The self-demotion of 3 high ranking deputies in Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney office quickly gained national attention [NYTimes, login required] this weekend due to the marked irregularity of the event:
“This is a decapitation of the office,” said a source with knowledge of the situation. “
I’ve never heard of anything like this. People work all their lives to be at these high levels in the office. This is an extraordinary event. ” [Pioneer Press, 4/6/07]
This is really long, but really important; so bear with me and join me below the fold.
The unusual nature of the demotions is striking and upon digging a little deeper, well,
The first step in peering into this mess is asking why four top staffers who have worked all their life to get a post would voluntarily demote themselves, taking not only a cut in pay, but a significant cut in stature. FOX9 News provides the first clue:
Four of her top staff voluntarily demoted themselves Thursday, fed up with Paulose, who, after just months on the job, has
earned a reputation for quoting Bible verses and dressing down underlings
…
The move is intended to send a message to Washington
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smit2174 is me. If you haven’t already, you should read this other piece I did on why I think Heffelfinger WAS an original target of the purge:
http://mncampaignreport.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=326
The Coleman information is really interesting — it adds another wrinkle. If true, it seems that Norm could have stopped the whole “purge” from going down by challenging Paulose’s appointment rather than accepting it under the guise that she was his own choice.
If this were true, how would Paulose’s campaign contributions to Sen. Coleman fit into the picture.
It also makes me wonder — wasn’t Mark Dayton the senior Senator at the time? Although he wasn’t running for re-election, why wouldn’t it be his privilege to nominate the next US Attorney?
A few thoughts Pat:
1) excellent work. Both articles are tremendous.
2) I agree, I think that Heffelfinger was an original target but regardless, the Paulose scandal stands on its own as an affront to the US system of Justice.
3) The Coleman wrinkle is interesting indeed, but the contribution is not. $1200 is fairly insignificant in a Senate campaign, certainly insignificant in light of the magnitude of this decision, and it isn’t even the maximum amount possible. The contribution is only interesting to the extent that it displays how Paulose is a loyal GOPer.
4) Dayton was the senior Senator at the time, but tradition dictates that it is the most senior Senator of the President’s Party that gets to nominate. These are, after all, political appointments and Party preference has a role to play. So, Coleman was the appropriate Senator to make the nomination although the other Senator is often consulted and peripherally included in the process.
I think the media is missing a layer to this.
What do you think of this gloss on the story?: It might be worth asking whether the US Attorney purge is linked to a longer term goal of impacting the federal bench…getting more administration-apporoved conservatives credentialed for appointment to the federal bench. It sounds like a conspiracy theory, but placing people in US attorney roles is often a stepping stone to an appointment as an Article III judge.
New reader here.
I get a real funny feeling about this whole thing. I hope it gets fully investigated. One thing that seems to show up in case after case of the US Attorney Purge is the placement of “loyal Bushies” in places where they could use the justice system and create bogus charges and “Federal Investigations” of Democrats to be leaked to the media in upcoming elections. They know they’re likely to lose a Senate seat (Coleman) in 2008 and this may just be preparation for the dirty tricks they will pull on Al Franken and other prominent Democrats in Minnesota, like we’re just discovering they did in Wisconsin the last time around. They also pulled similar tactics in Pennsylvania in the Santorum/Casey race and in New Jersey in that Senate race.
It is really startling that the Justice System is being used for partisan political dirty tricks. And it could turn out to grow much wider. But this needs to be brought to light before the end of this year. Let’s hope.
I could have sworn that Paulose got put on hold for a little while because of Dayton, that he’d blue-slipped her because the White House/Justice Dept. hadn’t consulted with his office or done so much as a courtesy interview with him. After that was resolved, I believe Dayton supported the nomination…
The mass resignation/demotion is a bad sign, though.
I wonder if Speedy was getting some “special favors” from his special assistant?
Perhaps Rachel has a blue dress or two stashed away as insurance?