A few weeks ago we told you about J. Dudley Butler, the former (and future) trial lawyer who spent his career suing the very industry he has been appointed by President Obama to regulate.

He’s currently working in the Agriculture Department as Administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration (GIPSA) and, according to former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, “Butler is actively pushing to expand the scope of the decades-old Packers and Stockyards Act — which will make it easier for trial lawyers (such as Mr. Butler) to successfully sue meat and poultry companies.”

Last week this piece in The Daily Caller looked into the conflict of interest and concluded, “Whether or not J. Dudley Butler is implementing rules that will help him and his friends in their legal cases is something for time to judge. But the fact that he is in a position to do so, to aid his cause and line his pockets when he returns to the private sector, is enough to call for his resignation.”

Conservatives calling attention to the conflict of interest of a liberals Administration’s political appointees is not new, nor is the reverse. But this cause has been joined…

CREW, the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the liberal government watch-dog group, has joined the fight.

In a press release Monday, CREW asked “Is a former trial lawyer turned government official making policy decisions at the Department of Agriculture that will serve his future personal financial interests?” We don’t often agree with CREW, but in this case they are correct.

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A federal judge conspired with the Bush Department of Justice to plan the largest immigration raid ever in the United States, and then presided over the trial of the plant’s manager, eventually sentencing him beyond even prosecutors’ recommendation.

New documents show Linda Reade, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa, was involved in the planning of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raid on the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant at least six months before it occurred in May 2008. She asked for briefings from law enforcement and went as far as to ensure the raid was conducted around her vacation schedule.

But the judge never said a word of this to the defense lawyers for Sholom Rubashkin, the Agriprocessors manager, when she presided over his trial on bank fraud. She didn’t recuse herself from the case, either.

Rubashkin was convicted of causing $20 million in loses to a bank because he overstated Agriprocessors’ assets to get a larger loan. The raid destroyed Agriprocessors and the bank then called the loan. Reade sentenced Rubashkin in June to 27 years in prison. That’s more than Jeffrey Skilling, convicted of causing $80 million in losses from Enron, who got 24 years. And Dennis Kozlowski, the former CEO of Tyco, got 8 ½ to 25 years in prison for a $150 million fraud.

Rubashkin’s sentence is extreme, especially for a first-time, non-violent offender. After all, six former U.S. attorneys general sent Judge Reade a letter arguing against a multi-decade sentence for Rubashkin before she announced her decision. And prosecutors asked for 25 years.

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