Charges sought over stolen computer files

WASHINGTON — A House Democrat has called for the criminal indictment of two former aides to Sen. Orrin Hatch for raiding Democratic files through a computer used both by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans and Democrats.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said, "Stealing from a box is wrong, even if you have the combination" — and said the raiding of Democratic files was not much different than Republicans who burglarized Democratic headquarters in the 1972 Watergate scandal.

"When the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party was burglarized, Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy went to jail," he said. "Today a similar crime has been committed. At the Senate Judiciary Committee, a computer server that was jointly used by Republicans and Democrats was burglarized and thousands of documents were stolen — far more than Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy ever thought to steal."

Two former staffers at the committee, chaired by Hatch, R-Utah, have resigned after acknowledging they saw Democratic files that described cozy ties between special interests and Democrats in fighting President Bush's judicial nominees. Some of those files were leaked to the New York Times and Washington Times, but the aides have not acknowledged doing that themselves.

One of the staffers was Manuel Miranda, a former committee staffer who was working for Republican leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to oversee GOP judicial confirmation efforts. He has said committee staffers found they could click on a "my network" icon on their computers and have access to Democratic files.

He has said it is akin to Democrats leaving their documents on Republican desks, and asserted in a farewell letter that no crimes were committed. A second aide, whom the committee has declined to identify but some have said is from Utah, also resigned.

Hatch ordered the initial investigation into whether Republicans stole Democratic memos after Democrats howled about the news stories those memos produced — and said the only way they could have been obtained was through theft.

Conservative groups have been blasting Hatch publicly for not also investigating Democrats about the content of those memos. For example, one memo said Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., was working with liberal groups to delay confirmation of two 6th Circuit judges until after a key affirmative action suit was heard.

Also, another set of memos showed that Democrats and liberal groups worked together to target Hispanic nominee Miguel Estrada specifically because they did not want Republicans to make political gains with Hispanics.