Not all Zoobies are Bushies

Even though Brigham Young University's commencement speaker this year is Dick Cheney (great timing! topical and cringe-inducing!), it's not like everybody from BYU is defending the disgraced Bush administration ward heeler D. Kyle Sampson, or sharing the sort of mind-set that produces headlines such as "BYU Grad Falls Victim to Attorney Purge."

From the BYU NewsNet readers forum:

Questionable Integrity

In "BYU alumni Sampson resigns in controversy" (March 18) on Kyle Sampson's abrupt exit from the Justice Department professor Earl Fry is quoted as saying Sampson is "a good man with a lot of integrity ... a good soldier who has fallen on his sword in order to protect his boss, the attorney general."

I may be missing something here, but it seems to me Sampson is covering for an attorney general who fires U.S. attorneys based on their investigations of his political allies (after he told Congress under oath he would do no such thing), who uses his clout with President Bush to get Bush to deny security clearance to those tasked with investigating his alleged crimes in the illegal wiretap cases, and above all who destroys the sacred Constitution of the United States in the name of fighting terrorism. Covering up for such a man may make Sampson a good soldier, but it most certainly does not make him a man with a lot of integrity.

I hope Fry isn't teaching any ethics classes.

Nate White
Lewisville, Texas

Define Integrity

In the article on the resignation of Kyle Sampson (March 18), political science professor Earl Fry is quoted as a sort of character witness. Professor Fry calls the man who apparently managed the politically motivated firing of several U.S. attorneys and spearheaded the preparation for the ensuing cover-up "a good man with a lot of integrity."

Fry's definition of integrity mystifies me. Sampson advocated deceiving members of Congress about Department of Justice actions and motivations. He recommended claiming potential deceptive stalling actions were all done in "good faith."

I don't know Sampson, but the e-mails he has authored make him look to me less like a man of integrity and more like a devious and deceptive political operative with no discernible principles whatsoever.

It is my hope that BYU, which I attended for one year, will take a look at this product of its education and start to emphasize virtues like honesty and guilelessness over ambition and loyalty-at-any-cost.

Kim McCall
Menlo Park, Calif.

Here's another old article from the Y about Kyle "loyal Bushie" Sampson, this one from 2002:

Y grad advises President Bush

A BYU graduate has made his way into the White House. Kyle Sampson graduated from BYU in 1993 with a degree in American studies. Now, less than 10 years later, he is advising President George W. Bush as associate counsel to the president. "I've been really lucky. I've just been really blessed to have the jobs I've had," Sampson said. "I was just in the right place at the right time..."

After completing his studies at BYU, Sampson attended the University of Chicago Law School... After clerking for a federal judge, working in the appeals department of a Salt Lake law firm and serving as counsel for Senator Hatch, Sampson was appointed to his current position. "It's pretty lucky to get this kind of job. I love it," he said...

Sampson has learned that the beliefs and intentions of politicians are different than people might think. "I think people are cynical about politicians and they think those office holders are just there to serve their own interests," Sampson said. "I don't think that's true. The two politicians that I've worked for, Senator Hatch and President Bush, are both really committed and focused on doing the right thing for the right reasons," he said.

Sampson said every decision Hatch and Bush make is for the betterment of the lives of the people they represent. "I think both of them are really altruistic public servants. It has really been a big honor for me to work for them," Sampson said. Although being on the White House Council has been rewarding for Sampson, it is not without stress. "It's crazy-stuff flying at you all the time," Sampson said. Sampson works on everything related to the president's constitutional power including appointments, picking federal judges, granting presidential pardons and proposing legislations...