Verdicts in on attorney firings

Re “White House firing line,” Opinion, March 17

Thank you to Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for her Op-Ed article. Despite a fierce effort from right-wing spinmeisters, the truth is getting out. Yes, presidents do ask U.S. attorneys to resign. But they do it at the beginning of their terms. Much more important, they do not attempt to twist the judicial process for political ends. The Bush administration and Republicans in Congress pressured U.S. attorneys to gin up false cases of corruption and voter fraud against political opponents. This perversion of the judicial process is a trait you find in authoritarian states. It has no place in America.

BERNARD HYLAND

Sherman Oaks

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I was appalled to read Feinstein’s statement that the authorization to fire and replace U.S. attorneys was “slipped into the 2006 reauthorization of the Patriot Act with no notice.” Doesn’t she or her staff read proposed legislation before she votes on it? If they had, and if she found it so onerous, why did she vote for the legislation? And how many other pieces of legislation has she failed to read?

Judging from some of the laws that Congress has passed, it’s apparent to me that she’s not the only one who is not living up to her responsibilities to the voters of this country.

ROBERT GIANNANGELI

Toluca Lake

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Perhaps Feinstein can explain why the firing of all 93 U.S. attorneys by the Clinton administration in 1993 was not subject to the same concern she expresses over these current few. I think her hypocrisy is showing. But then we’ve come to expect such double standards from her party.

RONALD HAMRIC

Pine, Ariz.