(Excellent work by the diarist to gather up the necessary links and information to connect us to a huge scandal going on across the country. Alberto Gonzales figures to be in at least as much trouble as the recently convicted Scooter Libby over politically-motivated firings of U.S. Attorneys. - promoted by MNCampaignReport)
It seemed like a fairy-tale: University of Minnesota graduate goes to Yale Law, gets a few high-profile jobs, including stints at Dorsey & Whitney and the Justice Department, and winds up, at age 33, the youngest serving U.S. Attorney, the first woman to hold that position in Minnesota and the first U.S. Attorney of South Asian descent. Her appointment to the post is sponsored by Republican Senator Norm Coleman, but also endorsed by outgoing Democrat Mark Dayton, who makes it his final priority in the Senate to see her confirmation through in the waning hours of the session.
This is the narrative we have received from the media of the meteoric rise of Rachel Paulose, the new U.S. Attorney in the Minnesota district. But with the recent furor over the firings of the "Gonzales Seven"--several of whom were involved in ongoing corruption investigations, and others of whom have revealed that they were pressured to speed up investigations by sitting members of Congress--and their replacement by up-and-coming partisans, the curious case of Rachel Paulose merits a closer look.
In this diary, I'll look at the circumstances surrounding the departure of Paulose's predecessor, Thomas B. Heffelfinger; the path to the post for Paulose; and the possible connection between the Paulose appointment and the growing U.S. Attorneys scandal, which promises to offer more explosive fun in the coming days. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read the archives of Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo from the past week or so. Josh's blog broke this story a couple of months back and has been on top of every new development.)
UPDATE: If you are interested in learning more about Tom Heffelfinger's departure, and the case for why he may have been a part of the "purge," read my diary "Tom Heffelfinger and the U.S. Attorney 'purge'"
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