After First 93, Did Clinton Fire 3 Or 30 More Attorneys?

Sweetness & Light ^ | March 21, 2007 | N/A

[MizSterious]

I know--it did seem a little strong. Usually it's just "knock it off!"

[conservative in nyc]

Rest assured, mewz, Clinton forced out far more than one U.S. Attorney. A recently released (but not publicly available) CRS report supposedly states that at least four of the USAs Clinton hired left under strange circumstances:

1) Michael Yamaguchi (ND CA), who was forced out for basically the same reasons Kevin Ryan (ND CA) was - that office is very difficult to run for some reason, and things got so bad under Yamaguchi's watch that a federal judge's complaints ran him out of town;

2) Kendall Coffey (SD FL) who, according to news reports, resigned “amid accusations that he bit a topless dancer on the arm during a visit to an adult club.”

3) Larry Colleton (MD FL) who resigned in July 1994 after he was “videotaped grabbing Jacksonville television reporter Richard Rose by the throat,” according to local press reports; and

4) Michael Troop (WD KY), who resigned to become State Police Commissioner. Later reports indicated that he was under investigation at the time by the Justice Department for sexual harassment.

Those are the ones that the CRS has flagged because there were news reports about their activities (along with 5 others in the Reagan/Bush I/Bush II administrations and one person that wasn't even mentioned in my admittedly left-wing source). Of course, that wouldn't pick out any USAs who were quietly pushed out - i.e. if the dismissal were done right. I'm still looking into this when I have time (it's not as easy to do as you'd think, and I'm only about 1/3 done) - but there were at least four other Clintonista USAs who resigned to go into the private sector:

1) Charles Stevens (ED CA), who resigned to ultimately start up his own law firm. He didn't seem to have a job lined up when he resigned. He had been investigating corruption in Fresno around the time of his resignation. He also was responsible for the Unibomber case. And I don't think Stevens' term had fully expired when he left office (although it was close).

2) Alan Bersin (SD CA), who resigned to become the Superintendent of Schools in San Diego.

3) Kent B. Alexander (ND GA), who resigned and likely went back to his old law firm, King & Spalding. He was responsible for the Centennial Olympic Park bombing case. The media wrongly accused Richaed Jewell for that crime; and

4) James Burns (ND IL), who resigned to work for a law firm (likely Gardner Carton & Douglas LLP).

To be fair, I have found no concrete evidence any of those four were fired or forced out, though.

At least two others, Janet Napolitano (D AZ) James Wiggins (MD GA), resigned to run for public office. Janet Napolitano won. I'm not sure about Wiggins. Most of the rest I've looked at so far became a judge or got a different job in the Clinton administration.

Note also that at a February 6, 2007 Senate Judiciary Hearing, Republican-invited witness Stewart Gerson said the following:

During my service in the Clinton administration, I was presented with what I concluded was persuasive evidence that a United States Attorney and his staff had at least condoned racial discrimination in the selection of a jury about to sit in the trial of a nationally-known minority politician. While the prosecution was clearly in the public interest, discriminatory jury selection was not. I ordered the U.S. Attorney to confess error and, believing that I was interfering with his independence, he resigned. I immediately appointed a lawyer to serve as Interim U.S. Attorney whom I knew would carry out what I thought to be the policy that justice commanded and he did so.

[mewzilla]

Thanks for the info!

[conservative in nyc]

As best I can tell, 35 Clinton-appointed U.S. Attorneys left office during the Clinton years (including one Clinton re-appointee from the Bush I administration). Of the 35:

7 left to become federal judges;
2 left for other jobs in the Clinton administration;
1 left to become an immigration judge (Yamaguchi - under questionable circumstances);
7 left to run for elective office (including 1 who ultimately ran for NYS judge);
13 left to go into private practice or non-elected public service;
2 retired;
1 joined the office of special counsel investigating Waco; and
2 left because they assaulted someone (Colleton/Coffey).

6 of the Clinton Appointees resigned in August-October of 1997 to retire or enter private practice. These included:

1) Frederick W. Thieman (W.D.PA) (8/1/97). He had just bigwig Democrat donors on 7/18/97;
2) Kent B. Alexander (N.D.GA) (8/15/97). He was responsible for prosecuting the Centennial Olympic Bombing case;
3) John W. Raley, Jr. (E.D.OK) (8/15/97). Raley was a George H.W. Bush appointee who was reappointed by Clinton. He supposedly retired;
4) James B. Burns (N.D.IL) (8/20/97);
5) Patrick H. NeMoyer (9/26/97). He ultimately ended up running for NYS Supreme Court - in 1998 (which, despite the name, is our lowest state trial court); and
6) Gaynelle Griffin Jones (10/10/97). According to some reports, she may have been subject to an internal DOJ probe regarding her handling of local investigations.

I have no proof that any of the six were forced out, but isn't it a bit strange that they all left about the same time, which also happened to be around the time some of their terms were going to expire?

[Mo1]

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