From Prime Buzz:

The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsiblity and its Inspector General have released their long-awaited report on the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys — including Todd Graves of the western district of Missouri.

The nearly 400-page report concludes Graves was one of the attorneys forced out — and it blames Kit Bond’s staff for the ouster. Read more…

Excerpt from the report

From the AP:

The report by the department’s internal watchdog finds that Bond’s legal counsel, Jack Bartling, asked the White House at least twice in 2005 to remove Graves.

Bartling tells investigators that he wanted to remove Graves because of conflicts between the staffs of Bond and Graves’ brother, Missouri Rep. Sam Graves.

Bartling says Rep. Graves’ operation “did not run business” the way Bond’s office wanted. Read more…

Barb Shelley: “A bad day for Kit Bond”

 MOPNS FLASHBACK:  5/10/2007

Statement released by former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves:

This would be humorous if we were not talking about the United States Department of Justice. First, you tell me that DOJ staffers were making secret hit lists and my name was on one of them.

Then, you tell me that a staffer for Missouri’s senior Senator had a hit list so secret that not even the Senator knew about it.

I was an elected state prosecutor before I was appointed US Attorney. As a prosecutor I was always fiercely independent–I just called balls and strikes.

For instance, when I gave now Senator Claire McCaskill her non-prosecution letter in 2004, I didn’t ask for permission, I just did the right thing. I thought that was my job.

When I first interviewed in 2001 with the United States Attorney screening committee at DOJ, I was asked to give the panel one attribute that describes me. I said independent. Apparently, that was the wrong attribute.

Public office is not an entitlement. I served nearly 12 years as a public prosecutor. It was a privilege. I loved every minute, but it is far better to take a graceful exit than to do something that you should be ashamed of.

Related:

MOPNS:  9/11/08

Slade Smith’s Blog: Fannie & Freddie: let the fingerpointing begin!

Fannie Mae tried to steamroll its underpowered regulator all along the way. At one point, Fannie Mae instigated a retailatory HUD investigation against the OFHEO regulators who were looking into their accounting fraud in order to undermine the credibility of the regulator. They had one of their lobbyists draft a letter for Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-Mo) to send to HUD and request the investigation. Bond sent the letter on to HUD under his own name, made public statements directed at getting the lead regulator sacked, and was rewarded for his efforts with tidy campaign contributions from Mr. Raines and other Fannie Mae execs. Read more…

MOPNS: 8/12/08 Former Bond Staffer’s Firm Slated to Lobby Senator

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