Prosecutors fired by Justice Dept had positive performance ratings

This is just the latest twist to the Bush Administration's most-recent Executive Branch power grab.  As we recall, six federal prosecutors that had once investigated public officials were recently asked by the Justice Department to resign, and replaced with new Bush-friendly appointees.  In one case, a federal prosecutor in Tennessee that was forced out was replaced by a former aide to Karl Rove.  A loophole in the Patriot Act allows Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to appoint new prosecutors without Senate confirmation.

The Justice Department claims they had good reason to force the six prosecutors out.  But McClatchy Newspapers is reporting that five of the ousted prosecutors had received positive job evaluations:

Performance reviews of U.S. attorneys are conducted every three tofour years by a team of experienced Justice Department officials, whointerview judges, staff members, community leaders and federal agents.In some of the five cases, the reviewers made recommendations forimprovements, but overall their assessments were positive, JusticeDepartment officials said.

For instance, Daniel Bogden, the U.S. attorney in Nevada, wasdescribed in his last job performance evaluation in 2003 as being a"capable" leader who was highly regarded by the federal judiciary andinvestigators.

"He didn't get any dings," said a Justice Department officialwith knowledge of the review. "The overall evaluation was verypositive."

David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, also receiveda positive evaluation last year, according to another JusticeDepartment official.

Both officials asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized by the Justice Department to release the information.

The other U.S. attorneys who received good reviews were JohnMcKay, the former U.S. attorney in Seattle; Paul Charlton, the formerU.S. attorney in Arizona; and Carol Lam, the current U.S. attorney inSan Diego.

These anonymous Justice Department officials gave McClatchy this information likely because they knew that Gonzales had no valid reason to give five of the six prosecutors the ax.  Where is Congress on this?