Attorney Unaware Her Post 'Vacant'

[MountainLaurel]

Oops.

The massive release of e-mails and other documents by the U.S. Justice Department last week included one that says the position of U.S. attorney for Maine is vacant. But that's news to Paula Silsby, the woman who has occupied the office for most of the past six years under unusual circumstances.

Silsby's status as the state's top federal prosecutor came into question with the release of 3,000 pages of internal government documents produced for a congressional investigation into the firings of eight other U.S. attorneys.

Unlike almost all of her 92 colleagues, she was never nominated by the president or confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Instead, according to the Justice Department documents, she is one of a handful of U.S. attorneys who were appointed by a judge through a process intended for temporary replacements, and she is by far the longest serving prosecutor in that category.

The forced resignations of U.S. attorneys last year, followed by their replacement by appointees of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales under powers granted him by the Patriot Act, has raised questions about the political independence of some U.S. attorneys' offices.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070325usattorney.html

[Maine-ah]

1. huh, I wonder what is going to happen with her.

certainly odd.