Ex-AG Gonzales returning to Texas with a story to tell ‘I am going to tell my story’

Former attorney general Gonzales returns to Houston

“There is a lot of misinformation out there about what happened,” said former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. “There is a lot of misinformation out there about what happened,” said former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Photo: Nick De La Torre, Chronicle Photo: Nick De La Torre, Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Ex-AG Gonzales returning to Texas with a story to tell 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

It has been nearly two years since Texas son Alberto Gonzales resigned under siege as U.S. attorney general, giving up the power and perks of a post with 110,000 employees and the ability to shape the rule of law in the United States.

Nowadays, Gonzales seems reflective, maybe humbled, and wants to get on with his life, including moving back to Houston or Austin by this summer.

“You serve and move on; it was going to happen,” Gonzales told the Houston Chronicle while in town this week to visit his mother.

He drives his own car, carries his own umbrella, feeds his own parking meter and doesn’t have any sort of an entourage.

But not all is back to normal for the Aldine MacArthur High School alumnus.

Members of Congress have not given up on investigating him for decisions he made as attorney general, and he remains under scrutiny for the Justice Department dismissal of some federal prosecutors.

He said he has cooperated with investigators and continues to be represented by counsel.

Book in the works

Although it has been reported he’s had a hard time finding a job, Gonzales said he’s making a living as a consultant, giving speeches and doing arbitration work as a lawyer.

He was to speak at a dinner at Texas Tech’s law school on Friday, but that was canceled because of icy weather, officials said.

Gonzales is also looking for an agent for a book he is writing.

“I am going to tell my story,” he said. “People that have told a story — a narrative — are those who are very critical of the president and the Bush administration, and I think it is important for people to hear another perspective, so I’m going to do that.”

Gonzales said it doesn’t burn when people call him a criminal, but he notes there is no accountability for statements made about him in the media or on the Web.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there about what happened, a lot of accusations, wild accusations about what happened,” he said. “Over time, I’m confident that will be sorted out.”

The former partner at the prestigious Vinson & Elkins law firm said he isn’t sure he wants to return to that way of life.

If he could have his dream position, the Astros fan said the choice would be simple: baseball commissioner.

Views on Mexico violence

Gonzales visited the Chronicle to lend his perspective to the ongoing violence in Mexico and U.S. efforts to support Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

He applauded President Barack Obama for the recent aid package to help Mexico take on the cartels and said the U.S. needs to do more to stop the southward flow of its guns that are ending up in the hands of cartel gangsters.

He also said Mexico should have oral, public trials of major organized crime figures rather than having trials consist of written testimony read by a judge behind closed doors.

Doing things in private breeds corruption, he said.

As for himself, Gonzales said he hopes history judges him fairly and that anyone who questions his actions listen to news reports from Sept. 11 to remind themselves of the context.

“Just look at it for 30 minutes and recall what you felt like that day,” he said. “It is unbelievable. I was in all of that, but to go back and look at it, it is like, ‘Wow.’ ”

dane.schiller@chron.com