In early 2005 the Fired Up Missouri community was instrumental in figuring out and reporting on the intricate web of corporate shell LLCs [1] used by the Blunt Administration to effectuate its fee office money funnelling scheme. One of the key facts from those posts was the central involvement of the law firm of Lathrop & Gage in the design and construction of fee office management company entities.
Now some are speculating that relationships between a key Lathrop & Gage attorney and the Bush White House may have led to the firing of U.S. Attorney whose investigation might have implicated Lathrop & Gage in a government corruption scheme.
Observers are focusing on Mark "Thor" Hearne, who is not only a Lathrop & Gage partner, but has also been one of the most (if not the most) important cogs in the legal machine created by the Republican Party [2] to gain advantage by advancing specious claims of widespread voter fraud --a machine whose creation has led to the US Attorney purge scandal and the current state of disgrace within the Bush Justice Department. Brad Blog today writes [3]...
I can't underscore enough Hearne's highly placed position as a White House operative, as the man behind the GOP's entire, systematic and well-financed "voter fraud" scheme/initiative (which has played directly into several of the other firings), his longtime efforts on behalf of and under the direct employ of MO Gov. Matt Blunt (son of the powerful GOP minority House Whip Roy Blunt), his position as a top attorney in the Republican National Lawyers Association (singled out by Rove during an April 2006 speech to that group of Republican election attorneys), and of course, as the national general counsel for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc.
It seems to reason then, that the Cummins investigation into Blunt and Lathrop Gage's questionable handling of those satellite state offices --- for profit --- would definitely have triggered alarm bells in the White House.
Brad Blog makes important connections and some very good points, but perhaps draws a slightly skewed or incomplete conclusion.
With the Bush DOJ being as politically driven as it obviously was, it is foolish to believe that a federal investigation of a GOP Governor in a battleground state would not have "triggered alarm bells in the White House" even if the investigation hadn't been simultaneously focused on a law firm with connections to the President. It's an investigation into political corruption involving a Republican governor, after all. The White House would certainly be aware.
On the other hand, it is reasonable to suggest as Brad does that Hearne, given his long service to GOP politics [4] and commitment to running the bogus national "voter fraud" scare program, would have access to key decision makers high inside the Bush Administration. And given also that Thor Hearne would have personal interests greater than mere partisan allegiance implicated in the investigation by virtue of his firm's involvement in the Blunt fee office scheme, Hearne would have tremendous motive for making a move to muck around with an ongoing probe into the fee office operation.
So Thor Hearne, who through his work with the Bush DOJ on hyping voter fraud claims developed strong connections with Main Justice bigwigs, also had quite a bit at stake when the DOJ began investigating his friend Governor Blunt for a scheme his firm helped implement. The U.S. Attorney investigating Blunt, Bud Cummins, then had his legs cut out before the investigation was finished. Few people would have been as well-positioned as Hearne to intervene with the Department of Justice and help scuttle the investigation into Governor Matt Blunt.
As more testimony comes forth and more facts are made known, a few universal truths about the national Republican Party operation within the Bush DOJ have emerged. The loyal GOP lawyers --whether inside federal government or helping on the outside-- are a sizable but insular bunch. They work together to subjugate the ordinary process and the administration of justice to political need. Loyalty is the currency of the kingdom; truth or rule of law are matters of mere inconvenience.
All of the facts that we have regarding the fee office case and the involvement of Cummins, Hearne, and Blunt in it point to the conclusion that the set of truths were indeed universal. That here in Missouri, we had administration operatives changing DOJ policy and personnel to reflect the specific GOP needs on the ground. Their team, perhaps with Thor leading the rally, got things done.