Why didn't Kerry sign his DD 180? Because he was dishonorably discharged
from the US Navy. Then when Carter let all of the pussies that ran north to
Canada come home Kerry got his discharge upgraded to honorable and all of
his decorations were reinstated.

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Gonzales: Did He Help Bush Keep His DUI Quiet?
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek

Jan. 31 issue - Senate Democrats put off a vote on White House counsel
Alberto Gonzales's nomination to be attorney general, complaining he had
provided evasive answers to questions about torture and the mistreatment
of prisoners. But Gonzales's most surprising answer may have come on a
different subject: his role in helping President Bush escape jury duty in
a drunken-driving case involving a dancer at an Austin strip club in 1996.
The judge and other lawyers in the case last week disputed a written
account of the matter provided by Gonzales to the Senate Judiciary
Committee. "It's a complete misrepresentation," said David Wahlberg,
lawyer for the dancer, about Gonzales's account.

Bush's summons to serve as a juror in the drunken-driving case was, in
retrospect, a fateful moment in his political career: by getting excused
from jury duty he was able to avoid questions that would have required him
to disclose his own 1976 arrest and conviction for driving under the
influence of alcohol (DUI) in Kennebunkport, Maine—an incident that didn't
become public until the closing days of the 2000 campaign. (Bush, who had
publicly declared his willingness to serve, had left blank on his jury
questionnaire whether he had ever been "accused" in a criminal case.)
Asked by Sen. Patrick Leahy to describe "in detail" the only court
appearance he ever made on behalf of Bush, Gonzales—who was then chief
counsel to the Texas governor—wrote that he had accompanied Bush the day
he went to court "prepared to serve on a jury." While there, Gonzales
wrote, he "observed" the defense lawyer make a motion to strike Bush from
the jury panel "to which the prosecutor did not object." Asked by the
judge whether he had "any views on this," Gonzales recalled, he said he
did not.

While Gonzales's account tracks with the official court transcript, it
leaves out a key part of what happened that day, according to Travis
County Judge David Crain. In separate interviews, Crain—along with
Wahlberg and prosecutor John Lastovica—told NEWSWEEK that, before the case
began, Gonzales asked to have an off-the-record conference in the judge's
chambers. Gonzales then asked Crain to "consider" striking Bush from the
jury, making the novel "conflict of interest" argument that the Texas
governor might one day be asked to pardon the defendant (who worked at an
Austin nightclub called Sugar's), the judge said. "He [Gonzales] raised
the issue," Crain said. Crain said he found Gonzales's argument
surprising, since it was "extremely unlikely" that a drunken-driving
conviction would ever lead to a pardon petition to Bush. But "out of
deference" to the governor, Crain said, the other lawyers went along.
Wahlberg said he agreed to make the motion striking Bush because he didn't
want the hard-line governor on his jury anyway. But there was little doubt
among the participants as to what was going on. "In public, they were
making a big show of how he was prepared to serve," said Crain. "In the
back room, they were trying to get him off."

Gonzales last week refused to waver. "Judge Gonzales has no recollection
of requesting a meeting in chambers," a senior White House official said,
adding that while Gonzales did recall that Bush's potential conflict was
"discussed," he never "requested" that Bush be excused. "His answer to the
Senate's question is accurate," the official said.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.Bus



How very wonderful.