U.S. Attorneys

Offering a unique perspective, ex-U.S. Attorney Kasey Warner has added his voice to those questioning the recent firings of eight of his former peers.

Warner told The Associated Press that he knows five of the eight at least professionally and, as a result, "I don't like what I see."

I point out in the AP story that "As President Bill Clinton had done before him, Bush replaced all but one of the country's 93 U.S. attorneys after taking office in 2001."

This point seems lost in the current debate. I noticed this editorial cartoon in the Sunday Gazette-Mail.

It reflects a recurring talking point. While trying to figure out why Warner was forced out of his post in August 2005, I actually went through the list of 93 U.S. attorneys to see who else among Bush's picks was gone.

Bush had indeed replaced all but one of Clinton's appointments by the time I covered Warner's ouster as U.S. attorney for West Virginia's southern federal court district. More than half of the new president's choices were nominated, confirmed and in place within his first year in office.

As I relate in today's AP story, the lone Clinton holdout, Paul Warner of Utah, left in February 2006 to become a federal magistrate judge in that district.

The ongoing debate has also yielded this editorial cartoon.

As I write in the AP story, about three-fourths of Bush's U.S. attorney appointments were still on the job when Warner was fired. I've been updating my list, to reflect the changes Bush has made since then. So far, my research shows that nearly half of the administration's original appointments remain at their posts.

And as I also note, Warner has declined to comment on his August 2005 ouster, but discounts the media's proposed explanations.

I began exchanging e-mails with Warner over the weekend, while he was in Tajikistan for what he called a "volunteer anti-corruption" trip. The Charleston Gazette has also spoken to Warner, as has The Charleston Daily Mail.