Daniel Bodgen U.S. attorney for Nevada for five years will leave office on Feb. 28

Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney for Nevada, said Wednesday that he was stunned to hear the Department of Justice requested he step down from his post because of performance reasons.

The first time the state's chief federal prosecutor learned there were concerns about his performance was when he picked up the Review-Journal on Wednesday morning and read the comments of Sen. John Ensign, who was relaying the Department of Justice's explanation for Bogden's dismissal.

It was the first time any government official had offered a reason for the abrupt request for Bogden's resignation.

"To this date, no one from the department has previously identified any issues with my performance or the performance of my office," Bogden said.

Bogden said he received the unexpected telephone call from the Department of Justice on Dec. 7.

"I was told I serve as a presidential appointee," Bogden said. "Any further explanation than that, no, I was not giving any explanation or reason for the request to step down."

Ensign, R-Nev., declined to say what specific problems the Department of Justice had with Bogden. Bogden declined to speculate on why the department let him go after five years in office.

"I'm not going to go there," Bogden said.

He was among at least seven U.S. attorneys across the country who received their walking papers.

Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to explain the firings. He said six were "performance-related."

Democrats have questioned whether the Bush administration was using the dismissals to reward political allies.

McNulty conceded the Justice Department removed Arkansas prosecutor Ed Cummins without cause to make room for a former aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Bogden said he does not receive annual evaluations, but the office is critiqued every four years by a team of individuals from U.S. attorney's offices nationwide.

The last time a team visited Bogden's office was in 2003.

"They go through your books, speak to judges, law enforcement agencies and interview employees," Bogden said. "It's a thorough thing that goes on for about a week."

Bogden said he heard no negative news after that evaluation.

The U.S. attorney believes he has performed well since he was assigned to the office as the interim chief on Sept. 1, 2001. His first challenge came days later when terrorists crashed airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

The office's priorities changed quickly and drastically.

"Terrorism was the No. 1 priority," Bogden said. "Our assets and resources were used to keep us safe from terrorists. That subtracted from our resources to go after more traditional crime."

Even with fewer resources for other crimes, Bogden , who was appointed permanently to the post in November 2001, doggedly pursued other criminals.

"We've done more gun cases, drug cases, gang cases, child exploitation cases, identity theft cases than any office has done in any five year period of time," Bogden said. "There are a lot of things we've done in this office, and it's a tribute to our employees."

During Bogden's tenure, the office also has secured more than $55 million in asset forfeitures and fine collections.

Attorneys under his watch also were successful in securing convictions in the political corruption case involving former Clark County commissioners Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Dario Herrera.

But Bogden's office has endured some setbacks, including a $14 million securities case against Las Vegas attorneys Daniel Chapman and Sean Flanagan and New York attorney Herbert Jacobi. The case was thrown out in February 2006 after a prosecutor failed to produce documents.

Bogden cast doubt on whether that case led to his dismissal.

"It's been appealed and we've been given the authority to appeal the judge's decision," he said. "We all would like to say we win every case, but that's not normally the case."

Bogden announced that his last day in office will be Feb. 28. He plans to take some time off and decide his future.

"I'm going to relax a little and decide which direction I'll go to further my career," he said.