Graves was on list of attorneys to be dismissed

By DAVE HELLING and STEVE KRASKE

The Kansas City Star

And MARGARET TALEV

McClatchy Newspapers 

      Former United States attorney Todd Graves of Kansas City was one of 12 U.S. attorneys considered for removal by the White House in 2005 and 2006, congressional sources say.

    Eight of the U.S. attorneys, whose names are already known, have been at the center of the controversy over how U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales handled their firings.

     The congressional sources, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly, have told McClatchy Newspapers that four other attorneys, including Graves, were also targeted for dismissal.

   The sources say they had seen the names in unedited internal Justice Department documents.

   Graves was not fired, but voluntarily left his job in March 2006. In a statement Friday, he said he was “surprised” to learn from a reporter that his name was on a list.

   “I value the years I spent at DOJ (Department of Justice) and the friendships I forged there,” Graves wrote. “But the current environment at the Department can only be described as toxic, and I am very thankful I left…What is going on now in DC is a three-ring circus, and I don’t want to have anything to do with it.”

   Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd refused to confirm or deny Graves’ presence on such a list.

   Removal of the attorneys has touched off a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, who say the attorneys were to be replaced for political reasons. Many contend that the Bush White House targeted attorneys who were not, in the words of one administration e-mail, “loyal Bushies.”

   Further, they say, the administration went after attorneys in battleground states as the 2006 midterms elections approached.

   Two of the four attorneys newly identified as targets – Graves and Thomas Heffelfinger in Minnesota – resigned in 2006. The other two, U.S. attorneys Steve Biskupic in Wisconsin and Thomas Marino in Pennsylvania, are still on the job. 

    The controversy over the attorneys has prompted two congressional investigations and repeated calls for the Gonzales’ resignation. Gonzales has admitted mistakes in the way the prosecutors were removed, but has said the decision to remove them was proper.

   Some Democrats said Friday that Graves’ presence on the list prompts new questions about the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration.

   “As someone who understands the need for the fundamental independence of a prosecutor, we need to get to the bottom of what actually happened,” Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill said.

   The public learned of the list of some of the U.S. attorneys under scrutiny earlier this year. Seven of the eight whose names were previously known were dismissed in December 2006.

   Earlier this year, several told Congress they believed they may have been dismissed because of their alleged reluctance to pursue cases the White House felt were important, particularly voter fraud cases, or were too zealous in prosecuting Republicans.

   The eighth attorney, Bud Cummins of Arkansas, was notified of his replacement in June 2006 for what the Justice Department said were “performance” concerns. Cummins has vigorously rejected the claim.

   As part of their investigations, Judiciary committees in the House and Senate have released thousands of pages of e-mails and documents, provided by the Justice Department, relating to the decision to replace the attorneys.

   In one of the e-mails, former Justice Department official Kyle Sampson outlined the procedure for replacing U.S. attorneys: A “limited number of U.S. attorneys could be targeted for removal,” he wrote. The memo, dated Jan. 9, 2006, said the targeted attorneys could “save face” by arranging for work in the private sector before announcing their resignations.

    Graves’ name was not included in the published memo, but at least three names were redacted – removed – by the department. Graves resigned in March 2006 to return to private practice in Kansas City. 

    Graves’ friends say they were mystified by his presence on any removal list.

    “I can’t imagine why anybody would want to put Todd Graves on a list like that,” said Jean Paul Bradshaw, himself a former U.S. attorney. “He was an excellent U.S. attorney.”

    “I was surprised when Todd Graves resigned, and I’m surprised he’s on that list,” McCaskill said.

    While it isn’t clear why Graves would have been on any list of candidates for replacement, Democrats have pointed to the White House emphasis on possible voter fraud in 2006. Some suggested the Justice Department may have been concerned about Graves’ decisions on voter regulation and enforcement.

    After Graves’ resignation, the White House nominated Bradley Schlozman as an interim replacement. Schlozman had worked in the Justice Department’s civil rights division in Washington, and was involved in a federal lawsuit, filed in November 2005, accusing Missouri of failing to properly maintain its voter registration rolls.

    Two weeks ago a federal judge ruled for the state, saying she found no evidence of major voter fraud in Missouri.

    Friday, some of the state’s Democrats accused the White House of sending Schlozman here to pursue voter fraud cases in a battleground state. In 2006, then-Sen. Jim Talent faced a close election battle with McCaskill, and the Democrats say Schlozman may have intended to target their voters and voter registration efforts.

    “When the Bush administration needed one of its top political attack dogs, they sent him (Schlozman) to the Kansas City jurisdiction,” said party spokesman Jack Cardetti.

    The Justice Department said Schlozman would not be available to comment. 

    On Nov. 1, 2006, a week before the election, Schlozman announced grand jury indictments against four employees of ACORN, an activist group that works in urban neighborhoods. The indictments accused the workers filing false voter registrations; it was the only known federal case against ACORN workers in the nation in the fall of 2006.

    “I wouldn’t doubt that that’s why he was sent here, although it’s hard to tell,” said Andrew Ginsberg, who worked with ACORN in the fall of  2006 to help register voters.

    The indictments against ACORN employees “were returned following complaints from ACORN itself, as well as from the bipartisan Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners,” the Justice Department said in a statement. The local U.S. attorney “sought and received approval as to the substance and the timing of the indictments,” the statement said.

    Earlier this week, GOP Sen. Kit Bond, who has been critical of alleged voter fraud in the state, said he was unaware of Schlozman’s appointment until after it was announced, and that he had no role in the choice.

    “We supported Todd Graves, and we communicated our support to the White House,” Bond said.

   Ron Hutcheson and Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers also contributed.