Putting an individual face on "gangster government."

Meet Thomas J. Perelli, Associate Attorney General of the United States.

Every administration, it seems, has its cover-up guy. In the Clinton Justice Department it was, in order, Webb Hubbell, Jamie Gorelick (after Hubbell had to resign and went to prison) and finally, Eric Holder.

We now have a name to put on the Obama cover-up guy at Justice, representing the latest human face of what Michael Barone has called "gangster government."

Remember these guys?

Jerry Seper of the Washington Times does, here:

EXCLUSIVE: No. 3 at Justice OK'd Panther reversal

Case involved polling place in Philadelphia

By Jerry Seper
Thursday, July 30, 2009

Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official in the Obama Justice Department, was consulted and ultimately approved a decision in May to reverse course and drop a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters in Philadelphia during November's election, according to interviews.

The department's career lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who pursued the complaint for five months had recommended that Justice seek sanctions against the party and three of its members after the government had already won a default judgment in federal court against the men.

Front-line lawyers were in the final stages of completing that work when they were unexpectedly told by their superiors in late April to seek a delay after a meeting between political appointees and career supervisors, according to federal records and interviews.

The delay was ordered by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after she discussed with Mr. Perrelli concerns about the case during one of their regular review meetings, according to the interviews.

Ms. King, a career senior executive service official, had been named by President Obama in January to temporarily fill the vacant political position of assistant attorney general for civil rights while a permanent choice could be made.

She and other career supervisors ultimately recommended dropping the case against two of the men and the party and seeking a restraining order against the one man who wielded a nightstick at the Philadelphia polling place. Mr. Perrelli approved that plan, officials said.

So, what do we know about Herr Perrelli, the guy who makes Obama's cover-up trains run on time?

Well, WhoRunsGov.com tells us here, and please note that this puke was first a Clinton man, then a Bush appointee before he became an Obama AAG.

Thomas J. Perrelli

Current Position: Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department (since March 2009)

Boss: Deputy Attorney General David Ogden

Why He Matters

Perrelli has worked under Barack Obama before, when the two of them were running the Harvard Law Review together. Now, Perrelli is back under Obama as the No. 3 person in the Department of Justice.

Perrelli is serving his second stint in the Justice Department, this time as associate attorney general (AAG). He will advise Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General-designate David Ogden. The AAG supervises the civil, civil rights, antitrust, tax and environment divisions of Justice.Department of Justice Manual(1)Department of Justice Manual

Perrelli is one of the top antitrust and copyright attorneys in the country. Other than his four years in the Justice Department under President Bill Clinton, Perrelli has spent his entire professional career at the Washington D.C. law firm of Jenner & Block. He started the firm’s entertainment law division and, in 2005, became the managing partner of Jenner & Block’s D.C. office. Perrelli was also named by the National Law Journal as one of the top 40 lawyers under 40 years old in 2005

In addition to litigating prominent copyright law cases to the Supreme Court, Perrelli represented Michael Schiavo from 2003 to 2005, the husband of Terri Schiavo. He fought for and eventually won Michael’s right to decide the fate of his ailing wife. Perrelli’s involvement in the case opened him up to criticism from “pro-life” advocacy groups who were disappointed with his nomination to Obama’s Justice Department.

Perrelli has known Obama since their days at Harvard Law School, and he served directly under Obama as managing editor of the Harvard Law Review when Obama was president. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Perrelli was one of Obama’s biggest fundraisers, bundling more than $500,000.

Path to Power

Perrelli was born on March 12, 1966, in Falls Church, Va. His father, Thomas N. Perrelli, had moved to the Washington area in 1961 to work for Atlantic Research Corp. as a computer engineer, but in 1972, he began a career in civil service that would span three decades. The older Perrelli started at the Food and Drug Administration and then took a job with the Immigration and Naturalization Service. He spent 25 years as comptroller, budget director and eventually director of the office that works with airlines to prevent people from illegally entering the country

The younger Perrelli was honored in high school as the second-best Latin scholar in the country.Suave, Frances, He went to Brown University, where he studied history and then to Harvard Law School. At Harvard, he joined Law Review and was managing editor under a law student named Barack Obama. Perrelli graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991 and clerked for Royce C. Lamberth at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. In November 1992, Perrelli joined Jenner & Block LLP in Washington D.C.

In 1997, he left Jenner & Block to work at the Justice Department under Clinton Attorney General Janet Reno. He served as counsel to the attorney general for almost two years before becoming the deputy assistant attorney general for the civil division. The civil division defends agencies in the federal government in litigation, and Perrelli worked as a supervisor with the tobacco litigation team.

After the 2000 presidential election, Perrelli left the Justice Department and returned to Jenner & Block as a partner, where he stayed until 2009. He worked on a couple of high-profile cases, including the Terri Schiavo case, but mainly he developed an entertainment law practice. In 2005, he was named managing partner of the D.C. office of Jenner & Block. He was registered as a lobbyist from 2002 to 2005, though Perrelli claims that he registered only to supervise an associate who was working on behalf of Americans who were victims of the U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa. Perrelli says he didn’t take any action as a lobbyist or meet with any members of Congress.

Three months later, Obama asked him to be associate attorney general, the No. 3 spot in the department, behind Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden.

The Network

Perrelli is a part of Obama's Harvard Law School network. He was at Harvard at the same time as Obama and served as managing editor of the Harvard Law Review when Obama was editor. Perrelli was also moot court partners with Cassandra Butts, a close friend of Obama's who is now a deputy White House counsel. Perrelli was in Laurence Tribe's constitutional law class that also included Obama as well as Julius Genachowski and Michael Froman, both members of Obama's transition team. Genachowski is Obama's choice to lead the Federal Communications Commission and Froman is deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.

Perrelli worked directly under David Ogden during the Obama transition, and he will continue in that role at the Justice Department. He is married to Kristine Joy Lucius, who is chief counsel for civil justice and deputy staff director on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Campaign Contributions

Perrelli has donated nearly $20,000 since 2002, almost all of which has gone to his longtime friend Barack Obama. Perrelli donated to Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign and donated $2,000 to Obama’s Hope Fund PAC as early as February 2005.

His wife, Kristine Joy Lucius, also contributed the maximum $4,600 to Obama in 2008 and $1,000 to his 2004 Senate campaign.Center for Responsive Politics Web site(14)Center for Responsive Politics Web site Perrelli was also one of Obama’s biggest bundlers. He raised more than $500,000 for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

This is the man who has taken up Eric Holder's cover-up spot at Justice. Keep an eye on his name, it will be surfacing in most future stories on things the Obamanoids want covered up.

Mike
III