Margaret Chiara

Margaret Chiara Press Release re: US Attorney Firings Report

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Grand Rapids, Michigan –  September 29, 2008

On September 29, 2008 the Department of Justice issued its report on the removal of nine United States Attorneys.  It concluded that Margaret M. Chiara, United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, had been dismissed because of performance related issues.

The conclusion does not follow from the facts disclosed by the investigation.  Rather, the investigation details how an intentionally malicious campaign of false allegations, insidious rumors and trumped up allegations of favoritism was successful in the achievement of its goal: the undermining and ultimate destruction of Margaret Chiara as United States Attorney.  The investigators clearly trace the spread of false and malicious rumors of a lesbian relationship and favoritism to Joan and Lloyd Meyer, two long-time assistants in Ms. Chiara’s office, who had long been frustrated in their own ambitions to be the United States Attorney, or a federal district judge. The only seemingly independent verification of the Meyers’ allegations of favoritism was that of Chuck Gross, a friend of both Meyers and close confidant of Joan Meyer, who was living in their Ada home while they were on detail to Washington, D.C. (and who didn’t feel constrained by that friendship from authoring and advocating for a strong performance evaluation of Joan Meyer.)

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The US Attorneys Report Commentary

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The release of the DOJ Office of Inspector General Report on the firing of the nine US Attorneys for improper (maybe illegal) reasons is a bit of a let-down for Indian Country observers. The report demonstrates the limits of the OIG’s investigation, and perhaps other investigations like it.

However, a close reading of the document demonstrates that Indian Country work may in fact have been a significant contributor to the downfall of at least one US Attorney, Margaret Chiara, but not exactly in the way we previously thought.

Two areas of concern about the report:

First, other than a brief mention in the chapter about Paul Charlton (D. Ariz), there is very little information about the import of Indian Country in these firings. More than half of the fired US Attorneys had significant responsibilities in Indian Country, from federal prosecutions to investigations of voter fraud to compliance with the Adam Walsh Act to US-Mexico and US-Canada border questions. These fired US Attorneys also represented the forefront of modern US Attorney practice in terms of cooperation with Indian tribes, extending respect and dignity to Indian victims and violent crime, and raising federal awareness of the criminal jurisdictional problems in Indian Country.

This report fails to address the very real and very obvious concerns of Indian Country by virtually ignoring these questions. There seems little doubt that AG Gonzales and the politically-charged Executive Office of US Attorneys saw no value whatsoever in the development of US-tribal law enforcement gains. While the OIG could not prove that these Indian Country US Attorneys were fired because of their positive and progressive work in Indian Country, the implication remains.

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Ongoing Denver Post Series: US Attorneys’ Firings

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Denver Post:

Grasping for a way to explain the breakdown of justice on America’s Indian reservations and the role of the Justice Department in that failure, Paul Charlton, the former U.S. attorney in Arizona and a Bush appointee, picks this moment:

Talking with superiors about a gruesome double murder on the Navajo reservation, Charlton was stopped midsentence and asked by a high-level Justice Department official why he was involved in a case on the reservation in the first place.

To Charlton, it was suddenly clear that the official didn’t understand the most basic aspect of federal Indian law — that on most reservations, U.S. attorneys are the sole authority empowered to prosecute felony crime there.

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Of the eight fired U.S. attorneys, five had played leadership roles pushing for aggressive Indian Country prosecutions or systemic reform — Charlton, David Iglesias of New Mexico, Margaret Chiara of western Michigan, Daniel Bogden of Nevada and John McKay of western Washington, according to testimony before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

As U.S. attorney for western Michigan, Margaret Chiara, right, made violent reservation crime a priority but said a bureaucratic culture resisted her efforts. She was one of eight U.S. attorneys whose firings sparked a Capitol Hill uproar. (Grand Rapids Press / Kary Batdorff)