Documents on ousted U.S. attorneys appear to conflict

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department cast a net in the Las Vegas federal prosecutor's office in search of a temporary replacement for Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney who was fired along with chief prosecutors in six other cities in December, according to documents made public Friday.

Justice officials broadened their pursuit of a fill-in after being turned down initially by Bogden's chief deputy, Steve Myhre.

Sources confirmed that Kurt Schulke, the Nevada district's top anti-terrorism coordinator and assistant U.S. attorney in charge of criminal cases, was interviewed to become an acting or interim appointee.

Besides talking with the prosecutor who sources say was Schulke, officials "are identifying others to interview before 2/28/07," which was Bogden's final day, according to a chart included among 2,394 pages that the Justice Department sent Congress on Friday.

The documents add more detail to the department's actions in Las Vegas in the weeks after Bogden's ouster, which surprised many in the state's legal community.

But as far as shedding further light on possible reasons why Bogden was fired, the new documents offered only apparent conflicts.

A 12-page capsule report of the Nevada U.S. attorney's office summarized a 2003 evaluation that gave Bogden a positive review.

The document, kept by the office of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, stated "Bogden was highly regarded by the federal judiciary, the law enforcement and civil client agencies and the staff" of the U.S. attorney's office.

Yet handwritten notes about four of the fired attorneys that are undated but believed to be from a meeting held after they were removed included a notation that Bogden was "in over his head."

Justice officials on Friday confirmed the notes were penned by Monica Goodling, a senior counsel to Gonzales who announced her resignation on April 6 in response to the widening controversy over the firings.

Goodling has declined to testify before Congress, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Another document, a Jan. 1, 2006, memo from former Gonzales Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson to White House counsel Harriet Miers regarding U.S attorney removals, included an attachment with a handwritten note: "Quiet/not sure about: Bogden." The Nevadan showed up on internal dismissal lists later in the year.

Bogden said Friday the apparently conflicting documents shed little light on his removal.

"I am still at as much of a loss as I was on December 7," when he received a phone call from Michael Battle, director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys, asking him to step down from the job he had held since 2001, Bogden said.

Bogden disputed the notation that he was "in over his head," citing positive notices he received from superiors even after he was let go.

"I'd been doing the job for 5 1/2 years," he said. "Did I feel I had any problems, or it was over my head? No. It was very challenging, but I felt we were able to meet the challenge."

In remarks to Bogden and in testimony to Congress, Justice officials have offered differing reasons for his removal. He said he was told he was being replaced to give someone else a turn at the job. But some department officials have cited "performance" reasons, including a charge that Bogden was not cooperative with an obscenity task force wanting to pursue a particular case in Las Vegas. Bogden rebuts the charge.

Along with Bogden, U.S attorneys in San Diego, Albuquerque, N.M., Phoenix, San Francisco, Seattle and Grand Rapids, Mich., were fired Dec. 7, a purge that has grown into a scandal as Bush administration critics charge their dismissals were politically tainted. Also tied to the controversy was the federal prosecutor in Little Rock, Ark., who was replaced several months earlier.

The documents released Friday do not say what happened after Schulke was interviewed to replace Bogden, or whether others were interviewed as well.

Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman in the Las Vegas office, referred questions to the Justice Department in Washington. A request through Collins to interview Schulke did not draw a response.

Myhre initially turned down the job, citing his workload as first assistant U.S. attorney.

When Bogden left, the post fell to Myhre anyway under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. It states the first assistant takes over "immediately and automatically" if no other replacement is identified for a departing U.S. attorney.

Schulke is executive assistant in the U.S. attorney's office, the No. 2 post.

Bogden's dismissal in December drew sharp and immediate criticism from Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. Ensign had nominated Bogden for the job in 2001.

Apart from letting Bogden go, Ensign had a particular problem with creating a sudden vacancy, according to an e-mail dated Dec. 8, the day after the firings.

"Heads up about disgruntlement in Nevada," states the message from White House counsel William Kelley to Sampson. "Sen. Ensign's COS (chief of staff) informs me he is very unhappy about the decision to let Bogden go, very unhappy about its timing and doesn't understand the urgency."

Review-Journal writer Adrienne Packer contributed to this report.