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 (N.D.CA USA Yamaguchi - under circumstances very similar to Bush N.D.CA USA Ryan);
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
indicted some 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 court, one step above city and town courts); 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?