More About Alberto Gonzalez. Oh What A Tangled Web. The first time I saw this story was 1/26. I assume now that there weren't 11 attorneys and that the reporters counted political appointments that were approved by the Senate. I've collected all the news on this subject that I thought was interesting at the end of this post. An interesting tidbit just came in on the wire (I can't sleep.)

In testimony on Jan. 18, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales assured the Senate Judiciary Committee that the Justice Department had no intention of avoiding Senate input on the hiring of U.S. attorneys.

Just a month earlier, D. Kyle Sampson, who was then Gonzales's chief of staff, laid out a plan to do just that. In an e-mail, he detailed a strategy for evading Arkansas Democrats in installing Tim Griffin, a former GOP operative and protege of presidential adviser Karl Rove, as the U.S. attorney in Little Rock.


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"We should gum this to death," Sampson wrote to a White House aide on Dec. 19. "[A]sk the senators to give Tim a chance . . . then we can tell them we'll look for other candidates, ask them for recommendations, evaluate the recommendations, interview their candidates, and otherwise run out the clock. All of this should be done in 'good faith,' of course."

I found another link.
Update: Tim Griffin is withdrawing his name from consideration for the US attorney position.
2.15.07- Renamed "Politics As Usual." Harriet Miers?
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Original post (1.26.07).
There's a big turnover rate among district attorneys. Gonzalez denies a Justice Department purge. I don't know. 11 attorneys? Let's see if the administration submits approval of attorney general appointments to the Senate, even though the Patriot Act allows the administration the freedom to select anyone they choose without congressional approval. From the The Houston Chronicle (outdated link).

Democratic senators are concerned that the high turnover is linked to an obscure, recently passed provision of the Patriot Act. The provision allows the Bush administration to fill vacancies with interim prosecutors for the remainder of the president's term without submitting them to the Senate for confirmation. Previously, interim appointments were made by a vote of federal judges in the districts served by the outgoing U.S. attorneys.

U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., contends that in his state U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins was improperly ousted in favor of a protege of Bush political adviser Karl Rove. Likewise in California, U.S. Attorneys Carol Lam of San Diego and Kevin Ryan of San Francisco were forced from their positions. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., alleged that Lam fell out of favor with her Washington bosses for spearheading the bribery prosecution and conviction of Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham last year. Lam reportedly had other politicians in her sights.

Alberto Gonzales has already appointed a US attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas without Senate approval. His name is Tim Griffin and he used to work for Karl Rove.(2.18.07)  ¶ 3:39 AM