Firings Had Genesis in White House, By Dan Eggen and John Solomon, Washington Post Staff Writers
The White House suggested two years ago that the Justice Department fire all 93 U.S. attorneys, a proposal that eventually resulted in the dismissals of eight prosecutors last year, according to e-mails and internal documents that the administration will provide to Congress today.
The dismissals took place after President Bush told Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had received complaints that some prosecutors had not energetically pursued voter-fraud investigations, according to a White House spokeswoman. …
Administration officials have portrayed the firings as a routine personnel matter, designed primarily to rid the department of a handful of poor performers.
But the documents and interviews indicate that the idea for the firings originated at least two years ago, when then-White House counsel Harriet E. Miers suggested to Sampson in February 2005 that all prosecutors be dismissed and replaced. [mjh: wasn’t Miers a Bush nominee for the Supreme Court?] …
Sampson also strongly urged bypassing Congress in naming replacements, using a little-known power slipped into the renewal of the USA Patriot Act in March 2006 that allows the attorney general to name interim replacements without Senate confirmation. [mjh: the Patriot Act is Bush’s great legacy.]
As I understand it, all the AGs who were fired were political appointees, and like all political appointees, serve at the
pleasure of whomever appointed them. So, the firings, by themselves, are not the issue. The real issue is someone like St. Pete
*calling* the AG to inquire about an ongoing investigation. That Domenici did this at Heather Wilson’s request (as I understand it)
gets both of them.
All this pales next to the horror of Iraq and the horror of New Orleans, though. There’s nothing these guys
do that surprises me, and I hate being ashamed of my country when it has such incredible potential for good.
Douglas Adams had a
great phrase for people like Shrub and his cronies, something about them being first against the something-or-other when the something-
or-other comes. ;-)
It didn’t happen with Oliver North or his boss, though, so I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Nope, I
had it wrong, as Ken explained here.