Attorney General Gonzales Resigns Associated Press August 27, 2007 8:44 a.m.
CRAWFORD, Texas -- Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, under fire from congressional Democrats, has resigned, senior Bush administration officials said Monday. A senior Justice Department official said that a likely temporary replacement for Mr. Gonzales is Solicitor General Paul Clement, who would take over until a permanent replacement is found. Another official, also speaking on grounds of anonymity, said that Mr. Gonzales had submitted a resignation letter last Friday. These officials declined to be identified because the formal announcement about Mr. Gonzales was still pending. More details are expected shortly. The ouster of eight U.S. attorneys is at the heart of the Gonzales controversy, in part because the Justice Department's initial explanations were undercut by documents since uncovered in a congressional probe. Emails revealed between White House and Justice Department officials show that Karl Rove inquired in early January 2005 about firing U.S. attorneys. They also indicate Mr. Gonzales was considering dismissing up to 20% of U.S. attorneys in the weeks before he took over the Justice Department. Mr. Gonzales admitted mistakes were made in providing "incomplete" and misleading answers about the firings of the U.S. attorneys and approved requests for staff members to be interviewed about them. "We could have rolled out the decisions more smoothly," Mr. Gonzales has said But he also rejected accusations from Democrats and other critics that the prosecutors were fired for failing to follow the Bush administration's political agenda. "To think we made these changes to retaliate or because they didn't carry out certain prosecutions?" he said. "That did not occur here. I stand by the decision to make the changes." Once a Rising Star A confluence of forces -- some of his own making, some beyond his control, and some the fault of his putative allies in the White House -- came together to undermine the 52-year-old lawyer, who was once seen as one of the rising young stars of the Bush administration. Mr. Gonzales's supreme loyalty to President Bush, whom he served as counsel in Texas, helped him become attorney general. Polite and reserved, he has little of the charisma and political flair of his predecessor, John Ashcroft, a former senator and governor. Staff members and colleagues call him Judge. It's a reference to his time on the Texas supreme court, but also an honorific that sums up his temperament. Mr. Gonzales grew up in the small town of Humble, Texas, one of eight children of Mexican migrants. In recent days, his strongest asset -- his close ties to Mr. Bush -- became a liability. Those ties have served him well since 1994, when the then-governor of Texas plucked him from a law firm to be his counsel. Democrats have framed the attorneys controversy as a sign of Mr. Gonzales's lack of independence from the White House, charging that his loyalty to the president had politicized an important part of the justice system. The furor left Mr. Gonzales frustrated and pained. Asked to sum up how he would want his work as presidential counsel and attorney general to be remembered, he said he believed he eventually "will be vindicated." He added: "I do hope people will be fair in assessing what we have done to protect America." Mr. Gonzales's defenders say he was being pummeled for actions that aren't extraordinary at all. They note that other administrations have replaced U.S. attorneys in bunches, sometimes on a grander scale. President Clinton changed all 93 U.S. attorneys when he came into office, moving out the Republican appointees and replacing them with his own. His critics say the latest firings are different. Select prosecutors appointed by Mr. Bush himself were targeted for political reasons, they say. The shifting public explanations of the matter compounded Mr. Gonzales's problems. On the Issues Many of President Bush's supporters have kept their distance from Mr. Gonzales. Some still repeat the old joke that Gonzales is Spanish for Souter -- a reference to the appointment of David Souter to the Supreme Court by the first President Bush. Mr. Souter is viewed as a disappointment to conservatives because he sometimes aligns himself with the court's more liberal wing. When Mr. Gonzales was talked about as a possibility for the Court, conservatives rebelled, in part because they suspected he wouldn't share their views on issues ranging from abortion to affirmative action. On affirmative action, Mr. Gonzales played a role in softening an administration brief filed in a Supreme Court case challenging the University of Michigan's admission programs in 2003. Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, says his organization, which is against affirmative action, opposed nominating Mr. Gonzales to the Supreme Court in part because of his involvement in the Michigan case. "That was a great disappointment to those of us who were hoping that the Supreme Court would close the door to racial and ethnic preferences," he says. On "color blind" policies, Mr. Clegg says, he gives Mr. Gonzales and the administration "a B or C" grade. Mr. Gonzales further alienated some conservatives by supporting a federal prosecutor who brought a controversial case. Johnny Sutton, a U.S. attorney in western Texas and a friend of Messrs. Gonzales and Bush, successfully prosecuted two border patrol agents for shooting a suspected drug smuggler. Some conservatives, including members of Congress, criticized the prosecutions. Some liberals, however, don't agree with conservatives' description of Mr. Gonzales as a "stealth liberal," citing his role in crafting antiterrorism policies. At a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who chairs the committee, accused Mr. Gonzales of being "complicit in advancing these government policies which threaten our basic liberties and overstep the bounds of our Constitution." In the Feb. 28 interview, Mr. Gonzales said of the criticism about his legal advice to the president on civil liberties: "Every time the courts issue a decision, we learn more. We are still feeling our way here. We need people to realize that we're not yet safe. Every day is Sept. 12." "I acknowledge that we have an issue and perception problem with our allies as a result of some of the events that have occurred," he continued. "They need to understand Abu Ghraib is a fact, but it didn't happen because of administration policy." He also pointed to other areas where he wanted to make a difference, including cracking down on child pornography and battling illegal drugs. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| ColdFusion 8 - Build next generation apps today, with easy PDF and Ajax features - download now http://download.macromedia.com/pub/labs/coldfusion/cf8_beta_whatsnew_052907.pdf Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:241314 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
