Targeted U.S. Attorney Brownlee resigns

[maddezmom]

Targeted U.S. Attorney Brownlee resigns
by Lisa Provence
UPDATE 4:15pm– At his 2:30 press conference, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee says he’s “seriously considering” a run for attorney general, according to the Roanoke Times.

POSTED 11:26am– U.S. Attorney John L. Brownlee, top federal prosecutor for western Virginia who was on a list of attorneys considered for firing under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, announces his resignation today.

Brownlee, 43, was appointed by President George Bush in 2001 and was not among the nine U.S. attorneys purportedly canned by Gonzalez for political reasons.

Brownlee testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last fall that he was contacted at home by a high-level Gonzalez staffer October 24, 2006, the deadline for Oxycontin manufacturer Purdue Pharma to accept the government’s offer to settle or face other charges for falsely marketing the highly addictive drug. A week after that phone call, Brownlee was placed on a list of prosecutors being considered for dismissal. Pharma Purdue settled for $635 million last May.

more:http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2008/04/17/targeted-us-attorney-brownlee-resigns/

U.S. Attorney Became Target After Rebuffing Justice Dept.

By Amy Goldstein and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, August 1, 2007; Page A01

The night before the government secured a guilty plea from the manufacturer of the addictive painkiller OxyContin, a senior Justice Department official called the U.S. attorney handling the case and, at the behest of an executive for the drugmaker, urged him to slow down, the prosecutor told the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday.

John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney in Roanoke, testified that he was at home the evening of Oct. 24 when he received the call on his cellphone from Michael J. Elston, then chief of staff to the deputy attorney general and one of the Justice aides involved in the removal of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

Brownlee settled the case anyway. Eight days later, his name appeared on a list compiled by Elston of prosecutors that officials had suggested be fired.

Brownlee ultimately kept his job. But as Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales confronts withering criticism over the dismissals, the episode in the OxyContin case provides fresh evidence of efforts by senior officials in the department's headquarters to sway the work of U.S. attorneys' offices.


more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073102163.html

[annabanana]

1. So.. No bad deed goes unrewarded?

Is this what we should take from this? Why was he not fired?

[flashl]

2. The perps (Perdue Execs) walked w/o criminal indictments after noting the deaths of over 200 people.