Dems Mum on Ousted U.S. Atty NumberLast week, two senior Democratic senators had plenty to say about the attorney general’s dissembling over how many U.S. attorneys he had pushed out of office in recent months.
“How many U.S. Attorneys have been asked to resign in the past year?” Sen. Dianne Feinstein pressed attorney general Alberto Gonzales at a Judiciary Committee hearing last Thursday. “I ‘m asking you to give me a number.”
Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) also asked Gonzales how many he’d ousted. When the former White House counsel averred it was a confidential personnel matter, Leahy wouldn’t have it. “I don’t care about the people,” Leahy retorted. “Just get us the numbers.”
But that was then; now, appetite for further public discussion of the matter appears to have waned.
“I’m not going to get into that,” said Scott Gerber, spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), when I asked him what kind of follow-up there has been on the matter since the hearing. I asked Gerber if he could explain his reticence; he declined.
Leahy’s office declined comment, instead referring all questions on the matter to Feinstein.
Both offices pointed to legislation co-sponsored by Feinstein, Leahy and Rep. Mark Pryor (D-AR) that would fix the loophole which allows the administration to replace ousted U.S. attorneys with appointed successors for indefinite terms. The bill is scheduled for discussion at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing tomorrow.
