Leahy, Whitehouse Seek Data On Potential Partisan Bias In Public Corruption Cases
Gonzales Urged Judiciary Committee to Examine DOJ’s Record

WASHINGTON (Thursday, May 3) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator and former U.S. Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), a member of the panel, have asked Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine to provide information on the public corruption investigations launched during the Bush Administration that have involved Republican and Democratic targets. 

The letter comes in response to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’s invitation at his April 19, 2007, hearing to members of the Committee to examine the record of the Department of Justice in prosecuting public corruption cases. 

The Senators have requested an analysis breaking down these cases by the party affiliation of their targets at certain key points in the probes, such as when the case was opened and when it went to trial.  To ensure confidentiality, the Senators directed the Department to exclude any information that could identify the target or district of the investigation.

“One of the principal questions raised by the Committee’s investigation into the mass firings of U.S. Attorneys is whether law enforcement at the Department of Justice has been corrupted by partisan politics,” the senators wrote yesterday.  “This question needs to be answered.”

The text of the letter follow.  A PDF version is also available.

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May 2, 2007

The Honorable Glenn A. Fine
Inspector General
The Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001

Dear Inspector General Fine: 

In his testimony at the Judiciary Committee's April 19, 2007, oversight hearing, Attorney General Gonzales assured the Committee that the Department of Justice has been conducting public corruption cases without a partisan bias and urged us to examine the Department's record of these types of investigations. However, due to the necessary confidentiality of these matters, there is no proper basis for us to make the examination that the Attorney General urged.

One of the principal questions raised by the Committee's investigation into the mass firings of U.S. Attorneys is whether law enforcement at the Department of Justice has been corrupted by partisan politics. This question needs to be answered. At the same time, public corruption investigations are highly confidential, and need to be kept that way.

In order to reconcile these imperatives, we ask your office to prepare a review of the Department's public corruption investigations commenced under the current administration, and prepare an analysis that is stripped of any identifying information as to target or district, but reveals the breakdown of cases by party affiliation of targets at key investigative points, such as opening of case, commencement of grand jury activity, charging, trial, and conviction.

This information will be a benefit to the Committee's investigation by helping us assess the Department's record on public corruption cases while protecting confidentiality necessary to these public corruption cases. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

PATRICK LEAHY                                                SHELDON WHITEHOUSE
Chairman                                                                United States Senator