Ex-DOJ Official: Hiring Claims Most Serious

The Justice Department would suffer a severe blow if accusations are proven true that aide Monica M. Goodling used political loyalty as a basis for screening job applicants, according to a former deputy attorney general.

James Comey told the House Judiciary Committee yesterday that only one of eight ousted U.S. attorneys deserved to be fired, and that was because of management problems in his office.

Comey’s departure from the department in 2005 was a turning point, according to the New York Times, because the experienced prosecutor was replaced by more ideological lawyers.

Accusations against Goodling are “in my view, the most serious thing I have heard come up in this entire controversy,” he told the committee.