In an excellent piece in this morning's Arizona Republic, reporters Dennis Wagner and Billy House expose what may be the (or a) real motive behind the recent wholesale dismissal of US Attorneys around the country.
The article focuses on until-recently Phoenix US Attorney Paul Charlton, who apparently took significant umbrage at the DOJ assertion that he and his colleagues were let go due to "performance" issues. Bristling at this characterization, Charlton asserted yesterday that he left office in January for 'principled reasons, not performance issues". He said there had been "policy disputes" w/DOJ higher-ups, in his first public comments since leaving office.
While Charlton declined to elaborate, two sources indicated that a main disagreement between Charlton and higher-ups in Washington had to do w/when to seek the death penalty in federal murder cases. It seems those DOJ honchos are keen on centralizing such decisions, and would prefer a cheerful "Jawohl" to prosecutors who would choose to exercise judgement and discretion on a case-by-case basis.
Apparently these guys aren't satisfied w/just "killing 'em over there"--they've got less than two years left and they figure they can do more killing over here, too.
Both Sens. McCain and Kyl expressed unqualified support for Charlton and his performance, with McCain proclaiming him "an exemplary US Attorney." Kyl, for his part, attempted to intervene on Charlton's behalf, with original indications they might reconsider their actions against him. Both Senators were rebuffed, as well, in their initial support for Hopi Prosecutor Diane Humetewa as his replacement.
Following Kyl's intervention, Charlton said, "it then became apparent to me that our views had become so divergent and disparate that I would resign."
I'm not at all sure that this is their only evil motive. Building a firewall against public corruption cases as they prepare to quack their way out the door may well be in the mix as well. But we would do well to recall The Shrubmeister's prolific record in Texas as regards executions. Sounds like the Feds want to keep Ol' Sparky busy for the next two years and are not likely to countenance interference by naysayers, even qualified Republican ones.