The Daily Background

The former US Attorney for Arizona, Paul K. Charlton who was forced to resign in December of 2006, was particularly worried that he was losing his job unfairly, newly released Department of Justice documents reveal.

Charlton, who was originally appointed by President Bush in 2001, had disagreed with the Bush Administration over the use of the death penalty. A job review conducted by the Department of Justice before Charlton left said he had “established goals that were appropriate to meet the priorities of the Department” and that he was “well respected” by state, local, and federal law enforcement personnel.

DoJ Officials annoyed at Charlton’s persistence
Charlton strongly felt he was being forced to resign improperly and, after learning that he was being fired in August 2006, attempted to arrange a meeting with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to plead his case in person, emails show.

“In the ‘you won’t believe this category,’ Paul Charlton would like a few minutes of the AG’s time,” Michael Elston the Deputy Attorney General’s Chief of Staff wrote to Kyle Sampson, Gonzales’ Chief of Staff. “I explained that he had already been given extensive, unusual process and that I did not think that think was a good idea to press this, but he insisted on making the request. Your thoughts?”

Sampson’s reply was a single word: “Denied.”

Elston then sent Charlton a curt email telling him “The AG has declined your invitation to speak further about the case. Please file the notice [of resignation].”

The fact that Gonzales’ staff was so clearly annoyed with Charlton’s persistent attempts is a testament to how persistent he actually was. In fact, DoJ officials had been prepared for such reactions, but may have underestimated Charlton’s unfailing belief that he was being fired wrongly. A document outlining the process Gonzales’ staff planned to take in firing several US Attorneys included Step 3: “Prepare to Withstand Political Upheaval.”

“U.S. Attorneys desiring to save their jobs (aided by their allies in the political arena as well as at the Justice Department community), likely will make efforts to preserve themselves in office,” the document reads. “We should expect these efforts to be strenuous. Direct and indirect appeals of the Administration’s determination to seek these resignations likely will be directed at… Attorney General Gonzales and DOJ Chief of Staff Sampson.” Michael Elston was also notified he should be prepared to “withstand” any of Charlton’s efforts to keep his job.

DoJ’s Justification suspect
Newly-released emails also show that some in the Administration were concerned that Charlton did not “do the capital portion of the case”– in other words, push for capital punishment– in certain instances they thought it warranted. According to published reports in local Arizona newspapers, the Department of Justice had pressured Charlton to push for the death penalty in some cases but he refused to. Despite this, Charlton (a Republican) seems to have received nothing but praise outside of the Administration.

The Department of Justice has since claimed that Charlton was fired because he had improperly required the FBI to videotape interrogations. In fact, Charlton had been unable to prosecute several child molestation cases because he did not have videotaped confessions. After discussing the problem with the Department of Justice, the DoJ actually worked out a system with him to videotape FBI interrogations on a trial basis– with the idea that if it worked, such a policy could be used across the country.

A Praise-filled Press Release
After Gonzales refused to meet with him to discuss his firing, Charlton sent out a December 19 press release announcing his resignation– but filled with nearly four pages of the type of praise he had garnered over five years serving as US Attorney.

Although Department of Justice rules allow US Attorneys to announce their resignation to the press in the form of a short press release (regulations even mention what the content of such a release should be), a four page press release is regarded as highly unusual. Another press release of the same type included in the DoJ’s nearly 3,000 page “document dump” was only half as long.

Charlton “has forged partnerships across state, local, and federal jurisdiction and this has made Arizona a safer place to live,” said Arizona’s Attorney General, Terry Goddard in the release. “Paul Charlton has served Arizona exceptionally well over the last five years.”

Filed under: Z-Feature, Z-TDB Blog