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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 Parsky hamstrings Simon campaign Parsky Watch #12 June 8, 2002 E-MAIL, LIES AND GERRY PARSKY We’re sure most of you have received Gerry Parsky anti-Parsky Watch e-mail a couple of days, touting his “successful” trip to Washington to meet with the RNC. Once you peel away the spin and happy talk, however, a revealing fact emerges. When Parsky misleadingly speaks of the RNC “doing its part to help the Simon for Governor campaign reach full funding,” what’s really happening is the RNC will send its funds to an account controlled by Parsky – not the Simon campaign -- giving our friend yet another opportunity to hamstring Bill Simon. As usual, Gerry Parsky’s exertions are not about Bill Simon, but directed at solidifying his hold on the California Republican Party. Once again, it’s all about Gerry. PARSKY SUED – PART DEUX In case you missed it, coverage of the United States Justice Foundation’s lawsuit against the Parsky Commission, charging it violates the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA): ----------------------------------------------------------- CALIFORNIA'S JUDGE SELECTION TARGET OF CONSERVATIVE SUIT Ralph Z. Hallow THE WASHINGTON TIMES ----------------------------------------------------------- The United States Justice Foundation is suing California's two Democratic senators and President Bush's point man there for their role in selecting federal judges. Gary Kreep, president of the conservative-oriented public interest foundation, said the group opposes the use of a bipartisan commission to recommend candidates for federal judgeships to Mr. Bush. The suit being filed today in Los Angeles federal district court seeks to keep the commission from holding secret meetings to vote on candidates in violation of a federal sunshine act. Republican investor Gerald L. Parsky and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer are named in the suit. Under an agreement with the White House, the two senators and Mr. Parsky submit a list of acceptable nominees to Mr. Bush. The list is generated by four regional bipartisan subcommittees of six members. The two senators appoint a total of 12 Democrats to pre-selection committees and Mr. Parsky selects 12 Republicans. Defenders of the deal say it gives the two Democratic senators a say in the federal judicial selection process and therefore an incentive not to block President Bush's nominees to the federal bench. But critics say the deal, dubbed the "Parsky Commission," in effect gives Mrs. Boxer and Mrs. Feinstein veto power over which candidates for federal district judgeships may be forwarded to Mr. Bush. The president chooses from the commission's list of nominees to be sent to the Democrat-controlled Senate for approval or rejection. Mr. Bush, White House chief political strategist Karl Rove and White House Counsel Al Gonzales all signed off on the year-old arrangement. Mr. Kreep's foundation is bringing the legal action on behalf of Patrick Manshardt, a civil rights attorney affiliated with conservative activist David Horowitz's Individual Rights Foundation. Mr. Manshardt said he is "filing this action under the Federal Advisory Committee Act and Article II of the United States Constitution, because the process of nominating judicial nominees should be an open, not a secret process. "The president should be permitted to appoint judges of his choosing, and members of the Senate who oppose his nominees should do so publicly, instead of having the opportunity to kill those nominations in quiet, which is the current process permitted by the Parsky Commission," Mr Manshardt said. The suit has the support of House Republicans who oppose the Parsky Commission. "The Parsky Commission is not working," said Rep. John T. Doolittle, California Republican. "I oppose it because it excludes House Republicans from our traditional role of having the whole responsibility of advising the president on judicial appointments when there is no Republican U.S. senator or governor." But Rep. David Dreier, a California Republican who is chairman of the House Rules Committee, said he has forwarded to the Parsky committees the names of judicial candidates favored by the state party's delegation in the House. He also said Mr. Parsky has forwarded these names to the bipartisan selection committees that then interviewed the candidates. "I am a strong supporter of the administration and of Jerry Parsky's commission," Mr Drier said. Liberal voices have spoken approvingly of the arrangement. "The Parsky commission does seem to be working in California," said Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way. The Los Angeles Times praised the bipartisan committee in a May 23 editorial, in which the paper also expressed disappointment that the White House is not extending the idea to other states that have two Democratic senators and a Democrat for governor. "The idea behind it was a good one: to identify qualified and moderate candidates for the bench whom the president could nominate and whom both parties would vote to confirm," the paper said. "The committee has worked well; the first nominees it put forward were confirmed in less than three months, a record for the Senate." Mr. Kreep said from what he has heard about the selection process and the people who pass on the candidates, any candidate who admits to being pro-life is out of luck. "That means that candidates who agree with President Bush's views need not apply to be a federal judge in California," Mr. Kreep said.