Democratic Talk Radio Blog

Another Dubious Firing
The New York Times | Editorial
Thursday 26 April 2007

Congressman Rick Renzi, an Arizona Republican, was locked in a close
re-election battle last fall when the local United States attorney, Paul
Charlton, was investigating him for corruption. The investigation appears
to have been slowed before Election Day, Mr. Renzi retained his seat, and
Mr. Charlton ended up out of a job - one of eight prosecutors purged by the
White House and the Justice Department.

The Arizona case adds a disturbing new chapter to that scandal.
Congress needs to determine whether Mr. Charlton was fired for any reason
other than threatening the Republican Party’s hold on a Congressional seat.

Mr. Renzi was fighting for his political life when the local press
reported that he was facing indictment for a suspect land deal. According
to The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators met unexpected resistance
from the Justice Department in getting approval to proceed and, perhaps as
a result, the investigation was pushed past the election.

Mr. Renzi’s top aide, Brian Murray, admitted this week that when
reports surfaced that his boss was being investigated, he had called Mr.
Charlton’s office asking for information. Mr. Charlton’s office did the
right thing, according to Mr. Murray’s account: it refused to comment.
Weeks later, Mr. Charlton was fired.

There is reason to be suspicious about these events. Last week, all
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could offer was weak excuses for the
firing - that Mr. Charlton had asked Mr. Gonzales to reconsider a decision
to seek the death penalty in a murder case and that he’d started recording
interviews with targets of investigations without asking permission from
Justice Department bureaucrats.

Beyond that, this story line is far too similar to one involving a
fired prosecutor in New Mexico. Senator Pete Domenici, a Republican, asked
the prosecutor there, David Iglesias, about the status of an investigation
of prominent Democrats. If Mr. Iglesias had brought indictments before the
election, it could have helped Heather Wilson, a Republican congresswoman
locked in a tight re-election battle. He didn’t. Mr. Domenici reportedly
complained to the White House. Mr. Iglesias was fired.

Since this scandal broke, the White House has insisted that the
firings were legitimate because United States attorneys serve “at the
pleasure of the president.” They do. But if prosecutors were fired to block
investigations, that might well be obstruction of justice, which is itself
a federal crime.

Yesterday, Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, wrote to Mr.
Gonzales to request all White House and Justice Department communications
about the Renzi investigation. Given what has already come out, the burden
is now on the Justice Department to show that Mr. Charlton’s firing was
legitimate.

Congress stepped up this investigation in other ways yesterday. The
House authorized immunity for Monica Goodling, a former Justice Department
official who has invoked her right against self-incrimination. And the
Senate approved a subpoena for Sara Taylor, a top aide to Karl Rove.

These interviews are important, but the major players need to testify.
The Senate has approved subpoenas for Mr. Rove; for Harriet Miers, who was
the White House counsel; and for other officials who seem deeply involved
in the firings. It is time to serve them.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 8:43 am and is filed under Political Corruption, Republican. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.