Gonzales plans to ‘tighten the leash’ on attorneys.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales “recently proposed tightening the leash on the men and women who prosecute federal crimes across the nation. Gonzales described what he delicately calls ‘a more vigorous and a little bit more formal process’ for annually evaluating prosecutors. What that means, as he explained it, is hauling in every U.S. attorney for a meeting to hear, among other things, politicians’ beefs against the prosecutor.” The Chicago Tribune’s Andrew Zajac writes, “If that should happen, expect the fair-mindedness and independence Americans still count on from their Justice Department to slip.”