Chertoff out as contender to succeed Gonzales
Republican source speculates DHS secretary wanted to avoid bruising confirmation
President Bush has apparently dumped Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff from his short list of possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who announced his resignation last week under a cloud of scandal.
The White House has been meeting privately with Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate about the next attorney general, whose name is expected to be announced Sept. 17, on Gonzales's last day.
Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, obtained a list of the potential replacements, which it published Thursday. The candidates are former Solicitor General Ted Olson; former Attorney General Bill Barr; former Deputy Attorney General George Terwilliger; D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Laurence Silberman; former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson; and Michael Mukasey, a former judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Notably absent from that list is Chertoff, whose name was mentioned most by politicians and pundits in the hours and days after Gonzales announced his resignation.
The DHS secretary faced intense criticism over his agency's handling of Hurricane Katrina relief two years ago, and Chertoff was mocked in some quarters after saying earlier this summer that his "gut feeling" was that terrorists would strike America again.
Further hurting Chertoff's chances, a report emerged this week that he pledged to investigate Hillary Clinton's fundraising in 2001, when he led the Justice Department's criminal division.
"Chertoff personally assured us he would pursue it," Tom Fitton, president of the conservative Judicial Watch, told the Lost Angeles Times, recalling a 2001 meeting with several top Justice officials. "They said they weren't afraid of taking on the Clintons."
Sources told Roll Call that Chertoff is not being considered, perhaps by his own choice to avoid what would be a "bruising" confirmation battle.
"My guess is he doesn't want it," a GOP source with ties to the White House told the newspaper.
|
