How 41 Pages Helped Unseat Lam

[babylonsister]

http://www.voiceofsandiego.org/articles/2007/03/22/news/02lam032207.txt

How 41 Pages Helped Unseat Lam
By ROB DAVIS Voice Staff Writer

snip//

That 41-page report became a vital cog in Republican effort to focus attention on Lam's prosecutorial record -- an assault that ultimately brought down the prosecutor. It focused the media spotlight on Lam's performance, put her on the defensive and brought unwanted attention to the Justice Department, according to internal e-mails.

While politicians had been questioning Lam's border record for two years and Justice Department officials had been considering whether to push out Lam, the release of the Border Patrol report appears to have catalyzed the Lam opposition. Internal Justice Department documents show that the report's release not only set off the media frenzy, but also internal discussions between Lam and her superiors in Washington as they set about damage control.

But it is oddly written and anonymously sourced. While full of statistics, charts and graphs, editorialized comments are interspersed throughout. It ruminates about the unfairness experienced by two immigrants who died when a smuggler -- caught three times previously -- crashed his vehicle, awkwardly attempting to humanize the Border Patrol's targets. "The deceased were illegal aliens; however, they did not deserve this fate," the report says.

At another point, the author becomes philosophical when asking why agents risk their lives to stop smugglers if the lawbreakers can "just walk away from the whole ordeal scot-free."

Lam defended her record in print and in statements to CNN, saying the most dangerous offenders were her highest priority. About half of her 110 attorneys were working on border cases, she said. And she attacked the report as being an altered, unofficial version of an earlier document from the Border Patrol's El Cajon substation.

In her statement to CNN, she said: "Many of the comments ... are editorial comments inserted by an unidentified individual, and they were not approved by or ever seen by Border Patrol management."

more...

[notadmblnd]

1. sounds like someone sent this report to Issa with their comments

written in to use as talking points. Issa is the guy who ran with this. I'd like to know who provided him with the past dated, altered, unauthorized report. Issa should be called to testify.