U.S. attorney imbroglio hits Puerto Rico

The nominee for U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico — who is investigating corruption allegations against the district’s sitting governor — is being held up in secret in the Senate amid a vicious political battle that could reshape the future of the island.

{mosads}An anonymous senator placed a hold on the nomination just prior to last week’s enactment of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, which requires that the names of senators objecting to proceeding to a confirmation vote on a nominee or legislation be fully disclosed within six legislative days. Holds are procedural tools used by a senator to signal to Senate leaders that he or she does not want to see the nomination or the bill considered on the floor; otherwise, a filibuster could occur. The law seeks to end what has become a common practice of holding bills anonymously, allowing senators to avoid public scrutiny while derailing Senate action.

Critics question the suitability of Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez for the post, saying she is leading a politically motivated investigation into Puerto Rico’s Democratic governor at a time when the integrity of the Justice Department has come under withering criticism from Congress.

“There has been a cancer eating at the Justice Department,” the Washington representative for the Puerto Rican government, Eduardo Bhatia, said of the perception that the Bush administration has used U.S. attorneys for inappropriate political gain. Bhatia said Rodriguez-Velez appears motivated to “embarrass the hell out” of the Democratic governor, Anibal Acevedo-Vila, by consistently leaking findings of the grand jury investigation to the press.

Supporters of the nomination say Acevedo-Vila is using his ties to Senate Democrats to block the nomination in retaliation for Rodriguez-Velez’s 32-month investigation into his alleged violations of campaign finance laws in 2000, which could lead to the governor’s indictment. 

“That’s ‘V’ for ‘vendetta,’” said one source following the issue, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject.

The outcome of the investigation could have an impact on the 2008 gubernatorial elections in the district, where Acevedo-Vila is facing Puerto Rico’s non-voting House delegate, Republican Luis Fortuño, who supports the nomination. The Democrat may be forced to bow out of the race if an indictment is handed down by the grand jury.

The investigation, which focuses on possibly illegal campaign contributions Acevedo-Villa received when he ran for the House in 2000, has been going on for almost two years, and recently several aides to the governor have testified to the grand jury, according to local press reports. The governor’s records were subpoenaed in June, and signaled that the investigation revolves around him.

Meanwhile in Washington, senators have been working to delay and possibly derail the nomination. The anonymous hold appears to have been placed on the nomination just days before the enactment of the sweeping ethics overhaul. The new law, which was enacted Sept. 14, requires that senators disclose their hold within six days, but it does not apply retroactively. The hold on the U.S. attorney nomination appears to have been placed Sept. 12.

“There are a number of members who have expressed concern about the nomination,” a Democratic aide said. “Further action on the nomination is uncertain.”

While no one has publicly announced having placed the hold, some suspect that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is blocking the nomination anonymously, citing his long-standing ties to Acevedo-Vila. The two served in the House together from 2000 to 2004, and Acevedo-Vila voted for Menendez in his narrow victory in 2003 to chair the House Democratic Caucus, the third-highest position in the conference.

A spokesman for Menendez, Afshin Mohamadi, would not comment.

With no senator and just one non-voting delegate in the House, Puerto Rico has a large budget for lobbying activities and has used the back channels of the Senate to call into question the nomination of Rodriguez-Velez, who was nominated by President Bush in January and is currently serving as the interim U.S. attorney in the district.

In 2006 alone, Puerto Rico spent nearly $2 million on lobbying, with 13 firms pushing various issues for different parts of the government. After the nomination was announced in January, Bhatia said he conferred with some of the high-powered lobbyists the government has enlisted for their advice on how to proceed, including Charles Black, a prominent Republican strategist, and former Iowa Sen. John Culver.

Culver did not return a telephone call, and Black said he was only “tangentially” involved by calling to the attention of senators some of the questions raised about the nominee. Before the Judiciary Committee approved the nomination Aug. 2, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham and Massachusetts Democrat Edward Kennedy signaled they would hold up the nomination, but later withdrew the threat.

“We wanted to have some kind of information about her background and experience given the nature of the violence and criminal activity down there,” Kennedy told The Hill on Wednesday, saying he ultimately was satisfied with the responses he received.

Bhatia said he and other critics urged the Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on the nominee to have a full airing of the allegations of a politically motivated investigation into the governor, but were rebuffed by the panel. Tracy Schmaler, a spokeswoman for the panel, said U.S. attorney nominees typically do not have hearings.

Just before the vote, Miguel Pereira, the Puerto Rico secretary of corrections, slammed the nominee in a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), saying: “One can … suggest benign reasons for the nominee’s behavior. … One can also assign, even more strongly, wicked ones  … including an outright desire” to use federal power to interfere with the politics of the 4 million-person island.

The U.S. attorney’s office would not comment, but in the past has disputed criticism of the investigation. The White House remains strongly supportive of the nomination, urging the Senate to move quickly to back the nominee.

“Rosa Emilia Rodriguez is a well-qualified nominee who has already been voted out of committee, and we hope the full Senate acts swiftly to confirm her,” a White House spokesman, Alex Conant, said.