Report Finds Nepotism in Justice Department
SAMBOLIN: Welcome back to STARTING POINT. A few quick headlines for you. Online attacks against the U.S. are on rise and the man in charge of cyber defense says we are unprepared to stop them. General Keith Alexander says on a scale of one to 10 for cyber-attack preparedness, the U.S. gets a three. A major crackdown on the synthetic drug industry. Federal law enforcement agencies arrested 90 people across 30 states yesterday. They seized nearly 5 million packs of fake pot, about 167,000 packages of bath salt, and $36 million in cash. One of two New Jersey state troopers facing disciplinary action for escorting exotic cars on a high speed caravan to Atlantic City has resigned. The caravan was spotted in March at speeds topping 100 miles an hour. The sergeant first class stepping down after a 26 year career.</s>ROMANS: Zoraida, thank you. Our team this morning, the STARTING POINT team for Friday, Ron Brownstein, editorial director of the "National Journal," and Roland Martin, host of "Washington Watch," and Will Cain, columnist from TheBlaze.com. We're going to get real, because it's all in the family in the halls of justice. A new report from the inspector general of the Justice Department says eight officials at the department of justice violated nepotism rules and tried to get children and other relatives jobs. In at least one case the inspector general found two senior officials colluded with each other. It's the third report in the past eight years that's found officials broke rules like this. A spokesman says the attorney general made it clear that breaking ethics rules like this won't be tolerated. The inspector general said it was egregious.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": It is but it is the way the world works in many ways. There's a lot of ways in which class reproduces itself and one of which is the network of contacts available to young people. I did a study talking about even the requirement for unpaid internships has an enormous class bias because young people from low are incomes can't afford to spend the summer working for free.</s>ROMANS: My parents said you cannot have an unpaid internship.</s>ROLAND MARTIN, "WASHINGTON WATCH": At the end it is call the hookup, whether in government or business, it's in hook-up. How many times at the family reunion or whatever can you -- hook my student up.</s>ROMANS: Bright young people around here.</s>CAIN: They are right, it's not shocking by any measure, we know this exists but it's particularly unseemly when it's done in the public sphere because it's done with our tax dollars and even more unseemly it was done to the justice department, the place we suppose that justice -- this is the tool of enacting justice.</s>BROWNSTEIN: The bigger question is education is supposed to be a ladder of social mobility. The way it works now, reinforcing the existing structure rather than --</s>ROMANS: You think they should or shouldn't be allowed?</s>MARTIN: You should be allowed to do it. Whether it's public or private sector, this is the reality of business. Every single one of us can tell a story of somebody coming to us trying to stay, can you get my church member, get my friend, get my family member a job where you work.</s>CAIN: The difference this it sounds like Politbureau stuff.</s>ROMANS: There's a widespread common practice of hiring friends and relatives of employees for paid summer clerkships and internships keeping it all in the family.</s>MARTIN: That's the reality of business in America, unfortunately.</s>ROMANS: I guess justice department, business, everywhere else, journalism.</s>MARTIN: Yes.</s>ROMANS: The Chick-Fil-A clash turning into a national brawl after the fast food chain's president spoke out against gay marriage. Speaking of political fights --</s>ROMNEY: The attacks that come by people trying to knock down my business career or my Olympic experience or our success, those attacks are not going to be successful.</s>ROMANS: Mitt Romney defending his business success and personal wealth. Piers Morgan, live from London with more on his interview with Mitt and Ann Romney. You're watching STARTING POINT.