Here's how things work in Washington

Back in 2006, when Nancy Pelosi did NOT appoint Rep. Jane Harman to chair the House Intelligence Committee, I thought it was probably some personal animosity between these two powerful women. Now we know there was more to the story.

Here are excerpts from the Jeff Stein's article in CQ Politics:

Rep, Jane Harman, the California Democrat with a longtime involvement in intelligence issues, was overheard on an NSA wiretap telling a suspected Israeli agent that she would lobby the Justice Department to reduce espionage-related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the most powerful pro-Israel organization in Washington.

In exchange for Harman’s help, the sources said, the suspected Israeli agent pledged to help lobby Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., then-House minority leader, to appoint Harman chair of the Intelligence Committee after the 2006 elections, which the Democrats were heavily favored to win.

It’s true that allegations of pro-Israel lobbyists trying to help Harman get the chairmanship of the intelligence panel by lobbying and raising money for Pelosi aren’t new.

They were widely reported in 2006, along with allegations that the FBI launched an investigation of Harman that was eventually dropped for a “lack of evidence.”

What is new is that Harman is said to have been picked up on a court-approved NSA tap directed at alleged Israel covert action operations in Washington.

And that, contrary to reports that the Harman investigation was dropped for “lack of evidence,” it was Alberto R. Gonzales, President Bush’s top counsel and then attorney general, who intervened to stop the Harman probe.

Why? Because, according to three top former national security officials, Gonzales wanted Harman to be able to help defend the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, which was about break in The New York Times and engulf the White House.

And what came of it?

Harman issued a statement defending the operation and slamming the Times, saying, “I believe it essential to U.S. national security, and that its disclosure has damaged critical intelligence capabilities.”

The Justice Department did not back away from charging AIPAC officials Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman for trafficking in classified information.

Gonzales was engulfed by the NSA warrantless wiretapping scandal.

And Jane Harman was relegated to chairing a House Homeland Security subcommittee.

Is this what Obama had in mind when he said he wanted to change the way Washington works? Of course, in any system where such power is wielded, there are going to be allies and enemies and favors and reciprocation. But this comes close to blackmail, it seems to me, or at least corruption of the political process.

A powerful congresswoman, thought by many to be in line to chair the Intelligence Committee, is caught on tape plotting with spies, and then charges against her are dropped by the Attorney General because he wants her help to defend his illegal spy activities.

And here's an extra, a choice tidbit that the tape also picked up. When asked to lobby the Justice Department, Harman responded that Gonzales would be a difficult task, because he “just follows White House orders.”

Ralph