WASHINGTON -- Daniel Bogden's chief deputy initially resisted when the Justice Department asked him to take over the Nevada office of federal prosecutors after his boss was fired in a U.S. attorney purge, according to a document made public this week.

Steve Myhre, who was first assistant U.S. attorney in Las Vegas, "has declined to be acting USA due to his pending casework," according to a chart that listed seven U.S. attorneys who were removed on Dec. 7 and the status of their replacements.

The chart was undated but written after the U.S. attorneys were dismissed. It was among thousands of Justice Department documents and e-mails that were given to Congress and made public Monday and Tuesday.

The documents detail communications among White House and Justice Department officials planning to fire eight chief federal prosecutors and then moving to justify the firings in the face of growing demands from lawmakers.

In Nevada, according to the undated chart, officials were "identifying and interviewing other candidates" to serve as acting U.S. attorney after Myhre turned them down.

But Myhre did become acting leader of the Nevada operation after Bogden served his final day on Feb. 28. Bogden had served 17 years as a federal prosecutor in Reno and Las Vegas.

Whether Myhre and Justice officials in Washington worked out an arrangement, or whether the responsibilities fell to Myhre automatically as the No. 2 chief prosecutor was unclear.

Justice Department rules guided by the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 state "if there is a first assistant to the vacant office, that first assistant begins to serve as the acting officer immediately and automatically upon the occurrence of the vacancy," the agency's Web site said.

Efforts to contact Myhre were unsuccessful Wednesday. Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Las Vegas, referred calls to the Justice Department in Washington, which did not respond to a query.

"The document sounds like (Myhre) really wasn't interested in the job," although whether he may have declined out of loyalty to Bogden or for some other reason is not known, said Lynne Henderson, a professor at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Henderson said the document "doesn't show really organized planning" by the Justice Department.

"Right now the only inference you can draw is they didn't think things through," Henderson said. "This isn't how you would expect the Department of Justice of the United States to operate."

Even with the release of more than 3,000 documents and e-mails, critics of the firings said why Bogden and the other prosecutors were let go still has not been made clear .

Documents and e-mails show Justice officials penciled on at least two draft charts to pin reasons why the Nevadan was removed.

On one, an assessment that Nevada was a "very important district being underserved" was crossed out in favor of a reason that there was a "lack of energy and leadership for a highly visible district with serious crime issues."

On the side, it was noted: "good job on gun issues."

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who promoted Bogden for the U.S. attorney post in 2001 and who has become a critic of the Nevadan's firing, said the documents point out the Justice Department "just blew it."

"There was no documentation, there was nothing in there," Ensign said.

An accusation that Bogden resisted a case recommended by an adult obscenity task force within Justice was untrue, Ensign said. It would not have been enough to justify the firing in any case, he said.

As the state's Republican senator, Ensign is interviewing replacements for Bogden. Ensign said he did not know when he would have recommendations ready for White House officials to review.

Ensign said White House officials warned him not to send Bogden's name for reappointment after he threatened to do so.

Ensign said some potential applicants in Nevada might be discouraged because of how Bogden's case was handled.

Also, he said, only a year and a half remains in President Bush's term. Those appointees would expect to be replaced by the next president.

At Ensign's insistence, the Justice Department has been seeking a new job for Bogden as a way to "restore his reputation" after his dismissal.

Bogden confirmed this week that Justice officials spoke to him in December about possibly becoming an immigration judge, an administrative judgeship that handles amnesty and deportation cases.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Wednesday criticized the department's offer.

Bogden "was jerked around, then insulted by the suggestion he would be an immigration judge," Reid said. "That would be demeaning to a man of that caliber."

Reid later said he knew "wonderful people" who are immigration judges but "usually the people who take those are people who are relatively inexperienced in the law."

Reid said Bogden would be a better fit for a district judgeship.

Review-Journal writer Adrienne Packer contributed to this report.