Gotta Know When to Holder And When To Folder

This morning as I walked out the door of my fashionable, up-scale English Tudor home, I nearly tripped over a large parcel wrapped in damp newspaper left ominously in the middle of my Mediterranean flagstone walkway. Examining the parcel, I noticed that it smelled of Hai Karate and cheap Lambrusco. Inside the package were several used ticket stubs to "Man of La Mancha," a heavily stained white wedding dress and a half-eaten cannoli. Glancing quickly around I spied a shiny black 1961 Rambler American parked down the street; it was deliberately blocking the handicapped access ramp cut into the granite corner curbing.

"Goomba!" I cried aloud.

And once again I find myself drawn back into the mystery and intrigue that is the Goomba News Network. True to form, later that afternoon I received, via courier, a blank envelope containing a single piece of paper with the name, Eric Holder, scrawled upon it in Rhod's handwriting.

I can take a hint.

ICE agency report puts serious dent in Eric Holder’s DOJ case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

On Thursday Eric Holder and the Department of Justice filed suit against Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s office run by the outspoken and flamboyant Joe Arpaio who’s made it a personal crusade to uphold U.S. immigrations laws when the feds won’t.

Maybe Sheriff Joe and a hundred or so of his deputies should illegally enter the Justice Department; you know, just doing the jobs that the feds don't want to do.

Back in March of 2009 the DOJ informed sheriff Arpaio that a probe was underway to investigate what the DOJ claimed were “alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures.” This is where things get sticky for Eric Holder and the Obama Administration.

Six months prior to this investigation the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) had already conducted its own investigation of sheriff Arpaio’s office and not only gave it a clean bill of health, they actually gave a raving review. The report said things like “The OI and DRO supervisors consider the conduct and performance of the MCSO … officers to be professional and meeting the requirement of the MOA.” And that they considered the working relationship between the feds and the sheriff’s office to be “excellent” and that cases brought by the sheriff’s office to be “high quality.”

So Holder decides to launch a full-blown federal investigation of a local agency that months before endured and passed an exhaustive investigation by another federal agency regarding the same kind of allegations. This action comes almost on the heels of another Holder faux paswhere he blatantly declines to prosecute a slam dunk case of voter intimidation perpetrated by the Black Panthers. Prosecutorial discretion does not begin to cover this incredibly poor exercise of judgement.

To make matters worse, or better depending on your POV, Sheriff Joe had his lawyers file a FOIL request which uncovered an email:

[...] that was sent just after the Justice Department investigation was announced, from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency employee to John P. Torres who was at the time the acting assistant secretary of ICE. The email said: “Did you see this?” attaching a news report on the investigation. “Yes,” Torres responded a few minutes later. “Interesting politics at play.”

Mr. Torres was very charitable. Of all the language that comes to mind that could have described Mr. Holder's actions, "interesting" was not the first word I would have used. I was thinking more along the lines of "criminal," or "official misconduct," or "Leavenworth."

I love Sheriff Joe's tailor.