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<DIV class=timestamp>February 25, 2007</DIV>
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<H1><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Dismissed U.S. Attorneys Praised in
Evaluations </NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0"></NYT_BYLINE>
<DIV class=byline>By <A title="More Articles by David Johnston"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/david_johnston/index.html?inline=nyt-per">DAVID
JOHNSTON</A></DIV><NYT_TEXT></NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody>
<P>WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 — Internal Justice Department performance reports for six
of the eight United States attorneys who have been dismissed in recent months
rated them “well regarded,” “capable” or “very competent,” a review of the
evaluations shows.</P>
<P>The performance reviews, known as Evaluations and Review Staff Reports, show
that the ousted prosecutors were routinely praised for playing a leadership role
with other law enforcement agencies in their jurisdictions. </P>
<P>The reviews, each of them 6 to 12 pages long, were carried out by Justice
Department officials from 2003 to 2006. Each report was based on extensive
interviews, conducted over several days with judges, other federal law
enforcement agencies and staff members in each office.</P>
<P>It had been known that the reports were mostly favorable, but the reports
themselves had not been made public.</P>
<P>Over all, the evaluations, which were obtained from officials authorized to
have them, appear to raise new questions about the rationale for the dismissals
provided by senior Justice Department officials. The officials have repeatedly
cited poor job performance to explain their decisions to oust the eight
prosecutors, all of them <A title="More articles about Republican Party"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org">Republicans</A>
appointed by President Bush in his first term.</P>
<P>On Saturday, Senator <A title="More articles about Charles E. Schumer."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/charles_e_schumer/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Charles
E. Schumer</A>, Democrat of New York, who has led a Congressional investigation
into the dismissals and has been briefed on the evaluations, said the reports
showed that new legislation was needed to keep the Justice Department from
politically motivated firings. </P>
<P>“As we feared, the comprehensive evaluations show these U.S. attorneys did
not deserve to be fired,” Mr. Schumer said. “To the contrary, they reveal they
were effective, respected and set appropriate priorities.”</P>
<P>In response, a senior Justice Department official said the reviews, which
focused on management practices within each United States attorney’s office, did
not provide a broad or complete picture of the prosecutors’ performance.</P>
<P>The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the confidential
nature of personnel information, said, “The reviews don’t take into account
whether the U.S. attorneys carried out departmental priorities.”</P>
<P>Referring to the 94 United States attorney’s districts, the official said,
“You can’t have 94 different sets of priorities,” suggesting that the dismissed
prosecutors had failed to follow priorities set by the Justice Department in
Washington.</P>
<P>However, each case report included a statement that each of the ousted
prosecutors had established strategic goals set by the Justice Department in
high priority areas like counterterrorism, narcotics and gun violence.</P>
<P>Of the dismissed prosecutors who have spoken publicly, all have said they
were given no reason for their dismissal. At first, most appeared willing to
leave quietly with the understanding that they were presidential appointees who
could be replaced at any time.</P>
<P>But their willingness to step down without complaint changed abruptly when
Paul J. McNulty, the deputy attorney general, said at a Senate hearing earlier
this month that most of the dismissals were carried out to correct performance
problems, according to associates of several prosecutors.</P>
<P>In recent days, several of the prosecutors have described conflicts with the
Justice Department over death penalty cases and pending political corruption
investigations as a possible factor in their firings. Justice Department
officials have denied such issues were a factor.</P>
<P>One of the most glowing evaluations was given to H. E. Cummins III of
Arkansas, who was asked to leave last summer. Mr. Cummins was replaced
temporarily by J. Timothy Griffin, a military and civilian prosecutor who also
had close ties to <A title="More articles about Karl Rove."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/karl_rove/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Karl
Rove</A>, the senior White House political adviser. Mr. Griffin has since
withdrawn his name from consideration as Mr. Cummins’s permanent successor.</P>
<P>A report dated Jan. 23-27, 2006, said, “United States Attorney Cummins was
very competent and highly regarded by the federal, judiciary, law enforcement
and civil client agencies.” It said Mr. Cummins’s office had a “well-managed”
antiterrorism program and “very successful” counternarcotics efforts.</P>
<P>Another report, dated Feb. 7-11, 2005 evaluating the performance of Carol C.
Lam, who was dismissed as the United States attorney in San Diego, concluded
that she was “an effective manager and respected leader in the
district.”</P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>