Ex-U.S. attorney: Removals legal, but marred by wrongs

Arkansas’ Cummins says successor Griffin ‘had a role’

Bud Cummins, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, listens to Paul Charlton, former U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, on Monday during a panel discussion hosted by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law and the Clinton School of Public Service. The panel also included former U.S. attorneys David Iglesias, John McKay and Carol Lam.
Bud Cummins, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, listens to Paul Charlton, former U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, on Monday during a panel discussion hosted by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock’s William H. Bowen School of Law and the Clinton School of Public Service. The panel also included former U.S. attorneys David Iglesias, John McKay and Carol Lam.

— During a panel discussion Monday, former U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins smiled - but kept silent - when asked to comment on the man who replaced him after he was ousted during the administration of President George W. Bush.

Cummins, who served in the Eastern District of Arkansas, was forced to step aside in December 2006, making way for fellow Republican Tim Griffin, who is now running for the 2nd Congressional District against Democrat Joyce Elliott.

Griffin, a protege of Bush political strategist Karl Rove, served just six months. Here signed as U.S. attorney in June 2007, saying “it’s not worth it” after the removal of Cummins and other top federal prosecutors gained sustained national attention.

Cummins was one of five former U.S. attorneys who spoke at the W.H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock about the legacy of their forced resignations during the Bush years.

After Monday’s panel, Cummins briefly responded to reporters’ questions about Griffin’s involvement in his dismissal.

“He had a role and I think it’s been documented in the investigation. I don’t really have anything to add,” Cummins said.

Cummins said he hadn’t talked to Griffin about the congressional race and declined to comment on the Elliott-Griffin matchup.

“I don’t really want to talk today about what I’m going to do on election day,” he said.

The f ive panelists - Cummins and former U.S. Attorneys Paul Charlton of Arizona, David Iglesias of New Mexico, Carol Lam of the Southern District of California and John McKay of the Western District of Washington - were among nine top federal prosecutors dismissed or forced out in the latter years of the Bush administration.

Their firings raised questions about improper political meddling in the Justice Department and prompted Congressional hearings and investigations.

A Justice Department probe concluded that no laws had been broken, but Cummins said it would be wrong to “over read into that ... some sort of exoneration. I think it’s clear from all the data and all the analysis that there was wrongdoing and there was even some lies being told.”

McKay said he had just gotten a sterling evaluation a month before being fired. He characterized the negative reviews of his performance voiced by officials under then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as the result of Bush putting “kids in charge of the Justice Department for awhile.”

While it is common for a new president to appoint new U.S. attorneys, it is unusual for an administration to remove large numbers of its own appointees, while also casting doubt on the departing employees’ competence.

Gonzales resigned in September 2007.

Asked to resign shortly after successfully leading the corruption prosecution of former Republican U.S. Rep. Randall “Duke” Cunningham, Lam said she can’t say that the political affiliations of those she considered filing charges against wouldn’t cross her mind now.

“That is what we’ve lost by what’s transpired here,” Lam said.

Future political meddling could be prevented by removing the ability of the president to appoint U.S attorneys, reserving the post for career prosecutors, Charlton and McKay said.

Cummins, appointed by Bush, disagreed, saying that he thought his experience in business gave him a good outside perspective on the office.

Calling Cummins a “profile in courage” for speaking out about the firings, Charlton praised Cummins for entering the fray when his performance had not been initially criticized by Bush administration officials.

“He stood up for us,” Charlton said.

Skip Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service, said he had been working with the UALR law school to put together Monday’s event since he read about the former U.S. attorneys getting together to speak in January in Arizona.

“And being in the spirit of trying to bring public programs to Little Rock, I thought wouldn’t it be fascinating to have all them here?” Rutherford said.

Cummins, Griffin and Rove all spoke at Clinton School events in 2007, Rutherford noted.

The scheduling of Monday’s event “had nothing to do with the election,” he said. “It had everything to do with their schedule trying to get these busy people together here and trying to work to work out a date where we could work with the law school. We wanted to do it at a time when students were here.” Information for this article was contributed by Michael R. Wickline of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/21/2010

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