Thomas Perez
Republicans are rolling out quite the campaign against Thomas Perez, President Obama's nominee for labor secretary. In the Senate, where they actually vote on nominations, Republicans
delayed a committee hearing set for last week; today, miracle of miracles, Perez
got a committee vote and his nomination is headed to the full Senate. Meanwhile, in the House, which doesn't even vote on nominations, Republicans took the opportunity of Wednesday's Judiciary Committee hearing with Attorney General Eric Holder to blast Perez repeatedly.
Committee Chair Bob Goodlatte lashed into Perez in his opening statement, claiming that "investigators from this committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee have uncovered conclusive evidence that Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez against the strong recommendations of career attorneys struck a secret deal with the city of Saint Paul in order to block the Supreme Court." This is a funny claim since Perez actually consulted with everyone and their mother on that case, and the senior career attorney with the most expertise on the subject had participated in overruling the lower-level career attorneys whose recommendations Goodlatte refers to. (Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler made this point later in the hearing.)
Then Rep. Darrell Issa got going on the same subject, in typical Issa fashion:
Mislead, mischaracterize, mislead some more, attack. By framing his questions in a way that did not allow for a simple yes or no answer—at least not a truthful yes or no—Issa worked to make Holder look evasive for attempting to answer truthfully. But amidst all of Issa's "OMG the case didn't go to the Supreme Court," Holder had this to say:
We do not become involved in qui tam cases 80 percent of the time.
But, you know, SCANDAL. Anything to make an Obama nominee—and not just any Obama nominee, but one tasked with guarding the rights of working people—seem scary. Republicans might want to
watch themselves, though, because other people are:
“The Hispanic community is watching this closely, and it will be noted if there is an effort to block Tom’s nomination,” said National Council of La Raza President and CEO Janet Murguia. “It’s just not helpful for Republicans to be seen as taking down what is seen as a qualified candidate.”
Yeah, well, Republicans do a lot of things that aren't helpful. To their image with Latino voters or to the country. But their base loves it.