U.S. Attorney Bogden was unfairly fired, but some don’t want him back

Without any doubt, former U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden shouldn't have been fired for political reasons by the Bush administration. However, seven current or former prosecutors said, based on his poor management ability, he shouldn't be rehired.

When U.S. Sen. Harry Reid announced last week he wanted Bogden reappointed to the job, he said, "Everyone who knows him knows there was nothing bad about him."

Not quite accurate.

Six federal prosecutors who worked for Bogden (and one who didn't) told me reappointing him would be disastrous because throughout his six years on the job, he was a mediocre U.S. attorney at best, scuttlebutt I'd heard for a long time.

Democrat Reid was told months ago Bogden, a loyal Bushie until he became part of a group of nine U.S. attorneys fired for political reasons in 2006, is a poor choice.

Bogden is a good man, but he's not a good manager, according to the seven attorneys.

"I would have fired him, but for different reasons," a former prosecutor said. "He couldn't run the office, the office was in turmoil, he had no leadership skills, and he says yes to everybody."

Four current prosecutors took the unusual step of contacting me with their concerns after it became obvious Reid had only listened to people supportive of Bogden, ignoring his critics.

At least one former prosecutor wrote a scathing letter to the Department of Justice saying Reid's recommendation of Bogden has demoralized the office. A Justice Department official interviewed the letter writer this week as part of the vetting process now under way.

In lengthy interviews, everyone agreed, he's a nice man and a dedicated prosecutor, but he's out of his league.

Their first concern? "He's insensitive to issues of diversity in the office," one prosecutor said.

The evidence is obvious. Out of nearly 50 attorneys in the office, there are no African-Americans. None. Nada. There is one Hispanic and four Asian men. No minorities are supervisors. On his watch, out of nine supervisors, only two were women. And one of those left and was replaced by a man.

Bogden surrounded himself with ex-military, career prosecutors, mostly male and mostly pale. And there were qualified applicants, said the four current prosecutors interviewed Sunday.

They criticized Bogden for his indecision, his poor management, for allowing personnel problems to fester, and for his failure to get involved with community outreach. He was "Dan who?" when he began in 2001, and he was "Dan who?" until he was fired in 2006 and became part of a national story about the taint of politics in the Justice Department under President George W. Bush.

The foursome asked why President Barack Obama would want to return control of the office to an ideological conservative who enthusiastically supported Bush's controversial law enforcement policies, including the Patriot Act. Despite Bogden's registration as a nonpartisan, the consensus was that Bogden is more conservative than Greg Brower, the Republican who replaced Bogden and was not asked by Reid to remain.

Then there's the question of Bogden's effectiveness. Several appellate decisions have taken the office to task for lack of competence. When one particularly brutal appellate decision became public, a meeting was called to discuss it.

"It was a defining moment. The government was kicked in the teeth in the decision. A meeting was called. But he didn't show up," a former prosecutor recalled. Instead, Bogden sent his top supervisor. Not good management of an office described as "lackluster" and "stagnated."

"I care about this office and what we should be doing," a current prosecutor said, "and putting Dan Bogden back in is a step backward."

Bogden, now a partner in the Reno law firm McDonald Carano Wilson, said, "I am unable to discuss matters involving any possible nomination for U.S. attorney. I'm not supposed to make comments on any potential nomination."

Using Bogden to score political points with Republicans or even to poke the former president in the eye may bring Reid some sense of satisfaction. But at least seven respected attorneys with intimate knowledge of the office want the word spread that vindicating Dan Bogden by returning him to lead the office would be a momentous mistake.

If the senator doesn't believe it, they're hoping the president, who has the final say, will.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison/.