An anonymous U.S. Attorney who was cut loose in the firing scandal that brought down Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tells Politico that some of the prosecutors who remained "wished they had been fired, too."
There was a reverse presumption that if they stayed in office, they would be seen to have compromised themselves.
The story is about several Bush-era U.S. Attorneys who are likely to seek higher office, but its primary subject is Chris Christie, a Bush "Pioneer" fundraiser in 2000 and New Jersey Republican candidate for governor in 2009. According to Politico, Christie is the prime example of how "the U.S. attorney badge has taken on a new sheen for the GOP."
- In January 2006, Chris Christie was on a list of US Attorney's who were being looked at for replacement.
- In September 2006, in the midst of a hard-fought U.S. Senate campaign being dominated by accusations of corruption, Chris Christie authorizes a last minute subpoena that plays into Tom Kean Jr.'s political attacks against Bob Menendez.
- In November 2006, after the election is over, Chris Christie is taken off the list and allowed to keep his job.
And perhaps Chris Christie is one of them. Had he received a pink slip like the prosecutors with integrity did, the circumstantial evidence that he played politics with his office would not be as persuasive. Because if there are U.S. Attorneys who look like they compromised themselves for the Bush White House, Christie remains at the top of that list.