White House Backs Down on U.S. Attorney Nomination

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I blogged yesterday about the controversial, and seemingly politically motivated, firing of several U.S. Attorneys. The most egregious of 7-10 cases is that of H.E. Cummings III of Arkansas. Mr. Cummings was let go, according to Alberto Gonzalez’s deputy, to make room for J. Timothy Griffin, who had served as a political director for the Republican National Committee and a deputy to none other than Karl Rove. (In print, Mr. Griffin is “J. Timothy,” but when the White House talks about what a great guy he is, they call him “Tim.”)

The White House has finally realized that its claim that this was standard personnel management ain’t gonna fly and has agreed not to nominate Mr. Griffin as a permanent replacement for Mr. Cummings. (He will, however, remain as a temporary replacement.)

Now this is the kind of stuff that wouldn’t even have made the papers if the Dems weren’t in power, and for that we are duly grateful.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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