Sunday, November 08, 2009
Search
Blogs
HiLife Online 
Reader Poll
Most Read
- Case of baby who died in Customs heads to trial after failure to settle
- Educators accused of unethical conduct
- Retailers on guard as crooks ram vehicles into properties
- Desperate times at Aloha Stadium
- Feeding frenzy for UH backs
- Calls for tax hike piling on reluctant lawmakers
- Warriors find winning formula
- State welfare payouts drop as numbers of needy grow
- Hawaii busts up Utah State 49-36
- Go fly a business
- Amis out indefinitely for UH men's basketball
Complete investigation of U.S. attorney firings is needed
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 01, 2008
As the Bush administration limps through its final days, continuing an inquiry into the firing of U.S. attorneys for political purposes would seem pointless - except to restore trust and confidence in the institution duty bound to enforce laws without bias or partisanship.
Michael Mukasey, the third attorney general to serve President Bush, was correct to heed the call of the Justice Department's inspector general to appoint a federal prosecutor to investigate further.
Though a conclusion could be months if not years away, misconduct by administration officials shouldn't be allowed to pass. Unless someone is held accountable, the loose atmosphere that has prevailed during the past seven years would give license to future administrations and muddy ethical boundaries even more.
Mukasey's move was prompted by a 392-page report by the inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility, who had been examining the dismissals for 18 months. The report found "significant evidence that partisan political considerations were an important factor in the removal" of several U.S. attorneys.
However, because some key witnesses refused to cooperate - including former White House counsel and Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Bush's former political adviser Karl Rove and former Justice liaison Monica Goodling - the investigation could not be completed, the report said.
Mukasey, in describing the dismissals as "haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional," properly recognized that his department "has an obligation to the American people to pursue this case" regardless of whether the alleged culprits have left their jobs.
It is a departure from his earlier decision not to pursue legal action against former White House operatives who applied litmus tests of party affiliation and conservative views in hiring immigration judges and for other nonpolitical positions.
The difference is probably due to the level of authority involved with the report pointing at the White House, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other department officials for playing major roles in the unprecedented firings and providing "inconsistent, misleading or inaccurate" statements.
The report is particularly critical of Gonzales, who it said "bears primary responsibility" for the messy episode and had "an extraordinary lack of recollection about the entire removal process," most remarkably a meeting in his conference room when he approved the dismissals.
The most serious case was that of David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico who was fired because of "complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists to the White House and the Department" that he would not bring voter fraud charges that would boost the party's chances in elections there.
Political considerations also were suspected in firing three other attorneys, including one who was pushed out to provide a job for a former Rove aide, the report said, but, unable to compel testimony, investigators were stymied.
The new prosecutor, armed with grand jury subpoenas, won't have that problem.
As the Bush administration limps through its final days, continuing an inquiry into the firing of U.S. attorneys for political purposes would seem pointless - except to restore trust and confidence in the institution duty bound to enforce laws without bias or partisanship.
Michael Mukasey, the third attorney general to serve President Bush, was correct to heed the call of the Justice Department's inspector general to appoint a federal prosecutor to investigate further.
Though a conclusion could be months if not years away, misconduct by administration officials shouldn't be allowed to pass. Unless someone is held accountable, the loose atmosphere that has prevailed during the past seven years would give license to future administrations and muddy ethical boundaries even more.
Mukasey's move was prompted by a 392-page report by the inspector general and the Office of Professional Responsibility, who had been examining the dismissals for 18 months. The report found "significant evidence that partisan political considerations were an important factor in the removal" of several U.S. attorneys.
However, because some key witnesses refused to cooperate - including former White House counsel and Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Bush's former political adviser Karl Rove and former Justice liaison Monica Goodling - the investigation could not be completed, the report said.
Mukasey, in describing the dismissals as "haphazard, arbitrary and unprofessional," properly recognized that his department "has an obligation to the American people to pursue this case" regardless of whether the alleged culprits have left their jobs.
It is a departure from his earlier decision not to pursue legal action against former White House operatives who applied litmus tests of party affiliation and conservative views in hiring immigration judges and for other nonpolitical positions.
The difference is probably due to the level of authority involved with the report pointing at the White House, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other department officials for playing major roles in the unprecedented firings and providing "inconsistent, misleading or inaccurate" statements.
The report is particularly critical of Gonzales, who it said "bears primary responsibility" for the messy episode and had "an extraordinary lack of recollection about the entire removal process," most remarkably a meeting in his conference room when he approved the dismissals.
The most serious case was that of David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico who was fired because of "complaints from New Mexico Republican politicians and party activists to the White House and the Department" that he would not bring voter fraud charges that would boost the party's chances in elections there.
Political considerations also were suspected in firing three other attorneys, including one who was pushed out to provide a job for a former Rove aide, the report said, but, unable to compel testimony, investigators were stymied.
The new prosecutor, armed with grand jury subpoenas, won't have that problem.
Today’s Edition
- Damien celebrations draw to a close
- Calls for tax hike piling on reluctant lawmaker
- Retailers on guard as crooks ram vehicles into properties
- County pandemic plans to apply to overall state response strategy
- State welfare payouts drop as numbers of needy grow
- Earlier primary voting considered
- Whatever Happened To: Case of baby who died in Customs heads to trial after failure to settle
- Newswatch
- Police and Fire
- Shining Stars
- Vital Statistics
- What's open and closed on Veterans Day
- Trouble in Paradise
- Windfall is seen as bank bonuses are paid in stock
- Overweight Americans push back in the health care debate
- Handmade: Make your presence felt with 'Felties'
- Drawing attention
- Da Kine
- Scrivener's Sudoku: Army Community Hawaii
- Murakami's Calabash
- Warriors find winning formula
- Feeding frenzy for UH backs
- Porous run defense deflates Utah State
- Short snaps: UH vs. Utah State
- Further Review: Old-school running game keyed UH's feel-good win
- Amis out indefinitely with foot injury
- UH's Lee lifts Hawaii's spirit
- Farrington finds a way
- 'Iolani rolls Damien to prepare for states
- Hawaii Beat
- Scoreboard
- Television & Radio
- New kite business takes off
- Business briefs
- It's not too late to cut tax liability
- Hawaii Real Estate Sales
- Tracking Hawaii's student stock pickers
insideStarBulletin.com
