From the Chicago Tribune: In his appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, it was sometimes hard to recall that Alberto Gonzales is the attorney general of the United States. More often, he sounded like an outside consultant, with no operational authority at the Justice Department and only a limited knowledge of what was going on in the offices around his. The difference is that when outside consultants are no longer of any use, they move on.
[The testimonies of Gonzales and his former chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, confirm] that the dismissals had little to do with improving law enforcement. Getting rid of poorly performing employees is the obligation of any boss, and that is what the attorney general says he was doing. But Gonzales didn’t seem to know — or care — whether the people he axed were good or bad.
