Reasons given for prosecutors firings

Reasons given for asking six U.S. attorneys to resign, according to William Moschella, an associate deputy attorney general. He testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee.

_POLICY DIFFERENCES: "The department really had policy differences and were concerned with the manner in which he went about advocating the particular policies ... on information sharing. He spent quite a considerable amount of time advocating for a particular system."

_NOT PERFORMANCED-BASED: "His was not for performance-based reasons. ... The administration asked Mr. Cummins to move on only after we knew that he had indicated he was not going to serve out the remainder of his term."

_NEW BLOOD: "There was no particular deficiency. There was an interest in seeing renewed energy and renewed vigor in that office, really taking it to the next level."

_TIRED: "The district was in need of greater leadership. ... Mr. Iglesias had delegated to his first assistant the overall running of his office. U.S. attorneys are hired to run the office."

_FBI TAPING POLICY: "Mr. Charlton had undertaken in his district a policy with regard to the taping of FBI interviews and set a policy in place there that had national ramifications. It did not go through the whole policy process."

_DEATH PENALTY: "On the death penalty, we have a process in the Department of Justice. It is the one area that is non-delegable by the attorney general which (Mr. Charlton), in a particular case was told and authorized to seek in a particular case. He chose instead to continue to litigate after that long and exhaustive process."

update to original posting..

some review info as well..

--

Reasons given for prosecutors firings
The Associated Press

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_go_co/prosecutors_why_fired;_ylt=ArHqGjcqCg_8oKaK3ImsIYKyFz4D

What the Justice Department has said about six U.S. attorneys who were asked to resign. Under each prosecutor are comments from previous department-issued performances reviews and then statements Tuesday by William Moschella, an associate deputy attorney general, about the reasons given that the prosecutors were asked to step down. He testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee.

CAROL LAM, U.S. attorney in San Diego

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY: "Her gun prosecution numbers are at the bottom of the list. ... (On immigration cases), her numbers for a border district just didn't stack up."

2005 PERFORMANCE REVIEW: "An effective manager and respected leader ... respected by the judiciary, law enforcement agencies, and (U.S. attorney's office) staff."

___

JOHN McKAY, U.S. attorney in Seattle

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY: "The department really had policy differences and were concerned with the manner in which he went about advocating the particular policies ... on information sharing. He spent quite a considerable amount of time advocating for a particular system."

2006 PERFORMANCE REVIEW: "An effective, well-regarded and capable leader ... (who) established strategic goals that were appropriate to meet the priorities of the department."

___

BUD CUMMINS, U.S. attorney in Little Rock, Ark.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY: "His was not for performance-based reasons. ... The administration asked Mr. Cummins to move on only after we knew that he had indicated he was not going to serve out the remainder of his term."

2006 PERFORMANCE REVIEW: "Very competent and highly regarded by the federal judiciary, law enforcement and civil client agencies. ... Established strategic goals that were appropriate to meet the priorities of the department."

___

DANIEL BOGDEN, U.S. attorney for Nevada

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY: "There was no particular deficiency. There was an interest in seeing renewed energy and renewed vigor in that office, really taking it to the next level."

2003 PERFORMANCE REVIEW: "Highly regarded by the federal judiciary, the law enforcement and civil client agencies, and the staff of the (U.S. attorney's office). He was a capable leader."

___

DAVID IGLESIAS, U.S. attorney for New Mexico

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY: "The district was in need of greater leadership. ... Mr. Iglesias had delegated to his first assistant the overall running of his office. U.S. attorneys are hired to run the office."

2005 PERFORMANCE REVIEW: "Experienced in legal, management and community relations work and was respected by the judiciary, agencies and staff. ... Had a well conceived strategic plan that complied with department priorities."

___

PAUL CHARLTON, U.S. attorney in Arizona

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TESTIMONY: "Mr. Charlton had undertaken in his district a policy with regard to the taping of FBI interviews and set a policy in place there that had national ramifications. It did not go through the whole policy process. ... On the death penalty, we have a process in the Department of Justice. It is the one area that is nondelegable by the attorney general which (Mr. Charlton), in a particular case was told and authorized to seek in a particular case. He chose instead to continue to litigate after that long and exhaustive process."

2003 PERFORMANCE REVIEW: "Well respected by the (U.S. attorney's office) staff, investigative and civil client agencies, local law enforcement community, Native American nations, and judiciary regarding his integrity, professionalism and competence."

I was just watching this past Sunday's FNS that I DVRed, but had not gotten around to watching until tonight. DiFi was on and Chris Wallace asked for her opinion about the firings of the US Attorneys. She said that firing this many (7) had never been done before, despite the fact that she must know that Clinton fired EVERY SINGLE ONE of them when he took office.

She insinuated that the recent firings were due to a provision in the Patriot Act that allows the POTUS to replace US Attorneys without their having to be confirmed by the Senate. According to her, this would allow them to be replaced with political cronies of the POTUS. Although Chris did not correct her by reminding her of the Clinton firings, he did put up a quote from a letter of complaint that she wrote about one of the judges in question. It was funny to see her rushing to say that she had been mistaken and that the judge (a black female, from her picture) had been doing a wonderful job after all.

ATTORNEY GENERAL SEEKS RESIGNATIONS FROM PROSECUTORS

*Please Note: Archive articles do not include photos, charts or graphics. More information. March 24, 1993, Wednesday
By DAVID JOHNSTON, (Special to The New York Times); National Desk
Late Edition - Final, Section A, Page 1, Column 1, 1053 words
DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Attorney General Janet Reno today demanded the prompt resignation of all United States Attorneys, leading the Federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia to suggest that the order could be tied to his long-running investigation of Representative Dan Rostenkowski, a crucial ally of President Clinton.

(Just copied and pasted this from the NYT site. I will not give them ANY money, but the information is out there for the rest of the MSM to examine, that is if they want to believe the NYT!)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.