Daniel Bogden U.S. attorney has had ups and downs while in office

The Bush administration has forced Daniel Bogden out of his position as U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada, Nevada's two senators said Sunday.

It was unclear whether Bogden was fired or asked to resign and for what reason. Exactly when it all happened also was unknown Sunday. Repeated attempts to contact Bogden and his office were unsuccessful. The Review-Journal's phone calls to his spokeswoman, Natalie Collins, were not returned by Sunday night.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., had recommended Bogden, a longtime prosecutor in Reno, to the Bush administration in April 2001. On Sunday, Ensign said Nevada owes a debt of gratitude to Bogden. "His priorities, to prevent terrorism and prosecute violent and drug crimes, have made our communities and families safer," Ensign said.

But a source inside the Nevada U.S. attorney's office said Bogden was seen as indecisive, secretive and insular. Morale in the Southern Nevada office was low and that was partly Bogden's fault and partly the result of inadequate staffing and funding from the Justice Department, the source said.

The Nevada U.S. attorney's office also had at least three major setbacks in Las Vegas last year.

In mid-October, the federal racketeering case against about 40 Hells Angels members unraveled. They had been charged in connection with the motorcycle group's deadly melee with their rivals, the Mongols, inside Harrah's casino in Laughlin during the 2002 Laughlin River Run. In the end, only six Hells Angels faced reduced charges, and charges against the remaining bikers were dismissed.

In February, U.S. District Judge James Mahan threw out a $14 million securities fraud case against Las Vegas attorneys Daniel Chapman and Sean Flanagan and New York attorney Herbert Jacobi after an assistant U.S. attorney failed to produce more than 600 pages of documents.

Also in February, U.S. District Judge Robert Jones dismissed charges against Dr. R.D. Prabhu, a politically active Las Vegas pulmonologist. Prosecutors had alleged that Prabhu had submitted false Medicare claims. He had faced a potential penalty of $22 million.

But Bogden's office also has scored victories at the federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, including the convictions of former Clark County commissioners Mary Kincaid-Chauncey and Dario Herrera. They were indicted in 2003 on charges of accepting bribes from Michael Galardi, who was then the owner of strip clubs. Kincaid-Chauncey and Herrera were convicted in May and checked into federal prisons last week.

Bogden is not the only U.S. attorney targeted by the Bush administration.

In San Diego, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam, who prosecuted a public corruption case involving Galardi and former Clark County commissioner Lance Malone in California, was asked to resign in recent weeks, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Lam, a 2002 Bush appointee, reportedly was targeted because she failed to make smuggling and gun cases a top priority, according to the Union-Tribune.

Another example is New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, who was asked to resign near the end of 2006 and agreed to do so.

"I asked (why) and wasn't given any answers," Iglesias told the Union-Tribune. "I ultimately am OK with that. We all take these jobs knowing we serve at the pleasure of the president."

Some Democratic members of Congress are questioning the motives behind the moves because they have discovered, to their chagrin, that a provision of the Patriot Act allows the U.S. attorney general to make interim appointments that have no time limits and do not have to be confirmed by the Senate.

"The attorney general could have legitimate reasons for asking for specific resignations, or this could be motivated by political concerns or worse, derailing ongoing investigations," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said.

Feinstein, along with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., already have introduced legislation to change that portion of the Patriot Act.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Nevada Democrat agrees that the law needs to be amended.

In December, Pryor and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., protested the appointment of Tim Griffin as interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Griffin was White House deputy director of political affairs under Karl Rove and also served as head of opposition research for the Republican National Committee.

Pryor said Griffin should have to face a Senate confirmation vote.

"Arkansas has learned firsthand the unintended consequence of a little-known provision in the Patriot Act," Pryor said. "Unfortunately, the spirit and intent in which this provision was constructed has been abused and needs to be corrected."

During the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act a provision was added that bolstered the attorney general's power regarding appointment of replacement U.S. attorneys. In the past, the attorney general had limited authority only to make interim appointments that were valid only for a limited time.

A Justice Department spokesman told the Union-Tribune that the department is not trying to avoid the Senate confirmation process.

"In every case, it is a goal of this administration to have a U.S. attorney that is confirmed by the Senate," spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said. "It is wrong for a member of Congress to believe that this is in any way an attempt to circumvent the confirmation process."

Of 11 U.S. attorney vacancies since the attorney general gained the authority to make the appointments in March, the Bush administration has nominated four people and interviewed seven others, all of whom are expected to complete the confirmation process, according to the Justice Department.

Review-Journal writer Molly Ball and the Stephens Washington Bureau contributed to this report.