Alberto Gonzales Resignation Thoughts

The current Attorney General of the US, Alberto Gonzales, has resigned. He has been vilified by Politically Motivated Democrats. Their major bone of contention were his statements and testimony about the firings of 8 US Attorneys. In grandstanding political moves, and for purely Political Gain, the Democrats have tried to make much ado about nothing.

Under the Constitutional Powers granted to the Executive Branch, all 93 US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President. Particularly Senate Democrats have been guilty of engaging in a "fishing expedition" over the replacement of these US Attorneys.

Not one iota of evidence of wrongdoing has been shown to have influenced the Presidential Decision to replace these US Attorneys. The Democrats have waged a campaign, for strictly Political Reasons, of innuendo which cast a cloud of doubt over the issue without any basis in fact. This Congress with approval ratings about 20% needs a firm reminder of who the real enemies of the people really are.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales does have his faults. But for the most part, he is appointed to pursue the legal policy and priorities of the President. In this mandate, the Attorney General has a tremendous amount of discretionary authority to pursue various plans of action. According to a Blomberg Article (Attorney General Gonzales Quits Amid Accusations (Update1)) this morning, Alberto Gonzales succeeded in the following areas.

Gonzales was the 80th U.S. attorney general. Along with fighting terrorism, he sought to break up gangs, combat child pornography, crack down on illegal drugs and prosecute intellectual-property crimes.

During his tenure, the department won convictions in public corruption cases against Republican Representatives Bob Ney of Ohio and Randall ``Duke'' Cunningham of California. A third congressman, Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson, was indicted and is awaiting trial.

Despite what some legal scholars will undoubted say, the law and its application is still an art, not a science. So what is AG Gonzales' biggest fault? He is not an effective communicator. For that reason alone, Alberto Gonzales did not do well in a Political Arena where Double Speak is more important that Honesty.

Now the question of who will be the next Attorney General boils down to one basic question. That question is not who is best qualified for the position. The question is who will the Democrats approve, because the Senate has Constitutional authority to give "advise and consent" to any nominee.

There is one out that could result in the best person for the job actually doing the job. That is a recess appointment. Since the Congress will not be back in session until after Labor Day, the President has the Constitutional Authority to fill the position with an appointment before Congress returns. He did this with the UN Ambassador John Bolton.

President Bush will probably not make this move now, because the Democrats and the Public would scream Foul. But if Congress can be seen as obstructing the President for purely Political reasons, President Bush will likely use this power of a recess appointment when Congress goes on recess later this year.