Another USAttorney Wrinkle (with a local connection)

Here's an interesting wrinkle to the USAttorney story. It's in the Washington Post.

You remember the story, right? There was a buncha USAttorneys who were effectively fired for not being loyal enough to the Bush Administration's political policies. They were replaced by less qualified, more loyal Bushies and because of a little known prevision quietly slipped into the USAPatriot Act, the replacements did not need to be OKed by the Senate.

Well one of those replaced, David C. Iglesias USAttorney of New Mexico, was reportedly replaced for not being at his office enough. From the Post:

One of them, David C. Iglesias of New Mexico, was publicly accused by the Justice Department of being an "absentee landlord" who was away from his job too much.

Iglesias himself has protested this. You know why

Iglesias filed a complaint with federal investigators last week, alleging that his dismissal amounted to discrimination based on his status as an officer in the Navy Reserve, which took him away from the job for 40 to 45 days a year. Alleged absenteeism has been the Justice Department's main public criticism of Iglesias, although officials have more recently added concerns about his handling of voter fraud and immigration cases to their arguments about him.

Ok, so that's the set-up. The point of the Post article is that there've been a number of USAttorneys (including our own Mary Beth Buchanan) who have been given double appointments:

A half-dozen sitting U.S. attorneys also serve as aides to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales or are assigned other Washington postings, performing tasks that take them away from regular duties in their districts for months or even years at a time, according to officials and department records.

And a few paragraphs down:

The number of U.S. attorneys pulling double duty in Washington is the focus of growing concern from other prosecutors and from members of the federal bench, according to legal experts and government officials.

Our own Mary Beth Buchanan is pulling double duty as well, serving as the acting director of the Office of Violence Against Women.

So they toss the merely loyal USAttorney for spending too much time in the Naval Reserve, while keeping other more "loyal Bushies" in their positions.

Can they get any more disgusting?