About 6 weeks ago a lawyer named Thomas J. Farrell wrote an impassioned op-ed in Pittsburg's Post-Gazette calling for the resignation of the local U.S. Attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan. Basically he charged her with being a loyal Bushie. She vigorously prosecutes Democrats while blinking at Republicans. He concludes
In my old neighborhood we had a saying, "If you sleep with dogs, you get fleas." Ms. Buchanan has snuggled too close for too long with the corrupt Bush-Gonzales pack. She should resign, and we should entrust the judges of the Western District of Pennsylvania to anoint a successor.Farrell is a lawyer who makes his living working in the Pittsburgh criminal courts. It took real courage for him to speak out. If he is willing to come out publicly against Buchanan imagine what his fellow Pittsburgh lawyers are thinking.
John Ashcroft told David Iglesias not to become involved in partisan politics. That is the traditional advice given by Attorney Generals to US Attorneys. It is a tradition that apparently ended with John Ashcroft. That tradition needs to be restored. All Americans need to believe in the essential fairness of the American criminal justice system that might send them or their brothers or sisters to prison. US Attorneys have to speak as a voice of the entire community and not just the party in power.
