Salazar urges AG to resign

Former Gonzales ally makes call 'with heavy heart'

M.E. Sprengelmeyer And Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 19, 2007 at midnight

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"With a heavy heart," U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar on Friday joined the calls for embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign, saying he "no longer had confidence in him to lead the Department of Justice."

Salazar, D-Colo., has long been considered one of Gonzales' few Democratic allies in Congress. Until Friday he had declined to join a chorus of many fellow Democrats and a handful of Republicans calling for Gonzales to step down in the wake of a controversy over the firing of nine federal prosecutors last year.

"I arrive at the decision with a heavy heart and with disappointment," Salazar said in an afternoon news conference at his Denver office. "I very much wanted to see him succeed as attorney general."

The senator said he has become concerned about "politicization" of the Department of Justice. He said he had just spoken to Gonzales and urged him to resign, saying it was "time for the Department of Justice to get a fresh start."

In Washington, Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said Gonzales was not resigning.

When Salazar took office in January 2005, one of his first official acts was to endorse Gonzales and introduce him at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. That move angered some Democrats, who said it blunted their questioning of Gonzales over his role in crafting the Bush administration's policies related to torture and other issues.

In the past two months, Gonzales has been under heavy scrutiny over whether last year's firings of the U.S. attorneys were politically motivated. This week he became embroiled in a new controversy over allegations that before becoming attorney general, he orchestrated an attempt to win former Attorney General John Ashcroft's approval for domestic spying activities while Ashcroft was hospitalized.

The congressional investigation into Gonzales also has turned up evidence that nearly one-fourth of the nation's top federal prosecutors were considered for possible dismissal, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., is weighing whether to call for Gonzales to step down, an aide told The Associated Press on Friday. Allard was troubled by reports that William Leone, Colorado's former interim U.S. attorney, had been targeted for dismissal in early 2006.

Some Senate Democrats have called for holding a "no confidence" vote on Gonzales, and until now Salazar had not said whether he supported such a move. Earlier this week, Salazar said he was "very troubled" by Gonzales' performance, although he said he wanted to speak with the attorney general before saying whether he wanted him to step down.

On Friday, Salazar said the most troubling aspect of the scandal involved Gonzales' senior counselor and White House liaison Monica Good-ling, who resigned last month after senior Justice officials alleged that she might have helped provide false information to Congress.

Goodling, who invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, was ordered to testify but was granted immunity.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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