Did lesbian rumor lead to firing of former assistant U.S. attorney Leslie Hagen?

[sabra]

Source: The Grand Rapids Press

The Department of Justice's inspector general is investigating whether a career federal attorney, once lauded in Grand Rapids for prosecuting crimes on American Indian reservations, was dismissed from her job over rumors she is a lesbian, according to a published report.

National Public Radio identified her as former assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Hagen, who worked about three years in the Grand Rapids U.S. Attorney's Office before moving to a Justice Department job in Washington, D.C.

...

NPR said the case involving Hagen spun off the investigation of the alleged political firings of Chiara and the other U.S. attorneys under former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Several people who were interviewed by the inspector general's office told NPR they came away with the impression that the attorney general did not renew Leslie Hagen's contract because of the talk about her sexual orientation, NPR reported Wednesday.

Hagen had received "outstanding" marks for her work as a liaison between the Justice Department and a federal committee on American Indian issues, NPR reported. Several months before her latest performance evaluation, dated Feb. 1, 2007, she was told her contract would not be renewed, the radio network reported.

Read more: http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/04/did_lesbian_rumor_lead_to_firi.html

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check out this snip:

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However, in October 2006, the Attorney General's Office decided she had to move on, NPR said.

The inspector general is investigating whether Hagen's contract was not renewed after a rumor reached Gonzales' chief counsel, Marcia Goodling, that Hagen is a lesbian, NPR reported.

"To some people, that's even worse than being a Democrat," a Republican source told NPR.

[Solly Mack]

1. Weren't many of those fired connected to "American Indian" issues

in some way?

[Donnachaidh]

3. Hagen certainly was, but others refused to *go after* political *enemies*

IE, Democrats.

[Solly Mack]

4. I believe some of the others were as well

and I've always wondered if there was more to it.

I'm aware of the refusal to go after political enemies reason....but that doesn't preclude other connections.

[Donnachaidh]

2. I listened to that piece on NPR yesterday

Totally unbelievable that a snot-nosed snake like Monica Goodling could do such harm to a talented female lawyer based on a RUMOR. Hagen's only *crime* (which of course WASN'T a crime) was keeping her personal life PRIVATE.

[Baby Snooks]

5. No doubt a purge is about to happen...

What a wonderful cover for the politicization of the US Attorneys Offices by Karl Rove. They were all lesbians. Well, the women anyway.

No doubt Karl Rove will suggest they fire Condoleeza Rice as well just to show they were "purging by rumor" and not "political agenda."

[damntexdem]

6. Wow, something 'worse' than being a Demoncrat!

And what was 'worse' was not being a lesbian, rather it was being rumored to be a lesbian.

[struggle4progress]

7. Bushistas don't care if she's lesbian: but not using her power for their political purposes

would be a firing offense

Of course, the Bushistas then need a distracting cover story about why she was fired: so they run a managed "sexual orientation" controversy, guaranteed to grab headlines without producing any definite outcome