WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Bush took office in 2001, Michael Chertoff, then head of the Justice Department's criminal division, met with the conservative group Judicial Watch. It wanted criminal charges brought against Hillary Rodham Clinton in connection with a lavish fundraising event in Los Angeles the year before.
"Chertoff personally assured us he would pursue it," the group's president, Tom Fitton, said recently, recalling the meeting with several top Justice officials. "They said they weren't afraid of taking on the Clintons."
Justice did not pursue a case against the senator from New York, but instead went after one of her fundraisers, David Rosen, who eventually was acquitted.
Now Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales has announced his resignation, brought down in part by allegations that he let politics influence Justice Department decisions. And Chertoff, secretary of Department of Homeland Security, is a prominent candidate to succeed him.
Justice Department officials say pressure from Judicial Watch -- which made its name by suing the Clintons in the 1990s -- played no role in the decision to prosecute Rosen. Chertoff will not discuss the case. But it seems to be an early example of department actions under Bush that critics say were tinged with partisanship.
The case also illustrates one problem the president faces as he considers candidates to succeed Gonzales: As much as Bush prizes loyalty and prior service, the prospect of a partisan brawl may make it difficult for him to choose Chertoff or anyone else who has been in the upper levels of his administration. If the nominee "is political in nature and susceptible to the importuning of the White House," said Senate Judiciary Committee member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), "you can be sure that individual would not be confirmed."
From the outset of Bush's presidency, White House strategists such as Karl Rove attempted to wring political advantage from their control of the government. The Justice Department, Democrats say, was not exempt. They cite last year's firing of nine U.S. attorneys for what they say in some instances appeared to be political reasons.
Chertoff certainly has the professional background and legal acumen to lead the Justice Department.
