Former interim U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin, now a Republican candidate for Congress in central Arkansas, told the Associated Press that he respects the Justice Department’s decision not to file charges in connection with the Bush administration’s firing of U.S. Attorneys.

Tim Griffin (Tim Griffin for Congress)

Justice Department officials said Wednesday that Assistant U.S. Attorney Nora Dannehy has concluded that no criminal charges are warranted in connection with the 2006 dismissals.

“There were a lot of political games being played and I think it could have been handled much better,” Griffin said in an interview with the AP. “I’m talking about jobs and spending and all of the things Arkansans I talk with are interested in. If other people want to talk about it, that’s fine. That’s their right… As far as this story goes, I think it speaks for itself.”

Griffin had replaced former U.S. Attorney for Eastern Arkansas Bud Cummins, who was forced out by the Bush administration. At the time of his appointment, Griffin was an aide to Karl Rove.

Sarah Palin had singled out Griffin as one of the “good candidates” running in Arkansas this year.

The probe did not focused on Griffin’s hiring, instead centering on the firing of New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias. Dannehy also was tasked with determining whether White House or DOJ officials made false statements to Congress or to the Justice Department’s Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility, which also investigated the dismissals.

Tim Griffin (Tim Griffin for Congress)

Republican Tim Griffin (R) is not only the clear frontrunner in his bid for Congress in public opinion polls but also in fundraising. Griffin, a former Bush administration official who was a key figure in the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal, is one of four candidates seeking to replace Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder in Arkansas’ 2nd District. Snyder dropped his re-election bid earlier this month citing family concerns.

Griffin, who was a former assistant to Karl Rove in the White House under George W. Bush, was installed as the U.S. Attorney in Little Rock in December 2006 under a controversial provision of the Patriot Act that circumvented Senate confirmation. It later emerged in congressional testimony that Griffin’s predecessor, Bud Cummins, had been ousted in an apparent move to make way for Griffin. Griffin stepped down as U.S. Attorney in June 2007.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Griffin raised $261,457.58 and ended the year with $316,535.42 cash on hand. As was the case earlier in his fund-raising effort, a number of Griffin’s donations came from Republican operatives who worked in the Bush administration or on one of President Bush’s campaigns.

Among Griffin’s donors are Alex Castellanos, a top media adviser to Bush’s 2004 campaign; Benjamin Ginsberg, a partner at Patton Boggs who was national counsel on both of Bush’s campaigns, Kenneth B. Mehlman, Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and former chairman of the Republican National Committee; and Sara Taylor, who was the director of the White House Office of Political Affairs and deputy assistant to Bush. Taylor, who reported directly to Rove, also was involved in the 2006 dismissal of the U.S. Attorneys.

The one other Republican in the race — restaurant owner Scott Wallace — fell far behind Griffin in the fundraising race at the end of the fourth quarter. Health care project manager David Meeks earlier this week ended his bid for the Republican nomination. Other Republican candidates could emerge. CQPolitics rates the race as “leans Republican.”

Although Snyder didn’t drop out of the race until after the quarter was over, it appears he didn’t do any fundraising in the last quarter of 2009. During the quarter he raised $281.80 and ended the year with $4,182.01 cash on hand. Snyder historically had not been an aggressive fund-raiser early in the two-year election cycle.

The two Democrats now in the race — state Sen. Joyce Elliott and state House Speaker Robbie Wills — did not enter the race until the end of the fourth quarter fundraising period.

Several other Democrats have been mentioned as possible candidates, including Snyder’s chief of staff David Boling, former state Rep. Will Bond, state Sen. Shane Broadway, 2004 presidential candidate Wesley Clark, Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays, state Senate President Pro Tempore Bob Johnson, state Sen. Mary Anne Salmon, state Senate Majority Leader Tracy Steele, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and state Public Service Commissioner Paul Suskie.

The filing deadline for party candidates is March 8. Both the Republican and Democratic primaries will take place May 18. If needed, a run-off will take place on June 8.

Among Griffin’s donors are:

• Bryant Forrest Adams, a Republican political consultant and Griffin’s campaign manager — $250
• Edwin Alderson, Jr., a former Union County Municipal Judge and a former Special Chief Justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court — $1,400
• Jerald Barnett, chairman of Education America, Inc. — $2,400
• Charles Basinger, an associate with Alston & Bird who previously served in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps, in Baghdad and Mosul, Iraq, as well as Anchorage, Alaska — $25
• Dominic C. Bellone, a Resident Program Director Governance-Iraq, International Republican Institute and a former producer at Hardball with Chris Matthews — $500
• Elliot Berke, a former Capitol Hill staffer who once was counsel to the Speaker of the House and served as general counsel to the House Majority Leader — $500
• Dan Blum, a research and communications consultant who previously was a senior research analyst at the Republican National Committee and a policy analyst at the Senate Republican Conference — $250
• Tyler Boyd, a senior associate at Kearsarge Global Advisors who worked in the White House with former Vice President Richard Cheney and Republican political strategist Mary Matalin —$333.34
• Sally Bradshaw, a Republican political consultant who has worked on the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and President George H.W. Bush, worked as then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R) chief of staff and campaign manager and served as  associate director of political affairs in President George H.W. Bush’s White House — $500
• Jason Braswell, an attorney at the Defense Department — $1,000
• Reginald James Brown, a partner at Wilmer Hale who served as special assistant to the president and associate White House Counsel from 2003 to 2005 — $500
• Suzie Browning, an accountant who once was Sen. Fred Thompson’s (R-Tenn.) controller — $250
• Joseph Canizaro, a property developer who was a major Bush supporter and had close personal ties to the White House inner circle — $2,400
• Stephen Carey, a former Hill staffer who served as legislative director for two members of the House Appropriations Committee and as a legislative assistant to the ranking member of the House Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Subcommittee — $500
• Alex Castellanos, a top media adviser to Bush’s 2004 campaign — $250
• Barbara Comstock, a partner at Corallo Comstock who worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs under Attorney General John Ashcroft — $250
• Mike Davis, was an Assistant Energy Secretary for Conservation and Renewable Energy under President George H.W. Bush — $800
• Makan Delrahim, an attorney with Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP who was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for DOJ’s antitrust division under Bush, also served as a member of the Attorney General’s Task Force on Intellectual Property — $250
• Ray C. Dillon, president, CEO and director of Deltic Timber Corporation — $2,000
• Liam Donovan, a principal at Capitol Entertainment Group who also works on a Republican campaign committee — $250
• Kelly Eichler, an attorney who worked in then-Ark. Gov. Mike Huckabee’s (R) administration — $1,250
• Benjamin Ginsberg, a partner at Patton Boggs who was national counsel on both of Bush’s campaigns and Romney’s presidential campaign — $500
• William Griffin, a partner at Sulgrave Partners who served in senior communications roles at the Treasury Department, three presidential campaigns and as a spokesman at the White House — $310
• Kris Hammond, a DOJ attorney — $250
• J. French Hill, Special Assistant to the President and Executive Secretary to the Economic Policy Council under President George H.W. Bush — $200
• John S. Irving, Jr., a senior counselor at Holland & Knight who was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for nearly 10 years, also serving as counsel to two Deputy Attorneys General — $1,000
• Jack Kalavritinos, the director of public policy at Covidien, Ltd who previously was the director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, White House Liaison at the Labor Department and associate administrator of competitive sourcing at the Office of Management and Budget — $250
• Dennis Kirk, associate general counsel at the U.S. Army — $252
• Robert Lanford, who previously worked for the Republican Party of Arkansas — $250
• Heather Larrison, deputy director of finance for Bush’s 2001 inauguration — $500
• Danny Lopez-Diaz, Bush’s campaign spokesman in New Mexico — $250
• Mitchell Lowe, an associate at Heidrick and Struggles who was White House Liaison at the Interior Department, Special Assistant to the Administrator at the Federal Highway Administration and Executive Director of Bush’s 2004 campaign in Arkansas — $250
• Milam D. Mabry, a principal at Bracewell & Giuliani, LLP who previously worked on the Hill — $500
• John Maher, a partner at  Duane Morris, LLP who previously was the General Counsel for the Office of Personnel Management and was a trial attorney with DOJ in Washington, D.C. — $500
• J. Allen Martin, a partner at the Livingston Group who previously was chief of staff to Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.) — $1,000
• Kenneth B. Mehlman, the managing director and head of Global Public Affairs for Kohlberg Kravis Roberts who was Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 before serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee — $2,400
• Robert Neil Miller, an associate at DLA Piper LLC who is a former staff member of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance — $250
• Wade Murphy, a former special assistant and domestic communications director at U.S. Commercial Service who also was a volunteer coordinator during Bush’s 2004 campaign and an oil and gas policy adviser at the Energy Department — $500
• Robert E. Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy Corporation who was a major Bush donor — $1,000
• Holland Patterson, a vice president at McBee Strategic who previously served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as the Deputy White House Liaison and was a  Deputy Regional Political Director for the Republican National Committee during the 2004 presidential election — $250
• Barry Rhoads, the CEO of  The Rhoads Group who previously was tax prosecutor at DOJ — $200
• Job Serebrov, legal consultant at Serebrov Legal Consulting who previously was a senior counselor to the general counsel and senior adviser to the secretary of Agriculture — $2,000
• Rachael Seidenschur Slobodien, the communications manager at the National Taxpayers Union, who previously was a press secretary on the Hill and served as a communications executive assistant at The Heritage Foundation — $300
• Sara Taylor, a partner at Bluefront Group who was the director of the White House Office of Political Affairs and deputy assistant to Bush. — $1,000
• Alexander Vogel, a partner at Mehlman & Vogel Inc. and previously chief counsel to then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) — $1,000
• Andrew R. Wheeler, the minority staff director of the Senate Committee on Environmental & Public Works — $500
• Liza Wright, Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel and Director of Presidential Personnel in the Bush White House — $250
• April Elizabeth-Anne Zentmeyer, a staff assistant in the Bush White House — $500

In the last quarter of 2009 Griffin also received contributions from political action committees. The donating PACs include:
Anadarko Petroleum Corporation PAC
Bancorp South Bank PAC
Civic Forum PAC
Conservative Opportunity Leadership And
Continuing A Majority PAC
Electrical Contractors PAC
Every Republican Is Crucial (Ericpac)
Iraq Veterans For Congress PAC
Murphy Oil Corporation PAC
Murray Energy Corporation PAC
National Petrochemical & Refiners Assoc
Occidental Petroleum Corporation PAC
People For Enterprise Trade And Economy
Southern Company Employees PAC
Stephens Inc. Federal PAC
Tesoro Petroleum Corporation PAC
Westmoreland For Congress

The campaign also relieved reimbursement for rent for the campaign office, which is located in Griffin’s law office in Little Rock.

In case you missed it, five of the seven U.S. Attorneys who were fired during the Bush administration spoke at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law earlier this week. (h/t TPMMuckraker)

They reflected on their experience, the fallout of which led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and talked about preserving the integrity of U.S. Attorneys.

The panelists included:

• Paul Charlton, former U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, and now a shareholder with the Phoenix law firm of Gallagher & Kennedy
• Bud Cummins, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas, now a consultant
• David Iglesias, former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico, now a prosecutor for the Office of Military Commission in Washington, D.C.
• Carol Lam, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, now senior vice president and deputy general counsel for Qualcomm Inc. in San Diego
• John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, now a professor from practice at the Seattle University School of Law

We’re not sure the last time so many were in one place — perhaps in 2007, when they testified about their firings on Capitol Hill. See the video below.

Tim Griffin (Tim Griffin for Congress)

Tim Griffin, a central player in the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal now running for Congress in Arkansas, has been advanced to “contender� status in the National Republican Congressional Committee’s “Young Guns� program, according to a press release.

Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent says that Democrats he’s spoken to in Arkansas “consider Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.) their most vulnerable incumbent, but are licking their chops over the chance to attack Griffin’s record in government.”

A Nov. poll by Public Policy Polling found Griffin tied with his opponent for the Little Rock-based House seat.

The poll also found that Griffin had relatively low name recognition – which might be a good thing, suggesting that voters aren’t much aware that Griffin played a central role in the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal. One of the ousted U.S. Attorneys, Bud Cummins in Arkansas’s Eastern District, was removed in an apparent attempt by the Bush White House to make room for Griffin, who at the time was an aide to Karl Rove.Griffin only served six controversial months before stepping down in June 2007.

President Barack Obama is unpopular in the district, with a 52 percent disapproval rating, the poll found. Displeasure with Democratic-led health care reform may also be rubbing off against Syder, the poll found.
Stephanie Woodrow contributed to this story.

Tim Griffin (DOJ)

Tim Griffin’s (R) campaign for Congress is off and running. The former White House aide to Karl Rove and key figure in the U.S. Attorney firings scandal has raised $130,000 since filing his statement of candidacy Sept. 29, according to his campaign’s Web site.

Griffin is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Vic Snyder (D) for his Little Rock-area House seat next year. He previously decided not to run for Senate against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D). More details about his donors be released when he files a Federal Election Commission report due Oct. 15.

Then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appointed Griffin interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in December 2006, after the abrupt firing of Bud Cummins. In congressional testimony, emails released by Congress, and media reports, it later emerged that the White House helped engineer Cummins’ ouster to make way for Griffin. The U.S. Attorney job was seen as a credential to enhance Griffin’s resume for an expected future run for political office, news reports have said. Instead, Griffin resigned six months after the appointment amid uproar over the broader U.S. Attorneys firing scandal.

“I am humbled and honored at the support I have received to date, but there is much more work to be done in what will be a grassroots, neighbor-to neighbor campaign,� Griffin said in a statement.

A former Bush interim U.S. Attorney in Arkansas will file papers to run for Congress, The Associated Press reported today.

Tim Griffin (DOJ)

Tim Griffin, who was a key player in the U.S. Attorney firings scandal, is seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Vic Snyder (D) for his Little Rock-area House seat next year. He previously decided not to run for Senate against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D).

He was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas in December 2006 by then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales following the dismissal of U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins.

Griffin resigned from the post after six months amid reports that his former boss, Bush White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, helped orchestrate Cummins’ firing to make way for Griffin. Read our report about Griffin’s relationship with Rove here.

Tim Griffin (DOJ)

Rep. Vic Snyder (gov)

Former Bush White House aide Tim Griffin, who played a central role in the U.S. Attorney firings scandal, on Friday told The Associated Press he is considering seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Rep. Vic Snyder (D) for his Little Rock-area House seat next year. Conservative activist David Meeks of Conway has already announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination.

Griffin told The AP he will make his decision by the end of this month. Previously Griffin mulled a bid for the GOP nomination against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D).

In December 2006, Griffin was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas by then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales following the dismissal of U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins. However, he only held the position for six months before resigning in June 2007 amid reports that his boss, Karl Rove, had helped orchestrate Cummins’ firing to make way for Griffin.

S

Karl Rove (Gov)

The former Bush adviser-turned-pundit has this editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, bemoaning his treatment by Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and the editorial boards of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

“For more than two years,” he begins, “ House Judiciary Committee Democrats and the New York Times editorial board have argued that I personally arranged for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to be prosecuted in 2004 for corruption and ordered the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006 for failing to investigate Democrats.” (The WaPo chimed in on the latter charge.)

By Rove’s count, the newspapers published a combined 18 editorials attacking him. The poor thing.

After his 12 hour interview with House investigators, the committee made public some 500 pages of transcripts, emails and notes. They were released least week, along with thousands more related to the firings. Every major newspaper in the country ran with a headlines suggesting Rove’s involvement in the firings was greater than previously known, and the documents show he did in fact influence the process, significantly — but Rove says it was all on the level.

I did not conceive of the idea of removing certain U.S. attorneys, did not select those to be removed, and did not see the lists of U.S. attorneys Justice was considering to replace. I had no idea who was on the final list until Justice sent it to the White House in November 2006. No fair-minded person can review the thousands of pages of documents and testimony and conclude that I drove the process.

Rove says he took seriously accusations that David Iglesias, then U.S. attorney for New Mexico, was shying away from voter fraud cases, interfered with career prosecutors in a high-profile corruption case, and froze an indictment involving corruption in the construction of the Bernalillo County Courthouse for months.

These were serious allegations. I didn’t know if they were true, but I had a responsibility to pass them to the appropriate officials. The Justice Department needed to determine if they were accurate and, if so, weigh them appropriately. The allegations about Mr. Iglesias were similar to those Judiciary Democrats and their media allies raised against me—that the judicial process had been manipulated for political reasons.

And what about Tim Griffin, whom Rove recommended to Replace Bud Cummins as U.S. attorney in Arkansas? Griffin was well-qualified, Rove says, and he only recommended him after learning that Cummins was “likely” to relinquish his post.

Rove also writes that  Judiciary Democrats asked him very little about Siegelman’s bribery conviction, and that committee staff confided to him that they considered Jill Simpson, “the eccentric Alabama lawyer who drew attention by publicly supporting the allegations,” to be an unreliable witness. Rove says Siegelman and Simpson “refused to cooperate with the Justice Department’s review of his claim of political persecution, while I willingly gave sworn testimony.”

House Democrats have referred their findings to a special prosecutor, Nora Dannehy, who is looking into the U.S. attorneys removals. But Rove seems unfazed.

I am confident her findings will confirm that my actions were limited and proper. Perhaps then Judiciary Democrats will focus on more important issues and the Times and Post will admit their mistakes.

Don’t count on it, Mr. Rove.

Tim Griffin (DOJ)

The firing of Arkansas Eastern District U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins to make way for former White House aide Tim Griffin to head the office was one of the central dramas of the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings scandal.

We already knew Griffin leveraged his close relationship with his boss, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. But emails released this week by the House Judiciary Committee raised our eyebrows even higher, because they showed more than the usual sucking up. Griffin, one could almost conclude, practically had a man-crush on Rove.

Cue the Barry Manilow.

Griffin to Rove: “Btw my wife is pregnant. We are thinking about naming him karl. Lol.”

Love is in the air.

Griffin to Rove: “Thank you for the Christmas card. We loved it.”

Love is in the air.

Griffin to Rove: “LOL. I know where the true power lies!”

Love is in the air.

Griffin to Rove: “You are in my thoughts and prayers.”

Oh oh oh.

Bud Cummins (DOJ)

Griffin was appointed interim U.S. Attorney by then-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in December 2006 as a means of padding his resume for higher office. But it all backfired. Griffin resigned in June 2007 after news leaked out that Rove orchestrated Cummins’ ouster to make way for Griffin. And Griffin recently declined to mount a challenge to Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.

The thousands of emails released by the panel revealed a little more about the process behind replacing Cummins.

Bush Political Affairs Deputy Director Scott Jennings to Political Affairs Associate Director and Arkansas native Jane Cherry: (An email of an article headlined “U.S. Attorney Firings Set Stage for Congressional Battle” in The Washington Post.)

Cherry to Jennings: “Good lord. What have you done?”

Jennings to Cherry: “Followed orders.”

Cherry to Jennings: “Isn’t that what the Nazis claimed?”

Jennings to Cherry: “shut up. these things always roll down hill. you are the one in the office iwth (sic) the most motive to help Griffin, so i’m guessing you are going down.”

Cherry to Jennings: “(Unreadable) do I have the least motive? Tim Griffin made my life absolutely miserable for 5 months. Plus, my mother was Bud’s first assistant. He was a good family friend. I think I could argue I was pushing to keep him around but you were the one who wanted him out. Heheh.”

Then, there’s a e-mail chain between Jennings and Bush Political Affairs Director Jonathan Felts about Griffin’s declining fortunes, specifically a story titled  ”U.S. attorney flap escalates” in The Morning News.

Felts to Jennings: “Dude – I think he’s toast. I don’t see how he survives this.”

Jennings to Felts: “He will never be nominated.”

Felts to Jennings: “Does he know that?”

Jennings to Felts: “If he doesn’t, he’s retarded.”

Felts to Jennings: “I wonder if he can appreciat (sic) the irony of the situation?”

Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove played a bigger part in the 2006 U.S. Attorney purge than previously known, The Washington Post reported this afternoon.

Karl Rove (Gov)

E-mails obtained by The Post give new insight into the former Bush official’s role in the purge. Two of the e-mails focus on then-New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias and Timothy Griffin, who replaced then-U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Bud Cummins.

In an October 2006 e-mail, White House political affairs aide Scott Jennings informed Rove that then-Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and his chief of staff, Steve Bell, wanted Iglesias out of office.

“I received a call from Steve Bell tonight. . . . Last week Sen. Domenici reached the chief of staff and asked that we remove the U.S. Atty. Steve wanted to make sure we all understood that they couldn’t be more serious about this request,” said the Jennings e-mail obtained by The Post.

Rove told The Post he was only a messenger. The former Bush official said he had “no recollection” of how he learned that Iglesias was fired.

“Yes, I was a recipient of complaints, and I passed them on to the counsel’s office to be passed onto Justice,” Rove told The Post.

In a February 2005 e-mail, Rove told deputy Sara Taylor that he wanted to replace a U.S. Attorney with his protege, Griffin.

“Give him options. Keep pushing for Justice and let him decide. I want him on the team,” said the Rove e-mail obtained by The Post.

Then, White House Counsel Harriet Miers contacted Taylor a month later.

“Sara, Karl asked me to forward you a list of locations where we may consider replacing the USAs…,” said the Miers e-mail obtained by The Post.

Rove personally suggested that Griffin should replace Cummins, according to The Post.

Assistant U.S. attorney Nora R. Dannehy and the House Judiciary Committee are investigating the purge. Today, the former White House deputy chief of staff wrapped up the second day of closed-door House hearings about the U.S. Attorney purge, The Post said. A transcript of the hearings could be made public in August, according to The Post.

“I certainly can confirm that Karl answered all of the committee’s questions fully and truthfully,” Rove attorney Robert Luskin told The Post. “His answers should put to rest any suspicion that he acted improperly.”