BobGeiger.com: Durbin Destroys White House Spin In Gonzales Scandal

BobGeiger.com: Durbin Destroys White House Spin In Gonzales Scandal:

"'We have an unusual circumstance we face right now. Never before in history has a President and an Attorney General fired a group of U.S. attorneys en masse, in a group, other than the expected turnover… with the change of administration,' said Durbin.

'We asked the Congressional Research Service if they could undertake an analysis of U.S. attorney firings that occurred other than the changeover of a Presidency. This is what they found: Only 2 U.S. attorneys out of 486 confirmed by the Senate over the past 25 years have been fired in the middle of a Presidential term for reasons unrelated to misconduct -- 2 out of 486. So for some to argue that this is routine, to fire those attorneys, the facts say otherwise. Only 2 out of 486 have been fired in the midst of their term.'"
.
.
.
.
According to Durbin, Cragan and Shields compiled a database of Federal indictments and investigations undertaken by U.S. attorneys against elected officials and political candidates since Bush first took office in 2001 and found that U.S. attorneys across the nation have investigated 298 Democrats and just 67 Republicans -- nearly 5 times as many Democratic officials as Republicans.

"These statistics are troubling, and we have to look into them," said Durbin. "The firings of the U.S. attorneys and documents that have been turned over to Congress really call into question the legitimacy of all prosecutions brought by the U.S. attorney in cases involving partisan interests."