federal monitors

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said that the Justice Department’s regarding the hiring of monitors federal oversight contracts are encouraging, but he doesn’t think they go far enough.

“The Department's new policies regarding the selection and use of monitors is an overdue step to make sure that lucrative contracts are not funneled to insiders, including former political office-holders and appointees,” he said in a statement.

John Ashcroft displays copies of The Record to defend Chris Christie's corruption-busting record: Getty Images Photo
WASHINGTON -- In a combative exchange with Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA), former Attorney General John Ashcroft jumped to U.S. Attorney Chris Christie’s defense.

After Sanchez asked whether the selection process complied with the type of guidelines the Justice Department laid out yesterday, Ashcroft said that she was implying that Christie was a “law violator.”

“I really don’t believe that Mr. Christie is a law violator. His record as a prosecutor is an outstanding record,” Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft then held up two copies of Bergen Record headlines about Christie’s public corruption convictions and insinuated that there were partisan motivations behind today’s hearing.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft at a Justice Department news conference in 2003
WASHINGTON - Testifying at today, former Attorney General John Ashcroft mainly explained why he’s qualified to be a federal monitor, but had some combative words for his critics.

Ashcroft compared the type of criticism he’s faced for being assigned a lucrative federal monitor contract by U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to the political attacks he faced during his term as Attorney General. He did not single out any of his critics by name.

“As you may or may not recall there were many people who attacked me in the way that I chose to defend America from terrorists. Those assaults did not shake my commitment to protecting American lives from terrorism attacks,” he said. “Similarly, a monitor should be immune to pressure and should not allow attacks from whatever sources that contaminate the cause of justice. I will not allow external pressures to compromise my responsibilities as a monitor.”

WASHINGTON -- If the Justice Department hoped to allay Democrats’ concerns about deferred prosecution agreements by changing their guidelines yesterday, they weren’t successful.

At hearings today that were first for called by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Democrats said they weren’t satisfied with the proposed rule changes that would take some power out of the hands of U.S. Attorneys in deciding who gets assigned monitoring contracts.

Pascrell called for hearings after it was reported that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie gave an oversight contract to former Attorney General John Ashcroft worth $28-52 million.

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law will meet on Tuesday afternoon to consider whether to subpoena former Attorney General John Ashcroft regarding a contract he was given by New Jersey U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie, according to a press release just issued by the subcommittee’s chair.

U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer wants congressional hearings on deferred prosecution agreements, like the one that netted former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft a federal monitor agreement worth as much as $52 million over the next eighteen months.

“I think that’s absolutely essential.  I think this administration has played fast and loose with the public dollars,” said Hoyer.

At the request of Rep. Bill Pascrell, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers said earlier this month that he was likely to hold hearings on U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s decision to award lucrative no-bid monitor contracts to Ashcroft and others.

Rep. Frank Pallone, who has emerged as one of U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie’s harshest critics on the hiring of John Ashcroft as a federal monitor, today introduced legislation that would require clear guidelines and independent oversight for federal prosecutors entering into deferred prosecution agreements. Pallone’s proposal would require the Justice Department to ask a federal judge to approve the appointment of a monitor from a list of pre-qualified firms.

"In the absence of any guidance from the Justice Department on how to use, craft, and implement deferred prosecution agreements, legislation is desperately needed that lays out a specific framework as to when these agreements can be used," Pallone said. "My legislation establishes such guidelines to constrain the unfettered discretion that U.S. Attorneys now enjoy so the American people can be confident that their use is not being abused."