Ensign ‘Flabbergasted’ Over Attorney Firing: It Was ‘Completely Mishandled By The Attorney General’
Ensign ‘Flabbergasted’ Over Attorney Firing: It Was ‘Completely Mishandled By The Attorney General’
In a press conference this afternoon, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) blasted the Bush administration’s decision to fire Nevada-based U.S. attorney Daniel Bogden. Bogden “was described in his last job performance evaluation in 2003 as being a ‘capable’ leader who was highly regarded by the federal judiciary and investigators. ‘He didn’t get any dings,’ said a Justice Department official with knowledge of the review. ‘The overall evaluation was very positive.’”
Ensign said he was “flabbergasted when [he] first heard….that not a single conversation had been had between” Bogden and the Department of Justice prior to the firing. Ensign said the firing had been “completely mishandled by the U.S. Attorney General.” He added, “A good leader does not just fire someone for no good reason.” Via CNN Pipeline:
Transcript:
I was flabbergasted when I first heard this. I cannot tell you — I’m not a person who raises his voice very often. My staff could hear the frustration that I expressed to Paul McNulty when he first informed me that not a single conversation had been had between him or any of the previous deputy attorney generals with Dan as far his priorities were concerned.
[…]
The bottom line in all of this is the relieving of duties of Dan Bogden, however you want to describe it, was completely mishandled by the U.S. Attorney General.
[…]
The deputy attorney general — in the conversations that I had — he was either ill-informed about the whole process or [he] intentionally misled. One of the two.
[…]
Everybody who’s appointed by the White House understands that they serve at the pleasure of the President. But that does not mean — a good leader does not just dismiss someone for no good reason, especially if you haven’t done your job in the first place. And I don’t believe the U.S. Attorney General’s office did their job in the first place.
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28 Responses to “Ensign ‘Flabbergasted’ Over Attorney Firing: It Was ‘Completely Mishandled By The Attorney General’”
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March 13th, 2007 at 1:36 pm“…A good leader does not just fire someone for no good reason.â€
Wow, that guy has amazing hair.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:38 pmI’ll be using the Pres. Bush method of spinning the news:
See! Now there is Bi-partisan condemnation for the egregious actions in firing attorneys!
(I feel so soiled, now. . . .)
March 13th, 2007 at 1:39 pmAnd from one of there own. Will this become a feeding frenzy?
March 13th, 2007 at 1:40 pmFor more on the White House connection and all the latest news, hearings, legal filings and other essential documents on the Bush DOJ prosecutor firings, see:
March 13th, 2007 at 1:40 pm“The U.S. Attorney Scandal Documents.”
“A good leader does not just fire someone for no good reason.â€
But there WERE very good reasons. BushCo were getting into trouble and needed to put the fire out. So they went after those who would be doing the right things by putting criminals in jail.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pm[…] Watch his press conference at Think Progress […]
March 13th, 2007 at 1:41 pmYeah, but Clinton and Carter didn’t tell a Republican senator about something once and…uh…
March 13th, 2007 at 1:44 pmAll righty then, move on past the flab-ber and the gas-t and let’s hear a loud, unanimous and resounding call of RESIGNATION NOW!
March 13th, 2007 at 1:45 pmI was flabbergasted when I first heard this. I cannot tell you — I’m not a person who raises his voice very often.
….because I am a Republican and my head has been up my a** for the past 12 years. I can’t believe that this stuff has been going on. Who has been in charge? Oh…..
March 13th, 2007 at 1:45 pmThis can’t be real. I must be dreaming. A Republican speaking out against the Administration. Oh that’s CNN. For a minute I thought it was Fox News. Nevermind.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:50 pmFinally! BushCo is the “uniter” he promised to be.
March 13th, 2007 at 1:52 pmWe do not believe you. You are a recidivist republicist liar and your speaking up now pretty much means you are deep in it and trying to get it off your shoes. How many of your ilk have conspired to obstruct DOJ investigations if they were looking at your own people?
March 13th, 2007 at 1:56 pmguess we are going to find out.
Who cares? We are at war. There are people who want the Cresant flag flying over DC and the official language to be Arabic
March 13th, 2007 at 1:58 pmThis Repub is cute. Is he a good cop, or a bad cop? Just wondering, in case he wants to frisk me. I’m sure Pace will give me no competition.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:03 pm-heh-
firehead sez:
fireplug, please tell us why we ought to take you seriously, when you can’t even spell ‘crescent’ properly.
(This ought to be good…)
March 13th, 2007 at 2:03 pmWe need better trolls.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:09 pmTMM, he probably meant to say croissant. There’s supposed to be a banner announcing a sale on Croissandwiches over at the DC Burger King soon.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:16 pmWho cares? We are at war. There are people who want the Cresant flag flying over DC and the official language to be Arabic
Comment by firehead
Nice one firehead, that was perfect. Just because we are at war, all criticism is beyond reproach.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:17 pmWho cares? We are at war. There are people who want the Cresant flag flying over DC and the official language to be Arabic
Comment by firehead
As long as its Egyptian Arabic….that Gulf Arabic is so hard to understand.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:29 pmWho cares? We are at war. There are people who want the Cresant flag flying over DC and the official language to be Arabic
Comment by firehead
Well TripMaster and ForTruth kinda stole my thunder, so I will invoke the words of Teddy Roosevelt (which I’m sure has been done plenty of times on here), “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Firehead, why do you hate America?
March 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pmGonzalez: “Make the President look bad will you? I`ll show you”
This makes me wonder what an otherwise “obscure” Gonzalez has done in his life, (what bad thing(s), he has done to warrant attaining the coveted “prize” of AG.
In BushWorld, it seems the more worse things that you have done, are equally rewarded with a position in kind.
Jesus, with that logic, it makes me really wonder what Condi Rice has done in her past to warrant Sec of State.
March 13th, 2007 at 2:54 pmCall your Congress Rep or Senator and tell them to investigate why this was done and who lied about it.We are the congress folks ,it’s time to get involve like we should.If Alberto lied we want him impeached & do time.
March 13th, 2007 at 3:36 pmIraq Oil Law Runs into Opposition
The next ten days or so could be critical,.,.,.,…
March 13th, 2007 at 5:20 pmI’m at odds with myself. This is, unfortunately, one of my Senators. (While not a huge Harry Reid fan, compared to John JFK vs. RMN). I don’t know whether to send him a congrats letter or wait for the other shoe to drop letter.
I guess I’ll wait and see.
JFM
March 13th, 2007 at 6:00 pmUSAF,RET
Bogden “was described in his last job performance evaluation in 2003 as being a ‘capable’ leader who was highly regarded by the federal judiciary and investigators. ‘He didn’t get any dings,’ said a Justice Department official with knowledge of the review. ‘The overall evaluation was very positive.’â€
********************************************
Am I the only one who’s inclined to wonder why Bogden’s last performance review was all the way back in 2003? I know things work differently in the public sector than they do in the private sector — but that seems an awfully long time to go without a performance review. Nevertheless, even in the private sector where there’s virtually no such thing as job security anymore and where performance is everything, a company doesn’t typically give someone positive performance reviews and then turn around and fire them without providing some sort of explanation — even if that person is employed “at will”.
March 13th, 2007 at 10:04 pmEVIDENTLY, “Flabbergasted” Ensign DOES NOT KNOW THE INNER WORKINGS OF Bushland Uber Allies, WHERE THE MOTTO IS “ALL for ONE(CHIMPya), NONE for ALL, and EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF”!!!!!
March 14th, 2007 at 12:00 amSomething is wierd here.
He sounds like he was surprised about it…but he has know about it for over a month according to this article.
Or am I missing something? Am I just not understanding the timeline?
March 16th, 2007 at 7:34 pm