Woo vs. Harmon - Witness Frederick Black

David C. Farmer, Successor-Trustee vs. Harmon

(Formerly Woo vs. Harmon & Nicholson vs. Harmon)

CV05-00030 DAE KSC

U.S. District Court For the District of Hawaii

Judges: David A. Ezra; Kevin S. Chang

—

DEFENDANT’S WITNESS

FREDERICK BLACK

Address to be determined.

Frederick Black is a U.S. Attorney who was targeted by the Bush administration for investigating Jack Abramoff’s lobbying activities in Guam.

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NEW DISCOVERY (05-22-08):

May 22, 2008

House subpoenas Karl Rove

By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday subpoenaed former White House top political adviser Karl Rove to testify about whether the White House improperly meddled with the Justice Department.

Accusations of politics influencing decisions at the department led to last year's resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The subpoena issued Thursday orders Rove to testify before the House panel on July 10. He is expected to face questions about the White House's role in firing nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, a Democrat.

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers had negotiated with Rove's attorneys for more than a year over whether the former top aide to President Bush would testify voluntarily.

"It is unfortunate that Mr. Rove has failed to cooperate with our requests," Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement. "Although he does not seem the least bit hesitant to discuss these very issues weekly on cable television and in the print news media, Mr. Rove and his attorney have apparently concluded that a public hearing room would not be appropriate."

"Unfortunately, I have no choice today but to compel his testimony on these very important matters," Conyers said.

Neither Rove nor his attorney, Robert Luskin, could be immediately reached for comment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_go_co/rove_subpoena

http://judiciary.house.gov/

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NEW DISCOVERY - December 13, 2007:

December 13, 2007

Lawmakers vote to hold
Bush aides in contempt

By Thomas Ferraro, Rueters

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Thursday to hold two men who have been top aides to President George W. Bush in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in its probe of the firing of federal prosecutors.

On a largely party-line vote, the Democratic-led panel sent contempt of Congress citations against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove to the full Senate for consideration.

"This is not a step I have wanted to take," said Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat. He accused the White House of "stonewalling" and refusing to reach an acceptable compromise on providing documents and testimony.

In a battle dating back to shortly after Democrats took control of Congress in January, Bush has claimed executive privilege to protect aides from complying with subpoenas demanding documents and testimony in a congressional probe into the firing last year of nine federal prosecutors.

Setting the stage for a possible lengthy court fight, the committee rejected the privilege claim as unfounded.

At the White House, press secretary Dana Perino said, "The Democrats should know the futility of trying to press ahead with a criminal case."

In July, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee also approved along party lines contempt citations against Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers.

It was unclear when the full House or Senate would vote on the citations. If approved, they would be sent to the U.S. Justice Department for prosecution.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said during his confirmation hearing he did not believe the department could prosecute since it had deemed Bush's privilege claim as valid.

If the case does end up in the courts, it could takes years to conclude, long after Bush's term ends in January 2009.

Bush nominated Mukasey as attorney general after Alberto Gonzales, Bush's former White House counsel, resigned under pressure from lawmakers who questioned his competency and honesty.

Critics charged Gonzales had politicized the Justice Department and fired prosecutors because they were not seen as sufficiently loyal to the administration.

The White House has contended the dismissals were improperly handled, but did not involve any wrongdoing.

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NEW DISCOVERY (December 13, 2007):

February 19, 2002

Extraordinary Heroes and Scoundrels of Hawaii -
Edward Kubo Total Power Corrupts: Highest Law Enforcement Officer Real, Real Busy

By Malia Zimmerman

Edward Kubo, 48, as the state’s newly appointed United States attorney and highest law enforcement officer, has his work cut out for him.

As one of only 92 in this same position throughout the nation, reporting directly to United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, Kubo oversees in Hawaii and surrounding territories prosecution of international drug traffickers, Internet crime and child pornography, and crimes against visitors and the military. But the most complicated cases come by way of more than 40 years of one-party rule in Hawaii and political corruption that inevitably follows.

Kubo has more independence to pursue the political corruption in the state, simply because he is not tied to the party in power. He was appointed by President George W. Bush, a Republican, and that is a considerably different situation from his predecessor Steve Alm, who had every reason to go after "safe" political corruption, or corruption that did not go too close to the top.

Alm was noted more for his work on weed and seed, or cleaning up communities from drug dealers, than for busting high-profile political powers that be. That focus was rewarded well by incumbent Democrat Gov. Benjamin Cayetano who recently appointed Alm a state judge over many other qualified candidates.

But if there was ever a time for a U.S. attorney to come to the rescue, it is now. Especially with every political office up for re-election in 2002 as mandated in the state constitution. The shake-up is breeding panic amongst long-time incumbents who want to find a place to continue their career in politics, and that panic is creating a money and power grab with more momentum than ever before.

The fanatical activity building everyday in Hawaii’s political arena is keeping Kubo busy, at work 7-days-a-week. Since he took office Jan. 4, 2002, the U.S. attorney’s office has taken on several major cases involving political corruption including some of the largest cases ever taken on by federal investigators.

Take the state Legislative Auditor’s report exposing abuse of federal and state funds set aside for special needs children. The state so far has spent $1.4 billion since 1994 to meet the Felix consent decree, or educational needs of special-needs children, much that is untraceable.

Questions are arising in state’s other than Hawaii including North Carolina, where federal investigators indicted Lenore Behar, who was appointed by U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra to set up and monitor Hawaii’s Felix program. Behar was under indictment for 46 counts of stealing federal and state monies from a similar program for children in her home state. She plead guilty in December 2001 to one count.

Besides the missing money and misappropriations relating to Felix and special education, there is the investigation into Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris, who is accused of using state and federal funds to pay off contributors through city contracts and for demanding those who receive contracts pay up or lose out. The investigation, involving several city, state and federal agencies, goes right to the heart of the corruption in the Democratic Party and the way the Democratic machine is funded.

Then there is voter fraud and voting irregularities, including an absentee ballot system abused in 1998 and 2000, naturally ignored by Kubo’s predecessor. There is the 40,000-page document in the state Campaign Spending office and the state attorney general’s office documenting wide-spread campaign funding raising abuse and bribery by former Bishop Estate trustees involving many of the people still in office today.

After being under investigation himself for more than a year, including federal screenings, interviews with congress members and background checks, Kubo is ecstatic by the chance he has been given to make a difference in the place he was born, spent much of his childhood and raised his children.

He agreed to apply for the position of U.S. attorney after meeting and hearing President George W. Bush speak at the presidential inauguration in January 2001.

"I was approached by the Hawaii Bush Presidential Committee and asked if I would consider the position. Just after the inauguration, one of the best experiences in my lifetime, I agreed to seek the position. Just looking back on the inauguration and the speech the president gave, gives me goosebumps."

Kubo, the first public school graduate appointed to this position, for the last 30 years has put in considerable energy, enthusiasm and effort into his law enforcement career. After graduating from Waipahu High School and the University of Hawaii at Manoa, he attended the University of San Diego School of Law, graduating in 1979. During law school, Kubo volunteered with the San Diego Legal Aid Society and interned with the University of San Diego Legal Clinic. Returning to Hawaii in 1979, he clerked for a year with Kobayashi, Watanabe, Sugita & Kawashima Attorneys at Law.

Deciding to take a stab at prosecution, he went to work for the City & County of Honolulu Prosecutor Toga Nakagawa for three years as a deputy city prosecuting attorney. For two years, from 1983 to 1985, he took a break from the prosecutor’s office and went to work in private practice as a senior associate trial attorney with Carlsmith & Dwyer Attorneys at Law. There he specialized in contract, personal injury and insurance litigation.

Charles Marsland, the first elected city prosecutor for the City & County of Honolulu, whom Kubo had worked for before, convinced Kubo to return to the city prosecutor’s office. In addition to his caseload, Kubo worked in two other aspects of law enforcement for several hours each day. He headed for 5 years the Jury Training Unit and was an instructor for police recruit classes and police refresher courses for the Honolulu Police Academy, teaching officers about the legalities of search and seizure laws, laws of arrest, and police testimony in court....

Then, 11 years ago, in December of 1990, Kubo made a decision that would change his life forever. He agreed to take on the job of assistant U.S. attorney offered to him by the then U.S. Attorney Dan Bent.

"My father was in the military and my mother was a substitute teacher. Because of what they taught me, I always believed in the importance of serving your country."

Many of the hundreds of cases Kubo has overseen, tried or assisted with, whether for the city or federal government, have left a lasting impression on him, especially those involving domestic violence or crimes involving minors. Many of the cases he’s overseen have made lasting changes on Hawaii’s case law.

One case in 1989 involved Boy Carvalho and his wife, whom Carvalho beat to death before the couple’s two children. The mother bled to death in Castle Medical Center, running the blood bank dry of 12 gallons of fluid before she died with 44 broken bones and knee caps shot off by a shot gun. But the defense used an unusual strategy to get Carvalho off the hook, by picking men only for the jury.

"The defense attorney began knocking off all women jurors. I objected based on a prior case that said jurors cannot be excluded because of race. I took the case to the Hawaii Supreme Court on a writ (legal demand for a specific action) and the Hawaii Supreme Court was the first in the nation to rule that women could not be excluded as a class."

Other cases Kubo took on as a deputy U.S. attorney include a case in 1999, United States vs. Kaisa Tai, et. al., where Kubo was the sole prosecutor assigned to the case involving an organized group of individuals who were transporting large quantities of both crystal methamphetamine and cocaine to Hawaii from Los Angeles, with some of the drugs destined to distributors in American Samoa. After a hard fought jury trial, two were convicted and sentenced, and one was acquitted, and the case is now on appeal....

The kinds of cases Kubo will now direct his assistant U.S. attorneys to take on are in line with that of the U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft, with the first priority being identifying and preventing terrorist attacks.

"9-11 has changed the priorities of the Bush administration and the federal government – with the number one priority being terrorism. The underlying priority for us is to make people safe, but to do so in a way that is balanced and fair and keeps in mind their liberties and rights."

Kubo also will focus on preventing gun violence by tracking down people who possess or sell firearms illegally and keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals. He’ll continue to address drug trafficking and addiction, help to prevent violence against military families and their property, and assist local authorities in their efforts to prevent attacks on visitors.

"I know there has been a great deal of crimes focused on the military people here and we are stepping up the effort to protect them and their families. This is important to me, probably because of my background growing up with a father in the military."

Kubo’s upbringing, partially in Germany because his father was transferred there twice in his youth to that snowy country, was different from most of his peers. His family moved every three years, and so he transferred to various new schools, including schools in Germany, where he spent third through fifth grade and his first three years of high school.

He took care of his own family, settling down in 1979 to raise three children: Diana, 22, Dawn, 20; and Ed, 19. He became a grandfather three years ago to Alayna.

"Today I carry my background with me. Because I suffered racial slurs in Germany, I learned to be more independent. My mother taught to be compassionate, to be fair and look at both sides. And my father, a U.S. Army veteran of both the Korean and Vietnam wars, who retired as a Rank E-9 command sergeant major, taught me the importance of service to our country and getting the job done no matter what it took. These experiences and lessons are all going to help me with the tasks I’ll face in this job."

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July 9, 2007

Bush uses privilege to deny ex-aides’ testimony

White House-Congress showdown escalates
over attorney firing subpoenas

Associated Press, MSNBC

WASHINGTON - President Bush invoked executive privilege Monday to deny requests by Congress for testimony from two former aides about the firings of federal prosecutors.

The White House, however, did offer again to make former counsel Harriet Miers and one-time political director Sara Taylor available for private, off-the-record interviews.

In a letter to the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary panels, White House counsel Fred Fielding insisted that Bush was acting in good faith and refused lawmakers’ demand that the president explain the basis for invoking the privilege.

“You may be assured that the president’s assertion here comports with prior practices in similar contexts, and that it has been appropriately documented,” the letter said.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers offered a stinging response. “Contrary what the White House may believe, it is the Congress and the courts that will decide whether an invocation of executive privilege is valid, not the White House unilaterally,” the Michigan Democrat said in a statement.

The exchange Monday was the latest step in a slow-motion legal waltz between the White House and lawmakers toward eventual contempt-of-Congress citations. If neither side yields, the matter could land in federal court.

'Prejudged the question'

Fielding was responding to a 10 a.m. EDT deadline set by the Democratic chairmen, Conyers and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, for the White House to explain it’s privilege claim, prove that the president personally invoked it and provide logs of which documents were being withheld.

As expected, Fielding refused to comply. He said he was acting at Bush’s direction, and he complained that the committees had decided to enforce the subpoenas whether or not the White House complied.

“The committees have already prejudged the question, regardless of the production of any privilege log,” Fielding wrote. “In such circumstances, we will not be undertaking such a project, even as a further accommodation.”

Leahy also questioned the explanation.

“I have to wonder if the White House’s refusal to provide a detailed basis for this executive privilege claim has more to do with its inability to craft an effective one,” he said in a statement.

The privilege claim on testimony by former aides won’t necessarily prevent them from appearing under oath this week, as scheduled.

Leahy said that Taylor, Bush’s former political director, may testify as scheduled before the Senate panel on Wednesday. The House Judiciary Committee scheduled Miers’ testimony for Thursday, but it was unclear whether she would appear, according to congressional aides speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations were under way.

One of many investigations

The probe into the U.S. attorney firings was only one of several Democratic-led investigations of the White House and its use of executive power spanning the war in Iraq, Bush’s secretive wiretapping program and his commutation last week of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby’s prison sentence.

Fielding’s letter welcomed lawmakers back to town with a clear indication that relations between Congress and the White House had soured during the break.

Bush’s counsel cloaked his tough rejoinder to the Democratic committee chairmen in gentlemanly language, but his message was unequivocal: the White House won’t back down, and believes the congressional legal argument to be far weaker than its own and its attitude less appealing.

Fielding dismissed the chairmen’s attempt to “direct” the White House to provide the legal underpinning of Bush’s executive privilege claims and a detailed listing of the documents he is withholding. He said the White House already has provided its legal argument and so does not need to do so again — and won’t.

“We are aware of no authority by which a congressional committee may ‘direct’ the Executive to undertake the task of creating and providing an extensive description of every document covered by an assertion of Executive Privilege,” he wrote. Fielding suggested that asserting executive privilege on the testimony comes as a result of this impasse and the lack of good faith it demonstrates on the part of Congress.

'Good faith' assertion?

More broadly, Fielding suggested that the congressional inquiry into the entire matter of the U.S. attorneys’ dismissals has no constitutional basis, in large part because the president has sole authority to hire and fire federal prosecutors.

“Although we each speak on behalf of different branches of government, and perhaps for that reason cannot help having different perspectives on the matter, it is hoped you will agree, upon further reflection, that it is incorrect to say that the President’s assertion of executive privilege was performed without ‘good faith,’ “ Fielding’s letter said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19675580/

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August 8, 2005

Bush removal ended
Guam investigation

US attorney's demotion halted probe of lobbyist

By Walter F. Roche Jr., Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- A US grand jury in Guam opened an investigation of controversial lobbyist Jack Abramoff more than two years ago, but President Bush removed the supervising federal prosecutor, and the probe ended soon after.

The previously undisclosed Guam inquiry is separate from a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia that is investigating allegations that Abramoff bilked Indian tribes out of millions of dollars.

In Guam, a US territory in the Pacific, investigators were looking into Abramoff's secret arrangement with Superior Court officials to lobby against a court reform bill then pending in Congress. The legislation, since approved, gave the Guam Supreme Court authority over the Superior Court.

In 2002, Abramoff was retained by the Superior Court in what was an unusual arrangement for a public agency. The Los Angeles Times reported in May that Abramoff was paid with a series of $9,000 checks funneled through a Laguna Beach, Calif., lawyer to disguise the lobbyist's role working for the Guam court. No separate contract was authorized for Abramoff's work.

Guam court officials have never explained the contractual arrangement. At the time, Abramoff was a well-known lobbying figure in the Pacific islands because of his work for the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Saipan garment manufacturers, accused of employing workers in what critics called sweatshop conditions.

Abramoff spokesman Andrew Blum said the lobbyist ''has no recollection of his being investigated in Guam in 2002. If he had been aware of an investigation, he would have cooperated fully." Blum declined to respond to detailed questions.

The transactions were the target of a grand jury subpoena issued Nov. 18, 2002, according to the subpoena. It demanded that Anthony Sanchez, administrative director of the Guam Superior Court, turn over all records involving the lobbying contract, including bills and payments.

A day later, the chief prosecutor, US Attorney Frederick A. Black, who had launched the investigation, was demoted. A White House news release announced that Bush was replacing Black.

The timing caught some by surprise. Despite his officially temporary status as the acting US attorney, Black had held the assignment for more than a decade.

The acting US attorney was a controversial official in Guam. At the time he was replaced, Black was directing a long-term investigation into allegations of public corruption in the administration of then-Governor Carl Gutierrez. The probe produced numerous indictments, including some of the governor's political associates and top aides.

Black, 56, had served as acting US attorney for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands since 1991, when he was named to the post by the president's father, President George H. W. Bush.

The career prosecutor, who held a senior position as first assistant before accepting the acting US attorney job, was demoted to a staff post. Black's demotion came after an intensive lobbying effort by supporters of Gutierrez, who had been publicly critical of Black and his investigative efforts.

Black declined to comment for this article.

His replacement, Leonardo Rapadas, was confirmed in May 2003 without any debate. Rapadas had been recommended for the job by the Guam Republican Party. Fred Radewagen, a lobbyist who had been under contract to the Gutierrez administration, said he carried that recommendation to top Bush aide Karl Rove in early 2003.

After taking office, Rapadas recused himself from the public corruption case involving Gutierrez. The new US attorney was a cousin of ''one of the main targets," according to a confidential memo to Justice Department officials.

Rapadas declined to comment and referred questions about his recusal to Justice Department officials who did not respond to requests for comment.

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March 17, 2007

OUR OPINION

Renew inquiry into removal
of U.S. attorney in Guam

THE ISSUE

Two congressmen are calling for a new inquiry into the demotion in 2002 of an interim U.S. attorney in Guam.

COMPLAINTS by the former interim U.S. attorney for Guam and the Northern Marianas that he was removed because of his investigation of yet-to-be-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff were determined by the Department of Justice inspector general last year to have been unfounded. The controversy over the purge of other U.S. attorneys should prompt a new inquiry into the Guam controversy, as called for by two House committee chairmen.

Frederick A. Black had been acting U.S. attorney in Guam since his appointment to the post by the first President Bush in 1991. He was demoted Nov. 18, 2002, a day after a federal grand jury issued a subpoena seeking records involving lobbying fees paid to Abramoff by the Superior Court of Guam.

Abramoff, now serving six years in prison for public corruption, had unsuccessfully lobbied Congress against giving the Guam Supreme Court authority over the Superior Court. Abramoff received a series of $9,000 checks through a California attorney to disguise his role, according to the Los Angeles Times. Abramoff was known in the Pacific for his work for garment manufacturers accused of employing people in sweatshops.

In a report last June, the Justice Department's inspector general concluded that Black's investigation of Abramoff could not have played a role in his demotion because Black's successor, Leonardo Rapadas, already had been chosen for the post without Abramoff's knowledge. The White House had approved Rapadas for the job in March 2002, pending background checks, according to the report.

The Rapadas nomination was presented to President Bush by D. Kyle Sampson, then associate director for presidential personnel, after he had gained the approval of then-White Counsel Alberto Gonzales, according to the report. After Gonzales became attorney general, Sampson served as his chief of staff until resigning this week amid the current controversy.

Abramoff had been involved in a plan to oust Black as early as February 2002, e-mailing members of his lobbying team that Black was "a total commie" who should be "sniped out of there." Learning in early March that the White House had decided to nominate Rapadas, Abramoff told a member of his team by e-mail that they should "play it" as though their lobbying team was responsible.

In a letter to four committees planning hearings on the U.S. attorney purge, House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., and Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., include Black's demotion in their investigation of the more recent U.S. attorney firings.

The Abramoff case in Guam, Miller and Rahall asserted, "may represent the beginning of a pattern of behavior by some members of Congress and officials in the Bush administration to politicize the work of U.S. attorneys to quash their independence."

Oahu Publications, Inc. publishes
the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, MidWeek
and military newspapers

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

David Black, Dan Case, Dennis Francis,
Larry Johnson, Duane Kurisu, Warren Luke,
Colbert Matsumoto, Jeffrey Watanabe, Michael Wo

HONOLULU STAR-BULLETIN

Dennis Francis, Publisher

Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor

Frank Bridgewater, Editor
fbridgewater@starbulletin.com

Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor

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http://starbulletin.com/2007/03/17/editorial/editorial01.html

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< < < FLASHBACK < < <

August 18, 1997

Pacific island swindles

OFFICIALS of several Pacific island governments have been victimized by smooth-talking swindlers, a United Nations agency reports. The South Pacific office of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific says white-collar crime and fraud have reached epidemic proportions.

Here in Hawaii we're supposed to be more sophisticated. But it was only a few years ago that a fellow named Ronald Rewald fleeced a number of people who should have known better.

http://starbulletin.com/97/08/18/editorial/editorials.html

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From the United States Department of Justice Website: www.usdoj.gov:

MISSION STATEMENT

To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.

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Frederick Black is expected to testify regarding his business, professional, and personal relationships with Alberto Gonzales, Linda Lingle, Mark Bennett, Earl Anzai, Hugh Jones, Ralph Boyd, Jim Nicholson, James Nicholson, Jack Abramoff, Karl Rove, Henry Paulson, Tom DeLay, Richard Rainwater, James Ahloy, Aloha Petroleum, Harken Energy, Chevron-Texaco, Gale Norton, The Nature Conservancy, Faye Kurren, Judge Barry Kurren, Tesoro Petroleum, Quintana Petroleum, Helen Cullen, Michael McKenzie, Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley, Duke Cunningham, Leonard Millman, Stewart Webb, Norman Brownstein, Larry Mizel, Dan Inouye, Daniel Akaka, Mitch McConnell, Elaine Chao, John Peyton, Dubai Ports World, American International Group (AIG), John O’Neill, Scooter Libby, Bill Frist, John Ashcroft, Donald Hodel, Carol Muranaka, Curtis Ching, Gayle Lau, John Marshall, Roger Stillwell, Steven Griles, David Farmer, James Duca, Hawaiian Electric Co., Ed Kubo, and others to be named upon discovery.