Paulose Resigns

by emptywheel

I think it's great that Rachel Paulose has resigned (h/t JF)

Rachel Paulose, the embattled U.S. attorney for Minnesota, will be leaving the post to take a position at the Justice Department in Washington, according to a Bush administration official and a congressional aide.

According to a news release sent by the department of justice, Paulose has accepted a position as Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Legal Policy at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Ms. Paulose will resign from her current position and assume her new role effective in early January 2008.

But why in god's name are we keeping her on the taxpayer's dime?

I can only imagine that her claims that she's being targeted because she's a Federalist Society member would make her hard for someone to fire...

The McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the Federalist Society; a person of faith; and/or a conservative (especially a young, conservative woman of color) is truly a disservice to our country.

...particularly someone who had to be vetted by the Federalist Society to get his job. But c'mon folks!

Comments

[hauksdottir]

You type much faster than I do! ;)

[P J Evans]

Along with her claims that she's being targeted because she's female, minority, and a few other things? Weren't all of those the reasons given for hiring her and putting her there (except for the Federalist Society membership, that is)?

[emptywheel]

PJ

Oh, the Federalist Society thing WAS part of why she was put there in the first place, yes.

[bmaz]

Well, I guess you have seen this then. I just love this part, "The McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the Federalist Society...". Who's anonymous? We are right here, which makes it a hell of a lot easier for you to find me, discuss things with me etc. than if you had my rather common sounding name, of which there must be hundreds of thousands of similarly named individuals out there. The Papoose has a screw loose....

[Markinsanfran]

Wouldn't it seem reasonable that she is simply being kept on our dime because she is a reliable wingnut who can be counted on to be a good soldier in god's fight against the heathen hordes?

[emptywheel]

Mark

Yeah, though I do wonder if she threatened to launch an employment discrimination lawsuit.

I also find it curious that she was absolutely silent until about the time Mukasey was confirmed, and then bitched about her persecution, and voila! New job!

[Markinsanfran]

She wouldn't stoop to hiring one of those evil trial lawyers, now would she? Actually, it would be entertaining to see her attempt to represent herself :-)

I have a feeling that there are four AUSA's who will be having a big party tonight :-)

[emptywheel]

Oh yeah.

Now let's see whether Mukasey/Bush have the tact to either hire one of them to close out the term, or bring back Heffelfinger for a third shot.

[bmaz]

I think the deal had already been agreed to, or at a minimum the decision made in DC, to take this action. Mukasey made a pretty clear comment when he said he "was going to have to take a look at the Minnesota situation" or something to that effect.

[EH]

Looks like the prostitution lobby is once-again asserting its all-powerful tentacles.

[emptywheel]

Oh, man, I forgot that doozy, EH. So then DOJ must be the prostitution lobby?

[Mad Dogs]

All the better to “help” with the DOJ investigation of her tenure here in Minnesota.

With all the DOJ resignations, they ain’t got nobody to work on the Paulouse…oops, I meant Paulose investigation.

And using “Junya’s Logic”, it seems best if Rachel does the work since she knows the most about it.

Makes a kinda sense, doncha know?

[sojourner]

Is being a Federalist akin to having a disease or something? ;-) Does that prevent her from being terminated for cause?

[P J Evans]

EW

Well, they didn't really say she got the job because of being a Federalist. Not that that wasn't a big part of it, of course. The female/minority/etc was the icing hiding the rest.

I hate cynicism being the right response to everything these guys do.

[Ishmael]

As unpleasant as it may be to have Ms. Paulose continue to draw a federal paycheque, I think that it would be money very well spent to buy out all the Bushbots that have been appointed to the civil service the last 7 years, and in particular, at the DOJ. Much cheaper than undoing all the damage they could continue to inflict on the world if they were to get civil service tenure.

[Uranus]

One more time! In May I wrote this post on Lukery's blog about Gonzales and Rachel, complaining about a campaign of terror they were conducting which came to be known as the "Innocent Images National Initiative." It caused a lot of hard feelings. And I'm not so smart, I had a factual inaccuracy about Rachel, which I was willing to correct.

I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect Rachel needs a little cover from the angry friends and families of people who committed suicide after their convictions under IINI (and who I guess said, "hey DoJ, WTF?"). Nobody wants to talk about that, but I don't mind.

[tekel]

Ishmael: and it will presumably be easier for the next president to fire her from main DOJ, where her job probably will consist of keeping her face out of the papers for the next 13 months, than it would be to fire her from a job where she could make an argument that she's actually responsible for, you know, upholding the law and stuff.

[AZ Matt]

Sen. Vitter must have put a lot of pressure on DOJ to get rid of her.

[emptywheel]

LOL

That's a good one, AZ Matt.

[Hmmm.]

Maybe now that Rachael's becoming a flashpoint, they just want to bury her somewhere obscure where they can keep an eye on her. Or... maybe they have some fresh "talent" they want to install in her Minnesota slot.

[DeeLoralei in Memphis]

In January they'll announce she's going to become the new head of the Voting Rights Section. Just in time for the primaries and the general. Ugggghhh.

[Ishmael]

Tekel - agreed, it would be easier to can her from an HQ job - if Rachel P were still a USA, I can see the headlines now, filled with Republican "outrage" that the Democratic President "dared" to interfere with USA positions by firing incumbents! :) I still remember how much heat Hillary took for the White House Travel Office staffing - what would happen if she cleared out the Bushbots from the civil service relying on just cause? Better to give the wingnuts some more welfare, I think they would take surprisingly little to leave rather than, you know, work or something! :)

[bmaz]

Tekel and Ishmael - You may be right, but I don't know that your read is necessarily correct. US Attorneys are quite easy to dispense with by an incoming administration, and they commonly are. We have just spent a year of the Bush Administration and their conservative/GOP apologists (the very same people, and in fact the only people, who might possibly support Rachael Screwloose) beat into our heads that USAs can and should be fired at any time for any reason. On the other hand, depending on the nature of the "counselor's" position (that is a little vague) she is being given at DOJ Main, it is possible that she will actually be in a "career position" that is much harder to remove her from than a political appointment USA position.

[radiofreewill]

"...a member of the Federalist Society; a person of faith; and/or a conservative (especially a young, conservative woman of color)..."

She's saying she has all the 'right beliefs,' so if they are going to pluck the one titty out of her mouth, then they should shift her over to the other.

When faced with charges of Gross Incompetence and a Staff Revolt, Rachel played the Loyalty Card to save her career.

[bmaz]

I would also point out that I will bet Norm Coleman has been absolutely screaming for them to do something like this and get Paulose out of Dodge well before the election campaign shifts into high gear. Paulose remaining as Minnesota USA was an albatross around Coleman's neck.