White House Cites Lax Voter-Fraud Investigations in U.S. Attorneys' Firings
By Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 14, 2007; Page A06
White House officials, in providing new explanations of how and why several U.S. attorneys were fired in December, have said that President Bush mentioned to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in October that he had heard complaints from Congress that some federal prosecutors were lax in pursuing voter fraud.
In attributing the firings at least partly to an inattentiveness to voter fraud, the White House is invoking a contention that has gained prominence in Republican circles starting with the 2000 presidential election, as both political parties have become aggressive in trying to leverage election law into Election Day victories.
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Glimpses of the role those charges and countercharges have played in firings of at least some of the U.S. attorneys have begun to emerge in recent days. Yesterday,
Dan Bartlett, counselor to the president, told reporters accompanying Bush in Mexico that "over the course of several years, we have received complaints about U.S. attorneys, particularly when it comes to election-fraud cases." Bartlett said those complaints have stemmed from New Mexico, where U.S. Attorney David C. Iglesias was fired, as well as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301725.htmlmore:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/13/AR2007031301725.html