A CLINTONIAN TRANSITION
President-elect Barack Obama has put in charge
of Department of Justice transition a leading figure in the 2001
Clinton inauguration day pardon scandal, as well as a leading
lawyer for NARAL and the chief of staff for Attorney General
Janet Reno, all of whom took lead roles in the
Clinton administration.
“We aren’t vetting people, in part because some of the people we
thought might fill the transition oversight teams had other
issues,” complains an outside adviser to the Obama transition
team, who because he is a corporate government affairs
professional cannot actively participate in the transition
operation. “Some of the guys who were seeking transition jobs
were just scary.”
So the fallback is a number of old Clinton hands, many of whom
were caught in embarrassing ethical breaches during their time in
government.
Exhibit A: Attorney Alejandro Mayorkas.
Currently a partner at O’Melveny & Myers, he served as U.S.
Attorney for the Central District of California from 1998-2001.
Mayorkas gained notoriety for his advocacy as U.S. Attorney for
the pardon of convicted drug dealer Carlos
Vignali. Vignali’s father, Horacio, paid out almost a
quarter million dollars to various California officials, as well
as to Clinton brother-in-law Hugh Rodham, to
gain the pardon for his son.
Mayorkas supported the pardon of man whose family was rumored to
be — going back to the 1970s — smuggling heroin and cocaine
into the United States, activities that Mayorkas theoretically
would have been prosecuting as U.S. Attorney at the time of his
attempts to get Vignali released from prison.
Mayorkas’ activities were documented in a scathing congressional
investigation of what came to be known as “pardongate,” released
by the House Government Oversight Committee. The report cited DEA
investigations regarding the Vignali family’s activities: “These
[drug smuggling] charges have never been formally made in court,
or substantiated by physical evidence. However, the mere
existence of such allegations should have precluded senior law
enforcement and political officials from supporting a commutation
for Carlos Vignali on the strength of his father’s reputation.
However, it appears that no one checked with the DEA prior to
granting the commutation.”
The report concluded that the White House gave “great weight” to
the input of individuals like Mayorkas for the pardon.
Mayorkas is believed to be a close ally to former deputy attorney
general Eric Holder, who is a leading candidate
to become Attorney General in the Obama administration. Holder is
believed to have pressed Obama to put Mayorkas in his current
transition position.
“We didn’t know about his role in Pardongate,” says a current
Obama aide working on the transition. “Holder never told us.
Alejandro came highly recommended; many of us knew him or of
him.”
Mayorkas highlights the challenge the Obama campaign is having in
bringing in experienced hands to the transition and
administration.
“We either have Clinton holdovers or folks from the campaign, but
honestly, a lot of the people from the campaign aren’t the types
you want being the face of the new administration right now,”
says the outside adviser to the campaign. “The people coming to
me looking for jobs aren’t people I’d hire to work in the White
House or at a senior level for a cabinet office. I don’t know
that they could pass a basic security clearance, let alone a full
national security vetting. So that’s why you’re seeing all these
Clinton re-treads. That, and these are folks who have been
waiting eight years to get back in.”
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THIS
On Saturday, Valerie Jarrett, longtime friend
and consigliere to Barack and Michelle Obama,
was named a senior adviser and assistant to the president for
intergovernment relations and public liaison. In that capacity,
Jarrett will not only fill the role once held by Bush senior
adviser Karl Rove, but will, according to
sources, take on the added task of helping direct the 501(c)(4),
the Obama/Biden Transition Project, which will be renamed once
the transition process is concluded in early 2009.
“The ‘Project’ is going to be critical to keeping us on a
campaign footing even when we are in power,” explains an Obama
fundraiser, who has been tasked with raising money for the
nonprofit entity. “Jarrett will be able to use it for
issues-advocacy advertising, underwriting research programs, all
kinds of things, and the best part is that companies that want to
help us won’t have to be identified for their support.”
Jarrett’s name has been mentioned for other jobs in an Obama
administration, but some believe the prospect of an ugly
confirmation process, given her background in Chicago politics
and low-income housing projects that included work with ACORN,
dissuaded Obama and Jarrett from going that route.
“She’s best friends with Michelle and best friends with Barack,
and she’ll have the office down the hall from both of them,” says
the fundraiser. “You can’t get more powerful than that.”
