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Paper: GOPer Investigation at Issue in Prosecutor Firing
This is one of the high profile public corruption cases we haven't talked a lot about. From The Arizona Republic:
Two weeks after Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton was ordered to give up his post, he sent an e-mail to a top Justice Department official asking how to handle questions that his ouster was connected to his investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.Charlton, one of eight federal prosecutors forced to resign last year, never received a written response....
When the first list of U.S. attorneys targeted for ouster was drafted, Charlton's name was not on it. But his name was on a subsequent list, drafted in September. Although the Renzi inquiry was not yet public, it is likely the Justice Department was aware of the investigation, said a former U.S. attorney who is familiar with the protocol when a sitting lawmaker is involved.
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Comments (18)
lucifer wrote on March 21, 2007 12:02 PM:Isn't it a criminal offence to interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation?
chuckles wrote on March 21, 2007 12:13 PM:Send Rove and Gonzalez to jail!
NOW!
Whatever happened to Liberty and Justice for all?
alex wrote on March 21, 2007 12:40 PM:Have a little fun and go read about the sordid tales of Darrell Issa's car thiefing days in this well reported article:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/06/25/ISSA.TMP
This guy was an insurance scam artist who made a fortune selling car alarms. Just another scumbag who's surely done something wrong along the way. Good for him to get the USAs in San Diego and LA out of the way.
Somewhere there's a trail on this snail.
motherlowman wrote on March 21, 2007 12:51 PM:Is this referenced in the 18-day gap? I've been searching for Kyl and Charlton in the docs, but I hadn't seen them yet in connection with Renzi. I'll keep looking . . .
Ron Byers wrote on March 21, 2007 1:33 PM:It's all performance related, I tell you it is all performance related. They all failed in being loyal bushies. No loyal bushie would ever investigate a fellow republican even if he were a total crook. That would be violating the 11th Amendment.
peacebug wrote on March 21, 2007 1:37 PM:from reading into the multiple emails it seems that when a sitting USA garnered press attention (e.g., mckay and ryan on their reduced budgets) then bushco staffers would immediately conclude they're not "loyal" - in bushco terms, loyal means never criticizing them - and, hey presto!, their jobs were in immediate jeopardy.
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 21, 2007 2:08 PM:The resume of Daniel G. Knauss, "Interim" USA-AZ, has a gap in it between 1997 and 2005. I searched L-N and Westlaw came up with zip. Anyone know what Knauss did between 1997 and 2005?
BTW, Kyl and McCain recommended only one candidate for USA-AZ, Diane Humetewa, an assistant U.S. attorney and member of the Hopi tribe.
David in NY wrote on March 21, 2007 2:19 PM:Knauss is a career prosecutor and has been head of the Tucson office. It has long been typical for a chief deputy to be named "interim" US attorney, pending a presidential nomination to the office. Really is nothing to see here. "Knauss, a 34-year employee of the federal prosecutor's office in Arizona, also filled in as boss during 1993 after the resignation of Linda Akers. His temporary appointment at the time angered Sen. Dennis DeConcini, who had nominated Janet Napolitano for the job, though she was not then a federal prosecutor." From the Arizona Republic
katymine wrote on March 21, 2007 2:29 PM:http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0201knauss0201.html
Also the AZ USA office was investigating Rep. Kolbe's ties to the Foley scandal, questionable Colorado rafting trips with pages and just as a side fact.... Foley went into Rehab in Tucson at taxpayer expense ($30K/month) which is in Kolbe's district.
What happened to that investigation?
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 21, 2007 2:40 PM:David in NY, Oops! I mis-read Knauss's resume. he was AUSA betwen 1997 and 2005.
Mrs Panstreppon wrote on March 21, 2007 2:53 PM:Another comment about USA-AZ position - Kyl and McCain recommended only one unnamed candidate who was interviewed on 1/16/07, according to a chart of US Attorneys Resignations & Replacements (DAG00000699).
According to a 2/1/07 Arizona Republic story, Kyl and McCain recommended Diane Humetewa, an assistant U.S. attorney and member of the Hopi tribe.
Diane Humetewa is not mentioned in any of the DOJ docs. Was Humetewa the one interviewed on 1/16/07 and what is her status as a USA candidate?
dale wrote on March 21, 2007 3:35 PM:Not only did Justice know about the Renzi investigation but half DC did... People were hesitant to believe it because he seems like an actual decent person. Additionally, Dems didn't put up much of a fight in what should have been a vulnerable seat in '06.
The land deal being investigated just wasn't nearly as juicy as a crying cunningham, a frolicking foley, and a fired foggo. The rationale behind the AZ firing is just as pitiful as the others though.
Point is though, while this story has been lacking in the press, the investigation has been well known in DC since late last summer.
Richard L. Adlof wrote on March 21, 2007 10:25 PM:Silly willy nilly ol' bears:
Justice is only for the top one percent of the top one percent . . . the rest of us get Gonzales then reviewed by Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito . . .
chuckie wrote on April 24, 2007 11:29 PM:Charge the whole group , under the RICO ACT,
The emails from the RNC are essential, and there disappearance is obstruction of Justice, and conspiracy.
Renzi won his seat because of interference of the investigation.
If this, (Renzi's) bad news had been exposed in the media in Arizona, as another example of Republican corruption, it's likely Jon Kyle would have lost his seat also.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kyl
In 2006, defeating challenger Jim Pederson by just under ten points. He is considered to be a staunch conservative, [2] and was ranked by National Journal as the fourth-most conservative United States Senator in their March, 2007 conservative/liberal rankings[[1]].
Kyl is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. He is also a member of the Finance Committee, where he is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight.
As chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, he is one of six members of the Senate Republican Leadership.
#############################################
What did Kyle know about Renzi, and the obstruction of Justice?
Fran wrote on April 25, 2007 1:04 AM:Don't forget. It's not what you think, it's what you can prove. Deplorable as these chuckleheads might be, if there is no evidence of wrong doing, there's no case.
There was a case reported on in April 2000 about missing Clinton emails from World Net Daily:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=20698
I also recall that Ollie North went down due to 'missing emails' being found on a server.
Even though the Bush Admin will be known for cronyism an incompetence, I can't believe that Rove wouldn't have learned this lesson from the past.
kriss@gmail.com wrote on May 1, 2007 8:08 AM:hello
tom@aol.com wrote on May 23, 2007 12:47 AM:cialis forum
tom@aol.com wrote on May 23, 2007 12:47 AM:cialis forum