Bush administration targeted another top federal prosecutor (McClatchy)

[Up2Late]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Posted on Thu, Apr. 26, 2007

U.S. ATTORNEYS

Bush administration targeted another top federal prosecutor

By Marisa Taylor and Margaret Talev
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration considered firing the former U.S. attorney in Minnesota, but he left his job voluntarily before the list of attorneys to be ousted was completed, two congressional aides said Thursday.

Congressional investigators probing the firings of eight U.S. attorneys saw Thomas Heffelfinger's name on a version of the list that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, began assembling in early 2005. Heffelfinger left in February 2006, more than nine months before the Justice Department agreed on a final list of prosecutors to remove.

The two senior congressional aides spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the document in question hasn't been made public and because the Justice Department has allowed investigators to read it but not to photocopy it. One of the aides, who also was familiar with Sampson's closed-door testimony to investigators earlier this month, said that Sampson couldn't recall specifics but said he'd been told that senior Justice officials had concerns about Heffelfinger.

The Justice Department Thursday declined to confirm or deny the report.

(more at link)

Read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17140734.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

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Looks like McClatchy is taking up where Knight-Ridder left off.

[maddezmom]

1. was just on my way to post this

Good stuff from McCatchy....:thumbsup:

[Up2Late]

2. Is one of our usual LBN posters out sick tonight or something?

I just noticed that the LBN column looked pretty empty, so I just started posting the ones that seemed to be missing before it was too late. :shrug:

[maddezmom]

3. well I actually slept in this am

and I notice a few that were missing. :hi:

[LuckyLib]

4. His replacement is suspiciously underqualified. Sound familiar?

[Judi Lynn]

5. The truth behind this decision really should be uncovered. This is very odd.

From the McClatchy article:

Heffelfinger's case interests congressional investigators because he worked in one of the states that White House political adviser Karl Rove identified as an election battleground, and because he was replaced by a 34-year-old Bush administration loyalist who'd been a member of Gonzales' inner circle.

In April, four top deputies in the U.S Attorney's Office in Minnesota resigned their leadership posts, apparently to protest the leadership of Heffelfinger's replacement, Rachel Paulose.

Reached Thursday, Heffelfinger said he "had no indication" that he was on a list of prosecutors to be fired. "I had no indication whatsoever at any point during my service as U.S. attorney that anybody at Justice was less than fully satisfied with my work," he told McClatchy Newspapers.
(snip)

Unlike some of the ousted prosecutors, he said, he wasn't leading any high-profile prosecutions of Republicans and didn't face pressure to go after Democrats on corruption or voter fraud cases or to pursue pornography cases.

He also said he had a strong record on gun prosecutions and improving border immigration enforcement. He led a Native American issues committee but said he wasn't involved in the high-profile investigation of GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose case has spawned probes into administration officials and lawmakers.
(snip)

Thomas HeffelfingerFrom the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Nick Coleman: If Heffelfinger hadn't quit, would he have been purged?
By Nick Coleman, Star Tribune
Last update: March 31, 2007 – 4:11 PM

Was it just bad manners? Or a deliberate slap in a high-stakes political fight directed from Washington?
In a breach of protocol, the former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Thomas Heffelfinger, was not invited to an elaborate March 9 investiture for his successor, Rachel Paulose. The swearing-in ceremony was held at the University of St. Thomas Law School and was attended by hundreds, including all recent U.S. attorneys for Minnesota but one.

The Republican appointee who had the job just before her.
(snip)

Heffelfinger, 59, is a moderate Republican who has strong ties to mainstream Minnesota Republican leaders. The McClatchy Washington Bureau reported that Paulose, 33, has been a member of the Federalist Society, a group of conservatives and Libertarians opposed to the "orthodox liberal ideology" it believes dominates the courts. Prior to her appointment, she was an assistant to Gonzales and special counsel to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, who was involved in the decisions being investigated now by Congress.
(snip/...)

http://www.startribune.com/357/story/1092041.html



Rachel Paulose

(From a right-wing site:)
March 10, 2007
Ms. Paulose moves into the gap

Yesterday our friend Rachel Paulose (above) was sworn in as the United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota. At age 33, Rachel is the first woman and youngest attorney to serve in the position of U.S. Attorney in Minnesota. Rachel has already been on the job for over a year, but was only confirmed (by unanimous consent) in the Senate's last act before adjournment on December 9 at 3:00 a.m. thanks to the efforts of Senator Norm Coleman and an assist from outgoing Democratic Senator Mark Dayton. Her formal swearing-in yesterday took place in the atrium of the University of St. Thomas Law School in downtown Minneapolis.
(snip/...)

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/print/016994.php

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark Dayton? Really?

[Up2Late]

6. Yes, this one has been over looked for far too long.

I think this NPR report is the one I'm thinking of and related. If it is, it tells of how 3 or the Lawyers that worked in this Minnesota Office voluntarily demoted themselves, so that they wouldn't have to report directly to this idiot Bush clone.

Senate to Seek More Info on Attorney Firings

Listen to this story...(at link)

by Liane Hansen and Ari Shapiro

Weekend Edition Sunday, April 8, 2007 · As the Senate returns from recess,
Democratic lawmakers will seek more documents from the Justice Department
on the firings of eight U.S. Attorneys. Monica Goodling, a key aide to
Attorney General Gonzales, resigned Friday.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9458650>

[Up2Late]

7. kick n/t

:kick: