged Solis over her support for the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize. They also suggested that her position as an unpaid board member for the pro-labor group American Rights at Work amounted to a lobbying role, something Solis denies.
Meanwhile, Labor department employees are reported to be up in arms over Hugler, who spearheaded a Bush administration effort to privatize parts of the department's work.
| February 05 2009 at 12:04 PM
Obama: "I screwed up."
In the wake of the Daschle Debacle, President Obama made the top-shelf media rounds and repeated a simple message: "I screwed up."
Yeah, that's exactly what he told NBC's Brian Williams. "I've got to own up to my mistake," Obama said, saying he was frustrated with himself and his team in how it handled the revelations around Daschle's tax issues. Funny thing about responsibility, the O said. When you make mistakes, you've got to own up to them.
Moments later, Williams was before the home crowd on MSNBC waxing about how saying "I screwed up" -- or "taking responsibility" as it is known in polite company -- is something that never was heard from over the previous eight years by the previous White House tenant -- and especially not by his top henchman. Not even for a poorly executed occupation of Iraq or federal government's Katrina response or anything.
So Team Obama successfully -- at least in friendlier circles -- blunted the bad news of the morning (Daschle pulling out) by making news. Yeah, yeah, Daschle's out. But the president of the United States just ADMITTED SCREWING UP. Roll tape.
Listen to the O tell CNN's Anderson Cooper that: "Ultimately, I campaigned on changing Washington and bottom-up politics. And I don't want to send a message to the American people that there are two sets of standards, one for powerful people, and one for ordinary folks who are working every day and paying their taxes."
Cooper replied: "Do you feel you've lost some of that moral high ground which you set for yourself on day one with the ..."
Said the O: "Well, you know, I think this was a mistake. I think I screwed up. And, you know, I take responsibility for it and we're going to make sure we fix it so it doesn't happen again."
Admirable, yes, to hear a POTUS to take responsibility for a mistake. So tell us, how many times can The O play the "I screwed up" card? Is he going to have to put points on the board first before he can use it again?
| February 04 2009 at 11:11 AM
Lies, Half-truths and Contradictions: Judd Gregg, partisan post-partisan
Sen. Judd Gregg -- perhaps the new Commerce secretary -- may have just set a land speed record for a debut in our annals of Lies, Half-Truths and Contradictions. Dude nailed one Tuesday in his acceptance speech.
In accepting the nomination Tuesday, the New Hampshire Republican said: "And I also want to thank the governor of New Hampshire for his courtesy and courage in being willing to make this possible through the agreement that we have relative to my successor in the Senate."
OK, but moments earlier, Gregg said: "This is not a time for partisanship."
But Gregg wouldn't have become Commerce czar without a GUARANTEE that his Senate successor would also be a Republican, just like him. Isn't that a bit, oh, "partisan"? We pull out the yellow flag of CON-TRA-DICTION!!!!
Let's leave the beat-down to Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, who gives Gregg a nice backhand in his "congratulatory note." Said Russ:
"I congratulate Sen. Gregg on his nomination to be the next secretary of Commerce," Feingold said. "He is well-qualified for this position.
"But the apparent behind-the-scenes deal-making that went on to determine who will fill Sen. Gregg's vacancy is alarmingly undemocratic. Once again, Americans will be represented in the Senate for nearly two years by someone they had no hand in electing. As the number of senators appointed to their seats continues to rise, it's increasingly clear that we need to fix this constitutional anachronism. It is time to pass a constitutional amendment to end appointments by governors and the political gamesmanship they encourage."
| February 03 2009 at 07:05 PM
Lies, Half-truths and Contradictions: Daschle bragged in old ad how he drives beater car to work (VIDEO)
While you're still digesting Tom Daschle withdrawing his name as HHS czar, we pay a visit to Lies, Half-truths and Contradiction Theater. Back in the day -- when Tom Daschle was just a homespun dude from South Dakota who used to pay his taxes -- he produced this 1986 re-election ad. It talks about how thrifty and "cheap" he was, driving his old beater car to work on Capitol Hill while the other fat cats drove BMWs.
Oh, Tom ... Tom, Tom, Tom. You went from a driving a beater to not paying $128,000 in taxes that came from using a driver and car provided to you buy a uh ... fat cat donor. D'oh! As Chuck Todd on MSNBC just said, "Sometimes there is honor in taking one for the team." Uh, yeah. There's also honor in paying your taxes.
| February 03 2009 at 10:34 AM
Lies, half-truths and contradictions: Tracking Obama's promises
Are you ready to start monitoring President-elect Obama's truthiness? Our pals at Politifact.com -- one of the independent, nonpartisan fact-checkers that kicked booty during the campaign -- just unveiled a new tool: The Obameter.
The Politifacters compiled a list of 510 promises The O made on the campaign trail. They will track his ability to fulfill these promises on a scale of: "Promise kept," "Compromise," "Promise Broken," "Stalled," or "In the Works."
So far, The O has already racked up two "Promises Kept" and three "In the Works."
We gotta tip the LHC cap to our comrades at Politifact for their hard work. How hard are they working: Minutes after our story about 2008's political winners and losers was posted -- with a shout-out to Politifact.com -- we heard from its czar Bill Adair.
"Thanks for mentioning us in your piece today," Adair wrote. "And yes, our vigilance will continue with the new administration. PolitiFact will be back in mid-January. We'll be putting the Truth-O-Meter to all the players in Washington and we'll soon be unveiling a new feature that will create a new form of accountability journalism."
He sent that message at 7:42 p.m. New Year's Eve. Bill, turn off the Google alert, put down the Obameter and take a few hours off. Rest up. There's 500 promises to track and the heavy lifting starts Tuesday.
| January 15 2009 at 10:41 AM
Stop the coronation: Polls show Caroline Kennedy trailing
Seems like, you know, Caroline Kennedy, you know, isn't as popular with all New Yorkers as, you know, she is with New Yorkers who live on the Upper East Side ... you know. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Caroline trailing Andrew Cuomo 31 to 24 percent in the, er, race to be appointed to Hillary Clinton's potentially vacated U.S. Senate seat.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney snags 6 percent, with 5 percent for U.S. Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand, 2 percent for U.S. Rep. Steve Israel. Other folks get 18 percent and 14 percent are undecided.
Forty-eight percent said Kennedy is not qualified to be a U.S. Senator. And Caroline's favorability rating has DROPPED from 46 percent to 39 percent in less than a month.
Our favorite question asked in the poll: "By a 48-35 percent margin, New York state voters say they were not surprised by Kennedy's widely reported verbal tics, such as the use of 'you know,' in conversation. And by a 58-32 percent margin, voters were not surprised that news stories focused on these tics."
Not that it would matter. The poll also found that 38 percent of the respondents felt that N.Y. Guv David Paterson would pick Kennedy, 33 percent felt he wouldn't ... you know ... appoint her.
| January 14 2009 at 12:51 PM
Welcome to the Politics blog.
By Wyatt Buchanan, Michael Collier, Richard Dunham, Bob Egelko, Joe Garofoli, Marisa Lagos, Carolyn Lochhead, Carla Marinucci, Read Bios
advertisement
|
your ad here
more