25 Responses to Texas Tech Faculty Members Object to the Hiring of ‘Professor’ Alberto Gonzales

1. skingsbury July 30th, 2009 at 6:22 am «

   That is great. Congratulations to all. It needs to be done.
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 9:16 am «

  skingsbury and Derrick Crowe,

  Thanks for the comments.

  So far, I’ve had no response from any of the 38 original signers. I understand that there are now more than 70 TTU faculty members who have signed the petition but I haven’t seen a list of any of the signers other than the original 38. If anyone who finds such a list can forward it to me, I’ll contact the additional signers as well.
2. Kathryn in MA July 30th, 2009 at 6:49 am «

   when clicking on the links to your grievance petition, i get 404 page not found error.
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 9:20 am «

  Kathryn in MA and BoxTurtle,

  Thanks for letting me know of the broken links. I created my Seminal diary by copying my WordPress post but the links to all my grievance complaints as well as the specific link to my complaint against Alberto Gonzales (which are both at my WordPress blog) were somehow published in the Seminal diary with ’seminal.firedoglake’ instead of ‘grievanceproject.wordpress.’
3. BoxTurtle July 30th, 2009 at 8:20 am «

   I get 404 as well. But I really like that you sent it along to Texas Tech. Can’t wait to hear their response to the petition.

   Boxturtle (A university should be able to come up with a really creative “No Comment”)
4. Derrick Crowe July 30th, 2009 at 8:31 am «

   Bless you. As a Tech grad myself, I’m appalled. Gonzales has no place teaching driver’s ed, much less a college-level course on government/politics. (Apologies to driver’s ed instructors…you do good work.)
5. acquarius74 July 30th, 2009 at 9:50 am «

   Recommended. Thanks, GP. I received 2 e-mails from different persons giving a petition for ordinary Texans to sign (non-faculty, just Joe/Jane Citizen). I signed. Wish I had’nt deleted so I could have passed it on here. Will do so if another is received.
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 10:14 am «

  Thanks, acquarius74. If you receive any more, please add it in a comment. If comments are closed, I’d appreciate it if you could forward to me at the email address in comment 8 above.
6. GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 10:10 am «

   I had a visitor from TTU at my blog earlier today:

   129.118.83.67 (Texas Tech University) [Label IP Address]

   Texas, Lubbock, United States, 0 returning visit

   Date Time WebPage
   July 30th 2009 11:18:01 AM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/category/attorney-grievance-applications/

   July 30th 2009 11:19:09 AM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/texas-tech-faculty-object-to-the-hiring-of-professor-alberto-gonzales/

   July 30th 2009 11:19:32 AM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/tag/alberto-gonzales/

   July 30th 2009 11:21:03 AM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/alberto-gonzales/

   July 30th 2009 11:22:26 AM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/the-grievance-project/

   July 30th 2009 11:23:52 AM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/about/

   If you are a faculty member and already signed the petition, the next step is to file a grievance against ‘Professor’ Gonzales with the Texas Bar Association. Please contact me if you need any assistance:
   grievanceproject(at)gmail(dot)com
• RevBev July 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pm «

  Who can file a grievance?

  Recalling all the way Al. Gonz could not remember…shouldn’t there be a mental competency concern in any hiring?
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 12:53 pm «

  Anybody can file a grievance. I’ve prepared several grievances already for your review.

  He’s been searching for a job for nearly 2 years without success. Noone would hire him and, like everyone else, he has bills to pay. Although Mr. Gonzales may be both a horrible attorney and Congressional witness, he does know enough about what happened behind the scenes in the Bush administration that a broke, unstable Alberto Gonzales remains a danger to Bush and his cronies. So I think his mental competency was taken into consideration in offering him this job.
7. GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 10:43 am «

   More visits from TTU faculty and/or students:

   129.118.51.209 (Texas Tech University)

   Texas, Lubbock, United States, 0 returning visit

   Date Time WebPage
   July 30th 2009 01:35:49 PM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/texas-tech-faculty-object-to-the-hiring-of-professor-alberto-gonzales/

   and

   ep502.dhcp.ttu.edu (Texas Tech University)

   Texas, Lubbock, United States, 0 returning visit

   Date Time WebPage
   July 30th 2009 01:24:10 PM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/alberto-gonzales/

   July 30th 2009 01:24:26 PM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/about/
• acquarius74 July 30th, 2009 at 10:58 am «

  Great, GP!! Hope the entire student body looks in as well as any other self-respecting Texan. I added a stinging comment in the box provided for them in my e-mail reply. Chicken-livers who read but don’t comment at your site. Related subject: check out my diary: “Hello NSA” (at least the song on the video clip)

  I’ll send on to you any more e-mails I get for petitions re Gonzo.
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 11:32 am «

  My belief is that any professor who’s already gone out on a limb and signed the petition truly wants the tenure of ‘Professor’ Gonzales at TTU to be as short as possible. My hope is that any such professor who signed the petition will recognize that, as I noted in my email, the case for firing former-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is much stronger if he is also former-attorney Alberto Gonzales.
8. Jkat July 30th, 2009 at 12:41 pm «

   also a Txtech alum … and i agree .. gonzo’s got no business at any institution of higher education .. he should have reserved cell in a prison for war criminals however ..
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 12:58 pm «

  he should have reserved cell in a prison for war criminals however

  He may already have a cell set aside for him. I bet he isn’t planning many international trips, like to Spain or the Hague.
9. GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 1:16 pm «

   And another:

   ep245.dhcp.ttu.edu (Texas Tech University)

   Texas, Lubbock, United States, 0 returning visit

   Date Time WebPage
   July 30th 2009 03:01:03 PM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/about/

   July 30th 2009 03:01:29 PM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/texas-tech-faculty-object-to-the-hiring-of-professor-alberto-gonzales/
10. foothillsmike July 30th, 2009 at 1:59 pm «

    Who would want a college professor who suffers from CRS. (Can’t remember shit)
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 2:21 pm «

  A student who doesn’t want to study?
11. ThingsComeUndone July 30th, 2009 at 6:41 pm «

    a guy that misled Congress is not the kind of person we want to represent Texas Tech.”

    Stop saying Misled Gonzo lied, he LIED!
12. ThingsComeUndone July 30th, 2009 at 6:45 pm «

    “I tried to document all of the charges against Gonzales,” Schaller said, citing a 2008 Department of Justice report and a 2009 Inspector Generals’ report investigating Gonzales’ surveillance programs as his information sources

    Hugh made a list of all the charges he thinks we can nail Bush for.

    http://www.netrootsmass.net/hu…..dals-list/
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 7:19 pm «

  Wow, Hugh’s list sure does provide a (depressing) stroll down memory lane. I hope Pres. Obama’s list never makes it to 400 items.
13. ThingsComeUndone July 30th, 2009 at 6:47 pm «

    Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you – or someone from TTU law school – would like to discuss filing a grievance against Mr. Gonzales with the Texas Bar Association.

    Can we get Gonzo disbarred?
• GrievanceProject July 30th, 2009 at 7:44 pm «

  TCU, there is no doubt Alberto Gonzales engaged in conduct that would result in sanctions if committed by any other attorney in a normal situation. The wild card in this situation is the perception that the grievance complaints are of a political nature. This happened with USA Leura Canary in Alabama when the Alabama Bar adopted a DoJ OPR whitewashed review of her conduct. This also happened with a previously filed complaint against John Yoo in Pennsylvania.

  However, I think that a petition signed by 70 or more TTU faculty may bring enough attention and publicity to the filing that the grievance is appropriately investigated. I think this incident alone conclusively proves that Alberto Gonzales is unfit to practice law:

  On March 4, 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was stricken with pancreatitis for which he underwent gall bladder surgery. Prior to being admitted to the hospital, Ashcroft executed a formal document transferring the powers and responsibilities of the office of Attorney General to his Deputy Attorney General James Comey. This transfer of power was communicated to the White House. Knowing specifically that Ashcroft had both transferred power to Comey and had also not reclaimed his position, Alberto Gonzales, then-White House Counsel, visited the hospital intensive care bedside of Ashcroft on March 10, 2004 in an attempt to pressure Ashcroft to execute a legal document as the Attorney General. Ashcroft, who was barely conscious at the time, refused. Testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee, acting-Attorney General James Comey stated that

  I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that.

  Comey further testified that, after witnessing Gonzales’ visit, that

  I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general.

  An excerpt of Comey’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 15, 2007, further explains the improper conduct of Gonzales:

  COMEY: We had — yes. We had concerns as to our ability to certify its legality, which was our obligation for the program to be renewed.

  The attorney general was taken that very afternoon [March 4, 2007] to George Washington Hospital, where he went into intensive care and remained there for over a week. And I became the acting attorney general.

  And over the next week — particularly the following week, on Tuesday — we communicated to the relevant parties at the White House and elsewhere our decision that as acting attorney general I would not certify the program as to its legality and explained our reasoning in detail, which I will not go into here. Nor am I confirming it’s any particular program. That was Tuesday that we communicated that.

  The next day was Wednesday, March the 10th, the night of the hospital incident. And I was headed home at about 8 o’clock that evening, my security detail was driving me. And I remember exactly where I was — on Constitution Avenue — and got a call from Attorney General Ashcroft’s chief of staff telling me that he had gotten a call…

  SCHUMER: What’s his name?

  COMEY: David Ayers. That he had gotten a call from Mrs. Ashcroft from the hospital. She had banned all visitors and all phone calls. So I hadn’t seen him or talked to him because he was very ill. And Mrs. Ashcroft reported that a call had come through, and that as a result of that call Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales were on their way to the hospital to see Mr. Ashcroft.

  SCHUMER: Do you have any idea who that call was from?

  COMEY: I have some recollection that the call was from the president himself, but I don’t know that for sure. It came from the White House. And it came through and the call was taken in the hospital.

  So I hung up the phone, immediately called my chief of staff, told him to get as many of my people as possible to the hospital immediately. I hung up, called Director Mueller and — with whom I’d been discussing this particular matter and had been a great help to me over that week — and told him what was happening. He said, “I’ll meet you at the hospital right now.”

  Told my security detail that I needed to get to George Washington Hospital immediately. They turned on the emergency equipment and drove very quickly to the hospital. I got out of the car and ran up — literally ran up the stairs with my security detail.

  SCHUMER: What was your concern? You were in obviously a huge hurry.

  COMEY: I was concerned that, given how ill I knew the attorney general was, that there might be an effort to ask him to overrule me when he was in no condition to do that.

  SCHUMER: Right, OK.

  COMEY: I was worried about him, frankly. And so I raced to the hospital room, entered. And Mrs. Ashcroft was standing by the hospital bed, Mr. Ashcroft was lying down in the bed, the room was darkened. And I immediately began speaking to him, trying to orient him as to time and place, and try to see if he could focus on what was happening, and it wasn’t clear to me that he could. He seemed pretty bad off.

  SCHUMER: At that point it was you, Mrs. Ashcroft and the attorney general and maybe medical personnel in the room. No other Justice Department or government officials.

  COMEY: Just the three of us at that point. I tried to see if I could help him get oriented. As I said, it wasn’t clear that I had succeeded.

  I went out in the hallway. Spoke to Director Mueller by phone. He was on his way. I handed the phone to the head of the security detail and Director Mueller instructed the FBI agents present not to allow me to be removed from the room under any circumstances. And I went back in the room.

  I was shortly joined by the head of the Office of Legal Counsel assistant attorney general, Jack Goldsmith, and a senior staffer of mine who had worked on this matter, an associate deputy attorney general. So the three of us Justice Department people went in the room. I sat down…

  SCHUMER: Just give us the names of the two other people.

  COMEY: Jack Goldsmith, who was the assistant attorney general, and Patrick Philbin, who was associate deputy attorney general.

  I sat down in an armchair by the head of the attorney general’s bed. The two other Justice Department people stood behind me. And Mrs. Ashcroft stood by the bed holding her husband’s arm. And we waited.

  And it was only a matter of minutes that the door opened and in walked Mr. Gonzales, carrying an envelope, and Mr. Card. They came over and stood by the bed. They greeted the attorney general very briefly. And then Mr. Gonzales began to discuss why they were there — to seek his approval for a matter, and explained what the matter was — which I will not do.

  And Attorney General Ashcroft then stunned me. He lifted his head off the pillow and in very strong terms expressed his view of the matter, rich in both substance and fact, which stunned me — drawn from the hour-long meeting we’d had a week earlier — and in very strong terms expressed himself, and then laid his head back down on the pillow, seemed spent, and said to them, “But that doesn’t matter, because I’m not the attorney general.”

  SCHUMER: But he expressed his reluctance or he would not sign the statement that they — give the authorization that they had asked, is that right?

  COMEY: Yes. And as he laid back down, he said, “But that doesn’t matter, because I’m not the attorney general. There is the attorney general,” and he pointed to me, and I was just to his left. The two men did not acknowledge me. They turned and walked from the room. And within just a few moments after that, Director Mueller arrived. I told him quickly what had happened. He had a brief — a memorable brief exchange with the attorney general and then we went outside in the hallway.

  SCHUMER: OK. Now, just a few more points on that meeting. First, am I correct that it was Mr. Gonzales who did just about all of the talking, Mr. Card said very little?

  COMEY: Yes, sir.

  SCHUMER: OK. And they made it clear that there was in this envelope an authorization that they hoped Mr. Ashcroft — Attorney General Ashcroft would sign.

  COMEY: In substance. I don’t know exactly the words, but it was clear that’s what the envelope was.

  SCHUMER: And the attorney general was — what was his condition? I mean, he had — as I understand it, he had pancreatitis. He was very, very ill; in critical condition, in fact.

  COMEY: He was very ill. I don’t know how the doctors graded his condition. This was — this would have been his sixth day in intensive care. And as I said, I was shocked when I walked in the room and very concerned as I tried to get him to focus.

  SCHUMER: Right. OK. Let’s continue. What happened after Mr. Gonzales and Card left? Did you have any contact with them in the next little while?

  COMEY: While I was talking to Director Mueller, an agent came up to us and said that I had an urgent call in the command center, which was right next door. They had Attorney General Ashcroft in a hallway by himself and there was an empty room next door that was the command center. And he said it was Mr. Card wanting to speak to me.

  I took the call. And Mr. Card was very upset and demanded that I come to the White House immediately. I responded that, after the conduct I had just witnessed, I would not meet with him without a witness present.

  He replied, “What conduct? We were just there to wish him well.”

  And I said again, “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet with you without a witness. And I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States.”

  SCHUMER: Let me ask you this: So in sum, it was your belief that Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Card were trying to take advantage of an ill and maybe disoriented man to try and get him to do something that many, at least in the Justice Department, thought was against the law? Was that a correct summation?

  COMEY: I was concerned that this was an effort to do an end-run around the acting attorney general and to get a very sick man to approve something that the Department of Justice had already concluded — the department as a whole — was unable to be certified as to its legality. And that was my concern.

  (Emphasis added.)

  Robert S. Mueller, Director of the FBI, arrived at Ashcroft’s hospital room moments after Gonzalez left. In notes memorializing his observations of Ashcroft, Mueller described Ashcroft as “feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed.”

  Mr. Ashcroft himself confirms Mr. Comey’s observation that Mr. Ashcroft was ‘a very sick man’ and Mr. Mueller’s observation that Mr. Ashcroft was ‘feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed.’ In Never Again – Securing America and Restoring Justice, former Attorney General John Ashcroft described his stay in the hospital and the subsequent period of recuperation in this manner (emphasis supplied):

  They tubed me up with intravenous lines so they could shut down my pancreas and digestive system. … I felt weak and emaciated, but my doctors assured me that when they got me patched up, [i.e., removed his gall bladder,] over time, I’d be close to good as new.

  The doctors kept me in intensive care, lying on my back for almost ten full days, pumping me full of antibiotics and morphine. They then sent me home, where I needed another three (3) weeks to recuperate. Following my bout with acute pancreatitus and the necessary surgery, I returned to work in the early spring of 2004. I had relinquished my official responsibilities as attorney general during my stay in the hospital and through the recuperation. I was in no position to exercise judgment or to make decisions on behalf of the United States Government.

  John Ashcroft, Never Again – Securing America and Restoring Justice, p.235.

  Clearly, Mr. Comey’s statement that he was concerned that Mr. Gonzales was trying ‘to do an end-run around the acting attorney general and to get a very sick man to approve something that the Department of Justice had already concluded — the department as a whole — was unable to be certified as to its legality’ is supported by the facts. Mr. Gonzales’ explanation, however, does not.

  In explaining his conduct, Gonzales testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 24, 2007 that he went to the Ashcroft’s hospital at the behest of the “Gang of Eight” bipartisan congressional leaders who, according to Gonzales, had demanded that the program continue. Former Senator Tom Daschle, a member of the Gang of Eight, however, states that:

  I have no recollection of such a meeting and believe that it didn’t occur. I am quite certain that at no time did we encourage the AG or anyone else to take such actions. This appears to be another attempt to rewrite history just as they have attempted to do with the war resolution.

  Additionally, Gonzales’ testimony was further contradicted by other members of the Gang of Eight:

  Rep. Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), who were briefed on the program at the time, said there was no consensus that it should proceed. Three others who were at the meeting also said the legal underpinnings of the program were never discussed.

  “He once again is making something up to protect himself,” Rockefeller said of the embattled attorney general.

  Ashcroft undergoes successful gall bladder removal, doctor says, USA Today, March 9, 2004

  White House pressed Ashcroft on wiretaps , USA Today, May 15, 2007

  Gonzales slammed for visiting hospitalized Ashcroft on wiretapping, USA Today, May 15, 2007

  Transcript of testimony of Deputy Attorney General James Comey to Senate Judiciary Committee , Salon.com, May 15, 2007

  In sickbed showdown, principle trumps power , USA Today, May 16, 2007

  Senators renew call for Gonzales’ resignation, USA Today, May 16, 2007

  Leahy asks Gonzales to clarify testimony, USA Today, July 18, 2007

  Attorney General faces new questions, USA Today, July 19, 2007

  Daschle: Gonzales Trying to “Rewrite History” by Blaming Congress for Ashcroft Spying Crisis, TPMMuckraker, July 24, 2007

  Pelosi: I Objected to Spying When Comey Did, TPMMuckraker, July 24, 2007

  Gonzales, Senators Spar on Credibility, Dan Eggen and Paul Kane. July 25, 2007

  FBI chief’s notes detail Ashcroft visit, USA Today, August 16, 2007

  Special Gonzales Top 10 (video), Talking Points Memo, August 28, 2007

  Rules Violated:
  Rule 3.04 Fairness in Adjudicatory Proceedings
  Rule 3.05 Maintaining Impartiality of Tribunal
  Rule 3.10 Advocate in Nonadjudicative Proceedings
  Rule 8.04 Misconduct
14. GrievanceProject July 31st, 2009 at 2:36 pm «

    I’ve still received no response from any of the TTU faculty I emailed but I did have another visitor (a faculty member?) from Texas Tech:

    su240.dhcp.ttu.edu (Texas Tech University)

    Texas, Lubbock, United States, 0 returning visit

    Date Time WebPage
    July 31st 2009 02:26:16 PM No referring link grievanceproject.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/texas-tech-faculty-object-to-the-hiring-of-professor-alberto-gonzales/