The Imbalance of Justice Senator Feinstein Accuses Attorney General of Playing Politics with Nation’s Top Prosecutors Although prosecutors appoint- Eight U.S. Attor- ed by the West Wing normally require confirmation from the neys have been Senate, somehow a G.O.P. staffer fired for no reason. slipped new language into the Pa- triot Act renewal legislation at the Or maybe there was end of 2005, effectively changing the law. Now interim appointees a reason. By this can serve indefinitely. “No member has stepped time next year, can- forward and said they knew it didate Hillary Clin- was in the bill,” said Scott Gerber, The former U.S. Attorney for Southern a spokesman for Senator Dianne ton may find herself California, Carol Lam. Feinstein. Feinstein sits on the the subject of an ments are in jeopardy with Lam Senate Judiciary Committee, out of the picture. whose former chairman, Arlen indictment. Although Cunningham went to Specter of Pennsylvania, said his prison on a plea deal that requires chief counsel Michael O’Neill inserted the language into the bill March 20, 2007 him to cooperate with prosecutors by naming names, if the White at the request of someone at the Justice Department. O’Neill is a iven the bevy of House has its way, he may get to keep his secrets after all. past law clerk for Supreme Court scandal investiga- Justice Clarence Thomas. tions engulfing Capi- Karen Hewitt was named as Lam’s interim replacement. A San Although the change was tol Hill, it shouldn’t never debated or voted on, no one be surprising to hear Diego native and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, in Congress has challenged the le- that the President wants to make gality of the provision or demand- a few personnel changes in the Hewitt was third-in-command G under Lam prior to the dismissal. ed that O’Neill be prosecuted for department which prosecutes such fraud. In fact, Specter’s aide still cases. It’s unclear whether or not she will continue in the post or be replaced appears to have his job, leading Just two days after handing many to wonder if the former down new search and siezure when the dust of the churning warrants in one bribery scandal, controversy dies down. continued for instance, U.S. Attorney for In fact, by the end of Janu- Southern California Carol Lam got ary, President Bush had replaced a phone call from one of Alberto aseveral prosecutors with loyalists Gonzalez’s deputies. He told her from his inner circle, raising fears to clean out her desk. that the Justice Department would On the job since 2002, Lam di- now be functioning as the G.O.P. rected the successful prosecution equivalent of the Spanish Inquisi- of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, tion. the Republican congressman con- Equally troubling are the al- victed of taking over two million legations that the U.S. Attorney’s dollars in bribes in exchange for office may now be part of a dirty Senator Dianne Feinstein first sounded tricks scheme to sway voters from the alarm about the provision that al- political favors. lows the West Wing to appoint prosec- Now some legal commentators supporting a Democrat for Presi- tors without senate confirmation. are suggesting the latest indict- dent in 2008. Feinstein angry at Justice Dept. for slipping language into bill continued from previous page tive in charge of federal criminal investigations in Little Rock, chairman knew of the deception which has been home to two pos- beforehand. White House counsel Harriet Miers sible presidential candidates, Hill- resigned in January. Feinstein has introduced leg- ary Clinton and former Gov. Mike islation to have the original rules Huckabee.” hinted that Ryan’s departure may for confirmation reinstated. The Hoping to diffuse such specu- affect Silicon Valley companies Judiciary Committee approved lation, Deputy Attorney General being investigated on options-re- her provision and attached it to Paul McNulty confided to report- lated transgressions. yet another controversial bill that ers that Griffin’s appointment had Scott Schools, a general coun- addresses the nation’s post 9/11 been arranged as a personal favor sel for the Justice Department and security concerns. for Harriet Miers, then senior interim U.S. Attorney for South counsel at the White House. Miers Carolina in 2001, will take Ryan’s Between Little Rock and a Hard resigned from the Administration place. He will leave his currentjob Place on January 31st. as an ethics advisor. The former counsel received Feinstein spokesman Gerber Before Lam received her pink national attention in 2005 when said the senator had yet to weigh slip, the ouster of U.S. Attorney the President nominated her to fill in on the prospect of having a non- Bud Cummins in Arkansas was Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat on Californian already stirring up Democratic the U.S. Supreme Court. When with close ties Party worries that dirty tricks are conservative religious groups ob- to the White in the hopper for 2008. Cummins jected, Miers withdrew her name House direct- was replaced by J. Timothy Grif- and Samuel Alito was nominated ing federal fin, a protégé of Karl Rove. and later confirmed. prosecutions Rove ran the Bush campaigns In addition to Lam and in the Bay in 2000 and 2004 and is thought Cummins, the U.S. Attorney for Area. Inter- by many to be the President’s Northern California, Kevin Ryan, state drug right-hand man. The New York stepped down in February. Ryan trafficking, Senator Hillary Clinton Times reported that before work- refused to say if he had deportation proceedings, bank ing for Rove, been forced out. heists and other types of crime Griffin headed According to news involving federal law form the up “opposition reports, the former caseload of the U.S. Attorney’s dis- research” for Alameda County pros- trict offices. the Republican ecutor received a poor Like Ryan, the eight fired National Com- performance evaluation prosecutors were all appointed by mittee. last year. At that time, President Bush. At a hearing be- In a recent disgruntled attorneys fore the Senate Judiciary Commit- editorial, the Attorney General Gonzalez said they didn’t get tee on March 7th, several testified newspaper said enough face time with Ryan and that Republican lawmakers leaned “It is particularly dangerous to put demanded that his highest rank- on them before mid-term elections United States attorneys’ offices ing subordinate, Eumi Choi, be to step up corruption cases involv- in the hands of political opera- demoted because they felt she ing Democrats. However, they tives because federal prosecutors wielded too much power. refused to cooperate. have extraordinary power to issue Choi heads the criminal divi- The prosecutors were also subpoenas and bring criminal sion and the narcotics task force, asked to disclose confidential charges…” as well as the Oakland and San information about ongoing inves- The editorial continued: Jose branches. tigations. Such actions violate eth- “There could be unsavory political In addition, Business Week has ics rules and could lead to disbar- reasons for putting a party opera- continued ment from the legal profession. During a hearing of the same panel in February, Senator Dianne Feinstein complained to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez about the removal of both Lam and Ryan, neither of whose records had been in question. Later, in a letter to Gonzalez, Feinstein stated, “We have come to believe that this was a clumsy effort to force these U.S. Attorneys out for reasons that have little or nothing to do with their perfor- mance as prosecutors. The U.S. Attorneys who testified before the House and Senate had solid records as independent prosecu- tors. They are good people. And they didn’t deserve to be treated this way.” Although Feinstein was the first legislator to bring the mat- ter public, elected officials in both houses have since called for Gonzalez to resign. Trying to de- flect attention away from his boss, deputy Attorney General McNulty more recently told the press that it was Harrier Miers who lobbied the West Wing to replace the U.S. Attorneys in virtually every dis- trict in the country. McNulty said that cooler heads prevailed and less than a dozen senior prosecutors were asked to leave. Both the House and Senate Ju- diciary Committees have demand- ed that Miers and Rove appear in chambers and testify under oath about their role in the firings. u Copyright 2007 The City Edition of San Francisco www.thecityedition.com.