Showing posts with label Rachel Paulose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rachel Paulose. Show all posts

Friday, April 06, 2007

Loyal Bushies get coronations

Because they are so special. Via spork_incident at A Spork In The Drawer:
Paulose's investiture was the first ever held outside the Federal courthouse. Due to the large number of invited guests, the ceremony was held in the atrium at the University of St. Thomas law school. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS learned Paulose personally asked for free use of the space, which the school says it normally rents for $1,500. Representatives of two government watchdog groups, the Taxpayers League of Minnesota and Citizens Against Government Waste in Washington, DC call the request inappropriate.

While past investitures have been simple ceremonies, an internal document obtained by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS details plans for a more elaborate event. The document lists a processional, a professional photographer, a color guard and a choir. All of those were included in the March 9 ceremony. Paulose's office called the document inaccurate and said it was discarded months ago. [Emphasis added.]

Talking Points Memo has several posts:
Still, there's plenty of smoke there. For instance, the Star-Tribune noted that her Senate confirmation was almost derailed because, though Paulose had Administration backing, "she and her supporters had neglected to seek the support of both home-state senators," an oversight so unbelievable as to suggest that perhaps the Administration did not originally intend to submit her nomination for Senate approval but rather planned to rely on the attorney general's appointment authority under the Patriot Act. You can find more on Paulose here.
And about the quitting of the 4 staffers even though she's apparently all Christian and stuff:
It’s a major shakeup at the offices of new U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose. Four of her top staff voluntarily demoted themselves Thursday, fed up with Paulose, who, after just months on the job, has earned a reputation for quoting Bible verses and dressing down underlings.
Quitting is very unusual:
A source said managers had been unhappy with Paulose and decided to collectively resign.

"They did it jointly because they couldn't stand her anymore," the source said, citing what been described as her "dictatorial management style and general lack of management experience."

Paulose replaced former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, who resigned in February 2006. At 34, she's the youngest current U.S. attorney. She's also the first woman to hold the post in Minnesota.

The move might have come from a disagreement in the direction of the office, but is also "indicative of how the U.S. Department of Justice is acting now," another source said.

"These are career prosecutors who wouldn't do it without a reasonable basis," the source said. "If these folks took this action en masse and all of them are well respected career prosecutors, they wouldn't do so lightly."

And the frantic attempt to stop the damage by Gonzales:
Apparently, the Gonzales Justice Department, already embroiled in a rapidly escalating scandal, was so worried about another shoe dropping (okay, more bad publicity) that they sent an emissary to the local office to beg the four to stay put.