Post says Mercer engineered rule change
HELENA, Mont. (AP) -
The Post reported that on Nov. 10, 2005, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales wrote U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Montana that Mercer was not violating federal law by largely spending his time in Washington as a senior aide to Gonzales.

On the same day, Mercer directed a staffer for Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to place in a bill language changing rules so federal prosecutors could live outside their districts to hold other jobs, according to the newspaper. Several months later, Congress passed the provision in reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act, legislation Mercer was assigned to shepherd, the Post reported.

The staffer, Brett Tolman, is now the U.S. attorney for Utah. He did not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

¶ 12:46 PM