Robert Novak reports:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has indicated he is too busy to answer letters from Democratic congressional leaders about his firing seven U.S. attorneys involved in probes of public corruption, though a lower-level Justice Department official rejected their proposals.
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, House Democratic Caucus chairman, had written Gonzales two letters suggesting that he name Carol Lam, fired as U.S. attorney in San Diego, as an outside counsel to continue her pursuit of the Duke Cunningham case.Asked by Melissa Charbonneau of the Christian Broadcasting Network about this column's report that Gonzales did not respond, Gonzales said: "I think that the American people lose if I spend all my time worrying about congressional requests for information, if I spend all my time responding to subpoenas."
Richard A. Hertling, the acting Justice Department lobbyist, responded Wednesday, 22 days after Emanuel's letter. He contended "the Justice Department would not ever seek the resignation of a U.S. attorney if doing so would jeopardize a public corruption case" and rejected naming Lam as a special prosecutor.
Three very obvious thoughts:
1. Under our constitution, it is the Congress that directly represents the will of the people, not the president. Thus, if the Congress makes a request, it is in effect the people themselves who are doing the asking.
2. If Gonzales would simply answer the questions being asked by the people's representatives, no subpoenas would be necessary.
3. If his continued refusal doesn't represent contempt of congress, nothing does. And can you imagine for a moment what would have happened had Janet Reno done the same thing?
I expect Gonzales will be forced to back off this claim. Should he not, the words constitutional and crisis come to mind.
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