Editor&Publisher: Blog, Then Mainstream Press, Find 9th Fired U.S. Attorney

[DeepModem Mom]

Blog, Then Mainstream Press, Find 9th Fired U.S. Attorney
By E&P Staff
Published: May 10, 2007 10:30 AM ET

NEW YORK It made the front page of The Washington Post today, but only after bubbling up from the popular blog Talking Points Memo and later McClatchy Newspapers.

A former U.S. attorney in Kansas City, Mo., Todd P. Graves, said Wednesday that he was asked to resign by a senior Justice Department official in January 2006, months before eight other federal prosecutors would be fired by the Bush administration. Attorney General Gonzales had said that the firings were limited to eight and he is being asked about the latest disclosure in another hearing before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill today.

In his opening statement today, Gonzales suggested it was time to move on from this controversy. He said the Graves firing was outside the process that led to the departure of the other eight....

***

Excerpts from a New York Times editorial today follows.

*

As the United States attorney scandal grows, so does the number of prosecutors who seem to have been pushed out for partisan political reasons. Another highly suspicious case has emerged in the appointment of Bradley Schlozman, a controversial elections lawyer, to replace a respected United States attorney in Missouri. From the facts available, it looks like a main reason for installing Mr. Schlozman was to help Republicans win a pivotal Missouri Senate race.

Jim Talent, the Republican incumbent, was facing a strong challenge from Claire McCaskill last year when the United States attorney, Todd Graves, resigned suddenly. Mr. Graves suspects that he may have been pushed out in part because he refused to support a baseless lawsuit against the state of Missouri that could have led to voters’ being wrongly removed from the rolls....

Mr. Schlozman’s short stint in Missouri — he left after about a year — appears to be another case of the Bush administration’s politicizing federal prosecutors’ offices. Mr. Graves was reportedly on a list to be fired, and clues are emerging about why. He said this week that when he interviewed for the job, he was asked to name one attribute that describes him. “I said independent,” he said. “Apparently, that was the wrong attribute.”

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003583595

[Peace Patriot]

1. If McClatchy keeps this up (doing real journalism), they're going to have people

buying newspapers again!

And I don't know about y'all, but I've sure been noticing Editor&Publisher lately (and noticed them early on, too). Some really fine journalism and news analysis going on there.

As for the putrid Bushits and their war profiteering corporate news monopolies, the Ancient Greeks had it right: hubris--the pride before the fall. Their arrogance is unbounded, and "the gods" don't look kindly on that at all. Too bad we won't be able to get our money back (unless we restore transparent vote counting, and really do some major prosecuting and house-cleaning), but these tyrants are standing on such a thin reed now--basically just Rove and his evil machinations--(I guess I should say fat reed, kind of like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in "Ghostbusters"--a big fat puffy nothing kind of pillar)--that I am more and more inclined to think they will get to see their downfall. I have not been very confident of that. But their messing with their own--these US Attorneys (and the octopus reach of this scandal--it has many tentacles)--is starting to look fatal. If they do fall, it won't solve all our problems, by any means. We will then have the next "unitary executive" to deal with, and the same old same old Global Corporate Predators who will be running him or her. But, by God, it will be a joy to see that gooey white stuff hit the fan all over DC!

(Have you been following the story of US Attorney Debra Wang? Holy Moly?
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/003154.php )

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks for your post, PP! Just a word about E&P --

I've been checking them every day for quite some time, and almost always find something valuable there.