January 12, 2007

From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:

    JW Victory:  Herndon, Virginia to Seek New Operator of Day Laborer Site

     

    It took a Judicial Watch lawsuit, but it appears the Herndon Town Council may finally get serious about making sure its day laborer site is operated in a manner consistent with state and federal laws.  In response to a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch back in September 2005, the Herndon Town Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday, January 9, in support of a “request for proposal” which seeks a new company to manage the Town’s day laborer site. 

     

    According to the proposal, unlike the current site operator, a nonprofit organization called Project Hope and Harmony, the new company will be required to “ensure that every worker using the agency’s services is legally eligible to work in the United States and shall grant the Town of Herndon permission to periodically monitor for compliance with this.”

     

    Better late than never.

     

    Judicial Watch has been pushing a common sense proposal to screen day laborers for their legal status ever since the new town council took office last summer.  How much taxpayer money has the Town of Herndon wasted (and is wasting) to defend the day laborer site in court while this simple solution has been available to them? 

     

    As Judicial Watch has argued from the beginning, Herndon’s taxpayer-funded day laborer site violates both state and federal law.  The citizens of Herndon do not want their tax dollars used to subsidize this illegal activity.  That’s why they voted out of office proponents of the day laborer site last summer and installed a new town council.

     

    Council members took a step in the right direction, now let’s see if they follow through.  Incidentally, our lawsuit against Herndon (and Fairfax County, Virginia for funding the site) is still active.  We will continue to protect the rights of Herndon taxpayers in court until the situation is resolved to their satisfaction.

     

    Click here to read about Judicial Watch’s Herndon lawsuit, and a similar lawsuit filed in Laguna Beach, California.

     

    Another JW Victory in the Fight Against Illegal Immigration

     

    Sticking with Herndon, Virginia and the subject of illegal immigration, it appears the Herndon Police Department will be taking advantage of a federal program which gives local law enforcement officers the opportunity to receive “cross-designation” training in illegal immigration enforcement techniques.  This week, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) approved the Herndon, Police Department to begin the program known as 287(g) training.

     

    This never would have happened were it not for the work of Judicial Watch.  You may recall, in July 2006, Judicial Watch uncovered documents from the Department of Homeland Security related to 287(g) training, proving that local governments have the authority to help enforce immigration law.  By releasing these documents to the press, Judicial Watch pressured local officials who have tried to wash their hands of illegal immigration, claiming it is purely a federal problem.  Someone in Herndon, however, was paying attention.

     

    According to ICE, the cross-designation training allows these local and state officers the “necessary resources and latitude to pursue investigations relating to violent crimes, human smuggling, gang/organized crime activity, sexual-related offenses, narcotics smuggling and money laundering; and increased resources and support in more remote geographical locations.”

     

    The training only takes 5 weeks and costs just $520 per officer.  As of June 2006, 136 officers had received 287(g) training and have accounted for 820 immigration-related arrests including fraudulent documents, rape, drug possession, firearm possession, driving under the influence, and burglary.  Clearly, the program works.

     

    We’re pleased Herndon officials responded to Judicial Watch’s efforts and followed through on this critical training program.  Without a doubt, the documents released by Judicial Watch in July compelled the Herndon Town Council to make the right decision.  Other localities have followed suit, but the new liberal governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, just rescinded the 287(g) agreement between ICE and his state police which would have had state troopers help with immigration enforcement.  (Patrick, by the way, is a notorious liberal going back to his days as a top official in the Clinton Justice Department.)    

     

    Appeals Court Nominees Withdraw

     

    After years of Senate Republican ineptitude and Democratic obstruction, four of President Bush’s appeals court nominees have requested that their names be withdrawn from the contentious confirmation process. 

     

    William Haynes, nominated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, has been awaiting a Senate vote for nearly three years.  He currently serves as General Counsel of the Department of Defense.  William Myers, nominated to the notoriously liberal Ninth Circuit, is a former Solicitor of the Department of the Interior.  Terrence Boyle, nominated to the Fourth Circuit, is a federal district court judge in North Carolina who was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1984, while Michael Wallace, nominated to the Fifth Circuit, is a distinguished Mississippi attorney with extensive experience in constitutional litigation.

     

    All four of these candidates are eminently qualified for the positions to which they were nominated, but were blocked by the Democrats for their conservative jurisprudence.  Though Mr. Haynes never received an up-or-down vote because Republican Senator Lindsey Graham held hostage the Haynes nomination over his opposition to some Bush administration anti-terror policies. 

     

    Overall, the 109th Congress managed to compile one of the worst records on judicial confirmations in modern political history, refusing to vote on qualified judicial nominees who had more than enough votes for confirmation.  Democrats employed the unconstitutional tactic of filibustering judicial nominees, while Republicans, led by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, caved under the pressure and failed to respond.  (Check out the Op-Ed I wrote last summer on the subject, “Senate Abandons Judicial Nominees.”)

     

    For the remainder of his term, President Bush will be hard-pressed to fill key judicial vacancies with candidates who respect the letter of the law and refuse to legislate from the bench.  If Democratic Senators, acting on behalf of liberal special interest groups, disrupted the process when in the minority, how cooperative do you think they will be now that they’re in the majority?    

    Unanswered Questions Linger for Sandy Berger

     

    The corrupt Clinton gang continues to damage our country.  On January 9th, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a scathing 61-page report on former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger’s theft and destruction of classified documents from the National Archives.  Just to review some of the details, Berger visited the Archives on four occasions in 2002 and 2003 in preparation for being interviewed by a congressional panel and the 9/11 Commission on the Clinton administration’s response to the threat of terrorism.  (Berger was Clinton’s official designee to review documents before they were turned over to the 9/11 Commission.) 

     

    Archive staff staged an informal “sting operation” and caught Berger removing some of the classified documents.  Berger initially said it was an honest mistake, but later pleaded guilty to stealing and destroying copies of some of the documents.  (An Archive Inspector General’s report released in December indicates Berger shoved the documents under a construction trailer, lost them, and later tried to bully a trash collector to help find them.) 

     

    For his crime, Berger received a slap on the wrist: a $50,000 fine, 100 hours of community service, and a three-year bar from accessing classified material. 

     

    According to the House report, however, this is not all there is to the story:

     

    “The country may never know the full effect of Berger’s misconduct,” the report concluded.  “The failure to bring in law enforcement early in the process has left open questions about the scope of Berger’s actions.”

     

    One of the unanswered questions involves just which documents Berger took.  The former National Security Advisor claims he only stole copies of documents and that originals were eventually accounted for and provided to the 9/11 Commission.  The report, however, concludes, “The Justice Department cannot be sure that Berger did not remove original documents for which there were no copies or inventory.”

     

    The report went on:  “[Berger’s] deliberate calculating actions to remove highly classified documents compromised the national security of this country.  His unauthorized removal of documents by itself is sanctioned by the criminal law, and he has been prosecuted.  The temporary abandonment of highly classified documents at a construction site could have resulted in the disclosure of sensitive material to our enemies.  That is why we protect classified documents and require that they be handled in very restricted circumstances.”

     

    This is another example of Clintonite corruption inadequately pursued and prosecuted by the Bush Justice Department.  I’m convinced that Berger engaged in this criminal activity to destroy documentary evidence of the Clinton administration’s failed anti-terror strategies.  Despite his criminal record, Berger continues to appear on television to comment on foreign affairs.  I haven’t seen any news that this criminal has been kicked out of Hillary Clinton’s kitchen cabinet.  (Judicial Watch filed a bar complaint against Berger in May 2005 which seems to be in limbo. Will these recent revelations finally get the D.C. Bar to discipline the criminal in their midst?) 

     

    Until next week…

     

    Tom Fitton
    President

    Judicial Watch is a non-partisan, educational foundation organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue code. Judicial Watch is dedicated to fighting government and judicial corruption and promoting a return to ethics and morality in our nation's public life. To make a tax-deductible contribution in support of our efforts, click here.