March 13, 2007

ENSIGN URGES DOJ TO RESTORE DAN BOGDEN'S REPUTATION

Washington, D.C. - Senator John Ensign released the following statement after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales hosted a news conference today regarding the firing of U.S. attorneys:

"The Department of Justice completely mishandled the dismissal of Dan Bogden as Nevada's United States Attorney. I appreciate the Attorney General's coming forward today to take responsibility for the mistakes that were made, to find out what went wrong and to address these problems immediately.

"In my discussions with the Attorney General over the past few days, two items have become clear to me: Resources at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada are not sufficient and we need specific benchmarks to review U.S. attorneys. Despite serving in one of the fastest growing states in the nation, Mr. Bogden actually saw a decline in resources during his tenure at the office. That is unacceptable, and the Attorney General has promised me that more resources will be given to our U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada. We need to correct this situation because we need to make sure that our U.S. attorneys have the adequate tools to do their jobs properly and effectively.

"Dan Bogden has a solid performance record at the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is why I urged the Department of Justice to restore his reputation. There should be no doubt that he demonstrated leadership and performed well as Nevada's United States Attorney."

Communications Director Rebecca Fisher 119 Russell Senate Building Washington, D.C. 20510 Tel: (202) 224-6244

Nevada Press Secretary Sari Mann 333 Las Vegas Boulevard South Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Tel: (702) 388-6605