Top News

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a congressional panel Thursday that the Justice Department has expressed its concerns to Rachel Paulose, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, following the resignation of three lawyers in her office from their top management posts.

Gonzales made the comment at the very end of a long House Judiciary Committee hearing looking into the controversy over the firings of U.S. attorneys, under questioning by Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn.

Ellison, a freshman and the last lawmaker to grill Gonzales, asked: "Is she going to remain in her position given the performance problems that have come to your personal attention?"

"Well, if things do not change, obviously that would be something we would have to consider," Gonzales responded. "But we have expressed to Ms. Paulose our concerns. And so we're going to work with her..."

In a letter to Paulose dated April 27, the three lawyers who had left their management posts, as well as a fourth employee who had also asked to be reassigned, complained about comments made in The New York Times and the Star Tribune of Minneapolis.

They cited, among other things, a line in a Times story last month that read: "Ms. Paulose's defenders at Justice Department headquarters said the criticism of her was unwarranted. They said older lawyers had difficulty dealing with a young, aggressive woman who had tried to put into place policies important to Mr. Gonzales like programs to combat child exploitation."

The signers of the letter requested that Paulose issue a statement to the publications "setting the record straight."

Paulose spokeswoman Jeanne Cooney declined to comment on the letter Thursday.

Earlier this week, Ellison and the committee chairman, Michigan Democrat John Conyers, sent a letter to Gonzales seeking information from the Justice Department on whether politics played a role in the changing of U.S. attorneys in Minnesota last year.

Paulose's predecessor, Tom Heffelfinger, has repeatedly denied that he was pressured to leave. But last month, Gonzales' one-time chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, told congressional investigators that senior Justice Department officials had raised concerns about Heffelfinger.

"Well, my recollection is, is that he was identified as someone that perhaps there may be issues with," Gonzales said.

"And yet he -- these issues didn't come from Minnesota, did they?" Ellison asked. "These were not Minnesota concerns, to your knowledge."

"Well, again, I don't know the source, why Mr. Sampson had that particular view," Gonzales said.

In a statement after the hearing, Conyers mentioned the possibility that Heffelfinger could have been a U.S. attorney targeted for dismissal.

Gonzales told Ellison that the department had sent John Kelly, deputy director of the Justice Department's executive office of U.S Attorneys, to Minnesota to make an evaluation and report back to the department.

Ellison asked for a document that summarized what Kelly learned. Gonzales said he'd consider Ellison's request if in fact such a document exists.

Cooney, the Paulose spokeswoman, said that she hadn't had a chance to listen to the hearing and so couldn't comment on it.

In their letter to Gonzales, Ellison and Conyers asked, "Was Ms. Paulose's appointment based on 'political loyalty' and part of a broader strategy to suppress voter turnout? What steps are being taken to address the turmoil that has plagued this office in recent months?"

(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)