'Get Me the Oxygen Can' (Carol Lam firing in e-mails)

[XXXMADAM]

Source: Voice of San Diego

When the White House press office was informed in late 2006 about the Justice Department's plan to fire former U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, President Bush's press team was worried about the potential perception of a connection to Lam's bribery prosecution of former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

That issue has been one of the overarching questions about Lam's dismissal: Was there a reason for her firing besides concerns about her immigration enforcement? Or did the Republican administration get rid of her because she had prosecuted a corrupt Republican congressman?

No direct evidence of that has turned up. But Dana Perino, a former spokeswoman for President Bush, knew it would be an issue.

When told of the plan to fire multiple U.S. attorneys, Perino wrote in an e-mail: "Get me the oxygen can!!"

Jeanie Mamo, another White House press officer, responded: "Issues in the press for which Dana will need the oxygen can: Carol Lam prosecuted Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham."

Perino responded: "Give me a double shot -- I can't breathe."

That e-mail exchange is among hundreds of once-secret documents that the House Judiciary Committee released earlier this week.

Told about Perino's concern, William Kelley, then the White House's deputy counsel, responded in an e-mail: "The appearance concern is real, of course, but there is obviously no connection."

Karl Rove, the Bush aide, offered similar testimony July 13, 2009. The White House needed to be prepared to explain Lam's dismissal because:

"There was a broader issue of, explain why we did it. ... Because if you don't explain, this is the kind of stuff that pops up. And if this is all they've got to hang their hat on, you know, Carol Lam, you won't tell us why, but she prosecuted Duke Cunningham and sent him away, you know, if you don't explain why, that is all that is left. ... ou had to explain why, otherwise people were able to fill in the blanks themselves".

-- ROB DAVIS

Read more: http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2009/08/13/this_just_in/765cunningham081309.txt

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It was when Lam went after CIA KYLE FOGGO that caused her to be fired, they didn't give a hoot about Duke Cunningham rotting in prison. This article in itself leads to deceive.

CIA Foggo got wind of the sealed indictment, he and DC madam Palfrey flew out of the country, Lam was fired, Foggo gets her files which names names. Nancy Pelosi wades into the swamp, dismisses all but 1 minor offense, Foggo has his trial moved to CIA land Virginia where he lands a soft prison sentence. Palfrey didn't receive such favortism, she ... ran out of oxygen.

xxx

[juno jones]

1. The DC Madam turns up again...

...along with an interesting cast of characters. Is it RICO yet?

K&R!

[MadMaddie]

2. These people are too stupid and unprofessional to have held

the jobs that they did.

I hope that enough evidence is found to prosecute.

[QUALAR]

3. MONEY TRAIL

Lam was probably fired because she was following the money trail of the $140,000.00 used to purchase Cunningham's boat. Isn't it interesting that the contractor who bribed Duke got a retainer from Cheney's office for $140,000.00 just before he bought the boat? Also, he was issued a large no-bid contract to screen Cheney's mail for anthrax without any previous government dealings. Should have varied the amount of money at least.

[cascadiance]

4. Another one I think she was prevented from prosecuting was Duncan Hunter...

I recall talking to John Rinaldi, Hunter's Democratic challenger right before the 2006 election, and he told me he had information from insiders (implying Carol Lam's office I believe), that they were going to indict Hunter, but were going to wait until after the election, becaus they wanted to have a special election to run for his replacement, rather than "vacate" the seat or have him run as an indicted incumbent and lose it to the Dems right before the election. It was of course right after that election that Carol Lam got fired in December. I think at that point, she probably dropped longer term plans to indict Hunter, and instead focused on getting the indictments ready for Wilkes, Foggo, and Michael, which she issued shortly before leaving office in February near Valentine's Day.

In addition to being likely tied to the many bad goings on that Duke Cunningham was being prosecuted for, Hunter was also in trouble for how he handled his insurance claim on his burned down house versus what he had it's value assessed by the city.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20061008-9999-1n8duncan.html

Also later after Lam had left, Hunter's dirty tracks were shown in how he influenced this sorry deal for the financially troubled city of San Diego..

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070303/news_lz1n3mcmillin.html

WATCHDOG REPORT | WHO PROFITS FROM LIBERTY STATION
Boom for McMillin, bust for city

By Brooke Williams,
Agustin Armendariz
and Maureen Magee
STAFF WRITERS

March 3, 2007


JOHN GASTALDO / Union-Tribune
A public-private project at the old Navy boot camp produced a new San Diego community. The housing is finished.

Nearly seven years ago, San Diego turned over 235 acres in Point Loma to The Corky McMillin Cos. in exchange for a split of profits and the commitment to transform an old Navy boot camp into a new community.

Homes, shops, schools, a 46-acre park and the start of an arts district have sprouted at the former Naval Training Center, but the city doesn't expect to see a dime from a 50-50 split the late Corky McMillin promised.

...

Corky McMillin emphasized his personal relationships.

“I have made a career out of being very well-connected with the local representatives in Washington, D.C.,” he told council members. “It's going to be relatively simple to get that through the process.”

McMillin didn't mention that his company's vice president of acquisitions was James Hunter, whose brother, local Rep. Duncan Hunter, had co-authored a letter to council members several weeks earlier, urging them to keep McMillin Cos. in the running for the NTC project. Hunter and two other congressmen sent the letter on the same day the city was poised to begin exclusive negotiations with Lennar.

Duncan Hunter, who was chairman of the military procurement subcommittee, helped to draft the bill that carried the no-cost provision for military land. The legislation was controversial because the Defense Department stood to make billions of dollars selling surplus land. It opened a window of time during which San Diego and 20 other municipalities got land for free from the Navy.

...

Home buyer lottery

Five McMillin executives, employees and their families were among the first 55 home buyers at Liberty Station, even though a lottery was used to avoid a camp-out and to ensure that all had a fair chance. Three were among the first 10.

The fourth buyer was James Hunter, McMillin's executive vice president of land acquisitions and brother of the congressman. He and his wife, Jan, bought a three-bedroom house in May 2003.

The Hunters took out a $150,000 mortgage from McMillin Real Estate & Mortgage Co. on the $715,500 property. Of 80 houses, his house was thecheapest. The Hunters rent out the house for $3,100 a month and live near Rep. Duncan Hunter in Alpine.

Jan Hunter said they paid full market value for the house and participated in the lottery.

...

I still suspect that one reason he announced to run for president around that time was in effect a virtual "google bomb" to get more news stories flooding the net on his presidential campaign, to drown out any other bad news articles that might come out like those above in the subsequent months, in case those in the prosecutors' office still wanted to go after him.

And when I called and left a message on Henry Waxman's Government Oversight Committee's office voicemail on this potential source of information they should look into (I'd earlier told them about the article of Carol Lam getting fired the very morning it first came out, which they got back to me on), I have a strong suspicion that someone might have broken into my house...

It would be interesting to see if there are any mentions of Duncan Hunter in these many emails, especially those relating to Carol Lam...

And of course Duncan Hunter conveniently retired from his slot and left it to his son, Duncan Hunter Junior, to take over his seat rather conveniently...

[cascadiance]

5. Also check out news out today that Foggo and Wilkes rumored to help build secret prisons...

Rachel Maddow talked a little on this tonight too. Don't know if Carol Lam was onto this news as well at the time, but it should be looked into, to see if it was neglected after she left office.

From:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09225/990604-84.stm

CIA player in secret jails jailed himself
Thursday, August 13, 2009
By David Johnston and Mark Mazzetti, The New York Times

WASHINGTON -- In March 2003, two CIA officials surprised Kyle D. Foggo, then chief of the agency's main European supply base, with an unusual request. They wanted his help building secret prisons to hold some of the world's most threatening terrorists.

Mr. Foggo, nicknamed Dusty, was known inside the agency as a cigar-waving, bourbon-drinking operator who could get a cargo plane flying anywhere in the world or quickly obtain weapons, food, money -- whatever the CIA needed. His unit in Frankfurt was strained by the spy agency's operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but Mr. Foggo agreed to the assignment.

With that, he went on to oversee construction of three detention centers, each built to house about a half-dozen detainees, said former intelligence officials and others briefed on the matter.

One jail was a renovated building on a busy street in Bucharest, Romania, the officials disclosed. Another was a steel-beam structure at a remote site in Morocco, apparently never used. The third, another remodeling project, was outside another former Eastern bloc city. They were designed to appear identical, so prisoners would be disoriented and not know where they were if they were shuttled back and forth. They were kept in isolated cells.

...

[Javaman]

6. perino has been short of oxygen for a long time. nt