Carol Lam Outstanding Attorney of the Year

Republican Carol Lam is the one who prosecuted and convicted Rep. Duke Cunningham whose corruption and shennigans was uncovered by the conservative newspaper, San Diego Union Tribune (with later help from the North County Times). Cunningham was not working alone and apparently Carol Lam's investigations were getting too close for the comfort of the White House (there's a potential link to Dick Cheney, for example) and she was one of the attorneys fired after the November elections for purely political reasons.

Carol Lam's peers in San Diego, a largely Republican county, selected her as the outstanding attorney of the year; Truthout carries the story:

Carol Lam, one of eight former U.S. attorneys across the country whose dismissals have ignited a political firestorm and calls for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, has been named outstanding attorney of the year by the San Diego County Bar Association, the organization announced Wednesday afternoon.

(snip)

Lam, a senior vice president and legal counsel for Qualcomm, Inc., since February, said Wednesday that the award is "a great honor."

"I'd like to be accepting the award on behalf of the United States attorney's office," Lam said. "The attorneys in that office surely deserve it more than I do."

In a news release announcing the award for Lam and 10 other awards, the bar association said Lam "has demonstrated the highest level of ethics and professionalism and fought government corruption and corporate misdeeds."

While US attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president, it should be noted that there traditionally has been a fire wall between the activities of the US attorneys and the political arm of the White House. There has been no such firings on such a scale in recent decades.

The obvious interference of the White House in Dept. of Justice matters is currently being investigated by several committees in Congress. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales remains under a cloud of suspicion and discredit as he continues to refuse to provide an adequate explanation of why eight US attorneys were fired and seems unable to recall the circumstances of their firing. He has been asked by Congress to provide a full answer for the dozens of occassions he told them that he couldn't recall or didn't know specific details of the firings despite the fact that e-mails and testimony exist showing that the Attorney General was indeed involved. The scandals of the George W. Bush White House continue.