A report from the Justice Department finds that Monica Goodling, a Senior Aide to former United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales introduced politics into the selection process for hiring and promoting within the agency. Well, slap us silly and call us bosom schmuzer—we never saw that coming.

The report, prepared by the Justice Department’s inspector general and its internal ethics office, singles out for particular criticism Monica Goodling, [Ed: Pictured at right. The blonde. Not the brown.] a young lawyer from the Republican National Committee who rose quickly through the ranks of the department to become a top aide to Mr. Gonzales.

It seems Ms. Goodling and a handful of other senior aides to Mr. Gonzales used in-person interviews and the Internet to determine whether job candidates were “too liberal” or whether they might be pro-Republican and supportive of President Bush.

So that’s what that “I’m Not A Log Cabin Republican, But My Boyfriend Is” Facebook app is all about.

[In one] case cited by the inspector general, Ms. Goodling blocked the hiring of an experienced prosecutor for a senior counter-terrorism position because his wife was active in Democratic politics. The candidate was regarded as “head and shoulders above the other candidates” in the view of officials in the executive office of United States attorneys, but they were forced to take a candidate with much less experience because he was deemed acceptable to Ms. Goodling.

Gonzales, of course, went on record with the inspector general saying he was totally ignorant. No argument here.

Gonzales Aides Broke Laws in Hiring, Report Concludes [New York Times]

Alberto Gonzales coverage on Guanabee