Misplaced Confidence
Alberto Gonzales survives a Senate vote as new evidence of his own partisan politics emerges.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

"THIS PROCESS has been drug out a long time, which says to me it's political," President Bush said yesterday. "There's no wrongdoing. . . . And therefore, I ascribe this lengthy series of news stories and hearings as political."

Mr. Bush's disappointing remarks came in the context of the Senate's no-confidence vote yesterday on his attorney general, Alberto R. Gonzales. Not surprisingly, the measure failed to get the necessary 60 votes. There was, certainly, more than an element of political grandstanding in the no-confidence tactic. But that should not obscure two fundamental points: First, the president's apparently unshakable confidence in his attorney general is sadly misplaced. Second, the disturbing behavior uncovered in the investigation of the firing of U.S. attorneys cannot be dismissed as mere partisan politics, as much as the president would like to do so. Partisan politics was at work, yes, but in Mr. Bush's Justice Department -- in the hiring of career lawyers and the selection of immigration judges -- and, with the involvement of the White House, in the ouster of at least some of the prosecutors.

Mr. Gonzales was the wrong choice to become the nation's chief law enforcement officer, and his conduct on the job has only served to underscore his unfitness. He has been unwilling or unable to describe how almost one-tenth of the U.S. attorneys under his purview were chosen for firing. Circumstantial evidence in several cases points to their refusal to bring voter fraud or corruption prosecutions being pushed by GOP partisans. Last week, Bradley J. Schlozman, who temporarily replaced a fired U.S. attorney in Kansas City, testified that he brought a voter fraud case against a Democratic-leaning group five days before the 2006 election, despite a Justice Department guideline cautioning against doing so in the midst of a campaign. Monday's account by The Post's Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen about the hiring of immigration judges offered another troubling example of the department's politicization; the judges are civil service employees, but at least one-third of those appointed since 2004 have GOP ties and half lacked immigration law experience.

As to the matter of whether, as Mr. Bush says, "this process has been drug out," we'd suggest that Mr. Bush's White House bears a significant share of the blame. White House officials appear to have been involved in instigating and implementing the firings. But White House counsel Fred F. Fielding has offered to make officials available for congressional interviews only behind closed doors, not under oath, and without a transcript being made. If Mr. Bush is tired of "this lengthy series of news stories and hearings," he could help lawmakers get to the bottom of what happened.