FOXNews.com: Labor secretary nominee accused of 'quid pro quo' deal

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Labor secretary nominee accused of 'quid pro quo' deal Apr 15th 2013, 06:42 President Barack Obama talks with his nominee for Labor Secretary, Thomas E. Perez, during a announcement, Monday, March 18, 2013, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) Thomas Perez, President Obama's nominee for Labor secretary, "manipulated" federal law as assistant attorney general by negotiating a so-called "quid pro quo" deal in which he persuaded a Minnesota city to drop a Supreme Court lawsuit in exchange for the Justice Department staying out of whistleblower cases brought against the city, according to a joint congressional Republican report. In the report obtained by Fox News, Republican investigators conclude Perez "manipulated the rule of law and pushed the limits of justice to make this deal happen." The 67-page report also states that the Justice Department opting out of the cases resulted in taxpayers paying nearly $200 million in un-recouped damages. The cases dropped by the agency were against the city of St. Paul and alleged the city received millions in Department of Housing and Urban Development fund, but failed to file the requisite paperwork regarding the hiring of low-income workers. In exchange, St. Paul dropped its appeal to the Supreme Court in an unrelated case in which property owners said the city made extraordinary efforts, through strict code enforcement, to condemn their properties. The owners said reducing the amount of affordable housing for minorities violated the federal Fair Housing Act – by what is known as "disparate impact." Perez appeared to think the Supreme Court overturning the case would have been a severe blow to civil rights enforcement, the report concluded. In HUD money case, which also involved the city on Minneapolis, plaintiff Thomas Newell got neither the backing of the agency nor the Justice Department and lost the case, which if won would likely have resulted in the cities repaying the tens of millions in damages. The Obama administration has acknowledged that senior Justice Department attorneys recommended intervening in the case and characterized the False Claims Act infractions reported by Newell as "particularly egregious." However, they thought the case would be "quite weak and never should have been a serious candidate for intervention," according to the report. The report – subtitled "How Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez manipulated Justice and Ignored Rule of Law" -- was a joint effort by minority leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Republican-led House's Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees. "In early February 2012, Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez made a secret deal behind closed doors with St. Paul, Minnesota, Mayor Christopher Coleman and St. Paul's outside counsel David Lillehaug," according to the report. " Perez sought, facilitated, and consummated this deal … . The facts surrounding this quid pro quo show that Perez may have exceeded the scope of the ethics and professional-responsibility opinions he received from the Department and thereby violated his duties of loyalty and confidentiality to the United States. Perez also misled senior Justice Department officials about the quid pro quo … ," the report states.

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