Executive Branch
New Theory Why US Attorneys Were Axed: Perceived Sexual Orientation?
Posted Jul 29, 2008 5:29 PM CST
By Martha Neil
It wasn't just political affiliation that some top officials at the Department of Justice may have considered when making decisions about hiring and firing.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a perceived same-sex relationship based on false rumors of a nonexistent affair between two female prosecutors may also have led to the firing of at least one U.S. attorney.
After hearing that a recent report by the inspector general of the Justice Department hinted at this possibility, "Margaret M. Chiara, the former U.S. attorney in Grand Rapids, Mich., said in an interview with The Times that she now believed she was fired because of the erroneous belief that she was having a relationship with career prosecutor Leslie Hagen," the newspaper writes.
In fact, according to the women, they were not involved with each other. However, after false rumors of their relationship reached Monica Goodling, who was at the time a top aide to then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, DOJ investigators found, Hagen lost a much-desired Washington assignment, the Times reports.
After releasing a report Monday that harshly criticized the Justice Department's hiring practices under Goodling's regime, the inspector general's office is now working on a separate report about the DOJ's firing of at least nine U.S. attorneys allegedly over political considerations.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "Report Finds Politics Influenced Hiring of DOJ Officials, Immigration Judges"
ABAJournal.com: "False Claim of an Affair With US Atty. Forced 250 Prosecutors Off Case"
ABAJournal.com: "Probe of US Prosecutor Firings Heats Up"
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Comments
kay sieverding
Jul 30, 2008 5:47 AM CST
I hope Ms. Chiara sues the government and quick. Not only does she deserve damages but a civil suit may bring more corruption of the U.S. Attorney’s office to light. We must fight government corruption now. Corruption of the judiciary and the U.S. Attorney’s office is probably the worst kind of corruption because of its multiplier effect, don’t you think?
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Marvin Oliphant
Aug 1, 2008 2:22 AM CST
This is exactly in keeping with the cocaine snorting, whisky shooting Papal in Chief this God damn apathetic country let be corinated. Hell, between Diebold Ststems, ESS, and Sequoia it has been proven that the “lock boxes,” are never locked. See “Hacking Democracy,” with, made and produced by Bev Harris.
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LawStudent
Aug 1, 2008 4:23 AM CST
What would be the basis of the suit proposed in post #1? The president is free to fire a US Attorney if he doesn’t like the way that US Attorney parts his or her hair.
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DCEsq
Aug 1, 2008 7:25 AM CST
Does LawStudent mean that the President (or more precisely federal agencies) may ignore federal anti-discrimination law? I think not. Unfortunately, sexual orientation is not covered by such legislation.
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Sue
Aug 1, 2008 8:18 AM CST
January 20, 2009.
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JP
Aug 1, 2008 11:08 AM CST
Sue, can’t agree more. 172 more days to go!
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brad
Aug 1, 2008 12:40 PM CST
Funny people tend to forget history that their administrations did this, and they also seem to forget 1 simple fact: US attorney’s serve at the will of the president. But then again, the previous posters seem to be Obama kool-aid drinkers. Long live the messiah right? idiots.
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R
Aug 1, 2008 12:55 PM CST
Goodling was a juvenile, “Bush Youth” Christian soldier who did exactly what was expected of her. From Wikipedia:
Goodling (born 1973), a conservative Christian, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1995 from Messiah College. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Goodling continued her education at American University but she then transfered to the Regent University Law School, where she received her Juris Doctor degree in 1999. Regent University was founded by Pat Robertson, and it advertises itself as “America’s Preeminent Christian University”.
Goodling worked alongside Tim Griffin as an opposition researcher for the Republican National Committee during the 2000 presidential campaign. She joined the Department of Justice’s press office after George W. Bush was elected president. She moved to the department’s executive office, which is responsible for budgeting, management, personnel management and evaluation, later becoming deputy director of the executive office Ms. Goodling was hired by US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan to work in the executive office.
After less than a year, Goodling moved again, to the attorney general’s office, working as the White House liaison. According to David Ayres, senior chief of staff to Attorney General John Ashcroft, “She was the embodiment of a hardworking young conservative who believed strongly in the president and his mission.” But according to Bud Cummins, one of the fired prosecutors and an Arkansas Republican, “She was inexperienced, way too naïve and a little overzealous”.
After moving to the Attorney General’s office, she retained some of her executive office authority over personnel matters. Goodling’s authority over hiring expanded significantly in March 2006, when Gonzales signed an unpublished order delegating to Goodling and Kyle Sampson, his then chief of staff, the power to appoint or dismiss all department political appointees besides United States attorneys (who are appointed by the President). The delegation included authority over interim United States attorneys (who are appointed by the Attorney General) and heads of the divisions that handle civil rights, public corruption, environmental crimes and other matters.
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Jimathart
Aug 1, 2008 2:56 PM CST
The appointment of Ms. Goodling to a position having some serious responsibillity with her limited experience and third rate education simply manifests the incompetence and corruptioin of King George’s half-assed administration. Puy them all in prison.
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JLee
Aug 1, 2008 4:56 PM CST
Goodling, the same woman who illegally weeded out prospective career-track DOJ applicants on the basis of political affiliation and possible sexual orientation? Yep, this sounds like her. Why did she have such an important job again? Only in Bush’s America.
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NCLawyer
Aug 1, 2008 5:04 PM CST
Criticism of Goodling has nothing to do with Obama, brad. Serving at the will of the President is all fine and good, but when “the will of the President” appears to be a pattern of arbitrary and ideological choices that have little to do with competence or the effective administration of justice, what does that say about the quality of the government we currently have?
To put it another way, and to quote Butthead, who seems as reasonable an authority as any at this point, “Beavis, we’re not talking about the fact that my mother’s a whore, we’re talking about the fact that your name rhymes with penis.”
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LawStudent
Aug 2, 2008 4:02 AM CST
I repeat: What would be the basis of the suit proposed in post #1? If anyone has a solid view on a likely successful basis for such a suit, let’s hear (er, read) it. Political appointees have no job security.
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