Editorial: U.S. Attorney must earn credibility

Monday, November 26, 2007  

"The U.S. Attorney's Office in Minnesota is an important office for Minnesotans, as a federal government watchdog for those major criminal and economic fraud crimes that rise beyond local jurisdictions.

The U.S. Attorney's Office also is a visible office in Bemidji, as it has jurisdiction over felony crimes on the Red Lake Reservation. A separate sovereign nation from other Minnesota tribes, the Red Lake Band gives no law enforcement jurisdiction to state or local authorities, putting the U.S. Attorney's Office at the forefront of crime prevention and criminal prosecution on the reservation.

It's a position that also needs credibility that both prevention and prosecution at Red Lake will be high priorities for the U.S. attorney.

That credibility has been hard to earn, however, as current U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose has been embroiled in controversy almost since the first day she took office in February 2006, replacing former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger. Although Heffelfinger resigned, we learned that he was on a list of U.S. attorneys destined to be fired by then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, apparently for no other reason than politics."

Get the Story:
Editorial: U.S. attorney must make reservations a priority (The Bemidji Pioneer 11/23)
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