The Daily Background

From a totally overlooked USA Today article the other day:

Three of the eight federal prosecutors ousted by the Justice Department as poor performers ranked in the top 10 for prosecutions and convictions by the nation’s 93 U.S. attorneys, an analysis of court records shows.

Court records covering the last five years show large volumes of immigration cases helped U.S. attorneys Paul Charlton of Phoenix, Carol Lam of San Diego and David Iglesias of New Mexico consistently place in the upper tier among their peers. The analysis includes each U.S. attorney’s per capita record of prosecutions, convictions and prison sentences.

You’ll remember that I wrote about Paul Charlton earlier- he was the US Attorney who was so convinced he was wrongly being forced to resign that he tried to plead with the Attorney General in person, but Gonzales refused to meet with him, basically telling him to shut up and submit his resignation. See Exclusive: Ousted Prosecuter was so sure he was fired wrongly, he tried to plead with Gonzales in person for more on him.

And as for Carol Lam, the US Attorney for the Southern District of California, the Administration claims she was fired for her record on immigration cases, but as I’ve written, the DoJ itself was involved in defending her immigration record against Republican attacks just months before she was fired. See the following pieces I’ve written about her story:

3/24/07- Attorney firing spin proposed by DoJ spokesperson contradicts internal DoJ documents

3/21/07- Republican Congressman altered report to bash fired US Attorney

03/19/07- Cunningham complained about Lam to Attorney General before he plead guilty

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog