From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan is pondering a run for Congress to challenge Democrat Rep. Jason Altmire next fall.
Ms. Buchanan, a Republican and appointee of former President George W. Bush, has been considering a run for at least a month, Allegheny County Republican Party Chairman Jim Roddey said yesterday.
Ms. Buchanan, 46, of Fox Chapel, was appointed as U.S. attorney in September 2001.
She remains in the office nearly a year after President Barack Obama was elected.
Why on earth is this mole from the Bush Injustice Department continuing to serve 9 months after the inauguration of President Obama? Ms. Buchanan is not merely an attorney who happened to be appointed to this post by Mr. Bush.
She is a hardline Republican activist and a member of the Federalist Society.
She appears to be using her position to build a power base to run for elective offices.
Among her achievements as US Attorney are:
The conviction of comedian Tommy Chong for selling bongs, clearly a high priority in the age of the Patriot Act. In a lesser known sidebar to the case, her office also seized 10,000 of a documentary, a/k/a Tommy Chong, documenting the entertainers legal travails.
The conviction of Karen Fletcher for obscenity for writing and posting to a website stories featuring the torture, sexual abuse and murder of young girls. Regardless of the content, Ms. Fletcher was prosecuted for writing fiction.
The prosecution of Dr. Cyril Wecht, at the time Allegheny County medical examiner and a prominent Pennsylvania Democrat, on charges of theft and fraud relating to improper use of his office.
Ms. Buchanan prosecuted Wecht not once but twice on these charges, and was considering a third attempt before being forced to relent when a judge tossed most of her evidence for violations of the Fourth Ammendment. Even jurors and prominent Republicans like former Pennsylvania Governor Richard Thornburgh suggested publicly that the prosecution was politically motivated.
Ms. Buchanan was also involved in Karl Rove's US Attorney scandal, with both Kyle Sampson and Monica Goodling testifying they consulted with Buchanan on the firings.
She is notorious for launching politically motivated investigations of Democrats like Dr. Wecht while ignoring Republican wrong-doing. For example, her office refused to investigate charges of fraud against former wingnut Senator Rick Santorum, for collecting tuition reimbursement for the cyber-schooling of his six kids from a Pennsylvania school district where he no longer lived.
Finally, in an act of supreme arrogance, Ms. Buchanan announced after the 2008 election that she would defy the ordinary practice of submitting her resignation to the incoming administration. However, as she serves at the pleasure of the President, something that Republicans never tired of pointing out during the Attorney's scandal, this provides no practical impediment to her removal.
It is long past time this political hack was removed from her position of power. If a Republican president can fire Republican attorneys then why the hell can't we?