Karl had it all set up so nicely. And then GSA’s Lurita Doan shits the bed:

Here’s the scheme, as revealed over the past month: Rove and his deputies traveled to various agencies throughout the government, lecturing management there about Republicans’ political prospects. Which House and Senate members were in trouble? Which Democratic seats were vulnerable? What were the major issues in the election?

But there was a line to be drawn: no commands were to be given — because such a directive would be a blatant violation of the Hatch Act, which forbids the use of government resources for political ends.

On the contrary, the government officials receiving the briefing were supposed to get the hint — as Tom Hamburger reported, “employees said they got a not-so-subtle message about helping endangered Republicans.” The briefing simply gave them the tools to be helpful in the next election. They were supposed to take the ball and run with it.

This is, exactly and precisely, a strategy of working toward the fuhrer. But then Sweet Lurita has to say what should have been left unsaid:  Read more 

Xan, keep working those emails. I’ll let Laura do the talking:

WP: GSA chief is accused of playing politics, potentially violating the Hatch Act:

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 videoconference 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.”  Read more 

The Republicans are certainly making their list and checking it twice, aren’t they? Their to-do list of ways to avoid accountability, that is. Only 56 days left until Democrats gain subpoena power! WaPo:

The new chief of the U.S. General Services Administration is trying to limit the ability of the agency’s inspector general to audit contracts for fraud or waste and has said oversight efforts are intimidating the workforce, according to government documents and interviews.

GSA Administrator Lurita Alexis Doan, a Bush political appointee and former government contractor, has proposed cutting $5 million in spending on audits and shifting some responsibility for contract reviews to small, private audit contractors.

And the beauty part? Bush’s appointee Doan compares the Inspector General to terrorist:  Read more