An In Depth Look at Monica Goodling
There's an in depth profile of Monica Goodling at Law.com today.
It begins with a discussion of her taking the 5th (the only smart position in my opinion) but continues in the section "Born for the Job" with connections to Mark Corallo, Barbara Comstock and the rest of the cabal.
After graduating in 1999, Goodling landed a job at the D.C. headquarters of the Republican National Committee just as the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign was ramping up. Goodling's position put her inside the newly created war room for political opposition research. There, she worked alongside a crew of party faithful who would later shepherd her through the ranks at Justice.
Among Goodling's close associates were Barbara Comstock, head of opposition research for the RNC and later the chief spokeswoman for Ashcroft; Griffin, Comstock's deputy, whom Goodling would later help to win the interim appointment to replace one of the eight ousted U.S. Attorneys in Arkansas; and Mark Corallo, who in 2003 took the helm of the Justice Department's Public Affairs Office after Comstock.
Goodling quickly won Comstock's trust for her hard work and talent for digging up information on tort litigation and judicial nominations. And when Griffin left in 2001, Goodling became Comstock's deputy. They helped prepare Ashcroft and Theodore Olson for their confirmation hearings to be attorney general and solicitor general, respectively.
When Comstock became Ashcroft's spokeswoman in 2002, she brought Goodling along as her deputy. Goodling stayed for three years. In no time, Goodling became "indispensable" to the office, says Corallo, who became Ashcroft's spokesman in 2003. "I have never known anybody that works harder or does better work than her."
She even went along on Ashcroft's traveling road shows.
More...
Goodling often traveled with Ashcroft on tours promoting neighborhood safety and the Patriot Act. Former colleagues say Ashcroft also had a particular taste for Goodling's brownies. She was meticulous and a perfectionist. She was the point person on judicial nominations, often working in the Office of Legal Policy with then-Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh, says a former colleague.
Her brownies? I wonder what was in them?
Update: More from Digby.
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