So, who’s been testifying?
Based on ABC News sources (and our own video camera) it appears that at least two witnesses testified before the grand jury last Friday, both close associates of Karl Rove.
ABC News has learned that one was Susan Ralston, Rove’s long-time right hand. The other, per ABC News’ Jake Tapper, was Israel “Izzy” Hernandez, Rove’s former left hand (and now a top Commerce Department official). It isn’t clear if either had been asked to testify before last week. (The Note)
“The appearances of Ralston and Hernandez suggests at least part of the focus [by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald],” writes The Note, “remains on Rove, although his attorney tells ABC News that he still believes Rove is not a target of the investigation.”
First, who is Susan Ralston? Thanks to a DKos diary posted by Jesselee on July 2, 2005, we know a bit more …
: : : MORE BELOW : : :
SUSAN RALSTON:
… [Jack Abramoff’s] ties to the White House extended well beyond money. When top Bush adviser Karl Rove was looking for an assistant in early 2001, Abramoff suggested his own top aide, Susan Ralston. She remains one of Rove’s top deputies. At the same time, Bush tapped Abramoff as member of his Presidential Transition Team, advising the administration on policy and hiring at the Interior Department, which oversees Native American issues. (MSNBC, via Jesselee’s diary)
So Susan Ralston used to work for Jack Abramoff as his “top aide,” and now works worked for Karl Rove as one of his “top deputies.”
[editor’s note, by susanhu] We learn — via Raw Story‘s “find” that Ralston screened calls for Rove through Grover Norquist — that:
“Ralston has since left the pressure cooker White House job for possibly the most isolated island in Washington. She is now executive assistant to Eddy R. Badrina, the senior advisor of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The Note adds — as somewhat of a “let’s play nice now after staking out the grand jury”:
Ralston and Hernandez are two of the nicest people in Washington and their being called to appear is a necessary reminder of the Caputoean phenomenon from the Clinton Era, which some have forgotten. When there are special prosecutors, a lot of kind, innocent people can get caught up in the investigation, often saddling them with huge legal bills and emotional stress.
I’m glad to learn that Susan Ralston is a nice person.
USNewsWire calls Ralston “an insider’s insider.”
Susan Ralston is the person at the far left of this photo. (Source of photo.):
ISRAEL HERNANDEZ:
According to Hispanic Business:
Deputy to Senior Advisor Karl Rove
White HouseMr. Hernandez has been a policy assistant to President Bush since his days as Texas governor. He now holds an important position in the office of senior advisor Karl Rove in the White House. Earlier, Mr. Hernandez was the first person Mr. Bush hired when he decided to run for governor of Texas.
(Source of photo — NOTE that that link doesn’t work. I captured the thumbnail via Google image search.)
Pride Source reports:
WASHINGTON – On June 24, the New York Daily News reported that George W. Bush has nominated a gay man, Israel Hernandez, as assistant secretary of commerce. According to the report, Hernandez has “been a Bush acolyte” since Bush’s run for governor of Texas in 1994, and has worked with Bush adviser Karl Rove.
According to the report, Hernandez declined to mention his partner when introducing other family members during a June 23 confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
On July 1, 2005, Planet Out put out this feature story:
Christopher Curtis, PlanetOut Network
Friday, July 1, 2005 / 04:09 PM
In a rare move for the Bush administration, an openly gay man has been nominated as assistant secretary of commerce.
The president has tapped Israel Hernandez, a longtime aide, for the position. It also carries the title of director general of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service.
The New York Daily News noted Hernandez has brought his partner to several official events, but would not recognize him while being questioned before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
During a confirmation hearing last month, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, asked Hernandez if would like to introduce anyone. Hernandez would mention only his sister, mother and father.
Mike Rogers, whose blogactive.com covers gay political issues, told the Daily News he was disappointed with Hernandez’s response.
“You know, if he were married to a woman and she was there, he would specifically mention her,” Rogers said. “Why are people like Izzy Hernandez pushing their spouses and loved ones into the closet when so many have gone before him and stood openly and proudly? This is typical of the Bush administration and its anti-gay, anti-safe-sex agenda.”
The 35-year-old Hernandez, a recent former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove, faces one more confirmation hearing later this month with the Senate Banking Committee, according to a spokesman from the Commerce Department.
According to a source for the Daily News, Hernandez waited until Bush was sworn in for a second term to formally tell him he was gay.
“It’s a shame, and it says a lot about the president that an aide to the president had to wait four years before he could tell the president he was gay, and I think that’s representative of the hostile work environment that has been created during the Bush administration,” John Marble, the communications director for the National Stonewall Democrats, told the PlanetOut Network.
“I think it’s the obligation of gay people and people with gay family members in the Bush administration to push the Bush administration to reverse its policies against gay people,” Marble concluded.
Chris Barron, the spokesman for the Log Cabin Republicans, refused to comment.
Update [2005-8-2 14:14:41 by susanhu]: More on Susan Ralston’s background, along with an additional photo, from NewsFlash.org:
MANILA, July 1, 2004 (STAR) From Quirino Grandstand to Cebu City, the spotlight yesterday was not only on the country’s second woman president but also on the foreign dignitaries who graced President Arroyo’s inaugural, among them the highest ranking Filipino-American in the White House.Susan Ralston, executive assistant to senior presidential adviser Karl Rove, was US President George W. Bush’s representative to the occasion along with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi and Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of US forces in the Pacific.
Ralston, 36, was last in Manila during the state visit of President Bush in October last year.
Born in York, Pennsylvania, Ralston’s parents are Filipino; her father, Tom Bonzon, is from Rizal and her mother, Tita Lagman, from Quezon City.
In an interview with PeopleAsia magazine last year, she narrated that she grew up in Jacksonville, Florida and in Chicago in a “very close-knit community with a lot of Filipinos.”
She said that she grew up with “the culture, heritage, and food” though she didn’t speak Tagalog.
As Rove’s executive assistant, she described her typical 13- to 15-hour work day as tough. Her job, she said, include “assisting her boss in strategic planning, political affairs, public liaison and inter-governmental affairs efforts at the White House.”
Ralston has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Literature from the Loyola University in Chicago and a master’s in business administration from the Keller Graduate School in Arlington, Virginia.
Meanwhile, while there was no royal dignitary who came to attend the President’s inaugural, there was an American royalty by name who flew in for the occasion….
