Fired Prosecutor Probed White-House-Connected Law Firm for Corruption

Arkansas US Attorney Bud Cummins opened a corruption investigation of Missouri Governor Matt Blunt's use of law firm Lathrop & Gage to run a chain of satellite state licensing offices in May 2006, reports Brad Friedman of The Brad Blog. In June, he was removed as US Attorney, six months before the big December purge of the US Attorneys by the Department of Justice.

Quoth Brad Blog:

Lathrop & Gage is the powerful firm of Blunt's general counsel, and Bush/Cheney '04's national general counsel, Mark F. "Thor" Hearne.

As BRAD BLOG readers know, Hearne is a top-level White House operative, a very close friend of Karl Rove's, and the co-founder of the currently-back-underground "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR), the mysteriously-funded group behind all of the GOP's phony "voter fraud" claims and the accompanying push for disenfranchising "Voter ID" restrictions at the polling place. (See our Special Coverage page on ACVR scam here...)

The first reports of Cummins's investigation into the Blunt/Lathrop Gage scandal were apparently released in May of 2006. Cummins was removed from his position just afterwards, in June of 2006 — prior to all the other firings which took place later that year on the same day in December.

He was replaced at that point by Karl Rove's personal aide Timothy Griffin.

Brad Blog's source for the information about the probe of Gov. Blunt and Lathrop & Gage is this story in the Springfield (Missouri) Business Journal.

A federal prosecutor opens an investigation of a Republican governor and a law firm with close ties to the Bush White House and Karl Rove. A month later, that prosecutor is gone, replaced by a Rove minion. It may be coincidence. But it has the smell of obstruction of justice, doesn't it? It's worth investigating by the relevant committees. Heck, I'd say it's worth the appointment of a special prosecutor, but don't hold your breath.

I'm surprised this angle of the US Attorney Purge story hasn't gotten more attention.