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Justice Dept. release memos supporting Lam's termination
By: Wire Reports | ∞
SAN DIEGO - Memos drafted by senior Justice Department officials allege that San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol C. Lam's termination was justified because she missed deadlines and did not prosecute more border smuggling cases, it was reported today.
The information came in the form of memos that Justice Department officials began drafting this month, listing specific reasons why they had fired Lam and seven other U.S. attorneys.
The memos were intended to cite performance problems if needed to convince angry congressional Democrats that the terminations were justified, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Allegations surfaced earlier this week that Lam was ousted from her position in an attempt to shut down investigations stemming from the investigation of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the former Republican congressman from Rancho Santa Fe. He was sentenced in March 2006 to more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty to bribery and income tax evasion.
The Justice Department memos, organized as charts with entries for each of the federal prosecutors, offer new details about disputes over policy, priorities and management styles between the department and the U.S. attorneys, The Times reported.
Justice Department officials hoped that documenting specific reasons for terminating the prosecutors would satisfy demands for more information after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his deputy, Paul J. McNulty, described the dismissals as vaguely "performance-related," according to The Times.
According to the charts, as well as e-mails and other documents made public this week, Lam was dismissed for not prosecuting more firearms and border smuggling cases, and for repeatedly missing deadlines, The Times reported.
Lam was written up for several performance failures, including that "she had focused too much attention and time on personally trying cases than managing" her office.
On border crime, according to the memos, "she failed to tackle this responsibility as aggressively and as vigorously as we expected and needed her to do. At the end of the day, we expected more," The Times reported.
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gimmeabreak wrote on Mar 21, 2007 2:03 PM:Yep, rule number one in Bush World is act first, then look for the reasons why you acted later - and only if somebody asks.
Too Bad wrote on Mar 21, 2007 5:04 PM:Bush can't be fired for the same reasons.
Press1 for English, Press 2 for Deportation wrote on Mar 21, 2007 8:23 PM:Let's see, Lam was fired for not prosecuting enough border smuggling cases. Why should she bother when we have a president who is openly stating his desires to work with the Mexican government to flaunt our immigration laws and doing everythign in his power to open the borders? The first thing we need is a president who actually thinks that he/she has a duty to enforce the laws of this country, particularly the immigration laws we have, then he/she can worry about who is or is not prosecuting the right kinds of cases. I'm a long term Republican, but George Bush is in no position to fire ANYONE other than himself for a failure to enforce laws dealing with the border.
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