March 14, 2007

Prosecutor Purge: New Development, Carol Lam Not Fired for Cunningham Investigation

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TPMmuckraker reports today that Carol Lam, one of the USAs fired, was on a DOJ list of prosecutors to be removed months before the Duke Cunningham scandal was revealed. Lam’s successful prosecution of Cunningham has been widely believed to be the reason she was fired. This list created by the AG’s chief of staff Kyle Sampson may tell another story. Was Lam then actually fired for performance-related reasons? It hasn’t appeared so. Last Tuesday, at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on prosecutorial independence of U.S. attorneys, where Lam, along with 3 other prosecutors testified, Dianne Feinstein produced a letter from the DOJ which praised Lam’s performance. Well, so why then, was she fired? At last Tuesday’s hearing, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions claimed she was asked to resign because she did not prosecute enough gun cases. Um…doubtful. Stay tuned!

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We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

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