By Collin Roth
In the wake of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel‘s blockbuster investigation into the mistakes and failures of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) sting operation in Milwaukee, Rep. Gwen Moore joined Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner in demanding answers from the federal agency. And while Rep. Moore did call the ATF sting a “failed operation,” in a statement to the Journal Sentinel, Moore was quick to shift the blame to the fact that ATF has operated without a real director since 2006.
Rep. Moore may be calling for an investigation now, but her attempt to shift blame is revealing given her track record in holding the ATF and the Department of Justice accountable.
Just last summer, Rep. Gwen Moore was one of 109 members of Congress who walked out in protest of a vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt after he and his office refused to release key documents that would have shed light on the failed ATF gun-walking scheme better known as “Fast and Furious.” The “Fast and Furious” operation saw the federal agency lose track of over 2,000 weapons, two showing up at the crime scene where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was gunned down by Mexican drug traffickers.
In protesting the vote on Holder, Rep. Moore expressed her belief that the “Fast and Furious” investigation was simply a ploy to “smear President Obama.” Rep. Moore even went so far as to allege that the contempt vote on Attorney General Holder had to do with the Department of Justice’s challenge to what Rep. Moore calls “voter suppression laws.”
For Rep. Moore, providing excuses and covering for federal officials is the norm. When the ATF botched “Fast and Furious” and provided Mexican drug cartels with weapons that killed a U.S Border Patrol agent, Moore called attempts to get to the truth politically motivated. In October 2012, Rep. Moore accused Republican Senators of “battering” UN Secretary Susan Rice when trying to get the truth about why Americans were misled about the terror attack in Benghazi.
With Milwaukee’s own version of “Fast and Furious,” it will be interesting to see how serious Rep. Moore is in getting the truth, or whether she will once again cover and excuse the failures of the federal government.
