The Slow March Out Of The Bush Administration

I thought that the reason given for the mass exodus this summer of all the White House officials was that the Chief of Staff told everybody that you either leave by Labor Day or stay on until the bitter end. Fran Townsend apparently didn't get the memo (neither did Karen Hughes, meaning that basically that whole line of argument was a crock).

Fran Townsend, the leading White House-based terrorism adviser who gave public updates on the extent of the threat to U.S. security, is stepping down after 4 1/2 years.

President Bush said in a statement Monday morning that Townsend, 45, ''has ably guided the Homeland Security Council. She has played an integral role in the formation of the key strategies and policies my administration has used to combat terror and protect Americans.''

Townsend jumped, after seeing counter-terrorism efforts put in a precarious position by failed foreign policy initiatives like the occupation of Iraq. Rachel Paulose, however, one of the legacies of the US Attorney scandal, was pushed.

Rachel Paulose, the embattled U.S. attorney for Minnesota, will be leaving the post to take a position at the Justice Department in Washington, the department confirmed Monday.

''We are pleased that Rachel Paulose has accepted the position of counselor to the assistant attorney general in the department's office of legal policy,'' Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in an e-mail statement [...]

Paulose was just 32 and working for the Justice Department in Washington when she was named interim U.S. attorney in February 2006 to succeed Tom Heffelfinger, who had resigned and returned to private practice [...]

Paulose's troubles flared up again recently over allegations that she had made racially disparaging comments about one employee and mishandled classified documents that should have been kept locked up. The Justice Department began an internal investigation.

That prompted Coleman to urge Mukasey, then the attorney general nominee, that there should be a ''thorough review'' of the allegations, and that the Justice Department needed to provide better management support to U.S. attorney offices.

Paulose was the epitome of a Federalist Society-approved political hack, thrown into the US Attorney position without the relevant management skills, and thundering through the office like a house afire. Her return back to the rock she crawled out from under is encouraging, but of course there will be hundreds like her, little landmines all over the civil service just waiting for the next President.