It seems every day there’s a brand, new story about a contradiction swirling around Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ original account of the events surrounding the fired Republican prosecutors — so here’s your daily story for Saturday…one that will likely prove to be yet another blow to his credibility:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.
The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.
And even with an official statement from the Justice Department, the report won’t boost Gonzales’ credibility:
There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was crafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week amid a political firestorm surrounding the firings.
The documents indicated that the hour-long morning discussion, held in the attorney general’s conference room, was the only time Gonzales met with top aides who decided which prosecutors to fire and how to do it.
Justice spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos said it was not immediately clear whether Gonzales gave his final approval to begin the firings at that meeting. Scolinos also said Gonzales was not involved in the process of selecting which prosecutors would be asked to resign.
On March 13, in explaining the firings, Gonzales told reporters he was aware that some of the dismissals were being discussed but was not involved in them.
This latest news comes as the prosecutors’ mini-scandal has become eclipsed by the House’s vote to set a date for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. But that vote was largely a symbolic one — it’s unlikely to reach President George Bush’s desk and if it does, Bush will veto it and it’s unlikely the Democrats would leave the troops in the field without funding. The case of the prosecutors is likely to be around for a while, particularly if it goes to court (which is likely).
So amid reports calling into question his veracity, Mr. Gonzales is doing what any public official would do:
He’s planning to launch a p.r. offensive, part of it pegged to his ethnicity, CBS reports:
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is on a public relations tour to boost his image amid the U.S. Attorney scandal, but strategists from both parties say he needs more than a calculated listening tour to save face.
And, indeed, it could be tough to launch a p.r. offensive with reports surfacing suggesting that he is…veracity challenged. AND:
In a list of “talking points” released Wednesday, a Justice Department official enumerated steps Gonzales is taking to mitigate backlash. They include: a conference call to U.S. attorneys, personal meetings and lunches with senators and members of Congress and an impromptu appearance at the National Hispanic Leadership Summit….
….Also this week, Latino groups and law enforcement organizations joined the effort to burnish Gonzales’ image. The U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute and the Fraternal Order of Police, among others, came forward with letters of support Wednesday. They lauded Gonzales’ record as a judge and as a member of the Bush Cabinet and called for fairness in judging him.
The Justice Department confirmed that it helped distribute the glowing letters, but said it did not request them.
So the surge (pardon the expression) of letters of support were spontaneous, but not totally spontaneous.
“Beginning last week, our public liaison office began receiving statements of support from law enforcement and Hispanic groups,” Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.
And, indeed, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg snarkily notes that what’s notable is the support Gonzales is NOT GETTING from Hispanic groups:
Why isn’t the Hispanic community rallying behind Gonzales? He’s Hispanic. Where is his automatic, race-based support?
If a black attorney general were about to be shown the gate, there would be no scarcity of fellow African-American leaders jostling each other at the media trough, ministers and activists and self-appointed spokespeople, all keen to explain how this is a plot, how white America secretly can’t stand to see a brother achieve high position and it is only a matter of time before The Man brings that successful person low.
So why don’t we have Hispanic officials claiming that this is all bias, if not race hatred? Why? I had to know.
“Being one of us is not enough,” said Juan Andrade, president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute. “Being Latino does not make you immune from criticism, investigation or even consequences for your actions.”
The bottom line is that Gonzales is damaged goods.
If he survives in office, his clout is significantly decreased. Columnist Robert Novak earlier this week reported in his newsletter that Bush’s defense of him was in effect pro forma and that Bush knows Gonzales is on borrowed time but the plan is to let Gonzales eventually exit on his OWN time.
In other words: rather than give critics (which include Republicans overtly and covertly) the satisfaction of seeing Gonzales leave when they are clamoring for him to leave, the Bush administration will let him twist slowly, slowly in the political wind, criss-crossing the country to generate support for him as a Hispanic leader, holding press conferences about protecting children.
But, in the end, it’s highly likely that Gonzales will join the list of “you’re doing a heck of a jobs” who left the administration calmer climes.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.