WASHINGTON -- Conflict between Democrats and the Justice Department intensified on Thursday when the agency was accused of cronyism in the firing of at least seven U.S. attorneys including Daniel Bogden of Las Vegas.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and other Democratic leaders likened the housecleaning to the "Saturday Night Massacre," when President Nixon fired Watergate prosecutors in October 1973.
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Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would try to force the Justice Department to turn over job reviews of departing officials after a senior Justice official this week said their dismissals stemmed from "performance related" problems.
Reid made Bogden's departure the centerpiece of a news conference, saying the Nevada official was fired four years after his most recent evaluation in 2003.
"That is distasteful to say the very least," Reid said. "He is a career prosecutor who has done a remarkably good job."
Reid said next week he will bring to the Senate floor a bill that would curb the Justice Department's power to appoint long-term replacements for departing prosecutors. Instead federal judges would appoint temporary replacements while new prosecutors undergo Senate confirmation.
The measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday by a 13-6 vote that included support from senior Republicans Orrin Hatch of Utah, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Charles Grassley of Iowa.
It was prompted by the forced departure of H.E. "Bud" Cummins as U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas. He was replaced by Tim Griffin, whose career has included posts at the Republican National Committee and as a deputy to White House political adviser Karl Rove as well as time spent as an assistant U.S. attorney.
"It is wrong that what has taken place here is cronygate without any question," Reid said. "It's pretty obvious in Arkansas what is going on. One of Karl Rove's cronies is now the U.S. attorney."
Bogden has scheduled Feb. 28 as his final day as U.S. attorney in Nevada, a job he assumed in 2001 after being proposed by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty acknowledged Cummins was removed to make way for Griffin.
McNulty said other prosecutors were fired for unspecified "performance related" problems. Ensign said the department told him there were "performance reasons" for Bogden's departure.
But Bogden said he never was told the Justice Department had a problem with him or his office. Rather, in an unexpected phone call on Dec. 7, he said, he was told he served at the pleasure of the president, as is the case for federal appointees.
The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday on Bogden.
Even though the president has the right to replace the officials for any reason, or for no reason, the Bush administration is going to come under increasing pressure to justify the firings, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia.
At least seven U.S. attorneys have been identified as being forced out, including Carol Lam of San Diego, David Iglesias of New Mexico and Paul Charlton of Arizona.
On Wednesday, former U.S. Attorney John McKay of Seattle said his resignation was ordered by the Bush administration without explanation seven months after he received a favorable job evaluation.
Robert Lasnik, chief federal judge for the Western District of Washington, said he and colleagues could not understand the firing and were dismayed that the Justice Department implied there was anything wrong with McKay's performance.
"This is unanimous among the judges: John McKay was a superb U.S. attorney," Lasnik said. "For the Justice Department to suggest otherwise is just not fair."
The firings are upsetting the traditional cooperation between the president and senators when it comes to filling federal jobs in their states, Tobias said. In Bogden's case, "what is troubling is that the two senators seemed satisfied with his performance and supported him and are supporting him now," said Tobias, a former professor at the Boyd Law School in Las Vegas.
"That is how patronage works," he said. "Technically, the president can hire and fire but he usually does with the cooperation of the local senators."
Tobias said Ensign at some point might have had some leverage to save Bogden's job by challenging the Justice Department, "especially if he joined with Reid."
"I don't think that is a fight the Justice Department wants," Tobias said. "If the two of them met with (Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales or McNulty and said they were happy with Bogden, then perhaps it would have had some impact."
Now, Tobias said, with everything out in the public, "I don't think this is going to have a happy ending."
Ensign said Thursday that he believed Bogden was doing a good job, and he had protested the dismissal, but there is little more he could do.
The Nevada Republican is searching for nominees to be referred to the Justice Department as potential successors.
