It is beginning to look like Paul Charlton, the former US Attorney in Arizona was canned because he resisted efforts to slow the investigation of Congressman Rick Renzi. According to a New York Times Editorial Published April 26, 2007
Mr. Renzi was fighting for his political life when the local press reported that he was facing indictment for a suspect land deal. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal investigators met unexpected resistance from the Justice Department in getting approval to proceed and, perhaps as a result, the investigation was pushed past the election.The unexpected delays were reported in the Wall Street Journal on April 25, 2007.
Investigators pursuing the Renzi case had been seeking clearance from senior Justice Department officials on search warrants, subpoenas and other legal tools for a year before the election, people close to the case said.A few weeks later Charlton was fired. Sound familiar?
The Washington Post, among others, is reporting that one of Renzi's aides called the U.S. Attorney's office to ask about the probe. Charlton's office reported the call as required. Charlton is the third of the eight fired US Attorney's contacted by Republican members of Congress or their staffs about politically sensitive investigations they were supervising.
The former U.S. attorney for New Mexico, David C. Iglesias, has told Congress he felt pressured to speed up an indictment of Democrats during phone calls last October from Sen. Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.) and Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.). And former U.S. attorney John McKay of Seattle has said he was called by the chief of staff to Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) about a preliminary inquiry into voter fraud in Washington state.The Justice Department denies wrongdoing.
Or maybe they just can't remember doing anything wrong.
The Justice Department doesn't seem to deny the appearance of impropriety, but that old standard is so 20th century. The current behavior standard applied to the Justice Department and its Attorney General is not being convicted of a crime.
In any event we have three of the most important papers in the country closing in on both Renzi and the Justice Department's handling of the case. Any guesses where this leads?
