Perhaps Senate Democrats can get a clearer answer today about why the Bush administration demanded the resignation of various U.S. attorneys, including Nevada's Dan Bogden.

Fat chance. It's far more likely that the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee seeking answers from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales will see him do the dance of the seven veils as he insists there's no way the administration was engaged in political games.

U.S. Sen. John Ensign, who nominated Bogden, learned about a month ago that Bogden's services no longer were needed by this administration. The senator asked for reconsideration, arguing to no avail against removing someone doing a good job. Bogden became one of at least seven federal prosecutors getting the boot for no stated reason.

The most vocal critics of the forced resignations have been California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, both Democrats, who object that the Patriot Act is being used to remove the U.S. attorneys and replace them with interim appointees without Senate confirmation. They're not defending the current Bush appointees as much as they are defending the process of checks and balances.

From what I know, there was no misconduct on the part of this career prosecutor who took charge on Sept. 10, 2001, one day before terrorism became law enforcement's priority. There was no suggestion that he was playing politics with the office.

A GOP source said Ensign was told that the decision to remove U.S. attorneys, primarily in the West, was part of a plan to "give somebody else that experience" to build up the back bench of Republicans by giving them high-profile jobs.

So, yes, it is politics at play, despite Gonzales' claims that this isn't political.

It's no secret that the appointment of a U.S. attorney is a political appointment. The party that controls the White House gets to name the U.S. attorney, usually based on suggestions from the state's senior senator of that party.

After that, the job is not supposed to be political. It's supposed to be independent. Prosecutions are supposed to be based on crimes, not party affiliations.

Under Bogden, the prosecution of four Clark County commissioners was an unqualified success. One was a Republican. Three were Democrats. His news release Wednesday announcing that his resignation will take effect Feb. 28, summarized the work that his office of 40 attorneys did in prosecuting gang members, gun offenders, 1,067 drug offenders, 163 child sex offenders and more than 1,000 immigration offenders, plus collecting more than $57 million in fines and forfeitures.

His office has not always been victorious, with one major securities fraud case dismissed for prosecutorial misconduct because of discovery that wasn't provided and the Hells Angels case settled with plea bargains that the defense attorneys considered victories. Bogden isn't media savvy or the fastest gun in the West. But he's a solid prosecutor who doesn't deserve this.

To change the process now so that an administration can yank a U.S. attorney out of office on a political whim is wrong. It also will make it harder to find good people to take the job. First-tier people won't want the job; political hacks might.

If it's true that this is a ploy to showcase more Republicans and build up the political back bench, it's a disservice to our justice system. What once was a prestigious job in which a prosecutor hoped to make a difference shouldn't become a training ground to highlight aspiring politicians.

On Jan. 11, Gonzales gave a speech to the U.S. Attorneys' National Security Conference, saying, "The president nominated you because of your courage, your leadership and your commitment to the rule of law and securing our neighborhoods. I am proud of you." Talk about a disconnect between what Gonzales said and what he did by demanding the resignations.

I've thwacked the U.S. attorney's office a time or two for cause, but what the Bush administration is doing here is wrong. We want prosecutors who don't play politics, who go after bad guys and gals without consideration of party. Bogden did that.

To use the Patriot Act against U.S. attorneys charged with enforcing it is an insult.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.