newspoodle’s posterous

In April, NPR reported that Department of Justice investigators were pursuing charges that, Monica Goodling, the political hack installed by the GOP at the department who famously used an applicants' qualification as a "loyal Bushie" as a litmus test for employment, had fired a senior official because Goodling suspected the woman was gay.

Now, according to a report from the DOJ inspector general, it appears that the rumor was true:

In the second of a series of reports on the politically charged tenure of former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, the department's inspector general found that two former Justice aides used sexual orientation as a litmus test in deciding whom they would hire or fire.

The report describes an alleged "sexual relationship" between a career prosecutor and a U.S. attorney, who were not named. Margaret M. Chiara, the former U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., said in an interview with The Times that she now believed she was fired because of the erroneous belief that she was having a relationship with career prosecutor Leslie Hagen.

"I could not begin to understand how I found myself sharing the misfortune of my former colleagues," Chiara said of the eight other U.S. attorneys who were fired. "Now I understand."

Justice officials said after her firing that Chiara was let go because of mismanagement and because she had caused morale in her office to sink. Chiara said Monday she believed those concerns were raised by the same people who spread rumors about her and Hagen.

"I guess now I am persuaded with deep regret that this is what was the basis," she added. "There is nothing else."

The investigators found that Hagen lost a coveted assignment in Washington after rumors of the supposed relationship reached Gonzales aide Monica M. Goodling.

And:

Monday's report also said that Goodling used an Internet search that included the words "gay" and "homosexual" to screen candidates and their backgrounds.

Investigators found that Goodling used the same search parameters as Jan Williams, who served as White House liaison before Goodling. The report said that Williams had used the string in late 2005 and early 2006 to research candidates for positions on a national advisory commission on violence against women.

Goodling, a graduate of a college operated by televangelist Pat Robertson, was also found to have nixed the hiring of a terrorism expert because his wife was a Democrat.

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) indicted on seven felony counts

or: Ted Stevens: So Dirty Even The Bush Administration Had To Indict Him.

The Justice Department has just handed down a grand jury indictment against Republican Senator Ted Stevens (.pdf) consisting of seven felony counts of making false statements. Basically Stevens is being charged for failing to disclose over $250,000 in gifts he received from 1999-2006, as well as improperly favoring fishing legislation that would benefit his son. For more on the specifics, PBS NOW covered the story extensively in November of last year.

EPA Tells Its Staff: Don't Answer Watchdogs' Queries