A pizza party scheduled for today by Attorney General-turned-consultant John Ashcroft for some of his old political appointees has "raised eyebrows" at the Justice Department's ethics office, according to this week's US News & World Report. The ethics office didn't block anyone from attending the luncheon, but "advised invitees to consider the appearance of attending such an event," a Justice Department spokesman told US News.
The BLT is curious about the Justice Department's ethics office. After all, as Legal Times reported last month the same office gave the Justice Department's top environmental prosecutor the okay to buy a $980,000 condo with a top lobbyist for oil-heavyweight ConocoPhillips. And top Justice Department officials were apparently in the dark about the same official's years' old romantic relationship with a coal and energy lobbyist.
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