Thread: Bush Administration fires San Diego US Attorney Carol Lam

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... 12lam.html -



Job performance said to be behind White House firing


By Kelly Thornton and Onell R. Soto
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
January 12, 2007

The Bush administration has quietly asked San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, best known for her high-profile prosecutions of politicians and corporate executives, to resign her post, a law enforcement official said.



Carol Lam
Lam, a Bush appointee who took the helm in 2002, was targeted because of job performance issues – in particular that she failed to make smuggling and gun cases a top priority, said the official, who declined to be identified because Lam has yet to step down.

Lam has had high-profile successes during her tenure, such as the Randy “Duke” Cunningham bribery case – but she alienated herself from bosses at the Justice Department because she is outspoken and independent, said local lawyers familiar with her policies.

When she took over, Lam made it clear that she planned to focus less on low-level smuggling cases in favor of public corruption and white collar crime, which would mean fewer but more significant prosecutions.

Lam declined to comment yesterday.

Several prosecutors in Lam's office and many defense lawyers said yesterday that they were unaware of her impending dismissal, and were universally shocked by it.



Advertisement “It's virtually unprecedented to fire a U.S. Attorney absent some misconduct in office,” said criminal defense attorney Michael Attanasio, a former federal prosecutor.
“This office has clearly made a priority of investigating and prosecuting white collar offenses and has had occasional success doing so,” he said. “One would think that would be valued by any administration, even if it meant fewer resources were devoted to routine and repetitive border crimes.”

Lam, 47, has been criticized by members of the Border Patrol agents union and by members of Congress, including Vista Republican Darrell Issa, who accused her office of “an appalling record of refusal to prosecute even the worst criminal alien offenders.”

But even some of Lam's legal opponents said the supposed reasons she is being forced out are perplexing.

“What do they want her to do, lock up Mexico?” said Mario Conte, former chief of Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. Conte, now a professor at California Western School of Law in downtown San Diego, said every prosecutor walks a tightrope.

“I'm sure that Carol, in her role, is simply not able to accommodate everybody's desires of what they think the U.S. Attorney should be doing in this district.”

Her most prominent case involved Cunningham. The former Rancho Santa Fe congressman is in federal prison, and indictments of others connected to the case may be forthcoming. Her office is also prosecuting Francisco Javier Arellano-Félix, a suspected Mexican drug kingpin, who is in federal custody in San Diego facing charges that could lead to the death penalty. Two San Diego city councilmen were convicted of corruption charges by Lam's office, but a judge reversed the jury's verdict for one of the men.

Lam spent almost a year personally prosecuting a national hospital chain that she said used complex agreements to pay off local doctors in return for referrals. That case ended in a mistrial.

But under Lam, the overall number of prosecutions has plummeted.

In 2001, the year before she took over, federal prosecutors in San Diego and Imperial counties filed 5,266 cases, while in 2005, the office prosecuted 3,261 cases, according to statistics compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University from federal reports.

Of the 2001 cases, 2,419 were related to immigration, while that number stood at 1,641 in 2005. Although the number of cases dropped significantly in 2005, a higher percentage were immigration-related – 50 percent in 2005 compared with 46 percent in 2001.

Most of the other prosecutions were drug cases, with 2,294 filed in 2001 and 1,290 in 2005. There were 14 weapons cases in 2001, and eight in 2005.

Some in the defense community were glad to hear there may be change at the U.S. Attorney's Office.

“She has shown a certain tunnel vision in her prosecutions and has exercised an appalling lack of discretion in terms of the individuals she has targeted for prosecution and the classes of crimes that she has chosen to direct her resources at,” said criminal defense attorney Geoffrey C. Morrison, who represented a defendant in the City Hall corruption case prosecuted by Lam's office.

“Having somebody with a more broad-minded approach and a greater sense of fairness and justice will do the legal community a tremendous justice,” he said.

Lam, a career prosecutor, former Superior Court judge and political in dependent, sent an e-mail to her staff late in the afternoon in which she neither confirmed nor denied that she was asked to step down. She told attorneys not to let speculation interfere with their work.

She also told them not to speak to reporters about the subject, but to refer calls to her spokeswoman, according to a recipient of the e-mail who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal.

U.S. attorneys are usually appointed by the president and require Senate approval. They typically serve the same term as the president that appointed them, and are replaced when a new president is elected.

However, a provision in the Patriot Act that was revised last year allows the Attorney General to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys for indefinite terms when vacancies arise, without Senate confirmation. Filling interim vacancies had been the responsibility of the district court.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., criticized the Bush administration yesterday for “pushing out U.S. Attorneys from across the country under the cloak of secrecy.”

“We don't know how many U.S. Attorneys have been asked to resign – it could be two, it could be ten, it could be more. No one knows,” she said in a statement.

Feinstein said the administration was abusing its executive power by trying to circumvent the Senate confirmation process. She and two colleagues proposed legislation yesterday to restore appointment authority to the district court when a vacancy occurs and an interim leader is needed.

Lam is one of several prosecutors who have either resigned under pressure or been told to leave in recent months.

New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias is among those who have announced they are stepping down.

“I was asked to resign,” he said. “I asked (why) and wasn't given any answers. I ultimately am OK with that. We all take these jobs knowing we serve at the pleasure of the president.”

H.E. “Bud” Cummins, who left the post of U.S. Attorney in Little Rock, Ark., wouldn't say whether he was asked. His replacement, J. Timothy Griffin, was an Army prosecutor who worked in the White House and for the Republican National Committee. Arkansas' senators, both Democrats, have criticized the way in which he was selected because it did not require Senate approval.

It's not the intent of the Justice Department to avoid the confirmation process, and the department is committed to working with senators when making a nomination, a department spokesman said.

Of 11 U.S. Attorney vacancies since the Attorney General gained the authority to make the appointments in March 2006, the Bush administration has nominated four people and interviewed seven others, all of whom are expected to complete the confirmation process, said Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

“In every case, it is a goal of this administration to have a U.S. Attorney that is confirmed by the Senate,” Roehrkasse said. “It is wrong for a member of Congress to believe that this is in any way an attempt to circumvent the confirmation process.”



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Kelly Thornton: (619) 542-4571; kelly.thornton@uniontrib.com

Lam, 47, has been criticized by members of the Border Patrol agents union and by members of Congress, including Vista Republican Darrell Issa, who accused her office of “an appalling record of refusal to prosecute even the worst criminal alien offenders.”

Thank God this one is out of power. Let's get rid of all conspirators to the invasion. Bush and Gonzalez would be an even better solution!

Something smells about this situation.
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http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/01 ... _12_07.txt

Legal community stunned by Lam report

By: TERI FIGUEROA and WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writers

Speculation that the Bush administration allegedly has asked San Diego-based U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, the region's chief federal prosecutor, to step down was met with disbelief and dropped jaws by legal community members with ties to federal court.

"I was in a state of shock," said Peter Nunez, who served as the U.S. attorney in charge of the San Diego offices from 1982 to 1988. "It's just like nothing I've ever seen before in 35-plus years. To be asked to resign and to be publicly humiliated by leaking this to the press is beyond any bounds of decency and behavior. It shocks me. It really is outrageous."

Nunez and others said they had not even heard rumblings that Lam was in the cross hairs for possible removal.

Lam's spokeswoman Friday declined to address the rumor.

"We have no comment," Debra Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, wrote in an e-mail to the North County Times.

A spokesman for the attorney general's office in Washington, D.C., declined to comment Friday.

The North County Times could not independently confirm a published report in The San Diego Union-Tribune that Lam had been asked to resign.

Lam may not be the only U.S. attorney politely being asked to pack her bags.

In a Thursday news release, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced that she and two other senators were introducing legislation that would prevent the executive branch from trying to do an end run on the Senate's prerogative of confirming U.S. attorneys.

According to the newspaper report, which appeared Friday and cited unnamed sources, Lam was targeted for not making the prosecution of smuggling and gun cases a top priority.

Nunez said the question he has is, "Why?"

"What sin has she committed that justifies asking her to submit her resignation and publicly humiliating her in the process?" Nunez said. "If the reasons are anything close to the newspaper reports, that's crazy, especially when this administration is so weak on immigration."

Lam's office has made white-collar crime a priority, and has taken on a number of high-profile cases ---- among them the successful prosecution of then-Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham on charges of bribery and tax evasion ---- since her 2002 appointment by the Bush administration.

Other cases that came during her tenure included December's criminal convictions of the chiefs of Golden State Fence Co. for hiring illegal immigrants, and the potential death penalty case for the long-sought and recently nabbed Francisco Javier Arrellano-Felix, the alleged head of a Mexican drug cartel.

Lam is a former San Diego Superior Court judge who at one time presided over criminal trials at the courthouse in Vista. Nunez, who said he hired Lam as an assistant U.S. attorney about 20 years ago, called her a "bright, hardworking, conscientious, diligent person."

Also surprised by the report was Charles La Bella, who served a stint as the interim U.S. attorney in 1998. La Bella said Friday that he found the resignation request, if it is true, to be "unusual."

"In my years with the department, I never saw anything like this," La Bella said.

It's difficult to say whether Lam's case priorities might have been a factor, he said.

"The only people who know are in Washington," La Bella said.

Escondido-based defense attorney Mark Chambers, who handles a lot of cases in federal court, said there was a "change of emphasis" when Lam took over.

"There appeared to be a drop-off in the prosecutions of what we call 'border busts,' people arrested for bringing drugs across the border," Chambers said. "There were major increases in large conspiracy cases that involved a great deal of resources to prosecute and investigate. She went after the big fish."

Chambers said he, too, was surprised by the rumor.

"I'm at a loss to determine the reason. It doesn't make sense to me. I think the U.S. attorney's responsibility is to prosecute high-profile, complicated cases, and I think she was doing that."

As a defense attorney, Chambers said, he often feels that the people who are prosecuted are at the "extreme low end of the pole, and some prosecutorial discretion should have been applied."

"Since she took over the office, I haven't felt that," Chambers said. "The people who were getting prosecuted were clearly high profile, high culpability."

La Bella and Nunez said that while politics can play a role in the appointment of each of the nearly eight dozen U.S. attorneys, once a person steps into the job, politics fall by the wayside.

U.S. attorneys serve by the appointment of, and at the pleasure of, the president, and are subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate. It is common for an incoming president to appoint new people to the 94 positions.

Nunez, reached by his cell phone Friday, said it is "extremely rare" for an administration to ask one of its own appointees to step down.

"The only time this happens is when there has been an allegation of misconduct," Nunez said. "That doesn't mean the president doesn't have the authority to do this. If he wants to, he can fire them. There's nothing wrong with that ---- but if you are going to fire them, you better have a good reason."

Feinstein and the other senators used strong words in the news release describing their proposed legislation.

"It has come to our attention that the Bush Administration is pushing out U.S. Attorneys from across the country under the cloak of secrecy and then appointing indefinite replacements without Senate confirmation," Feinstein wrote.

And in a Tuesday letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Feinstein also hinted at her suspicions that something might be afoot. While she did not refer specifically to Lam, Feinstein wrote that the Department of Justice had asked "several" U.S. attorneys to step down by the end of the month, "without cause."

"We ... understand the intention is to have your office appoint interim replacements and potentially avoid the Senate confirmation process altogether," she wrote.

A little-known provision in the Patriot Act reauthorization last year changed existing law so that if a vacancy occurs, the attorney general can appoint a replacement for an indefinite period of time.

A spokesman for Feinstein said Friday that he would have no comment beyond the statements that the senator made in her letter.

Brian Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said by phone Friday that Gonzales is certainly not trying to avoid the Senate confirmation process. There are 93 U.S. attorneys in the country, he said, and at any given time, "a number of them are coming and going."

"In every case, it is the goal of this administration to have a U.S. attorney that is confirmed by the Senate," he said.

For years, U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa has criticized Lam for not doing enough to prosecute smugglers of illegal immigrants. In an October 2005 letter to Attorney General Gonzales, Issa blasted Lam's office for failing to prosecute two cases of smugglers who were repeat offenders.

"This lax prosecutorial standard virtually guarantees that both of these individuals will be arrested on U.S. soil in the future for committing further serious crimes," Issa wrote.

Lam had complained that her office simply lacked the funding to pursue many smuggling cases.

On Friday, Issa spokesman Frederick Hill said that Issa would have no comment on the matter without confirmation that Lam had in fact been asked to step down.

The president of the National Patrol Council, which represents rank-and-file U.S. Border Patrol agents, said Friday that he wishes Lam well and said he hopes that whomever follows her in the job is willing to do whatever is necessary to prosecute immigration smuggling cases.

President T.J. Bonner said that because Lam was so picky about what she was willing to pursue "that it was nearly impossible to prosecute cases in San Diego."

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Comments left:

Molly and Jake wrote on January 12, 2007 10:44 PM:"Can't you see the pardon for Cunningham? Is Lam getting too close to others in DC? Bush's actions are suspect. Does Issa swing that much weight? Are the neocons restless? Or simply nervous? Heck, let's blame it on illegal immigration. Do they think we're that dumb? To Ms. Lam - our family thinks you've done a remarkable job. Thanks to you and your staff, the largest corruption probe bore fruit, and Cunningham is doing time in jail. Keep up the good, honest work."

Good wrote on January 13, 2007 2:18 AM:"one more illegal sympathizer bites the dust."

Randy wrote on January 13, 2007 5:50 AM:"U.S. Attorney Carol Lam successfully prosecuted Republican Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. President Bush fired Carol Lam. So long as you are a Republican, President Bush couldn't care less if you are a white collar criminal, so long as you never get caught. President Bush will appoint a new U.S. Attorney who will ensure that Republican white collar criminals don't get caught."

Randy wrote on January 13, 2007 6:52 AM:"President Bush's firing of U.S. Attorney Carol Lam conclusively demonstrates that he is not a practicing Christian. The Bible stresses the importance of doing what is just. Carol Lam aggressively prosecuted white collar criminals like Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. President Bush's firing of U.S. Attorney Carol Lam sends a clear message to white collar crooks: you have nothing to fear in San Diego County- do your worst!"

Public Corruption wrote on January 13, 2007 7:14 AM:"Lam has done the best her resources would allow: Alvarado Hospital, Duke Cunningham, San Diego Councilmen - StripperGate. These areas of corruption are mirrored images of other alleged areas of corruption in North County. These similar type cases are cases the District Attorney's office should be handeling. Unfortunately, both offices have had little funding support...it's about "return on the investment." Just because Lam and Dumanis have not done anything about the similar cases in North County does not mean there's no corruption with these similar type cases!"

Randy wrote on January 13, 2007 8:03 AM:"When Carol Lam was appointed U.S. Attorney, I was excited. Instead of a Republican, here was a career prosecutor with successful prosecutions of white-collar criminals such as LabCorp. Now she is being fired by President Bush to make way for a Republican crony of his. I am disgusted."

Laura (not Bush) wrote on January 13, 2007 10:19 AM:"Carol Lam got too close to something in D.C.? This "resignation" smells just as bad as Cunningham's denials. Bush has no shame."

Winston wrote on January 13, 2007 12:16 PM:" Smuggling of illegal aliens is morally reprehensible. It's human trafficking. The national security implications are obvious. We need MORE prosecution, not cherry picking white collar cases."

John wrote on January 13, 2007 2:34 PM:"Why is it that everytime Darrell Issa sticks his nose into something it starts smelling? This isn't about getting low level smuggglers, it's about payback for the Duke and not playing ball with the Republican party. Darrell - don't take away our Duke catcher."

Cannibals wrote on January 13, 2007 2:41 PM:"The Republican party is going to eat itself alive trying to squelch dissent and hide their dirty laundry. Carol Lam is now sacraficial lamb for exposing Duke's sins."

freddy wrote on January 13, 2007 2:47 PM:""Lam had complained that her office simply lacked the funding to pursue many smuggling cases" I agree with her. And there you have it, folks, where's the money?"

Chris wrote on January 13, 2007 4:45 PM:"Do I have this right: a Republican president, a Republican Senate, and a Republican House, and they didn't allocate enough money to fund adequate prosecution of illegal immigration? The priorities of the Bush administration have been Iraq, not immigration. Immigration and the borders helped elect Bilbray, and that's about it. It's remarkable that Carol Lam has accomplished all she has, given the total support and commitment from Washington leadership. Just remember all this when you go to vote next time. Her "resignation" reeks of payback for showing the corruption within Congress. "

Leave Lam Alone! wrote on January 13, 2007 6:31 PM:"When I first served jury duty once upon a time at the Vista Courthouse, I had Carol Lam as the trial judge - seems to me she's done a fine job of prosecuting those who need to be prosecuting - while the case load has been reduced during her tenure, who's to say that she isn't actually removing from the docket some of the more frivolous attempts at using government resources? Bush needs to have some faith - and for a man who claims to be all about faith, he needs to start demonstrating some, pronto."

Mary wrote on January 13, 2007 9:40 PM:"Why should a prosecuting attorney have to pick and choose what cases to pursue? They should all be pursued if there is wrong doing. But they need money budgeted to do so. Sounds like the Federal Courts have been given short change in favor of the Iraq war. "