Justice Department New Priorities, Not New Prosecutors
Fox News presented a report on Tuesday whereby the US Department of Justice had asked seven U.S. attorneys across the country to step down from their respective positions. Some have suggested this was a politically motivated move (see full article here)
"The Bush administration counters that these U.S. attorneys were fired because their priorities were out of line with administration policy. Specifically, the DOJ told the New York Times that the prosecutors were being replaced 'based on a review of their performance in carrying out [Attorney General Alberto] Gonzales's violent crime priorities.'
"Given their larger budgets and investigative manpower, their federal jurisdiction, and their detachment from local affairs, one would think that investigating public corruption should among the highest priorities of U.S. attorneys. Long, expensive corruption investigations are generally too costly and too burdensome for local law enforcement to handle ? not to mention the fact that local police officials may sometimes work for the very people who need to be investigated.
"The Justice Department is correct in one respect. The position of U.S. attorney is inherently political. New federal prosecutors are appointed by the president, and he's naturally going to appoint attorneys who share his values and views on crime.
"All of this grows even more troubling when you consider what the priorities of the current Justice Department actually are. Attorney General
Gonzalez himself, for example, has that the "top priority" of his tenure at the Justice Department would be, of all things, the prosecution of pornography. Not child pornography, mind you. Regular, adult porn--the kind starring and bought, produced, and sold by consenting adults."
Fox News also brought up the recent surge in online gambling complaints filed by the DoJ.
"Earlier this month, federal officials arrested the founders of Neteller, an overseas online payment processor, while they were in the U.S. to switch planes. They were arrested because Neteller was allowing its U.S. customers to use the service with online gambling sites. It's the third time U.S. officials have arrested foreign citizens in a U.S. airport on online gambling charges, despite the fact that in all three cases, the suspects were citizens and residents of foreign countries where online gambling is perfectly legal."
Radley Balko, who wrote the piece, is a senior editor with Reason magazine. He publishes the weblog,
www.theagitator.com