Commonweal Institute Blog

Tom Hamburger reported today in the Los Angeles Times that ‘the Office of Special Counsel will investigate US attorney firings and other political activities led by Karl Rove.’

[….T]he Office of Special Counsel is preparing to jump into one of the most sensitive and potentially explosive issues in Washington, launching a broad investigation into key elements of the White House political operations that for more than six years have been headed by chief strategist Karl Rove.

Hamburger was likely misreading the situation when he said:

The new investigation, which will examine the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities, could create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.

The Office of Special Counsel (OSC) is a federal agency headed by Scott Bloch , whom Daniel Schulman described in the May/June 2007 issue of Mother Jones [I couldn’t find a link to this story online] as “a law professor and attorney…a…one-time fellow at the conservative Claremont Institute.” He also quoted a source who described Bloch as “a Bush appointee who, employees say, shares his boss’ antipathy for dissent.” The OSC invites whistleblowers to report via its website . However, Schulman’s article detailed example after example of whistleblowers trying to bring attention to serious government malfeasance, only to have their cases delayed, dropped, or ignored by the OSC, and subsequent serious retribution against the whistleblowers themselves by various entities implicated in the cases. Other articles, e.g., on Alternet and Log Cabin Republicans , describe Bloch’s undermining of the effectiveness of the OSC and defiance of executive orders.

With this in mind, an OSC investigation is hardly likely to “create a substantial new problem for the Bush White House.” Instead, suspect another cover-up in the works.

Hamburger’s paragraphs:

"We will take the evidence where it leads us," Scott J. Bloch, head of the Office of Special Counsel and a presidential appointee, said in an interview Monday. "We will not leave any stone unturned."
Bloch declined to comment on who his investigators would interview, but he said the probe would be independent and uncoordinated with any other agency or government entity.
should be looked at with a skeptical eye.
The growing controversy inspired him to act, Bloch said.
"We are acting with dispatch and trying to deal with this because people are concerned about it ... and it is not a subject that should be left to endless speculation," he said.

You bet—the last thing this secretive administration wants is any more speculation about their covert deeds.

Responsible media and Democratic investigators should not let themselves be lulled into thinking that the OSC’s investigation is going to uncover—and make public--anything substantive against Rove or other top officials. Indeed, an OSC investigation may be used as an opportunity to identify inside whistleblowers, in order to destroy them. Anyone in the adminstration who wants to blow the whistle on Rove and his cronies should talk to those who want the truth to come to light, not to be hidden in clouds of darkness.