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Judicial Watch Sues Congressman Hastings Over Attempted Improper Firing

This week, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against Florida Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings. You may recall that Hastings is one of only six federal judges ever to be removed from office through impeachment. (He was convicted by the Senate on eight articles of impeachment related to a bribery scandal.) Most recently, Hastings was rejected by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the chairmanship of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence after Judicial Watch and others complained about his corrupt history.

So, what did Hastings do this time?

The Florida Congressman violated federal law by attempting to improperly terminate the employment of our client, Mark Milosch, and three other employees of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (also known as the Helsinki Commission). After rejecting Hastings for the sensitive intelligence post, Nancy Pelosi threw him a bone and installed him as Helsinki Commission Chairman. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit on behalf of Mr. Milosch, the Commission’s counsel, seeking a temporary injunction against Hastings to stop the firing from moving forward.

Here’s why this is a shameless example of abuse of power on the part of Hastings, and a clear violation of the law: By law, “[a]ll decisions pertaining to the hiring, firing, and fixing of pay of [Helsinki] Commission staff personnel shall be by a majority vote of the personnel and administration committee…”

After taking over as Chairman, however, Hastings began efforts to terminate employees without properly seeking the approval of his colleagues. Hastings also ignored the strenuous objections raised by Congressmen Christopher Smith and Senator Sam Brownback, both Commission members, who noted Mr. Milosch’s “impressive academic and research credentials” in a February 2, 2007 letter to Hastings. “The firings are illegal and simply cannot stand,” they wrote. Indeed, the general counsel for the Commission issued a legal opinion that any firing/hiring action that does not have the support of the majority of the Commission leadership would be contrary to law.

Why did Hastings target these specific employees? Well, I’ll tell you this. They share one thing in common (aside from their stellar credentials). They are all conservative and pro-life. Hastings is not. The attempted firings appear to be both political and illegal. (Interesting to compare and contrast this story with the U.S. Attorney “scandal.”) Hastings seems to think that the Helsinki Commission is a political plaything rather than an independent agency set up to monitor important international human rights, religious freedom, rule of law (!), and labor rights (!) issues on behalf of the United States.

The bottom line, legally speaking, is this: Congressman Hastings lacks the unilateral authority to fire Mr. Milosch. Judicial Watch asks the court for injunctive and declaratory relief to prevent Mr. Milosch’s termination. A hearing is scheduled for April 16^th.

As a result of our lawsuit, I understand that Hastings now says he won’t fire Mr. Milosch unless he gets the necessary 3 out of 4 votes on the personnel and administration committee. Two members (Hastings and Maryland Democratic Rep. Ben Cardin) will vote in favor of termination. Rep. Smith (R-NJ) is a solid vote against termination. Senator Brownback (R-KS), who admirably co-signed a letter against the firings less than two months ago, is thought to now be on the fence. Feel free to call Senator Brownback at (202) 224-6521, or email him here, and let him know what you think about Hasting’s illegal attempt to turn the Helsinki Commission into his personal fiefdom. You can bet he’ll get a lot of pressure from Hastings (and Cardin) to buckle.

Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit Against FDA Regarding Hillary Clinton and “Plan B”

Hillary Clinton’s record of supporting abortion and her disdain for the sanctity of human life is nothing new. And if she is using the powers of her Senate office to force the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make dubious decisions, we want to hold her to account for it. And so, earlier this week, Judicial Watch filed a new open records lawsuit against the FDA regarding Hillary Clinton’s drive to make the “emergency contraceptive pill,” commonly known as the “morning after pill,” available over-the-counter. We filed the lawsuit, on March 21, after the FDA failed to comply with our August 2006 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking communications between the FDA and Hillary Clinton regarding “.75 levonorgestrel,” which is also known as “Plan B.”

Judicial Watch filed the original FOIA request in August 2006 after Senator Clinton threatened to block the July 2006 nomination of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach to head the FDA until the agency made Plan B

Corruption Chronicles – Judicial Watch Blog is the One to Watch

If you haven’t checked out the Judicial Watch blog, Corruption Chronicles, it’s time to stop by and take a look. Corruption Chronicles provides inside information and analysis on government corruption that you won’t read in Chronicles.

U.S. Govt. Can’t Account For 623,292 Fugitives

Although the U.S. government has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a program to assure that deported foreigners who represent a threat actually leave the country, more than 600,000 of them are fugitives whose whereabouts are unknown…

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Until next week…

Tom Fitton

President