Too Goodling to be True
Monica Goodling, the counsel to ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, is being investigated by Congress after the Justice Department’s Inspector General concluded that she ran afoul of her duties by hiring only candidates with strong conservative credentials for civil service positions. Civil service is, of course, the opposite of political patronage, which seemed to be Goodling’s precise M.O. Job applicants who were rejected by Goodling testified that the interviews included questions on gay marriage and abortions (though some people rightfully refused to fill out paperwork which would have required party identification), with lesser-experienced Republicans sometimes being chosen over qualified Democrats. Goodling is one of approximately 150 Bush administrators who graduated from Regent University Law School, a Christian college founded by Pat Robertson and ranked as a Tier 4 school. In one of her e-mails, she requested that a coworker hire “one more good American” (code for “Republican”) and asked one applicant, “[W]hat is it about George W. Bush that makes you want to serve him?” To get some idea of the extent of Goodling’s bias, here is a sample page from one of her application forms:
