reax082807
On the homepage
Schools
Out There
Petters
Burning
Attorney general had few backers left in Minnesota
Sens. Klobuchar and Coleman welcomed the news. Rep. Ellison still wants to know who's behind the firings.
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on DiggMore from Politically Connected
WASHINGTON - By the time Alberto Gonzales announced his resignation Monday, the U.S. attorney general had pretty much run out of friends in Minnesota.
Both Minnesota senators, Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Amy Klobuchar, had long since called on him to step down, and nobody seemed to want to go to bat for the head of a Justice Department that had put Minnesota's popular former U.S. attorney, Tom Heffelfinger, on the chopping block.
Coleman, who was one of seven Senate Republicans to vote in June for a resolution of no-confidence in Gonzales, said the attorney general "had lost the credibility needed to effectively run the Justice Department."
But Gonzales' resignation should "allow the country to move forward," Coleman added. "It will allow Congress to spend time working on the major issues before our country, rather than spending time on congressional hearings regarding the attorney general."
Klobuchar, who in March was among the first members of Congress to call for Gonzales' resignation, also welcomed his departure. But, she said, "he leaves a legacy of justice tarnished" by allowing politics to "creep too closely to the core of our legal system."
Other Democrats were more explicit about their intention to continue Congress' oversight of the embattled Justice Department.
One of Gonzales' most outspoken critics in Minnesota was Rep. Keith Ellison, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which has been battling the Bush administration to obtain the testimony of key White House figures in the controversy over the fired U.S. attorneys.
"I'm not willing to just let it drop," Ellison said. "I still want to know who made the call on the fired attorneys, what were the precise reasons and were they tied to voting rights investigations."
Heffelfinger, known as a rock-ribbed Republican prosecutor, resigned before a list of prosecutors targeted for dismissal was made public. He was replaced by Rachel Paulose, partly because she had more conservative Republican credentials than another candidate, former Justice Department official Monica Goodling told Congress in May.
In an e-mailed statement to the newspaper, Paulose said: "I have admiration for anyone willing to undertake the sacrifice inherent in public service today. I am particularly grateful for the attorney general's support for prosecutions of child pornography and human trafficking, two priorities in which we have made a significant law enforcement impact here in Minnesota."
Heffelfinger said he was not surprised to see the end of Gonzales' stormy tenure at Justice. "I believe there was inappropriate politicization of the department," he said.
Staff writer Pat Lopez contributed to this report. Kevin Diaz • 1-202-408-2753
Kevin Diaz • kdiaz@startribune.com
Recent Politically Connected stories
House votes to block Medicare cuts to doctors, Republicans see a payoff to the AMA - August 27, 2007
House votes to block Medicare cuts to doctors, Republicans see a payoff to the AMA - The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to add more than $200 billion to the deficit to prevent steep Medicare payment cuts to doctors, a move Republicans denounced as a political payoff. More
- List of White House state dinner guests
- Obama to unveil plan to add troops in Afghanistan
- Palin stops in Fla. town that feted her in 2008
- Obamas welcome guests with curry at state dinner
- Fed says recovery will be gradual with jobless rate dropping 'slowly' over next few years
- Weaver opts against run for Minn. governor
- No guarantees on Senate health bill's public plan
- Health care issues: US costs vs. other countries
The Whistleblower blog has moved
The Star Tribune is still blowing the whistle, but our look and location have changed. Click here to get to the new blog. If you want the actual URL, it’s www.startribune.com/blogs/whistleblower.html. Our blog posts will now be easier to search on the web site, but you’ll need to register to post a comment. In the [...]
Recent posts
  Open positions!A new career awaits. Look through thousands of listings to find your new job. Start now! No resume? No problem!Create a skills profile in minutes, let a recruiter match you to an open position. Click here to get started. |
Comment on this story | Be the first to comment | Hide reader comments