Minneapolis Prosecutors Bid Good Riddance to Rachel Paulose
| Tue Nov. 20, 2007 6:02 PM PST
When Rachel Paulose was sworn in as the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota in March, she sparked a mini-scandal with her investiture ceremony, which is usually a demure affair held at the federal courthouse. She got free use of the University of St. Thomas Law School's atrium, which usually rents for $1500. Three hundred people showed up for the event, which included a municipal choir and military color guard, and it earned her a "diva" title from law-gossip blogger David Lat. But all that pomp and circumstance now looks like an ill-fated wedding, with the couple headed to divorce court.
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Paulose has been unceremoniously recalled to D.C. where she'll be working at the Department of Justice's office of legal policy, where she won't have to manage anybody, since that's apparently is not her strong suit. Newbie AG Michael Mukasey pulled Paulose out just as veteran prosecutors in Minnesota were reportedly planning a second mass resignation to protest her management. Three other managers, veteran prosecutors all, demoted themselves back to line positions back in April saying the just couldn't work with her anymore. Her dictatorial management style supposedly included quoting Bible passages and hurling racial epithets at subordinates.
Paulose is a buddy of the now-famous Monica Goodling, another DOJ employee who played a significant role in placing "loyal Bushies" in U.S. Attorney jobs and who helped place Paulose in Minnesota. Paulose, 34, had little management experience when she was tapped by Bush in 2006 as an interim replacement for Republican Thomas Heffelfinger, whom the White House had initially targeted for firing. (He resigned unexpectedly.) Paulose has been the subject of two separate investigations into her conduct over allegations that she used racist language and also threatened to retaliate against subordinate who was going to report her for mishandling classified documents. (Paulose has denied all the allegations and claims she was cleared of the chargers regarding the documents.)
But Paulose didn't help her case much when she went public last week claiming to be the victim of a witch hunt because of her membership in the conservative legal group, the Federalist Society. (Her supporters have also claimed dubiously that she was run out of town because of her major crackdown on human trafficking in Minnesota, that hot-bed of the sex trade.) People in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's office are clearly ready for a chorus of "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead," and Mukasey has gotten some kudos for moving quickly to quiet the turmoil in Minneapolis.
But the fact that he's brought Paulose to D.C. still doesn't instill a lot of confidence that the new guy will be a whole lot different than the old. After all, Paulose held a similar position during Gonzales' tenure. Given her clear lack of judgment as U.S. Attorney, you have to wonder about what kind of legal advice she's likely to be giving her new boss.
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And they ask why there's no confidence in the department of "justice." You could have guessed when she publicly lauded her appointment with a great big welcome me ceremony that it was a sign of trouble. But, she's the kind of folks Bush wants. Self-promoting egomaniacs who only give a damn about themselves, have little acumen in their jobs and an unhealthy personal agenda. One wonders what good work could have been done for the citizens in her jurisdiction if she hadn't spent her time preening. This is one US Attorney who should have been fired post-haste for racist attacks, if these allegations are true, and her failure as an effective manager. Instead, the new AG brought her back to HQ where she will once again thrive and revel in her self-importance. This individual is just one of the many reasons the post-Gonazales trash heap at DOJ needs a toxic cleanup in '08.
You are prejudice against people from India. Her recent ancestors come from Kerala (aka God's own country). Get use to it. We are coming to the American dream. When we are successful, you lazy Americans can not handle it. Go out and get a job yourself.
Of course, none of the people who wrote the comments above knows Ms Paulose or anything about the case.
The real issue is that Ms Paulose has offended and frightened very powerful and wealthy pimps with her aggressive prosecution of human traffickers and online predators. With most of the revenue for ABC and Fox and other republican media coming from porn (the visual record of prostitutes working)
one can see that a US Attorney who strikes at the industry recruiters would be considered a danger to profits. And profits are always more important to republicans than the safety of women and children. This explains why the most vociferous accusations against Paulose came from well known Minnesota republicans like tom kelly and Senator norm coleman.
Submitted by ghosdog (not verified) on Wed May. 7, 2008 11:12 AM PDT.
As one who has been experienced unethical, deceptive, stonewalling, misdirection and outright lies from Mpls U.S. Attorney Michelle Jones, I truly echo both delight in seeing her removed from office here and despair that she is in a position to potentially influence policy. In the minds of her office/colleagues, under Gonzales, being wrongfully put into and held by Hennepin County jail staff, nurses, and leadership in a restraint chair in intentionally inflicted absolute, pure, unadulterated, raw agony for over three hours is not a 'color-of-law' (law enforcement) crime or even any other crime. It was painful enough for long enough for my brain to drop into a state of delirium or near it...my brain literally created a hallucination in an attempt to escape the agony...it didn't last long enough to provide more than momentary relief...from crying, begging, pleading for mercy, screaming throughout the entire ordeal...while they laughed and mocked me and the pain they put me in...Here's the good news, the vast majority of the lies and deceptions, etc., from Rachel Paulose' minions, Hennepin County minions, City of Mpls minions, FBI minions, etc., are extremely well documented - I audio-taped almost everything! These are not he said she said lies; these are their lies in their own words! If you think your readership would find this interesting, check out www.stoptorture.us and write up whatever you think appropriate...feel free to call or email me too...thanks for your good work re Ms Paulose...
ghosdog
Submitted by ghosdog (not verified) on Wed May. 7, 2008 11:16 AM PDT.
Oops...corrections:
1) As one who has experienced...
2) ...US Attorney Michelle Jones, who works for Rachel Paulose...
3)...delight in seeing Ms Paulose removed...
A smart, fearless journalist would have investigated why well-known ripuplican attorney, tom kelly, would have spent so much time on his efforts to remove Rachel
Paulose, and just who paid him to do so. Apparently, 'smart and fearless' are just corporate taglines to Stephanie Mencimer.
