« Kingman, Barstow, San Bernadino... | Main | How Idaho's Senator is screwing Northwest salmon »

December 02, 2005

The "bring ethics back to Washington" crowd to be investigated again

Another GOP ethics probe.....

Lead Gov't Tobacco Lawyer Quits

The lead trial lawyer in the government's landmark lawsuit against the tobacco industry, including three North Carolina-based companies, has quit the case and left the Justice Department. The move comes at a particularly sensitive time when the companies and the department could still negotiate a settlement.

Sharon Eubanks, who had aggressively pursued the racketeering case against the tobacco industry, was withdrawing effective Thursday, the government said in a one-sentence filing in U.S. District Court.

Eubanks said her supervisors' failure to support her work on the tobacco case influenced her decision to retire after 22 years with the department.

Her withdrawal follows a stunning reversal in June in which the Justice Department disregarded the recommendations of its own witness, Dr. Michael Fiore, and reduced the amount it was demanding from the tobacco industry for smoking cessation programs to $10 billion. Fiore had proposed $130 billion.

After strong criticism from Democrats, the department is investigating whether political appointees inappropriately pressured the trial team to slash the proposed penalty against the companies.

"The political appointees to whom I report made this an easy decision," Eubanks told The Washington Post. She said her work on the tobacco case has been professionally rewarding but her politically appointed bosses "have been somewhat less than supportive of the team's efforts," the newspaper reported on Thursday.

Big tobacco has been a major influence in Republican politics and policy for decades. They haven't written all those big checks to GOP politicos all these years without expecting something in return. The Republicans aren't exactly sympathetic to reigning in corporate largesse and corruption with any company. Once again however, they demonstrate that ethics just aren't that big of a deal to them.

Especially when it concerns companies that have feathered their nests for so many years.

Posted by Carla at December 2, 2005 07:36 AM