Ah, politics. It may be the only professional realm more ludicrious than Las Vegas law. One day, you're the top of the world and the best at your job; the next day, you're fired on a political whim.So, it's nice to see when an attorney tossed in the political trash for a rationale completely divorced from his quality of legal work finds new life. Such may be the case of Daniel Bogden, who was recently (re)nominated by the Obama administration to be the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada
The NY Times has an interesting story on the background of the hiring, firing and potential re-hiring of Mr. Bogden, who is currently at partner at McDonald Carano Wilson:
[U.S. Senator (D-NV) Harry Reid] said in a statement that he supported Mr. Bogden because he was “a highly qualified and skilled lawyer who served Nevada well before being wrongly removed from office.” Mr. Reid’s spokesman, Jon Summers, said the senator was “trying to right that wrong.” . . .Not everyone is thrilled with the re-nomination. Several A.U.S.A.s commented anonymously they were not excited with potentially having Bodgen back. (LV Sun). Others stated they just wanted U.S. Attorney Brower out and stated the office is disorganized under the current leadership. (LV Sun). Meanwhile, F. Travis Buchanan, the president of the Las Vegas chapter of the National Bar Association, "expressed concerns about the lack of diversity in the United States attorney’s office during Mr. Bogden’s tenure: 'Who else was considered? If no one else was considered, why wasn’t anyone else considered?'" (NY Times)
The nomination provides an intriguing postscript to a controversy that erupted in 2006 when President George W. Bush, on the advice of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fired nine United States attorneys. The inspector general of the Justice Department called the firings “unsystematic” and “arbitrary.” Mr. Gonzales resigned in late 2007.
While some of the United States attorneys fired in 2006 complained that they lost their jobs in a political purge because they resisted efforts by Republican lawmakers to encourage or discourage certain prosecutions, no explanation emerged as to why Mr. Bogden specifically had lost his job. As recently as 2005, he had been praised for his “outstanding work” in a letter to Mr. Gonzales from Mary Beth Buchanan, the director of the Executive Office of United States Attorneys.
We here at WWL support Mr. Bogden's re-nomination on purely ideological lines: i.e. I love a man with a moustache.
Why isn't anyone talking about the purely political firing of a US Atty who, by all accounts, did "a fine job?" Shouldn't there be hearings? Shouldn't the President at the time be forced to explain why he fired a good attorney, just for political points?
ReplyDeleteI'm talking, of course, about Brower.
I agree with 8:28. However, I wouldn't hold your breath. There is a host of investigations that should be proceeding, but are not, including: Goodling, Sampson, Bybee, Yu, etc. etc. However, with the state of the economy and such, I can't say that this should necessarily be top priority.
ReplyDelete8:28 and 8:47, stop being ridiculous. U.S. Attorneys turn in letters of resignation at the end of each 4 yr Presidential term (even if the President is reelected).
ReplyDeleteThe difference in Brower resigning (as is the norm) and Bogden being fired (for not being conservative enough) is embarrassing. That type of bald politics at the Justice Dept is one of the reasons it took Gonzalez a year to find a job after he left office.
I'm not a liberal or a conservative, but focus your criticism better. Obama has made many mistakes, some of which should rise to the level of scandal. But Bush's people made political outlook, rather than talent, the central criteria for DOJ hiring. That's a level of politics in the law that should anger everyone in the law.
@8:07
ReplyDeleteI agree Obama has made mistakes, and will undoubtedly make many more. If Obama fired USAs in the same manner Bush did, I would also encourage an investigation into his actions. You seem to be assuming that I am just a 43 hater.
But Bush's people made political outlook, rather than talent, the central criteria for DOJ hiring. That's a level of politics in the law that should anger everyone in the law."
I completely agree. Just because something was down business as usual does not mean that we should just accept and tolerate "business as usual." That is exactly why I get frustrated with the USA firings.
-8:47
@8:07,
ReplyDeleteI was not aware that US Atty's resigned every four years. If that's the case, then of course the two instances are completely different. (For instance, I have yet to see a WWL posting on "7 attorneys resign, cite 'Desire to spend more time with family'")
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