Two attorney generals who made history, but with different results

Last week when Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation as leader of one of the most important federal agencies, I was reminded of the historical significance of his appointment under the Obama Administration as the first Black American to serve as Attorney General.

And thought back to another “first” as Attorney General and that was Alberto Gonzales who became the first Hispanic Attorney General who served in the George W. Bush Administration. Both men have long and impressive records in their field, Gonzales having once served as a Justice in the Texas Supreme Court and as White House Counsel, the first Hispanic to do so.

Holder served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia and was the number two at the Department of Justice during the Clinton Administration. They are both graduates of prestigious law schools, Gonzales from Harvard Law School while Holder received his JD degree from Columbia University. Yet, interestingly, their tenure at the Department of Justice was controversial for both but by the end of their appointments the mainstream media’s picture of each was radically different from one another.

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Attorney General Alberto Gonzales served only two years in his post. His time was marred by allegations that he misled congress over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. Moreover, he was accused by the former deputy attorney general, James Comey (currently the FBI Director), of pressuring a recuperating  Attorney General, John Ashcroft, in his hospital bed to approve a National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program.

After calls for his resignation from congress, Gonzales refused to step down until the pressure became too much not only for him but also for President Bush’s administration and he resigned in August, 2007. And while all of this was going on, the Hispanic community pretty much was missing in action in support of Alberto Gonzales. He went from being one of the most important men in the country to being one that was soon forgotten.

He was one of the few Hispanics in America to forge an enviably close relationship with the president of the United States; enjoying much coveted golf and special outings. Yet, in the end, not even the president could save him, and Gonzales left Washington, DC with his head down.  Gonzales was eventually cleared of the charges that he had made inaccurate and misleading statements in regards to the firing of the nine U.S. Attorneys and is now Dean of Belmont University College of Law located in Tennessee.

Attorney General Eric Holder out served Gonzales by about four years, yet his tenure at Justice Department makes Gonzales’ time and reputation there seem like amateur hour. Almost from the beginning, Holder made controversial headlines. In an early speech during his appointment, he said the country was “a nation of cowards,” when it came to discussing racial tension.

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From there he went on to make controversial decisions that ranged from refusing to hand over federal documents about a gun trafficking scandal known as Fast and Furious to refusing to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate the IRS over its misconduct in the targeting scandal of conservative tax exempt organizations, to failing to hold banks accountable for their role in the 2007-08 financial crisis, going instead after mortgage borrowers, then to ordering federal prosecutors not to seek the death penalty against three members of a Brooklyn drug crew charged with killing and torturing one of their victims.

He was the first Attorney General to be rebuked by Congress. And while all was going on, his boss President Obama stood by him as well as did the Black community overall.

So there we have it, two men who made history by becoming a “first” one from the Hispanic and one from the Black community as Attorney Generals. Yet, you have to wonder  why it was that one, the Hispanic, was hounded out of office (Presidential support for Alberto soon faded) and the other resigns to go to work for Jamie Diamond on wall street for a whopping $70 million salary plus bonuses and his Presidential support has never wavered.  Who gets the credit?