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Axed US Attorneys Scored Well in Prosecution Stats By Lara Jakes Jordan Six of the eight U.S. Attorneys fired by the Justice Department ranked in the top third among their peers for the number of prosecutions filed last year, according to an analysis of federal records. In addition, five of the eight were among the government's top performers in winning convictions. The analysis undercuts Justice Department claims that the prosecutors were dismissed because of lackluster job performance. Democrats contend the firings were politically motivated, and calls are increasing for the resignation or ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Immigration cases -- a top Bush administration priority, especially in states along the porous Southwest border -- helped boost the total number of prosecutions for U.S. Attorneys in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. Four of the prosecutors also rated high in pursuing drug cases, according to Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Only one of the eight received a better-than-average ranking in prosecuting weapons cases: Paul K. Charlton, the fired U.S. Attorney for Arizona. Several of the U.S. Attorneys who were told last Dec. 7 to resign complained their reputations were sullied when the Justice Department linked the firings to underwhelming results in each of the eight districts -- in Arizona; Little Rock, Ark.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Nevada; New Mexico; San Diego; San Francisco and Seattle. "I respectfully request that you reconsider the rationale of poor performance as the basis for my dismissal," Margaret Chiara, the former prosecutor in Grand Rapids, Mich., complained in an e-mail. The description, in part, she said, "is proving to be a formidable obstacle to securing employment." Top Justice aide Michael Elston wrote back that "our only choice is to continue to be truthful about this entire matter." "The word performance obviously has not set well with you and your colleagues," wrote Elston, chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. "By that word we only meant to convey that there were issues about policy, priorities and management/leadership that we felt were important to the Department's effectiveness." The data on prosecutions and convictions, provided to TRAC by the Justice Department's executive office that oversees U.S. Attorneys, indicates the majority of the fired prosecutors were hardly slackers. They show: Except for Chiara and Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark., the group ranked in the top third among the nation's 93 U.S. Attorneys in contributing to an overall 106,188 federal prosecutions filed last year. Of those six, all but Kevin Ryan in San Francisco also scored among the top third in winning a collective 98,939 convictions. Three districts -- Arizona, New Mexico and San Diego -- were among the five highest in number of immigration prosecutions. Given their proximity to the Mexican border, the results come as little surprise. The Justice Department, however, attributed former San Diego prosecutor Carol Lam's firing in part to lagging immigration prosecutions and convictions. The TRAC data confirm immigration prosecutions in San Diego dropped from 2,243 in 2002 to 1,715 in 2006. Meanwhile, convictions dropped from 1,763 to 1,449 over the five-year period Lam led the office. In drug prosecutions, Arizona, New Mexico, San Diego and Seattle were ranked in the 20 highest number of cases brought. Only Little Rock fell into the bottom third among all 93 U.S. Attorneys' offices. Seven of the eight districts received mediocre rankings in weapons prosecutions. The exception was Arizona, which prosecuted 199 of the nation's 9,313 weapons cases -- the 10th highest in the country. None of the eight districts ranked particularly high in bringing terrorism or public corruption cases. Justice sp the number of immigration convictions last year "the okesman Brian Roehrkasse attributed the high number of prosecutions and convictions in the border states to immigration cases that inflated overall statistics there. He calledhighest ever." Justice officials have cited poor management skills, insubordination and, in Cummins' case in Little Rock, political favoritism for replacements as other factors that led to the firings. That underscores another apparent consideration in the dismissals: loyalty to the Bush administration, said former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich. "The notion that the rug can be pulled out from under them because they may not toe the line on death penalty issues or their immigration prosecution statistics may not be high enough really undermines the system of independent U.S. Attorneys," said Bromwich, inspector general during the Clinton administration and now a partner in Washington law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver and Jacobson. An estimated 3,000 pages of e-mails and other Justice Department documents released this week indicate anew that the White House was eager to bring in new blood to the politically appointed prosecutors' posts. "Administration has determined to ask some underperforming USAs to move on," wrote Kyle Sampson, Gonzales' former chief of staff, in a Dec. 5, 2006, e-mail to Associate Attorney General Bill Mercer. The term "USAs" is shorthand for U.S. Attorneys. Fired US
Attorney Was Touted for Judgeship By The Associated Press SEATTLE -- A month before putting Washington state's U.S. attorney on a list of prosecutors to be fired, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' chief deputy tried to help him win a federal judgeship, newly released documents show. In an e-mail sent Aug. 8 to an associate White House counsel, Gonzales' chief of staff at the time, Kyle Sampson, said prosecutor John McKay had been treated unfairly by Washington's judicial selection commission. He asked if McKay could be considered for the federal bench ''along with the recommended candidates.'' Sampson also pointed out that McKay had strong support from the state's Democratic senators and two prominent state Republicans. He said he received the information from Debra Yang, then the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. A month later, on Sept. 13, McKay's name appeared on Sampson's list of U.S. attorneys ''we should consider pushing out.'' He was among eight U.S. attorneys fired by the end of the year, an action that has raised the ire of Democratic lawmakers suspicious of the motives of the administration and anxious to question top aides to President Bush. What happened between those dates to reverse McKay's political fortunes is a bit of a mystery. Yang said Wednesday that she and several other U.S. attorneys believed McKay would be good for the judgeship, and she did not know why McKay fell out of favor. Documents released to try to answer Democrats' questions about the firings do not include any explanation from the White House about McKay's judicial application. A spokesman for Sampson, who recently resigned over the controversy, did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday. The e-mails show that the deputy attorney general, Paul McNulty, was upset with McKay over an Aug. 30 letter, signed by McKay and 16 other U.S. attorneys, that urged McNulty to take steps to strengthen a law enforcement information-sharing program called LINX. Another internal Justice Department document, apparently prepared after the controversy over the firings began, said McKay showed a ''pattern of insubordination, poor judgment and demonstration of temperament issues in seeking policy changes.'' The document also criticized McKay's office for pursuing sentences below the guideline range. And it cited McKay's ''extensive focus and travel outside of district to advocate policy changes, rather than proper focus on running the office.'' McKay said Tuesday that he had a conference call with Yang and McNulty before he sent the letter, and McNulty ''agreed with everything we were doing with LINX. I thought he wanted the letter.'' In April 2005, he said, he was appointed head of the Justice Department's pilot program for information sharing, and that he was fully authorized to take the lead on LINX. ''From everything I knew I was in great standing with the Justice Department,'' McKay said. At Sampson's request, associate White House counsel Robert Hoyt did inquire about McKay's judicial application. On Aug. 22, McKay was granted an interview with the White House counsel at the time, Harriet Miers. Hoyt called J. Vander Stoep, the Republican co-chairman of the bipartisan committee that vetted potential replacements for U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour in Seattle. On Tuesday, Vander Stoep said he told Hoyt that he did not believe McKay was qualified because he had personally handled fewer than 10 trials in his career. He said McKay suggested during his interview that he might not follow legal precedent in cases where fairness called for him to reach a different conclusion. The committee forwarded the names of three people for consideration, and Bush nominated one of them -- King County Superior Court Judge Richard Jones -- on Monday. Senate
Panel Clears Way for Subpoenas By Laurie Kellman The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday cleared the way for subpoenas compelling five Justice Department officials and six of the U.S. Attorneys they fired to tell the story of the purge that has prompted demands for the ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The voice vote to authorize the panel to issue subpoenas amounts to insurance against the possibility that Gonzales could retract his permission to let the aides testify voluntarily or impose strict conditions.The committee also postponed for a week a vote on whether to authorize subpoenas of top aides to President Bush who were involved in the eight firings, including political adviser Karl Rove, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers and deputy White House Counsel William K. Kelley. The committee approved subpoena power over key Justice Department officials involved in the firings: Michael Elston, Kyle Sampson, Monica Goodling, Bill Mercer and Mike Battle. Sampson, Gonzales' chief of staff, quit this week. Elston is staff chief to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, and Mercer is associate attorney general. Goodling is Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison, and Battle is the departing director of the office that oversees all 93 U.S. Attorneys. Gonzales has said he would allow the aides still at the Justice Department to testify voluntarily. It was unclear whether Sampson would agree to tell his story without a subpoena. The panel also approved subpoena power for six of the eight U.S. Attorneys fired since December. The six, all of whom testified last week under oath before the House Committee, are: Carol Lam of California, Bud Cummins of Arkansas, Paul Charlton of Arizona, John McKay of Washington state, Daniel Bogden of Nevada and David Iglesias of New Mexico. The subpoenas are a warning to the embattled administration to follow through on promises in recent days by Gonzales and Bush to tell the whole story of the firings, beyond the selected details that Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella revealed to the House panel last week. "I want to obtain their cooperation and all relevant information," Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said. "But I want people to know that if I do not get cooperation, I will subpoena; we will have testimony under oath in this committee. We will find out what happened." Ranking Republican Arlen Specter said he would do the same thing if he were still chairman, but he cautioned against passing judgment on Gonzales and the aides before the facts are fully known. "I agree that this committee should get to the bottom of this issue," Specter, R-Pa., said. "I would hope that we would do so with at least a modicum of objectivity." Some senators have called for days for Bush to fire Gonzales. Sen. John Sununu of New Hampshire on Wednesday became the first Republican to call for Gonzales' ouster just hours after Bush gave the attorney general, a longtime friend of the president, a vote of confidence. "I think the president should replace him," Sununu said in an interview. "I think the attorney general should be fired." Although some Republicans have been tepid in their support for the attorney general, Sununu was the first to go so far in the uproar over the Justice Department's firing of the attorneys and its response to congressional questions, plus a separate report that the administration abused its power to secretly investigate suspected terrorists. The White House issued a curt response to Sununu's remarks. "We're disappointed, obviously," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. A Justice Department spokeswoman refused to comment. Speaking to reporters in Mexico before returning to Washington, Bush expressed confidence in Gonzales and defended the firings. "What Al did and what the Justice Department did was appropriate," the president said. Still, Bush left himself room to sack the attorney general. "What was mishandled was the explanation of the cases to the Congress," Bush said. "And Al's got work to do up there." Gonzales, expected to meet with lawmakers this week, has been fending off Democratic demands that he resign over the ousters of the eight U.S. Attorneys, which Democrats have characterized as a politically motivated purge. "We want Congress to know, to understand, what happened here," Gonzales said. "We'll work it out." The committee's postponement of consideration of subpoenas for White House officials gives Bush's presidential lawyer, Fred Fielding, time to consider what, if any, conditions should be imposed if the aides testify voluntarily. Fielding said he would let Schumer and other lawmakers know on Friday whether the administration is still willing to talk about that prospect or whether Congress would have to compel testimony from Rove, Miers and Kelley. The White House was expected to seek some conditions, but Fielding "said his intention was not to stonewall," Schumer said. |
