Self-Demoted Prosecutors Send Paulose Letter Over Media Comments

Three top lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, who said they demoted themselves in protest of the management style of 34-year-old U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose, sent their boss an angry letter demanding she plug leaks claiming they quit because they can’t handle working for a powerful, young, Indian woman.

You can read the letter here.

Yesterday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on the letter sent by the three former managers and an interim human resources officer:

In a letter to Paulose dated April 27, the four employees complained about comments from unidentified Justice Department employees that were included in a story published three weeks earlier in the New York Times. They objected in particular to the suggestion that “older lawyers had difficulty dealing with a young, aggressive woman” who tried to implement the priorities of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, including the prosecution of child exploitation.

Paulose was named interim U.S. attorney last year when she was just 33, making her the youngest person to fill the job in Minnesota.

The aggrieved employees also cite remarks in C.J’s gossip column published April 24 in the Star Tribune. C.J. had interviewed Paulose, and C.J. wrote: “Isn’t it possible that an office dominated by people who don’t look the way Paulose does could be filled with threatened, resentful types who are jealous of someone so young climbing where they probably never will?”

Paulose is of Indian descent.