Charleton Ouster Lets Renzi Off The Hook For Now
The Arizona Republic today reports that the firing of former Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton shut down a preliminary investigation of Arizona Rep. Rick Renzi, for an alleged pattern of corruption involving influence-peddling and land deals, writes Max Blumenthal with The Nation.
Blumenthal wrote this:
In September 2006, just weeks before pivotal Congressional midterm elections, Paul Charlton, US Attorney for Arizona, opened a preliminary investigation into Republican Representative Rick Renzi of the state’s First Congressional District for an alleged pattern of corruption involving influence-peddling and land deals. Almost immediately, Charlton’s name was added to a blacklist of federal prosecutors the White House wanted to force from their jobs. Charlton is someone “we should now consider pushing out,” D. Kyle Sampson, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez’s chief of staff, wrote to then White House Counsel Harriet Miers on September 16. In his previously safe Republican district, Renzi had barely held on in the election. On December 7, the White House demanded Charlton’s resignation without offering him any explanation.
Stacks of internal Justice Department e-mails subpoenaed by Congress in early March from the White House provided evidence that the dismissals of Charlton and seven other US Attorneys was a political purge orchestrated to install “loyal Bushies,” as Sampson called them, into their posts and to protect Republican lawmakers like Renzi from indictments for corruption. The Administration’s explanation that the ousters were “performance-related” has been discredited in light of the exposure of the e-mails–and especially proved false in Charlton’s case. A model of professionalism, Charlton’s office was honored with the Federal Service Award and hailed by the Justice Department as a “Model Program” for its protection of crime victims. Click here to read more.