Attorney General Gonzales is Next to Go

By Pamela Mortimer

In a long line of resignations and firings, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has moved to the top of the list. On Sunday, Gonzales met with President Bush on his Texas ranch to discuss the AG’s resignation. Gonzales had submitted his resignation on Friday but the President refused it, asking him to come to the ranch to talk it over. However, Gonzales was not to be dissuaded. President Bush reluctantly accepted the resignation, which will take effect on September 17, 2007.

In his appearance at a news conference, Gonzales reflected on his career as the Attorney General.

"It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice," Gonzales said.
"I often remind our fellow citizens that we live in the greatest country in the world and that I have lived the American dream," he added.

Gonzales has lived the American dream. He recalled his young life as the son of migrant farm workers from Mexico who didn’t finish elementary school. "Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days," he said.

President Bush seemed distressed at the loss of yet another member of his administration, partly at the hands of Democrats and select Republicans. "His good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons," Bush said.

Gonzales, the 52-year-old Bush loyalist, was one of the people in the eye of the political firestorm over the firings of eight federal prosecutors.

U.S. Attorneys are appointed by the President for a period of four years and unlike many political appointments, the attorneys can be removed from office at will. Interim U.S. Attorneys can fill the post should a prosecutor be terminated for any reason. During an uproar over the firing of eight prosecutors last year, some of the fired U.S. Attorneys said they felt pressured to investigate Democrats before elections. Gonzales maintains that the dismissals were based solely on the prosecutors’ lackluster performance records.

The Justice Department released thousands of documents revealing a White House plot, hatched shortly after the 2004 elections, to replace U.S. attorneys. At one time, senior White House officials, including presidential adviser Karl Rove, recommended replacing all 93 prosecutors. In December 2006, eight of the attorneys were required to resign.

In several House and Senate hearings into the firings of the prosecutors, Gonzales and other Justice Department officials failed to fully explain the expulsion without contradicting each other.