repubgazette3-19-07manchinapptbushattys

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Bush replaced a few U.S. Attorneys -- Clinton replaced all

The media and Democrat-fueled hubbub over the Bush Administration firing a handful of U.S. Attorneys is baffling, given that when Bill Clinton became president, one of his first acts was to demand the resignation of every U.S. Attorney in the nation.

When Clinton demanded the ouster of all U.S. Attorneys, there was hardly a murmer from the media. The "major" networks barely touched the story, and the cable outlets were only slightly more interested.

This seems especially pertinent considering that a recommendation to Bush that he do just as Clinton had done was rejected by the White House, in favor of replacing just a handful for a variety of reasons.

Bush's reasons for firing the attorneys might be interesting, but it's also irrelevant. U.S. Attorneys have always served at the will and pleasure of the president, as Clinton demonstrated. Of course Bill was a Democrat, W is a Republican, and that's all you need to know.

Thompson never made it back

Delegate Ron Thompson can't seem to keep a promise.

Thompson, of course, had originally promised his fellow lawmakers he would come to work a few weeks ago, and even gave himself a specific early February deadline. After he failed to honor that, the House voted to kick him out, only to reverse that decision when Thompson came up with a note from his doctor.

Then Thompson showed up March 5 to take the oath, making sure he would qualify for his $15,000 pay. He told reporters he would return before the session ended to vote on bills important to him. He did not.

Gov. Joe Manchin's appointment of his wife, Gayle, to the state Board of Education was approved unanimously by the Senate and garnered little public criticism, but sources say there was widespread unhappiness behind the scenes.

As one insider told me, "No one wants to criticize Manchin publicly. Everyone's afraid of him."

In his Sunday column in the Gazette, Phil Kabler hinted as much, reporting that

despite the unanimous vote, "...some senators and delegates grumbled that, by replacing board member Sheila Hamilton, whose term had expired in November, it marks the first time in years that there is no minority representation on the school board."

Delegate Linda Sumner, the Republican from Raleigh County, was willing to raise concerns, telling Public Broadcasting the appointment raises questions about the extent of the power of the executive branch.

Dereck Severt, the new chairman of the Raleigh County Republican Party, recently made what he thought was a pretty simple request of his local county commission -- a list of the boards and commissions to which the commissioners routinely make appointments.

Instead, Severt was told that to get that information, he would have to file a Freedom of Information Act request.

Severt was stunned, and rightfully so. FOIAs should only be demanded when someone is requesting information considered sensitive, or when its status as public or private is in question. A list of the boards and commissions of Raleigh County is the most obviously public information there is. In fact, many county commissions in states around the country have that information posted on their websites.

In a day and age when public offices are jumping over each other to post state worker salaries, demanding a FOIA for a request as simple as Severt's is ridiculous.