Gonzales Chief of Staff defends holding on to US Attorney job in Connecticut Michael Roston

Published: Wednesday July 25, 2007 Print This Email This Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seemingly selected a permanent replacement for D. Kyle Sampson as his Chief of Staff in April. But that hasn't stopped Kevin O'Connor from holding onto his position as US Attorney for the District of Connecticut. O'Connor, who has served as US Attorney in the northeastern state since 2002, assumed the additional responsibility of managing Gonzales' office on April 10. A spokesman from his office in Connecticut insisted that there has been no trouble with the federal prosecutor serving in both positions. "I can confirm that the Office has not 'missed a beat,' and continues to function as normal," said spokesman Tom Carson, referring to a promise O'Connor made to his staff when he accepted Gonzales' appointment, in a Tuesday e-mail to RAW STORY . "The U.S. Attorney is always available by phone and email, and he is in his Connecticut office once a week." A Google search does indicate that O'Connor has kept busy the last month on local cases, including the recent convictions of a drug trafficker and a former FBI agent for assaulting a federal marshal. According to a Friday Fox News report on remarks delivered late last week to Justice Department employees, Gonzales offered the April appointment of O'Connor and two other "long-time Justice employees" in the positions of Deputy Attorney General and Director of the Executive Office of US Attorneys as evidence that the Attorney General would "return authority to career employees, and rid the department of any stigma of political influence." Still, the 'dual-hatting' function of some US Attorneys has come under Congressional scrutiny since the Justice Department fired 8 US Attorneys at the end of 2006. Internal Justice Department communications showed that some of Gonzales' staff accused former US Attorney to New Mexico David Iglesias of being an 'absentee landlord' because he served in the Naval Reserve while in office. In response, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) criticized the Attorney General for making some US Attorneys 'absentee landlords' because he gave them simultaneous jobs in Washington. "Mr. [William] Mercer is currently serving as your acting associate attorney general, even though he's U.S. attorney in Montana," Leahy said in the April hearing. "The chief judge out there has been very, very critical of the way that office is run, the fact that he's gone." Mercer has left Washington and returned full-time to Montana. Still, Gonzales defended the practice at that time. "Every case is different with respect to serving in dual-hat capacities," he responded to Leahy. "I've heard no one complain about the fact that Pat Fitzgerald was prosecuting [Scooter Libby] while he was still serving as the United States attorney." Echoing Leahy's sentiments, one member of Connecticut's Congressional delegation worried at the time he was appointed Chief of Staff that O'Connor would not be able to manage both jobs effectively. "I am concerned about his ability to act as both chief of staff for the Department of Justice and the U.S. attorney for the District of Connecticut," Democratic Senator Chris Dodd said in a statement to AP on April 11. Dodd's office did not respond to a RAW STORY inquiry on whether the Senator's concern continued. But Carson claimed O'Connor wouldn't be serving in both roles indefinitely. "He also said that he had agreed to do both jobs for approximately six months, so we're still within that time frame," the Connecticut Prosecutor's spokesman said. "He has no intention to serve in both roles indefinitely." While O'Connor apparently says he will not work permanently in Washington, his tenure at the Department of Justice has already run longer than six months. From Jan. to April of this year, he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the Department's Criminal Division. Some political pundits in Connecticut have speculated that O'Connor was thinking about running for office. For instance, Stan Simpson described O'Connor in an April 21 Hartford Courant column as, "Connecticut's most exciting political prospect," and argued that he could run for governor. O'Connor has run for political office in the past. In 1998, he was defeated by Rep. John Larson (D-CT) in a congressional race. In response, his spokesman said that a desire for elected office was not encouraging O'Connor to keep his job in Connecticut. "Kevin O'Connor has no plans to seek political office in 2008," Carson wrote. And Simpson suggested a reason why Carson might be telling the truth in his April column. "Even with Gonzales' name a potential stain on his resume, O'Connor's promotion allows him to bolster his Washington connections, making him more appealing to the private sector," the Courant columnist wrote.



