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More Parsky Watch Parsky Watch - The Magazine Take the Parsky Watch IQ Test Visit the Parsky Watch Store	Back to Parsky Watch archives USJF sues Parsky committees Parsky Watch #11 June 8, 2002 WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS – PARSKY GETS SUED Gerry Parsky’s life hasn’t exactly been a picnic, lately. His Parsky Commission is under fire from nearly every quarter of responsible opinion, the state party’s political operations remain in disarray, and then the Sacramento Kings lose the Western Conference finals. What else could go wrong? He can get sued, for one. At 10:30 a.m. Friday morning, the United States Justice Foundation served a lawsuit naming Parsky and his cohorts Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein and asserting their Parsky Commission violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The plaintiff is Patrick Manshardt, a civil rights attorney who ran the Parsky Commission gauntlet as a possible U.S. Attorney and was tubed. FACA is a 1972 law requiring the operations of any committee, task force, commission, panel, etc., that has at least one member who is not a government employee, must be open to the public. This lawsuit is the inevitable result of the medieval, Star Chamber nature of how the Parsky Commission conducts its business. Commission members – none of whom are government employees -- evaluate and dispose of potential judicial nominees in “hearings” conducted in a hermetically sealed environment where they are asked completely inappropriate questions regarding their political views and religious convictions – the sort of Star Chamber proceedings even the hyper-politicized Judiciary Committee of Sen. Patrick Leahy hasn’t yet approached. Nominees found lacking – i.e. conservatives – are discarded or placed in what one commission member termed the “bubble,” a sort of living death from which their candidacy never emerges. The Parsky Commission is a bad idea whose time will never come. It has lost the confidence of White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez, members of the state’s House Republican delegation (whose role the commission usurped) and qualified potential jurists who aren’t “mainstream” enough. It is supported by our two liberal U.S. Senators, the Los Angeles Times and People for the American Way. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see it needs to be dunked in the round file of history. If you’re interested, you can peruse FACA here: http://www.epic.org/open_gov/faca.html We’ll keep you posted. UPON FURTHER REVIEW The response to our dig at the Sacramento Kings in Parsky Watch 8 was overwhelming – negative, that is. Three times as many people were offended by our negative comments about the Kings than about any of our commentary regarding Gerry Parsky. This allows us to draw the obvious conclusion that Gerry Parsky’s simultaneous wrecking of both the California Republican Party and the nomination process for federal judges in California is fair game. But going after a citizen’s sports team – well, that’s going too far and we’re the first to admit it. The Kings played, well and honorably, and its not their fault Gerry Parsky is a loud and boorish fan when visiting the other team’s arena. That said – I think most of us can agree now that it’s “Go Lakers!” WHO’S BEHIND THE PARSKY WATCH?: CAST YOUR VOTE! Dick Rosengarten, publisher and editor of the weekly political newsletter CALPEEK, is running a reader survey on the “best kept secret since Deep Throat:” who is behind Parsky Watch? Dick is asking readers to send him their nominations at calpeek@aol.com. He asks voters to “keep it short” and put “Calpeek’s Parskywatch survey” in the subject line. Please vote – we’re as interested as anybody in knowing who’s behind this thing.