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.)
Turtle Talk 