politics

When Tom Heffelfinger was named U.S. attorney for Minnesota in 2001, he said he planned to concentrate on white-collar crime, narcotics, firearms, civil rights and Indian affairs.

Terrorism wasn't on his list. By his first day on the job just after the Sept. 11 attacks, it had leaped to the top. And it stayed there.

"Other types of crime didn't go away, but terrorism immediately became a new priority," Heffelfinger said Tuesday.

Heffelfinger, 58, announced Tuesday that he would resign Feb. 28 and return to private practice.

"There's never a good time to quit as U.S. attorney because there's always new crimes, new cases," he said. "It's an entirely personal reason, balancing the best needs of the office and the best needs of my family."

He declined to discuss the reason specifically, beyond saying financial considerations were part of it.

"Being in government service has meant my family has made sacrifices," he said.

Heffelfinger plans to return to the Best & Flanagan law firm, where he was a partner, concentrating on Indian law, general litigation and internal corporate investigations.

Politics is not in his future. "Been there, done that," he said, referring to his failed run for Hennepin County attorney in 1986.

The tenure that ends in two weeks is Heffelfinger's second stint in the job as the state's chief federal law enforcement officer, a rare feat. A Republican, Heffelfinger had spent about 1½ years in the position from late 1991 to 1993, nominated by President George H.W. Bush.

On the terrorism front, his office's two highest-profile cases are still in process. Minneapolis student Mohammed A. Warsame has been charged with conspiracy to provide material support to Al-Qaida, and Mohamad Elzahabi of Minneapolis has been charged with lying to federal agents investigating the shipment of electronics to Pakistan.

Although confessed Al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested in Minnesota, his case was not primarily handled by Heffelfinger's office.

"The terrorism work wasn't just prosecutions -- it meant outreach, to communities like Somalis and Arab-Americans, who need to feel their rights are protected," Heffelfinger said. "We need to do our job without scaring the bejesus out of people."

Indian affairs focus

One of the targets on Heffelfinger's original to-do list -- Indian affairs -- dovetailed with his expertise while in private practice, but played out in a wholly unexpected way last year after the shootings at Red Lake High School.

With Heffelfinger's office responsible for all crimes that occur on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, it fell to him to prosecute Louis Jourdain, the only person charged in the case.

The teen pleaded guilty in November to sending threatening messages and was sentenced last month to spend up to a year at a private juvenile rehabilitation facility.

Francis (Chunky) Brun, whose son Derrick was a security guard killed at the school, said he was frustrated by the difficulty of getting information about the shootings. But he blamed the process, not Heffelfinger.