The number is now 8. The latest casualty of the DOJ's US Attorney purge is Margaret Chiara.
An eighth U.S. attorney announced her resignation yesterday, the latest in a wave of forced departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice Department over the death penalty and other issues.
Margaret Chiara, the 63-year-old U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., told her staff that she was leaving her post after more than five years, officials said. Sources familiar with the case confirmed that she was among a larger group of prosecutors who were first asked to resign Dec. 7.
I doubt it was her performance that elicited her resignation. More than likely it was her stance on the death penalty.
Chiara -- who had once studied to be a nun -- is personally opposed to capital punishment, but in 2002 she presided over the first death penalty case in Michigan in more than 60 years. A year later, then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft rejected a plea agreement proposed by Chiara's office in a separate murder case, according to news reports.
Central to these ousters is why. We already know that Paul McNutly lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty told senators earlier this month that all but one of the prosecutors were fired for "performance-related" reasons. McNulty said that former U.S. attorney Bud Cummins of Little Rock was removed so the job could be given to a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove.
Nearly all of the dismissed prosecutors had positive job reviews, but many had run into political trouble with Washington over immigration, capital punishment or other issues, according to prosecutors and others. At least four also were presiding over high-profile public corruption investigations when they were dismissed.
Granted these are appointed positions, but sheese, at least be honest on why you want these folks removed, rather than giving a song and dance that is easily disproved. The administration of corruption and stomping on dissent reigns.
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