Utahn had a role in firings
E-mails show porn czar questioned U.S. attorneys' work
By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 03/22/2007 02:28:24 AM MDT
WASHINGTON - In a frank e-mail exchange, Brent Ward, the head of a federal obscenity task force, complained to senior Justice Department officials that resistance from several U.S. attorneys to prosecuting obscenity cases was eroding interest from the FBI and jeopardizing the still-fledgling initiative.
Ward, the former U.S. attorney in Utah, went so far as to ask Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to weigh in and order the prosecutors to pursue the cases. Ward's complaints later were cited as a reason for the firing of two of the prosecutors - Daniel Bogden in Nevada and Paul Charlton in Arizona, according to a trove of documents the Justice Department has turned over to Congress.
The firings of those two U.S. attorneys and six others have touched off a political fracas and set the stage for a potential constitutional showdown as Democrats in Congress seek to compel White House aides to testify and President Bush promises to aggressively fight any subpoenas.
Ward's e-mails reveal tension as he has sought to pursue obscenity, but has been met with resistance from FBI officials and prosecutors who see higher priorities than cracking down on smut.
"It has now been more than 10 months since I arrived here. In that time two cases have been indicted. Only one of them was initiated by the FBI. In light of this the Task Force would have to be considered a failure so far," Ward wrote in an e-mail last August.
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http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5493092
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