KSTP-TV in St. Paul broadcast a nice investigative piece last night on what is being called the “coronation” of the new U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Rachel Paulose.
Since the purge scandal broke, Minnesota readers of TPM have been insisting that we look more closely at the interim appointment of Paulose and her eventual confirmation by the Senate. Paulose was just 33 years old at the time of her appointment. Her previous experience has included time in DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and a stint as senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, for two months before her interim appointment, according to the Star-Tribune.
Aside from being one of the legal neophytes with strong connections to Bush political appointees at Main Justice who, as McClatchy reported, has landed U.S. attorney positions in the past year, I haven’t seen anything yet connecting Paulose directly to the purge, although the circumstances of her predecessor’s resignation remain murky.
Still, there’s plenty of smoke there. For instance, the Star-Tribune noted that her Senate confirmation was almost derailed because, though Paulose had Administration backing, “she and her supporters had neglected to seek the support of both home-state senators,” an oversight so unbelievable as to suggest that perhaps the Administration did not originally intend to submit her nomination for Senate approval but rather planned to rely on the attorney general’s appointment authority under the Patriot Act. You can find more on Paulose here.
Regardless, the KSTP report shows that her lack of experience didn’t keep Paulose from putting on the dog at her swearing-in, complete with honor guard and choir. There was also reportedly a list compiled of “potential problem reporters” who might attend the event. In an interview with the station, Paulose bobbed and weaved when questioned about the existence of such a list.
It’s quite a good report, so go take a look.
Many of you have probably already seen this, but I just want to flag it for future reference:
The Justice Department also said yesterday that Monica Goodling, a senior counselor to Gonzales who worked closely with Sampson on the firings, took an indefinite personal leave from her job on Monday. A Justice official said that she is still employed there but that it is not clear when she will return.
Goodling was the DOJ liaison to the White House.
The conviction of Stephen Griles, the Interior Department’s former No. 2 official, shows why Congress just might want transcripts of any interviews with White House officials about the U.S. attorney purge.
Democratic senators want to know more about why the President shut down the internal Justice Department investigation into warrantless wiretapping.
Jo-Ann Mort on Elizabeth Edwards, the personal and the political.
The WaPo looks into why Margaret Chiara, the ousted U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, made the list of the Gonzales 8–and comes up with no compelling answers.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) joins chorus calling for Alberto Gonzales to resign.
Update: Contrast that with support for Gonzales from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT).
Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) puts it right out there: There is “nothing wrong with firing a U.S. attorney for the reason of politics.”
It is a rather revealing sign of what some Republicans mean by corruption. Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) says that Democrats haven’t been able to show that any corruption was involved in the US Attorney Purge. But we know that US Attorney David Iglesias was fired because he wouldn’t submit to pressure from Republican activists and members of Congress to issue an election-timed indictment to save New Mexico’s Republican Rep. Heather Wilson. That, and in general not pursuing bogus ‘election fraud’ prosecutions against Democrats, as Republican activists wanted. In the old rule of law days, this would be seen as the definition of corrupt use of the justice system to interfere with the integrity of elections and advance narrowly partisan aims. But to Rep. Cannon (R-UT), that’s how things are supposed to work. After all, you’re entitled to do this when you win elections and get to run the Justice Department, right? That’s the Chris Cannon world.