U.S. Attorney for Minnesota 'In Over Her Head'

Much was made of the appointment of 33-year-old Rachel Paulose as interim U.S. attorney for Minnesota in February of last year. She is the first woman and the youngest person to hold the post. In December 2006 she was nominated for the permanent position.

Yet today she finds herself under fire, a possible victim of the widening scandal in the Department of Justice over politics taking precedence over experience and competence in the hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys.

This evening, KMSP Fox News Minneapolis, reported that four "top staff" in the office "voluntarily demoted themselves Thursday, fed up with Paulose, who, after just months on the job, has earned a reputation for quoting Bible verses and dressing down underlings."

"The move is intended to send a message to Washington -- that 33-year-old Paulose is in over her head," the story continued.

This is not the first story reporting problems in the Minnesota U.S. attorney's office. The Washington Post recently reported that almost "one-third of the nearly four dozen U.S. attorney jobs that have changed hands since President Bush began his second term have been filled by the White House and Justice Department with trusted administration insiders."

The article mentions Paulose:

Paulose replaced Thomas Heffelfinger, who spent nearly 20 years as a state and federal prosecutor and recently left for private practice to increase his income. Heffelfinger supervised Paulose when she was a young assistant prosecutor in the office. He would not comment on her qualifications.

"I was 58 when I left. She was 32 when she started," he said. "I brought significantly different things to the job than she brings to the job - without valuing them one way or the other."

The Star Tribune's Nick Coleman has raised larger questions. He writes:

Among the documents released by the Department of Justice during the furor over "Purge-gate" was a Jan. 9, 2006, e-mail from Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to White House Counsel Harriet Miers. The e-mail includes a "target list" of seven attorneys who should be considered "for removal and replacement."

Four of the targeted attorneys were among the eight eventually fired: Margaret Chiara of Michigan, Harry Cummins III of Arkansas, and Kevin Ryan and Carol Lam, both of California. But three of the seven names on the list have been "redacted" -- whited out -- because they had resigned before the list was finalized.

Sampson's memo proposed working with "targeted U.S. Attorneys to encourage them to leave government service voluntarily; this would allow (them) to make arrangements for work in the private sector and 'save face' regarding the reason for leaving office, both in the Department of Justice and in their local legal communities."

Heffelfinger announced his resignation on Feb. 14 last year, after Sampson's list of targeted attorneys was prepared, and before it was redacted.

Repeated requests for the names of U.S. attorneys who resigned in Sampson's time frame went unanswered by the Department of Justice. But the Salt Lake Tribune reported March 24 that only three left office during that time: Utah's Paul Warner, Missouri's Todd Graves and Minnesota's Heffelfinger.

Three names. Three blanks. Does filling in the blanks connect Heffelfinger to "Purge-gate"?

Paulose's tenure has not been without controversy before. KSTP Eyewitness News, among others, reported that Paulose's swearing-in ceremony was a more lavish affair than what is normal for the position, and Nick Coleman noted that Heffelfinger was not invited.

For previous stories on Minnesota Monitor see Media Monitor for April 5 and Joe Bodell's "No Place Left for Liars."