An open letter to Attorney General Eric Holder

Dear Mr. Holder,

I understand that you have concluded that there were instances of prosecutorial misconduct in the case of former Senator Ted Stevens and that you have concluded it would be wise to drop the case and the conviction. This is good.

But I would enjoin you to look into other cases of what could very well be other instances of misconduct by U.S. Attorneys working under the influence of the Bush II administration. There are the cases of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and Mississippi attorney Paul Minor--both Democrats--and there's every indication that they were targets of selective politically motivated prosecutions by the Bush II DOJ. Serious probes are in order here.

It is my hope that a wider-ranging commission into the mismanagement and politicization of the Justice Department will be proposed by yourself and President Obama and the OLC. If we wish to restore the credibility of the DOJ, there must be transparency and accountability, even once someone has left public service.

I would bring to your attention the fact that the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey (aka the "DC Madam") was definitely a victim of similar misconduct when federal investigators or prosecutors extralegally leaked an unsigned federal search warrant to journalist and editor Bill Bastone, editor of the Tru TV website, "The Smoking Gun."

It's my opinion that Mr. Bastone needs to be compelled before a federal grand jury to discuss the conditions of the transfer of this information to his person, who did so in officialdom, and whatever else might have transpired between them. There was more than one case of misconduct beyond the Stevens case, and the rule of law must be respected and preserved. I hope that you feel the same.

yours, Matt Janovic, writer and researcher