Doing your job? You’re fired

The Bush administration has never been famous for its great planning or reasonable actions. Their recent decision to fire U.S. Attorney Carol Lam of San Diego has upheld that tradition.

Lam, along with six other of her colleagues across the nation, was told to resign a little over a month ago by the Bush administration.

The job of U.S. attorneys is to legally represent the U.S. government. This includes prosecuting criminal cases brought to court by the federal government, representing the U.S. in civil cases, and collecting debts owed to the federal government.

Lam’s firing has gained media attention in particular because she was dismissed after prosecuting San Diego-area Republican Randy “Duke” Cunningham for conspiracy and tax evasion.

Her investigation into other suspicious individuals who were involved in the corruption, such as a former CIA official, will now be cut short by her dismissal.

Before we jump to conclusions about political motivations, however, let’s consider the administration’s totally reasonable explanation for firing seven U.S. attorneys: “performance-related” reasons. Which would be a good reason, if it were true.

Five of the seven were found to have received positive job evaluations prior to being asked to resign, according to an article in the San Jose Mercury News.

The “performance-related” excuses were a nice try, but I’m not buying it.

And neither is Congress. Which is good, because this whole mess is its fault in the first place.

Usually the attorneys are appointed by the president and then receive congressional approval. When Congress approved the Patriot Act, however, it overlooked the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice slipped in a new rule ““ one that doesn’t require congressional approval of the appointees.

I guess it’s important to read bills before we make them laws, hmm?

But the damage is done, and the Senate is rushing to push a bill through congress that would restore the rule to its old form.

U.S. attorneys do work for the president. And, as the boss, the president can choose to fire and re-hire attorneys for any reason ““ or even no reason at all.

Doing so, however, is not generally looked upon with approval. U.S. attorneys are important law enforcement figures. Removing them from their posts with minimal justification not only makes the public suspicious of the new individuals taking the attorneys’ places but also interferes with the attorneys’ current prosecutions and creates a chilling effect on the other attorneys.

Prosecute Republicans like Cunningham? Congratulations, Lam, you’re fired. Did you go after big corporations for allegedly backdating stock options? See ya, U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan of San Francisco.

I don’t believe the Bush administration simply decided to pick out a few undesirables from the lot of U.S. attorneys and fire them for kicks.

One current and one former Justice Department official told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that the administration was opening positions for “up-and-coming Republicans” whose careers they would like to boost.

But is the Bush administration more likely to make room for those Republicans by firing an old pal? Or would they rather get rid of a prosecutor who can’t seem to help digging up unpleasant information about other Republicans and their friends?

And what message does this send to the other attorneys? Better watch your step people.

Perhaps the most disconcerting aspect of the situation is that the U.S. attorneys who were victim to the administration’s forced resignations are not speaking up for themselves.

I called Lam’s press secretary last week, and Lam is ““ and has been for quite some time ““ declining to comment on the situation.

John McKay, the former U.S. attorney for Western Washington who received exceptionally high performance evaluations, was also fired by the Bush administration, but only disclosed this fact long after he was asked to leave his post.

Maybe the U.S. attorneys do not wish to speak about the controversy until after leaving office. Maybe they’re worried about affecting future job prospects.

But if they’re not going to defend themselves, Congress needs to follow through with its actions and do it for them.

Hopefully our lawmakers have learned their lesson: It’s important to read the nonsense they’re so freely imposing upon the rest of the country.

If you’d like to fire one of your employees and hire Strickland, she’s okay with it ““ but only this once.

Contact her at

kstrickland@media.ucla.edu.

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