I continue to be pleased with the way that Attorney General Mukasey is digging himself out from the mess he inherited from the scandal ridden administration of his woeful predecessor Alberto Gonzales. Mukaskey seems to understand the symbolism of his actions (see my post of November 30) as he carefully unwinds the biggest messes.  

By removing a completely incompetent interim US Atty in Minnesota, he sent a message to the entire Department that competency is back in style.  By limiting the number of DOJ employees who talk to the White House (and in doing so returning to the Reno standard), he sent the message to the hacks in the Bush Administration that the days of politically tainted prosecutions are over.   He has also authorized a criminal investigation into the destruction of videotaped interrogations by the CIA.  And by acknowledging that he is scrutinizing how US Attys.give out contracts to monitor no-prosecution/deferred criminal settlements (in light of the no bid contract to former AG Ashcroft by the US Atty of NJ). he is telling his troops in the field that even in the last days of the Bush Administration, they cannot feather the nests of their pals.

Mukasey knows that he is in office for just one year and that the hard decisions on all of these issues (should there be this increase in monitoring in lieu of prosecution?) will be made by the next Administration.   That being said, he is not “just walking around to save on funeral expenses” (as my old friend in the Maine legislature, the late Don Hall of Sangerville, used to say.)  AG Mukaskey deserves our respect as he quietly works to restore our Department of Justice to its historic stature as a non-political law enforcement agency.