Posted on 07/23/2007 2:34:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says he's staying at the Justice Department to try to repair its broken image, telling Congress in a statement released Monday he's troubled that politics may have played a part in hiring career federal prosecutors.
Senators already skeptical of Gonzales' ability to lead the department were preparing to hammer him about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys and conflicts between his earlier statements and the testimony of a former aide.
The attorney general's comments were included in 26 pages of prepared testimony released on the eve of his scheduled appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The hearing comes during an escalating executive-privilege standoff with the White House over the firings.
Across the Capitol, the House Judiciary Committee was readying votes on contempt citations for White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers for disregarding subpoenas to testify and provide documents on the firings. The White House has said that any such materials are covered by executive privilege and that the president's current and former immediate advisers are immune from congressional subpoenas.
After months of critics calling for his resignation, Gonzales appears to have weathered the political furor that began with the prosecutors' purge last year and subsequently revealed a Justice Department hiring process that favored Republican loyalists.
In his written testimony, Gonzales touted the department's focus on terrorists, violent crime and even aid to the 2005 Hurricane Katrina victims. He made no reference to the fired U.S. attorneys and only briefly mentioned the controversy that has torpedoed morale at the Justice Department and has called the fairness of its attorneys into question.
"Reinforcing public confidence in the department is also critical, and will be one of my top priorities as attorney general for the remainder of my term," Gonzales said in the prepared statement.
"I believe very strongly that there is no place for political considerations in the hiring of our career employees or in the administration of justice," he said. "As such, these allegations have been troubling to hear. From my perspective, there are two options available in light of these allegations. I would walk away or I could devote my time, effort and energy to fix the problems. Since I have never been one to quit, I decided that the best course of action was to remain here and fix the problems."
Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., was unswayed.
"There are probably only two people on Earth who think the attorney general ought to stay: Alberto Gonzales and President Bush," Schumer, who was the first senator to call for Gonzales' resignation, said Monday. "As long as he's in charge, the Justice Department, the rule of law and America will suffer."
Gonzales also reminded senators that the Justice Department has launched an internal investigation — one that he has no control over — into the accusations. The results are not expected for months.
It's against federal law to discriminate against career employees by hiring or firing them based on their political loyalties. But two months ago, former top Gonzales aide Monica S. Goodling admitted she did just that when she served as the Justice Department's liaison to the White House — including, at times, looking to see whether job applicants had contributed to the GOP or other political parties.
In her May testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Goodling described an "uncomfortable" meeting shortly before she left the Justice Department during which Gonzales asked for her recollection of events in the U.S. attorneys scandal, which Congress is investigating.
Her account led to questions of whether Gonzales was coaching Goodling — illegally tampering with a witness in the ongoing inquiry. Gonzales has said he was merely trying to comfort Goodling at an awkward time.
The issue of the meeting was Topic A among a list of a dozen questions that Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy sent Gonzales last week. Leahy also needled Gonzales on his April 17 appearance in front of the same panel, during which the attorney general declined to answer questions at least 60 times, citing a faulty memory or simply saying he didn't know the answers.
"I would like to avoid a repeat of that performance," Leahy wrote in the July 17 letter.
A voter fraud case in Missouri, FBI violations in terror and spy investigations and the role that outgoing Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty played in the prosecutor firings also are topics on senators' agenda for the hearing.
Gonzales also is expected to be asked about his participation, as White House counsel at the time, in a March 2004 hospital room confrontation with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft over whether the government's domestic spying program was legal. Gonzales was in front of the House Intelligence Committee in a private hearing last week to discuss that meeting, during which he attempted to get an ailing Ashcroft to approve the program over the Justice Department's objections. Gonzales was named attorney general less than a year later.
2 words for you,
Alberto..
good & luck
___
Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov/
Senate Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.senate.gov/
House Judiciary Committee: http://judiciary.house.gov/
US President George W. Bush (R) and US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the White House in Washington, DC, May 2007. A top Senate Democrat said he expects a former aide to US President George W. Bush to testify in a growing scandal over the firing of federal prosecutors, pushing the issue closer to a court battle.(AFP/File/Saul Loeb)
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the Department of Justice in Washington, June 5, 2007. Gonzales won American newspaper columnists' annual 'Sitting Duck Award' for being an easy target. (Yuri Gripas/Reuters)
Yeah, and OJ Simpson is still looking for the real killer...not holding my breath...
How can he ever think he can improve the Justice Department’s image, as long as he remains the Attorney General?
>>WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says he’s staying at the Justice Department to try to repair its broken image, telling Congress in a statement released Monday he’s troubled that politics may have played a part in hiring career federal prosecutors.<<
I am so ready for a new AG.
No thanks. You had your chance at the plate and you sruck out.
Of course it was politics. What the hey,the last time I checked every damn thing about Washington is politics !!!
Albert, it got broken on your watch. You should be responsible for fixing it.
Too bad you weren’t up to the task of being AG, but your Boss keeps you there anyway.
I think that “think” is the (in)operative word. Al does not think...
If you had told the Senate to stick it in their ear, then I would be all for your staying to defend your department. However, your whimpering before the committee gives me pause. Perhaps, an assistant with a stronger spine and clearer thinking should be hired? Might I suggest, Mark Levine?
You're the problem, when you leaving? Blackbird.
Same prospects for success, I suppose, as Chertoff vowing to repair Homeland Security's image...
This guy needs to get gone. He’s not doing the party any good here — The Dem congresscritters already hated him, and now the Repub congresscritters hate him too. No one trusts him and I have to admit his answers have been uniformly unconvincing. He comes across as a liar and it’s embarrassing.
I’ll go farther than that - he has outright lied to Congress. And no matter what we think about this current Congress, that cannot be tolerated.
He should have been firm from the beginning. Instead, he lied and tried to distance himself from the very proper actions, giving them the appearance of something shameful. By lying, he created a legitimate scandal. If you don’t want to tell them the truth, refuse to answer questions. Be a man, Fredo. Only cowards and crooks lie.
I’m also not too fond of what we’re hearing about his conduct concerning John Ashcroft. Disgraceful.
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