The NYT has PDFs (in graphical, rather than searchable text, natch) of the e-mails and such that the DOJ handed over in regards to the USA business.
I went looking for information regarding the specific issue of the new appointment power granted in the re-authorization of the USA PATRIOT Act. To me, this new power is the central issue in this whole affair, as it tips the balance of control over the appointment of USAs to the executive at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches. It appears to me to be the case that the main motivation behind these firings is the recognition by some at DoJ that they could exert a great deal of control over the process in new ways (meaning that the “Clinton did it” defense, or any other reference to prior presidents misses the point of the situation).
All of the documents referenced below came from this PDF.
To wit: we have the case of the Arkansas USA, H.E. “Bud” Cummins III, who was replaced by John Timothy “Tim” Griffin, who had worked in the RNC and as an adviser to Karl Rove.
Note the characterization of Cummins in a September 13, 2006 e-mail from Monica Goodling to Kyle Sampson (the now ex-Chief of Staff for the AG) which included what appears to be a memo for Harriet Miers:
Nothing of grand significance, I just find the phrase “in process of being pushed out” to be telling.
More important is the following from the same memo:
Note the explicit reference to the “new statutory provisions that authorize the AG to make USA appointments”–they were well aware of what they were doing. This was not just an issue of appointees who serve at the pleasure of the president being routinely removed and replaced.
The power of the AG to appoint Griffin to replace Cummins was also noted in a prior e-mails dated 8/7/06 and 8/18/06:
Note the reference to the AG’s appointment power. The fact that Griffin presents a “senator prob” is interesting, as the tone of the whole thing comes across as the Senate being just a bother in regards to what DoJ wants. This comes out even more clearly in the following two e-mails fro 12/19/06:
Note in this one the fact that under the new statutory powers, the appointment of Griffin (despite the “senator prob” and confirmation issues) is not “interim” but is in place for an indefinite amount of time:
Notice here the strategy of gumming up the work and the explicit acknowledgment that they risk the AG losing his new appointment power:
This clearly goes beyond just replacing political appointees to trying to assert substantially more partisan political control over these offices by the executive branch.
The fact that in this case we are talking about a person who was a partisan political operative in the RNC and in Karl Rove’s office further ups the ante, as it clearly looks like cronyism and partisan hackery instead of concerns over how well a given USA is doing his or her job (which is the spin on the story)
Technorati Tags: USAs, US Attorneys, Patriot Act, DoJ, Alberto Gonzalez, Sampson
Sphere: Related Content
March 14th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
[...] Naturally, I went on Poliblogger and said that, per NPR, there had not been substantiated accusations that the prosecutors recently replaced by the White House before today’s news coverage broke, thus winding up with egg on my face. While Poliblogger is incorrect that replacing prosecutors presents a separation of powers issue (except insofar as Congress may now assert more control over executive personell), since DAs are classic executive functionaries, the unacknowledged political motivations make the whole thing look far warse than simply saying that these personell decisions (properly scaled back from the universal massacre advocated by Miers) were in part political. Part of the Adminsitration’s strenth was being above-board. This makes it look furtive, incompetently sneaky and perhaps willing to debate the definition of “is” or to insist that it is not a crook. Nevertheless, these points from one of my e-mail interlocutors remain pretty good: Well finally the media has ran a story asking the same question I’ve had since the Federal prosecutor flap. Doesn’t everyone know the US Attorney almost always changes with the new administration. Here in Birmingham we have shifted from Donaldson to a Democrat and back to a Republican nominee and I think it’s been that way for many years back. These guys know the score and they are not civil service employees with tenure. [...]
March 14th, 2007 at 8:39 pm
[...] If my look at the e-mails didn’t convince you that there is a problem in the AG’s office, then I would note Ed Morrissey’s excellent post on the USA story wherein he notes the following key elements: [...]
March 15th, 2007 at 1:42 am
A “Smoking Gun” In The Gonzales Fired Prosecutors Case?
Is there a smoking gun in the case of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department and the fired prosecutors?
Professional political scientist Dr. Steven Taylor has looked at the emails. Here’s just part of his conclusion:
I went l…
March 15th, 2007 at 10:46 am
[...] Ay, There’s the Rub (The USAs, USA PATRIOT and Checks and Balances) [...]
March 15th, 2007 at 1:50 pm
“Presumed Guilty” The other side of the story from a “little guy” accused of big white collar crimes…I am currently under Federal indictment and awaiting a trial for allegedly committing white collar crimes I am not guilty of committing. I have never committed a crime of any type, paid my taxes, respected others and even law enforcement. I believed that overall our law enforcement agencies were honest and their agents honorable, I was so very wrong. I operated several small businesses that unfortunately failed to gain enough funding to realize their full potential. Many of my investors and clients were retirees…THEY LOST MONEY, and I have to take responsibility for someone else’s poor choices. Everyone’s a Victim now, especially the elderly! I am very sorry that people lost money and would do anything within reason to change the past, but that’s not going to happen! I wanted to give everyone my side of the story or at least a summary of it.
My life, marriage, and reputation have all been flushed down the toilet. I spent over $100,000 on paying for the best legal advice I could find, a prominent securities attorneys and I even had a full time corporate Attorney on staff plus he was a major shareholder and I STILL GOT INDICTED ANYWAY, AMAZING ISN’T IT? My disclosures were over the top and my agreements very detailed. In 2002, the State of California sued me and by default won an eight figured multi-million dollar judgment against me personally. I went Bankrupt, started drinking heavily, friends disappeared, I was the subject of multiple search warrants in march of 2003 which produced nothing that was not already on public file.
Mistakes were made by me, I took risks and they did not pay off. Are we going to prosecute everyone who dares take a risk? Entrepreneurs are the life blood of this mighty country! Guilt has been presumed since the beginning. “PRESUMED GUILTY” First with ridiculous civil judgments and penalties for untold millions and when no assets turned up after a few years, a criminal indictment is sought after and it’s almost a word for word copy of the States Civil case, Imagine that?
The trial could take months because I have over 100 Witnesses I want to call and the A-USA will have that and more. Their case is very weak but will probably be effective, the prosecutor will simply parade dozens of seniors who will sob and point at me…Sounds like a fair trial with a jury of my peers, right?
“Presumed Guilty” Hand cuffed, booked, stripped, searched, finger-printed, kept in jail for two weeks, made bond-cannot have a glass of wine, was subject to drug testing with the lowest life crack heads in my area, every week, I have to report in each week, I have to have permission to leave the city I live in for any reason. I cannot work in any of the fields I have experience in or am licensed to work in. ALL THIS AND still no trial.
Sincerely,
“Presumed Guilty”
March 16th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Fired U.S. Attorneys, Political Considerations, Etc.
Via Daou Blog Report, I see that Kyle Mantyla, writing for People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch, reports that two of the fired U.S. Attorneys had written op-eds and otherwise strongly lobbied for the renewal of the PATRIOT Act. Whether…
March 18th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
[...] The Cummins firing mostly looks like cronyism (and I discussed it some here). The LAT had a story that suggested that perhaps Cummins’ investigation of Missouri’s Republican governor, Matt Blunt. However, according to the Kansas City Star, Cummins said he never told the LAT that he wondered whether the Blunt matter was related to his firing. [...]