Obama offers job back to U.S. attorney fired by Bush

[jefferson_dem]

Obama offers job back to U.S. attorney fired by Bush

WASHINGTON — One of the nine former U.S. attorneys whose firing triggered a controversy leading to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales may be returning to his old job.

President Obama announced Friday that he was nominating Daniel Bogden as U.S. attorney for Nevada. Bogden, a prosecutor with more than 16 years of experience, was fired by the Bush administration from the same job in December 2006.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, has said he thought that Bogden's firing was unfair and urged the Obama administration to give him his job back.

At the time, the Justice Department cited "performance" problems as the reason for the nine ousters, although Bogden and most of the others had positive performance evaluations.

The firings put Justice Department officials in the unusual position of having to defend the ouster of Republican appointees against Democratic criticism. It also triggered a constitutional clash between the executive and legislative branches.

Congressional Democrats launched an inquiry, accusing the Bush administration of singling out prosecutors based on improper political reasons.

<SNIP>

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/72871.html

[wroberts189]

1. Bring back the other 8 and fire all of the bush appointees...

Turnabout is fair play.

[DefenseLawyer]

9. That's a little much for me

yeah it sucks for them that they got fired by their old boss; it was illegal and people should go to jail for it, but these people are still Republicans appointees. As someone who has to deal with these people every day, I would rather some qualified, progressive minded people in all the US Attorneys' offices than to symbolically try to right some individual wrong perpetrated on these republican lawyers.

[wroberts189]

10. They were all fired for having the integrity not to bring false charges agaist Dems.

Despite huge political pressure to do so, I would think you would want people like that.

I did not even know they were all pubs.

[DefenseLawyer]

12. There are a lot of other issues

that US Attorneys deal with every day. I will be willing to bet most if not all of these Republican appointees have some pretty draconian views on those issues. They were all chosen originally by George Bush. They didn't deserve to be fired. That doesn't mean they deserve appointment by President Obama.

[MadMaddie]

16. The attorney that was in CA was right in the middle of huge

investigation into Repug activity when she was fired.

I don't think that because they were nominated and placed by a Repug should be the litmus test. If they were fair across the board then they deserve the opportunity just as everyone else that is qualified does.

[DefenseLawyer]

19. And seeking maximum sentences for medical marijuana providers

for example. If the President can say that these republican appointees are truly who he would have appointed out of all the qualified attorneys in the district, then fine. But I doubt that any of them would or should be his first choice.

[Fire1]

2. And the Obama administrarion gets what in return, Harry?? n/t

[Honeycombe8]

3. Good move. What about that other guy from Arizona, I think it was?

He was all over the TV reporting on the issue. I don't think it was the NV guy. I think it was a US Attorney from AZ...he was hispanic, I think? But I forget his name.

[jefferson_dem]

4. David Iglesias.

He was the most public figure of all the firings and has already found a new line of employment according to wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Iglesias_(attorney)

[Honeycombe8]

5. That's him! Thanks. Hey, so the O admin. got him back, in a plum job, right away, looks like.

I'm SO glad to hear that.

I was concerned that poor guy's career had been ruined by Rove and his cohorts for just trying to do his job fairly and ethically. I'm SO glad to hear this.

[WePurrsevere]

6. Love his quote in the last paragraph..

On The Daily Show first broadcast on June 16, 2008, Iglesias was asked about his political ideology. Host Jon Stewart pointed out that Iglesias had been a committed Republican. Stewart asked whether Iglesias' experiences made him feel disappointed and betrayed. Iglesias replied, "Yes, and to use a Star Wars kind of imagery, I thought I was working with the Jedi Knights, and I was working for the Sith Lords."

[Cha]

8. That is very cool..thanks. I was

wondering if he voted for Obama in 2008?:)

[Cha]

7. Oh, thank you!

David Iglesias (attorney)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Official Justice Department photoDavid Claudio Iglesias (born 1958) is an American attorney from Albuquerque, New Mexico.<1><2>

He was appointed by President George W. Bush as the United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico in August 2001 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2001.<2> He was one of eight U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration in 2006 for "performance-related issues." (see Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy). Iglesias had received a positive performance review before he was fired. A review of the matter released by the US Department of Justice Inspector General in October 2008 found that his firing had been politically motivated.<3>

On January 20, 2009, Iglesias, a member of the US Naval Reserve Judge Advocate General's Corps, was reactivated as part of a special prosecution team for Guantanamo detainees. Asked on KRQE.com about the unlikelihood of being named to a frontline job in the war on terror, after being fired as a US Attorney for alienating the Bush administration, Iglesias allowed: "It's been very ironic."

I remembered it was New Mexico where he is from.. Very "ironic"..he probably voted for bush twice!

[elleng]

18. On January 20, 2009!

Didn't take long!!!

Looks like Prez O had this in mind for a while!

[Divine Discontent]

11. GREAT!!! eom

[vaberella]

13. Are you kidding me?! That's brilliant. Good stuff to hear. This is great news, wow. n/t

[jenmito]

14. K&R for those who do nothing but start negative threads about Obama...

let's see if any of them will recognize this as a positive...

[Vidar]

15. Good for Obama.

[Uzybone]

17. We need a special Bush 3rd term alert for posts like this