Earning The Benefit Of The Doubt, For Now

Every once in awhile a story comes along that reinforces to me the fact that I don’t know everything, and this may be one of those stories.

This San Diego Tribune article tells that Attorney General Michael Mukasey actually appointed a prosecutor to look into the firings of the nine U.S. attorneys dismissed under the watch of Abu Gonzales (I thought Mukasey would “run out the clock”), in particular David Iglesias of New Mexico, ousted through the influence of Repug. Sen. Pete Domenici and House Rep Heather Wilson….

Mukasey named Nora Dannehy (pictured), a career prosecutor, to direct the probe.

This Waterbury Observer story tells us of the rise and fall of former Connecticut Repug governor John Rowland, a once-rising star in the party who was undone by accepting gifts and personal favors, including renovations to a weekend cottage from contractors doing state business, and also by “benefitting improperly” from the sale of a Washington, D.C. condominium.

The story also tells us that Dannehy was the lead federal prosecutor in Rowland’s trial. And while Rowland seemed very much to be the all-too-typical pol consumed with his own sense of self-importance and what you might call a highly diminished sense of moral clarity, it also didn’t help his party standing that he helped to raise money for Dem congressman Chris Murphy (noted by Wikipedia here).

Dannehy seems to be a public servant of integrity, so let us hope that she unearths all of what will likely be the tawdry doings of her fellow Repugs in terminating the U.S. prosecutors; Mukasey could have done a whole lot worse, which, truth be told, is what I expected.