From Bob Novak’s column today:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has indicated he is too busy to answer letters from Democratic congressional leaders about his firing seven U.S. attorneys involved in probes of public corruption, though a lower-level Justice Department official rejected their proposals.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, House Democratic Caucus chairman, had written Gonzales two letters suggesting that he name Carol Lam, fired as U.S. attorney in San Diego, as an outside counsel to continue her pursuit of the Duke Cunningham case. Asked by Melissa Charbonneau of the Christian Broadcasting Network about this columnâÂÂs report that Gonzales did not respond, Gonzales said: âÂÂI think that the American people lose if I spend all my time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I spend all my time responding to subpoenas.âÂÂ
Richard A. Hertling, the acting Justice Department lobbyist, responded Wednesday, 22 days after EmanuelâÂÂs letter. He contended âÂÂthe Justice Department would not ever seek the resignation of a U.S. attorney if doing so would jeopardize a public corruption caseâ and rejected naming Lam as a special prosecutor.