The Political Chase

U.S. Attorney’s Deputies Step Down, Administration Criticizes Deputies

Three attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minneapolis demoted themselves yesterday due to conflicts with the U.S. Attorney, Rachel Paulose. Demonstrating it has learned nothing from the past, the Justice Department issued a statement publicly rebuking the three attorneys when the issue gained national attention. Ms. Paulose, 34, was appointed 14 months ago and was a senior aide to U.S. Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty prior to her appointment. Paulose’s appointment came after the resignation of Thomas B. Heffelfinger, which has now become suspect due to reports Hefelfinger may have been on the DOJ’s U.S. attorney purge list at various times.

The three deputies have not provided specific reasons publicy why they resigned their positions; however, the New York Times reports, “several of their associates described the action as a protest over what the three deputies regarded as Ms. Paulose’s ideologically driven and dictatorial managerial style.”

The silence of the attorneys did not stop the Justice Department from publicly rebuking the three deputies. In keeping with Bush administration character and what appears to be policy – personally attack any critics.

Ms. Paulose’s defenders at Justice Department headquarters said the criticism of her was unwarranted. They said older lawyers had difficultly dealing with a young, aggressive woman who had tried to put into place policies important to Mr. Gonzales like programs to combat child exploitation.

Obviously lessons-learned are not part of the mangement principles at the Justice Department.