Saturday Night Massacre Redux
The forced departure of seven to ten US Attorneys to make room for new Bush appointees continues to make news. (I posted on the story here and here.) Now we are getting confirmation, according to the NY Times, that the moves were of the base political kind.
A United States attorney in Arkansas who was dismissed from his job last year by the Justice Department was ousted after Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, intervened on behalf of the man who replaced him, according to Congressional aides briefed on the matter.
Ms. Miers, the aides said, phoned an aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggesting the appointment of J. Timothy Griffin, a former military and civilian prosecutor who was a political director for the Republican National Committee and a deputy to Karl Rove, the White House political adviser.
Later, the incumbent United States attorney, H. E. Cummins III, was removed without explanation and replaced on an interim basis by Mr. Griffin. Officials at the White House and Justice Department declined to comment on Ms. Miers’s role in the matter.
Paul J. McNulty, the deputy attorney general, said at a hearing last week that Mr. Cummins had done nothing wrong but was removed to make room for Mr. Griffin. It was not known at the time Mr. McNulty testified that Ms. Miers had intervened on Mr. Griffin’s behalf. [Emphasis added]
This information came out during Senate Committee hearings, led by Sen. Charles Schumer, this past week. We can expect more of this kind of information as the hearings continue, one of the expected benefits of the November, 2006 elections.
One of the other victims of the Justice Department purge, Carol Lam of San Diego, left her post yesterday, but not without getting the last shot:
Another United States attorney asked to resign was Carol C. Lam of San Diego, who departed on Thursday at the request of the Justice Department. Two days earlier, Ms. Lam announced two indictments, including one against a former high-ranking Central Intelligence Agency official, in a corruption inquiry that began with last year’s guilty plea by a former Republican representative, Randy Cunningham, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. [Emphasis added]
Sen. Schumer's hearings will hopefully expose this administration's penchant of treating the federal government as a political playground and then it's up to Congress as a whole to stop this cronyism
Sic'em, Chuck!
A United States attorney in Arkansas who was dismissed from his job last year by the Justice Department was ousted after Harriet E. Miers, the former White House counsel, intervened on behalf of the man who replaced him, according to Congressional aides briefed on the matter.
Ms. Miers, the aides said, phoned an aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggesting the appointment of J. Timothy Griffin, a former military and civilian prosecutor who was a political director for the Republican National Committee and a deputy to Karl Rove, the White House political adviser.
Later, the incumbent United States attorney, H. E. Cummins III, was removed without explanation and replaced on an interim basis by Mr. Griffin. Officials at the White House and Justice Department declined to comment on Ms. Miers’s role in the matter.
Paul J. McNulty, the deputy attorney general, said at a hearing last week that Mr. Cummins had done nothing wrong but was removed to make room for Mr. Griffin. It was not known at the time Mr. McNulty testified that Ms. Miers had intervened on Mr. Griffin’s behalf. [Emphasis added]
This information came out during Senate Committee hearings, led by Sen. Charles Schumer, this past week. We can expect more of this kind of information as the hearings continue, one of the expected benefits of the November, 2006 elections.
One of the other victims of the Justice Department purge, Carol Lam of San Diego, left her post yesterday, but not without getting the last shot:
Another United States attorney asked to resign was Carol C. Lam of San Diego, who departed on Thursday at the request of the Justice Department. Two days earlier, Ms. Lam announced two indictments, including one against a former high-ranking Central Intelligence Agency official, in a corruption inquiry that began with last year’s guilty plea by a former Republican representative, Randy Cunningham, who was sentenced to more than eight years in prison. [Emphasis added]
Sen. Schumer's hearings will hopefully expose this administration's penchant of treating the federal government as a political playground and then it's up to Congress as a whole to stop this cronyism
Sic'em, Chuck!
Labels: Cronyism, Dirty Tricks
posted by Diane at 10:00 AM
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