NYT: After Criticism of Arkansas U.S. Attorney's Dismissal, Justice Dept. Shifts Course [View All]

[DeepModem Mom]

After Criticism of Dismissal, Justice Dept. Shifts Course
By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: February 17, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 — The prosecutor whose appointment as an interim United States attorney in Arkansas has ignited a furor in Congress will not be nominated for the job permanently, the Justice Department said on Friday.

The appointment of the prosecutor, J. Timothy Griffin, as the temporary successor to H. E. Cummins III as United States attorney prompted Democrats to complain that Mr. Cummins and several other United States attorneys had been removed for political motives.

The withdrawal of Mr. Griffin as the probable candidate to succeed Mr. Cummins permanently was a setback for the Justice Department, which had sought to portray the dismissals as a routine personnel matter.

Mr. Griffin is a military and civilian prosecutor, but Democrats said he was better known for his political ties to the Bush administration. He had been a political director for the Republican National Committee and, more recently, a deputy to Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser, working on personnel matters.

On Thursday evening, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales called several Arkansas lawmakers to advise them that Mr. Griffin’s name would be withdrawn, Congressional aides said. The calls came after several weeks of increasingly vocal criticism about the appointment from Democrats, including the two Democratic senators from Arkansas, Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/17/washington/17attorney.html