Perino: Politicized Hirings at DoJ ‘Improper’

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Wednesday that the Bush Administration “could absolutely not defend” reports of politicized hirings at the Department of Justice by senior aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

“There should be concern any time anyone is improperly using politics to influence career decisions. We believe that is improper,” Perino said. “We could absolutely not defend that.”

Referring to a report released Monday claiming that hiring decisions for non-political positions were often dictated by political affiliations a voting records, Perino said, “there’s obviously information in there that would cause concern to anybody.”

The White House press secretary said potential department hirings “should not have had any sort of questions put towards them as to what sort of party they represent, or what affiliation they might belong to, or who they might vote for,” calling those question “inapropriate.”

Perino did not address reports that sexual discrimination based on preference took place, as the report says.

The spokewoman said Bush had expressed “overall disappointment” to the report and is “glad” the practice is “no longer ongoing.”

Though the report came out Monday, Wednesday was the first time the issue was addressed during the daily White House press briefing.