Made in Texas
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Should Texas have seen this coming?
By Richard Whittaker, 10:09AM, Fri. May 18, 2007
To quote Joe Welch, "Have you no shame, sir?"
Everyone's acting all shocked that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was accused by his former deputy James Comey of stalking former AG John Ashcroft to his sick bed to force him to sign documents legalizing wiretaps.
Why the surprise? It sounds like he's just taking a page from the GOP playbook, as established by former House speaker and presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich. The master of class visited his wife to discuss divorce terms with her when she was in hospital. (She was there for her third surgery for cancer; Ashcroft just had his gallbladder out.)
But on a more serious and local note: San Antonio native Gonzales was a Texas Supreme Court justice, Texas secretary of state, and senior advisor, chief elections office, border liaison, and general counsel to then-Gov. George Bush. Prior to that, he was a partner at Houston-based law firm Vinson & Elkins LLP, who went on to represent Enron during their collapse and bribe-taking Abramoff cohort Bob Ney.
Does anyone seriously think his career of partisan firings, strong-arm tactics, and incomplete answers to his superiors and the citizenry began when he moved to D.C.?
Got something to say on the subject? Send a letter to the editor.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Richard Whittaker, Aug. 1, 2015
June 27, 2024
June 28, 2024
Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General