Justice Dept. discriminated against lesbian, other candidates
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
© 2008 Philadelphia Gay News

A Department of Justice report released July 28 found that several DOJ employees engaged in misconduct by making employment decisions based on applicants’ political views.

The report stated that DOJ aide Monica Goodling and others questioned potential prosecutors and immigration judges during job interviews about their stance on such issues as abortion and same-sex marriage, and chose to hire candidates who were Republicans or held conservative political views.

The report found that Goodling’s actions placed her in violation of the federal civil-service law that prohibits political and ideological factors from coming into play in hiring or firing decisions.

Goodling graduated from Messiah College in 1995 and Regent University Law School, which was founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, in 1999. Goodling was appointed by the Bush administration to the DOJ’s press office in 2001. The following year, Goodling moved to the attorney general’s office as a liaison to the White House.

In March 2006, then-Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzalez issued an executive order expanding Goodling’s power to appoint and dismiss DOJ employees.

Before releasing the report, the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Professional Responsibility launched a joint investigation, interviewing 85 witnesses and obtaining documents and computer hard drives. In May 2007, Goodling admitted to the House Judiciary Committee that she had “crossed the line” in questioning some of the job applicants.

The report also stated that Goodling denied former Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Hagen a position at the DOJ because of Hagen’s sexual orientation.

In 2005, Hagen was recruited for a “detailed,” or temporary, position as a liaison between the DOJ and the U.S. Attorney’s committee on Native American Criminal Justice Issues.

Dan Villegas, Hagen’s supervisor for the detail, offered to extend the position in the summer of 2006, a proposal that Goodling rejected despite Hagen’s 2006 performance appraisal that “rated her performance as ‘outstanding’ on all performance elements.”

John Nowacki, deputy director for the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, told investigators that he met with Goodling to discuss Hagen’s employment and walked away from the meeting “with the sense that her personal views on homosexuality probably played a role in Goodling’s decision not to extend [Hagen’s] detail.”

Goodling also allegedly attempted to block Hagen’s applications for two other positions with the department, although Assistant Attorney Gen. Regina Schofield overrode Goodling’s proposition and hired Hagen in the DOJ’s Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking.

The report asserted that a number of Goodling’s subordinates told investigators that Goodling informed them that Hagen had been involved in a “homosexual relationship” with her supervisor and that the couple inappropriately used government traveling allowances.

The report states that Hagen denied having a sexual relationship with her supervisor; although the report does not name the superior, at the time of Goodling’s allegations Hagen was working for former U.S. Attorney Margaret Chiara of Michigan.

Chiara, along with seven other U.S. attorneys, were fired in 2006, which spurred the investigation into the DOJ’s employment practices.

Goodling, along with Gonzales; his chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson; and several other high-ranking officials, resigned from the department last year.

Gonzales’ position was filled by Michael Mukasey, who has been commended by LGBT-rights activists for reversing Gonzalez’s and former U.S. Attorney Gen. John Ashcroft’s ban on DOJ Pride’s — the department’s LGBT group — use of department property for organizational meetings and events.

Mukasey said he was “disturbed” by the report, but assured the public that the department is headed in a new direction.

“It is neither permissible nor acceptable to consider political affiliations in the hiring of career department employees. It is crucial that the American people have confidence in the propriety of what we do and how we do it.”

Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.com.