I find it amusing that they’re trying to scare baseball player Chuck Knoblauch into testifying before Congress about steroid abuse by invoking Contempt of Congress.
Knoblauch, one of five invitees to the depositions that precede the Feb. 13 hearing on steroids in baseball before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, let last Friday’s deadline pass without notifying the committee if he would attend the deposition.
“We have not heard from Knoblauch or a lawyer representing him (and) we do not have any information on whether Knoblauch has retained an attorney,” committee spokeswoman Karen Lightfoot told the Daily News. Knoblauch will now be served with a subpoena by U.S. Marshals, likely starting Wednesday, with the new deposition date scheduled for Tuesday. The four-time All-Star, who resides in Houston, was originally to be deposed Thursday morning in Washington.
“We have tried different addresses (in Houston) and have not heard back,” said Lightfoot. “The (U.S.) Marshals (in the Houston area) will attempt to find him.”
The caption to an accompanying photograph reads:
If Chuck Knoblauch fails to comply with the subpoena, he could face contempt of Congress charges.
At this point, the Bush administration has consistently refused to let anyone connected to the White House by three degrees of separation or less testify before Congress. And congressional committee after congressional committee has shown that the best they can do is go “Please?” followed by “Pretty please?” followed by “Don’t make me say please again!” followed by “You’ve done it now! I promise I’ll threaten to ask for a resolution that authorizes a contempt vote!”
In case you’re thinking that congressional committee toothlessness is reserved for those who are under the magic protection of the White House, experts don’t exactly seem to subscribe to that point of view:
If Knoblauch fails to comply with the subpoena, he could face contempt of Congress charges, according to former U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang. “You can be held in contempt, but they rarely go forward with it, because apparently it takes an extra act of Congress,” said Wong Yang, who was the U.S. Attorney in the Central District of California before becoming a partner at the L.A. firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher.
So as of now, the only rational attitude for anyone who has been paying attention is to have contempt for the whole notion of Contempt of Congress. And this too George Bush hath wrought.
*** Update, 5:10 pm ***
A timely perfect confirmation of what I said this morning:
House Democrats will postpone votes on criminal contempt citations against White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, while congressional leaders work with President Bush on a bipartisan stimulus package to fend off an economic downturn, according to party leaders and leadership aides.
Senior Democrats have decided that holding a controversial vote on the contempt citations, which have already been approved by the House Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, would “step on their message†of bipartisan unity in the midst of the stimulus package talks.
It’s truly wonderful to see how many different reasons “senior Democrats” can come up with over time for not actually voting to find contemptuous people in contempt.