This diary simply adds another person to the ever-expanding scandal, in an ongoing attempt to classify the different firings and retentions of the US Attorneys by the Bush Crime Family. This is a follow-up to two of my recent diaries on the 'transfer' of US Attorney Frederick A. Black, and a newly researched link to Margaret Chiara's firing.
The same Assistant US Attorney was sent first to Black's office, and then to Chiara's to act as an 'interim'. But, as I have discovered, the only 'core competence' this gentleman seems to have is to be there to put the lid on impending Abramoff-connected investigations.
I. Introduction
Russell C. Stoddard appears to have been the Assistant Attorney General in Alabama from approximately 1983 to 1986. A relevant Westlaw search returns a handful of cases he worked on for the office relating to unemployment matters and convicted felon appeals. Nothing remarkable.
He then joined the Middle District of Florida as the US Attorney on or around January 1997, and had a rather unremarkable record there as well. On or around July 1997, he brought a case against a small group of Cuban refugees who allegedly hijacked a small aircraft and flew it to Florida. And, again in 1997, he truly undistinguished himself by mishandling a case. This from The Tampa Tribune, November 3, 1999:
The attorney for a man convicted last week of drug charges said Tuesday that she will file a Florida Bar complaint against the federal prosecutor in the case.
Tampa lawyer Sharon Samek told a federal judge that Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Stoddard failed to report that another defendant was offered a lesser sentence in return for helping the government's case against her client.
Stoddard said he forgot. He said he wasn't trying to mislead the jury or the judge. "It was my belief at the time I was questioning him (the defendant) that he had not received any benefits from the government," Stoddard told U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew. Stoddard acknowledged that he, in fact, had signed the paperwork seeking a reduction in the sentence of the government witness, Jorge Amariles.
The incident happened during the 1997 trial of Samek's client, Willard Santos, on federal drug charges. Santos was convicted of importing cocaine, possession with intent to deliver and conspiracy.
Stoddard made other errors in this trial in 1997, that went into late 1999. This from The Tampa Tribune, October 30, 1999:
Pending for more than 21/2 years, the case has been marked by legal complexities, including a revelation during the first trial that the federal grand jury intended to indict someone else. Federal prosecutors say the confusion rests with the fact that Santos and another man accused in the conspiracy both called themselves Carlos Montero.
...
For two years, authorities had no idea where to find Montero. In January 1997, however, Jorge Amariles identified his longtime friend Santos as the missing Montero. Amariles, a co-defendant who had pleaded guilty and received a 171/2-year sentence, also accused Santos of being the money man behind the deal.
...
Despite Santos' insistence that he never used the Montero alias and was not involved in the conspiracy, he was arrested.
During his August 1997 trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Stoddard acknowledged for the first time that Santos could not have been the Montero who met with the informant.
Montero was described as a dark-haired, 38-year-old Colombian with a home in Cartegena. Santos was 47 with gray hair. He is a native of Puerto Rico and has never lived in Colombia.
The revelation posed a legal dilemma. The U.S. Constitution prohibits the government from forcing someone to stand trial for a major federal offense without being indicted by a grand jury. If Santos was not the Montero named in the indictment, then the government had failed to follow its own procedures.
II. Stoddard, the bumbler, gets sent to Guam
After producing nothing much in Florida but an investigation into his incompetence by the Florida State Bar, the US Justice Department sent Stoddard to cover-up the investigations and other matters relating to Jack Abramoff and his money-laundering and his alleged ties to taking advantage of the porous nature of Guam's borders, used as an entry point for illegal aliens.
This from the Office of the Inspector Generals Report:
...Stoddard's selection was handled by EOUSA and Rapadas. Margolis told the OIG that given Black's reluctance to relinquish his position to the new U.S. Attorney, and given Margolis's assessment that Rapadas was competent but not exceptional, Margolis believed that a top-notch First Assistant United States Attorney would be needed in Guam. He said he asked EOUSA to find one for Guam. The Director of EOUSA suggested two people to Rapadas, and Rapadas told the OIG that he ultimately selected one of the recommended candidates, Stoddard, an AUSA from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Middle District of Florida. Stoddard is a career prosecutor with no significant prior ties to Guam. During our investigation, we found no evidence that Stoddard was selected based on any particular views he held regarding public corruption cases.
Suffice it to say, if Stoddard were the "top-notch" choice between two, the other not chosen must have truly been worthless. But, as stated above, was Stoddard chosen for his 'core-competence' of squelching corruption cases against Jack Abramoff?
A. Who is the EOUSA?
Again, the OIG Report tells us how the EOUSA functioned at the time:
After President George W. Bush was inaugurated in January 200 1, his administration sought to nominate new candidates to fill the U.S. Attorneys' positions. Kyle Sampson, who was President Bush's Associate Director for Presidential Personnel until late September 2001 and is now the Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, described the selection process to the OIG. Sampson said the White House asked for recommendations from political leaders in the various districts for candidates to fill the U.S. Attorney positions.
The recommendations generally were submitted by U.S. Senators of the: President's party to Sampson or to staff in the White House Office of Political Affairs (OPA). If no Republican Senator represented a particular judicial district, Sampson or OPA staff contacted whoever OPA designated as the "political lead" for that district. Sampson said the White House generally sought three names for each U.S. Attorney vacancy, although it did not always receive three.
Sampson said the White House forwarded potential U.S. Attorney candidates to the Executive Office for United States Attorney (EOUSA) in the DOJ, with a request that each person be sent an online application form and be scheduled for a panel interview. According to Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis, who participated in the U.S. Attorney selection process, Sampson's request to EOUSA to send the application to an individual meant that the person had been "named as a candidate" by the White House. The candidates identified in this fashion would be interviewed by a parkel that normally consisted of Sampson; Margolis; David Higbee, Deputy Associate Attorney General and the DOJ liaison to the White House; the Director of EOUSA; and Christopher Bartolomucci of the White House Counsel's office. Sampson described the interview as similar to a regular job interview, with part of the interview focused on whether the candidate had any issues that might arise during the background investigation. After the interviews, the :lpanelists would rank the candidates in order of preference. According to Sampson, if there was.only a single candidate, the panel would determine whether the person "me[t] the bar," meaning that the candidate met the minimum level of qualifications for the position of U. S. Attorney. According to Sampson, the panel usually developed a consensus regarding the strongest candidate.
While in Guam, this our bumbler did take it upon himself to evaluate Frederick Black, who held the position for eleven years, and to kick him off the corruption task force in Guam:
Stoddard told the OIG that his decision to remove Black from the task force was based on his belief that Black's lack of focus was not helpful to other task force members. Stoddard told the OIG that this re-assignment was made in order to improve the functioning of the task force, not to hamper its progress on the Gutierrez Administration investigations. Stoddard stated that prior to his arrival in Guam he was not directed by anyone as to how he should un the office. He stated that he believes, based on his discussions with others on the task force, that he made the right decision about Black's involvement on the task force.
I did find one case that Stoddard brought while on Guam that was appealed, USA v. Rios, 2006 WL 1431262 (D.Guam 2006) (involving defendant found with a .22 rifle and an AR-15 rifle).
III. Stoddard goes to Michigan
Our hero next shows up in Michigan as an assistant to Margaret Chiara. This did not go unnoticed by the Michigan Democratic Party. this is their release dated April 9, 2007, titled, Why Was Attorney Who Stifled Abramoff Investigation Sent to Michigan U.S. Attorney's Office?
Today Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer questioned why Russell Stoddard, the Federal Attorney who allegedly stifled the Jack Abramoff bribery scandal in Guam and the Mariana Islands, was sent to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Grand Rapids a short time before United States Attorney Margaret Chiara was suspiciously forced to resign. Russell Stoddard is currently an assistant prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan in Grand Rapids.
"Was Russell Stoddard sent to Grand Rapids to end Chiara's investigation into GOP corruption in Lansing just like it was alleged he was sent to Guam to end an Abramoff investigation?" asked Brewer. "The U.S. Department of Justice needs to come clean and end the cloud of suspicion over why Chiara was forced to resign. Stoddard's presence only adds to the suspicion."
In 2006 Kuam News reported that Fred Black, the U.S. Attorney for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), alleged he was "replaced as the interim U.S. Attorney because of political controversy he caused in the fall of 2002 by calling for an investigation of lobbying fees that the Superior Court of Guam had paid to lobbyist Jack Abramoff." Black also alleged that first assistant to the U.S. Attorney Russell Stoddard was "selected to end Black's pursuit of public corruption cases in Guam and the CNMI."
The Washington Post reported on February 24, 2007, "Nearly all of the dismissed prosecutors had positive job reviews, but many had run into political trouble with Washington over immigration, capital punishment or other issues, according to prosecutors and others. At least four also were presiding over high-profile public corruption investigations when they were dismissed."
The Associated Press reported on February 24, 2007, "Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse declined to comment on whether Chiara was forced from her post."
IV. Conclusion
This diary has shown that a relatively incompetent US Attorney for Florida was moved to the island of Guam to replace Frederick A. Black, an experienced US Attorney with eleven years of experience on Guam. We know that at the time of move, Jack Abramoff was in disucssions arranged by Ken Mehlman with the Justice Department in killing the investigations that Black was one day from completing, involving corruption on the island. We know that after Black was 'transferred' the Meissner Report that outlined the porousness of Guam and the Marinas Islands to terrorism, money-laundering, and as a convenient resting spot for illegal aliens wishing to come to America, was killed.
We also know that Margaret Chiara was a champion of Indian causes, and was investigating the money-laundering activities of Jack Abramoff of funds that he misappropriated from the Saginaw Indians. The same incompetent Stoddard was sent to her office to make sure the investigations would die.
Tags: Russell C. Stoddar, Frederick A. Black, Margaret Chiara, Michigan Democratic Party, Mark Brewer, Jack Abramoff, Kyle Sampson, Ken Mehlman, David Higbee, Christopher Bartolomucci, Organized Crime, US Attorneys