SAN FRANCISCO — The "company man" hired and fired by the Bush administration as U.S. attorney in San Francisco was a loyal Republican the administration wanted to keep on -- until it appeared he could become a public relations liability.
Unlike seven other fired federal prosecutors who may have run afoul of the administration for political reasons, San Francisco U.S. Atty. Kevin Ryan was a team player for Bush and had influential Republican support. A friend of the president even went to bat for Ryan after his firing.
"You would have to know Kevin," said UC Hastings College of the Law professor Rory Little. "You can't find a stronger supporter of the Bush administration agenda."
His tenure, however, was plagued by morale problems and accusations that he was a bad manager. A number of the office's most experienced lawyers left.
Despite his problems, which were well documented in legal newspapers, Justice officials wanted to keep Ryan on, even as they plotted the firings of other U.S. attorneys. It was only when a Democratic judge threatened to go to Congress to raise a public fuss over an excoriating written evaluation of Ryan's office that Ryan was put on the termination list, according to e-mails released by the White House.
Ryan's critics persuaded Justice that his firing "could avoid the release of documents" highly critical of his management style, Little said.
Ryan, the son of Irish immigrants who married into a well-to-do San Francisco family, was appointed U.S. attorney in 2002. He could not be reached for comment.
Some federal prosecutors in San Francisco and Washington were wary from the start because Ryan was a former state prosecutor and judge with no federal experience, Little said.
Despite his credentials as a Dartmouth graduate, his efforts to go after violent crime and street gangs irked the "Ivy Leaguers" on staff who thought that the traditional domain of federal court was white-collar crime, lawyers said.
Ryan's style was gritty; he even liked to go with FBI agents who were serving search warrants, Little said.
"The people in the Justice Department were opposed to him from the day he got appointed," said Little, a former federal prosecutor in San Francisco.
"Kevin Ryan's focus was to bring in real trial lawyers who roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty," said Anthony J. Brass, a former federal prosecutor under Ryan.
