Uber-conservative Bob Barr, former US Attorney and member of the U.S. House and current member on the NRA board of directors, has a serious problem with Ken Buck.
When an assistant federal prosecutor is reprimanded by the Department of Justice for improperly disclosing internal government deliberations about a pending case to a defense attorney, it is not something that can or should be sloughed off as a youthful indiscretion....
There obviously was disagreement within the U.S. attorney's office over the decision to pursue the case against the alleged firearms violators, something not unheard of. Normally, such internal opinions are kept within the four walls of the prosecutor's office. This is not only ethical and professional, but pragmatic as well. If word were to leak out — especially to a defense attorney — that questions about the strength or weaknesses of the government's case had been raised internally, this would almost certainly provide grist for defense arguments to the judge and the jury; and would at least indirectly pressure the government to settle the case more favorably to the defendant.
Yet this is exactly what Buck did. He revealed to a defense attorney the fact that there was an internal government memorandum outlining possible weaknesses in the government's case. Buck did this, even though by his own admission he had not seen the internal memo. Not surprisingly, two years later the case was finally concluded against the three defendants on terms far less favorable to the government than it likely could have obtained had the defense not been tipped off by Buck.
Buck's clearly improper communication to a defense attorney about a pending prosecution was not only contrary to ethical and professional standards that govern attorneys; it also represented an act of disloyalty toward his superior — U.S. Attorney Strickland.
This is Bob Barr of the NRA, taking Buck to task over a gun case--the case that Buck ended up torpedoing was charges against alleged illegal gun dealers, one of whom is one of Buck's campaign donors. It's all summed up in 30 seconds:
If it's bad enough to shock Bob Barr, it should be bad enough for the voters in Colorado.