Wisconsin US attorney rammed through fake corruption case of Democrat before last Governor's election.

The US attorneys who were fired for being ethical and not bringing unfounded charges against Democrats may have been exceptions among the Republican US attorneys. Here is an example of what one US attorney did to manipulate a state election:

In a stunning reversal, a federal court of appeals struck down a state worker's fraud conviction that Wisconsin Republicans used in efforts to paint Gov. Jim Doyle's administration as corrupt.

Attorneys on both sides of the case said the three-judge panel likely overruled the trial jury's conviction of former state purchasing officer Georgia Thompson within hours of oral arguments due to a simple lack of evidence. [Snip]

During oral arguments Thursday, one of the members the three-judge panel said the charges against Thompson were unfounded.

"I have to say it strikes me that your evidence is beyond thin," federal Appeals Judge Diane Wood told prosecutors. "I'm not sure what your actual theory in this case is." [Snip]

[Her attorney, Stephen Hurley of Madison] ... noted that the appeals court acquitted Thompson rather than sending her case back to a trial court.

Federal prosecutors could appeal the decision - the acquittal was stayed for 14 days to allow them to ask for a rehearing - but said they probably would not do so.

"It's extraordinary for a U.S. Court of Appeals to issue a decision on the day of oral arguments without a written opinion," Hurley said. "What they're saying is, 'There's no evidence, she's acquitted.'" [Editor - underlining mine.]

As Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker points out, this case answers the question about the rest of the Bush US attorneys, the ones who weren't fired for being ethical and not bringing weak or fake charges against Democrats to sway local elections. They are out there, but their cases are not as clear as the situation of the US attorney purge for US attorneys who refused to bring such unethical charges against Democrats in order to flip local elections.

US attorney Steve Biscupic in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a Republican hack with a total absence of ethics to have brought this case at all. But, unlike the US attorney of New Mexico, or San Diego, or Oregon he kept his job - so far. I wonder how many others like this we will find?

Steve Benen of the Carpetbagger Report lists some of the more recent suspicious prosecutions by US attorneys who stayed off Kyle Sampson's firing list and kept their jobs:

I recently started a list.

* Paul Krugman noted a couple of weeks ago, for example, that Chris Christie, the former Bush “Pioneer” who is now the U.S. attorney for New Jersey, issued subpoenas as part of an investigation against Sen. Bob Menendez (D) shortly before last year’s election.

* In New Hampshire, Democrats want Congress to investigate whether prosecution of a Republican phone-jamming scheme on Election Day 2002 was intentionally delayed until after the presidential election two years later.

* Did the U.S. Attorney’s office in Pennsylvania intentionally target Bob Casey allies to undermine his Senate campaign against Rick Santorum?

* Why was the career U.S. Attorney in Guam removed in 2002 after he started investigating disgraced GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff?

* Why has Western Pennsylvania’s U.S. attorney, Mary Beth Buchanan, spent a disproportionate amount of her time launching public-corruption investigations against Democrats, while overlooking Republicans?

* In July 2005, the U.S. Attorney in Denver decided not to pursue a matter in which bouncers at a Bush event impersonated Secret Service agents to throw out three law-abiding ticket-holders because of their bumper sticker (the Denver Three controversy). Did politics dictate the decision?

Even if every one of those US attorneys operated completely ethically and honesty, the current Department of Justice has trashed the reputation of these very central law enforcement officers.

Then we have the 33-year old US attorney for Minnesota, Rachal Paulose, who has had her four top deputies take demotions back to the job of Assistant U.S. Attorney as protest against her complete incompetence.

The Rule of Law requires that the law enforcement officers both be, and appear to be, above politics. The Gonzales Department of Justice now appears to be right down in the middle of the worst of the political muck, working hard to replace the Rule of Law with instead the Rule by Law.