Gonzales: The Texan Who Can't Shoot Straight
Take Edwin Meese, for instance, who served under President Ronald Reagan and wound up becoming the most investigated attorney general in history thanks to his questionable personal financial and ethical dealings, which resulted in numerous calls by Democrats and even folks in his own party to "un-Meese" the Justice Department. Or take President Bill Clinton's attorney general, Janet Reno, who was personally squeaky clean but was assailed by Republicans as soft on crime. She also became overwhelmed by the Republicans' quest for blood over Clinton's financial and extramarital shenanigans and their constant demands for independent counsels to investigate both Clinton and his political appointees. Like Gonzales, Reno, a former state prosecutor, was essentially an interloper in insular Washington–a different kind of Wild West–where outsiders inexperienced in the coyote-eat-coyote culture can get chewed up and spat out in a hurry. But Reno was perceived as being independent from Clinton. She dropped the Whitewater/Monica Lewinsky probe into special counsel Kenneth Starr's lap like a hot potato, resulting in Clinton's impeachment.
"I think she was much more distant from the White House than I think Gonzales is perceived to be now," says Carl Tobias, who teaches constitutional law at the University of Richmond. "There was a lot of tension between the White House and Reno. And a lot of people think that's a good thing."
As Reno or other attorneys general can attest, when you serve in that critical job, chances are good that you will get blindsided by something. For Gonzales, it was the highly explosive E-mails from Sampson.
The Trusted Subordinate
If there was one person in the Justice Department whom Gonzales believed he could trust, it was Sampson. A graduate of the University of Chicago law school, Sampson was young, industrious, and loyal and had worked with Gonzales for years. When Gonzales was White House counsel, Sampson served in the White House personnel office, dealing, among other things, with the selection of U.S. attorneys. He then worked as associate counsel under Gonzales and was one of two go-to guys on U.S. attorneys in Gonzales's office.
Sampson worked closely with then Attorney General John Ashcroft on the appointment of most of his 93 U.S. attorneys. Given the time-consuming nature of such hiring, it's no wonder Sampson was hesitant to act on any suggestions to fire all of them. Indeed, it so consumed him that he rarely took a vacation during all the years served at the White House. Prior to that job, Sampson had worked for Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, when Hatch chaired the Judiciary Committee. So Sampson was steeped both in the substance and politics of U.S. attorneys and was viewed by the White House as the single best individual who could handle that sensitive portfolio. In fact, Sampson aspired to become a U.S. attorney himself someday, leading, the New York Times reported, to an awkward struggle between Gonzales, who was rooting for him, and Hatch, who wanted one of his staffers to get the job. Sampson was viewed by some within the department as a hardworking loyalist and by others as a "political thug" or "hack." But he was Gonzales's main man. And yet here was Gonzales having to distance himself from Sampson in order to defend his own credibility. It was necessary but, as Schumer said, not sufficient as a sacrifice.
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