Washington – Six of the eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department ranked in the top third among their peers for the number of prosecutions filed last year, according to an analysis of federal records.
In addition, five of the eight were among the government’s top performers in winning convictions.
The analysis undercuts Justice Department claims that the prosecutors were dismissed because of lackluster job performance.
Democrats contend the firings were politically motivated, and calls are increasing for the resignation or ouster of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Immigration cases – a top Bush administration priority, especially in states along the porous Southwest border – helped boost the total number of prosecutions for U.S. attorneys in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
Four of the prosecutors also rated high in pursuing drug cases, according to Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Only one of the eight received a better-than-average ranking in prosecuting weapons cases.
Several of the attorneys who were told Dec. 7 to resign complained that their reputations were sullied when the Justice Department linked the firings to underwhelming results in each of the eight districts – Arizona; Little Rock, Ark.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Nevada; New Mexico; San Diego; San Francisco; and Seattle.
“I respectfully request that you reconsider the rationale of poor performance as the basis for my dismissal,” Margaret Chiara, the former prosecutor in Grand Rapids, complained in an e-mail. The description, in part, she said, “is proving to be a formidable obstacle to securing employment.”
Michael Elston, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty’s chief of staff, wrote back: “The word ‘performance’ obviously has not sat well with you and your colleagues. By that word, we only meant to convey that there were issues about policy, priorities and management/leadership that we felt were important to the department’s effectiveness.”
