E-mail questions if conservative group was party to plan to fire U.S. attorneys(Federalist Society)

[maddezmom]

Source: McClatchy

By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - A leader of an influential conservative legal group recommended a replacement candidate for the U.S. attorney in San Diego just days after the sitting prosecutor's name was secretly placed on a Justice Department firing list, according to a document released Wednesday.


The recommendation by the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo, came before anyone outside of a tight group in the White House and Justice Department knew about a nascent strategy that ultimately led to the firings of nine U.S. attorneys.


It could not be determined whether a short e-mail, sent on March 7, 2005, making the recommendation meant that Leo knew of the plan to fire Carol Lam or whether his message was unsolicited and coincidental.


The subject line of Leo's e-mail to Mary Beth Buchanan, then-director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, says, "USA San Diego," indicating the top prosecutor job for the Southern District of California. Lam was on the job at the time and had no plans to step down.



Read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17333161.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

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Early Advice on Successor for Prosecutor

WASHINGTON, June 6 — Five days after senior Justice Department officials gave the White House the first official list of possible United States attorneys to be dismissed, an executive of a conservative legal group offered the Bush administration a recommendation for one replacement candidate, documents released Wednesday show.

Leonard A. Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society, e-mailed the recommendation on March 7, 2005, to the Justice Department official in charge of the office that supervised the attorneys

~snip~

Mr. Leo said in an interview Wednesday evening that he did not remember writing the message. At the time, he said, he was not aware that the Justice Department was preparing to oust nine United States attorneys. But he said it was likely that he was asked for a recommendation for a candidate in San Diego — and that he provided one.

“The only way I could have possibly made that recommendation is if somebody said to me, ‘Gee, do you know anyone who would be good?’ ” he said.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/07/washington/07attorneys.html

[aquart]

1. And he recommended such a peach.

<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Mary_Walker>

"Mary Walker is the controversial General Counsel of the Air Force and chief legal officer of the Department of the Air Force in the Bush Administration. She first gained notoriety in the Air Force Academy sexual abuse coverup scandal, and later ignited a firestorm of controversy heading a U.S. Department of Defense group that issued controversial report Legal Arguments for Avoiding the Jurisdiction of the Geneva Conventions in March 2003.

An anonymous JAG officer told The American Lawyer magazine, "We've always had some problems with political appointees," he says, "but it's unusual to have someone who totally disregards military experience." Another lawyer with decades of Pentagon experience says, "Walker is the most political GC I've ever seen." <1>

A devout Evangelical Christian, Walker co-founded a San Diego group called Professional Women's Fellowship, an offshoot of the Campus Crusade for Christ. The Professional Women's Fellowship removed all mention of Walker from their website once her involvement in the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib became public.

Ironically, Walker gave an interview to the Christian management journal Ipriority a month before the Abu Gharib scandal broke in which she declared "I am in the people stretching business"."

[annabanana]

2. I think we have a "walks like a duck" situation here.

Can anyone question the Federalist Society's involvement in this scandal? I think the people there have been among the driving forces of the entire scheme.

k&r

[SpiralHawk]

3. A freaking cabal of corrupt republicons

excuse my reduncy

I realize all i need to write these days is the word 'republicons,' because it directly denotes corrupt


Would Jesus join an occult cabal?