Who Wants the Financial Disclosure Records of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Edith Jones (5th Circuit) of Houston?

Read Robert Novak’s Column here to find the answer:

On May 5, the U.S. Judicial Conference in Washington received a request from a Mike Rice of Oakland, Calif., for the financial disclosure records of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Edith Jones (5th Circuit) of Houston. A 20-year veteran on the bench, Jones is a perennial possibility for the U.S. Supreme Court. The demand for her personal records is part of a major intelligence raid preceding momentous confirmation fights in the Senate.

Jones was not alone as a target, and Rice is not just a nosy citizen. He and Craig Varoga, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, are partners in a California political consulting firm. Their May 5 petition requested financial information on 30 appellate judges in all but one of the country’s judicial circuits, including nine widely mentioned Supreme Court possibilities. Varoga & Rice’s client: NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Nobody can recall any previous mass request for such disclosures by federal judges. This intelligence raid is financed by the abortion lobby, but it looks to Republicans like a front for Reid and other senators who will consider President Bush’s appointments for Supreme Court nominations. But Reid told me that he had heard nothing about this, adding: “It’s ridiculous. What do we have Senate committees for?”

Varoga, a former communications director for Reid, was national field director for Gen. Wesley Clark’s 2004 presidential campaign. While Rice bills himself as an “expert” on “state public-records laws,” his special field has been negative research probing the background of political foes. Varoga & Rice promises “public records research” that “can help you win elections, contracts and lawsuits.” But compiling financial profiles of judicial nominees plows new ground…

Guess who?

Yes….. the Pro-Abortion folks and the Senate Minority Leader.

There is nothing wrong with opposition research.

However, let this be a lesson to the Right…… these peeps are playing for keeps .