The time has come for Gonzales to resign

    The Judicial Department, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and the Bush Administration find themselves in a bit of a tight spot, or do they?  Eight Federal Prosecutors have been fired by the United States Justice Department which is unprecedented in the modern era.  If you look at the past records of presidential administration firings of federal prosecutors, you will see that Richard Nixon fired one during his two terms, Jimmy Carter fired one during his administration, and Bill Clinton fired one during his tenure in office.  The George W. Bush Administration has fired eight in just the past year.  But why?
    One attorney in San Diego, Carol Lam, was fired because she did not follow the Republican Party platforms.  In her district, immigration and weapons enforcement were not prosecuted as frequently as the current president would like.  This sounds like a political decision, not one that is based upon the ethics of American jurisprudence.  Was this merely a matter of an attorney not doing her job properly?  The White House has said that all of the firings were due to poor job performance.  What about John McKay, the attorney in Seattle who clearly carried out the Republican Party’s agenda?  Why was he fired?  It is a known fact that federal prosecutors can refuse to prosecute cases that come before them for various reasons.  This kind of thing happens all of the time. 
    It has also been discovered through recently released White House email records that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has had several lengthy discussion with the White House on the very firings of federal prosecutors in question.  Why eight prosecutors when the modern precedent has been one firing at the most per presidency?  It becomes quickly apparent that Gonzales and Bush are trying to clean house, and get rid of every appointed attorney that does not do the bidding of the Republican Party or the administration.  This is a gross misuse of executive powers.  Sure the President is their boss, as is Gonzales, but if you look at these prosecutors’ appointments, you will quickly realize that it was the George W. Bush administration that appointed these attorneys.
    Alberto Gonzales’s chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, was dismissed for this very issue.  But why is the chief of staff being played as the fall guy here?  We have seen in recent months how Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, has been used as the sacrificial lamb in the Valerie Plame CIA leak scandal.  It seems to be a new trend to set your chief of staff up to be the patsy while you continue your political role.  It is not fair for these sorts of things to happen, and it is evident that these political figures such as Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales to man up and take responsibility for something.  The White House should be accountable for something after all of the anguish it has caused this country over the past six years.

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Posted by Colonnade Archives on Apr 6 2007. Filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry