Word: marstons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Griffin Bell announced William Webster's appointment to the FBI post, he noted proudly that it had been made "without regard to political party." One motivation for the remark: both he and President Carter had become embroiled in a controversy over their desire to sack a Republican, David Marston, as U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia...
...Marston, who has convicted some top Democratic officials, including Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Herbert Fineman, was summoned to Bell's office the day after Webster's nomination. When he emerged, Marston said the Attorney General had told him that "the decision to fire me was final, and would not be reconsidered." Carter admitted the previous week that he had asked Bell to "expedite" the ouster of Marston after receiving a phone call from Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Joshua Eilberg. Carter presumably did not know that Eilberg was under investigation by Marston's office for financial irregularities...
Griffin Bell was more forthright. Said he: "We have two parties in this country. The In party right now happens to be the Democrats. There are a lot of complaints about Mr. Marston. They say we ought to have a Democrat as U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia...
Bell says that he decided early on that Marston, who had been an aide to Republican Senator Richard Schweiker with no prosecutorial experience to speak of, should be replaced. But lawyer friends of Bell in Philadelphia argued that he should be retained for a year since he had some major corruption investigations under way and his removal would smack of an attempt to take the heat off errant Democratic officeholders. In short, the timing was all wrong...
...timing is even worse. Marston has endeared himself to Philadelphians by being the first prosecutor in recent years to hit political corruption hard. In May, Marston got the state speaker of the house, Herbert Fineman. convicted of obstruction of justice in a case involving influence peddling to help students gain admission to medical schools. Just last month the most powerful member of the state senate, Philadelphia Democrat Henry J. Cianfrani. pleaded guilty to 106 counts on various charges-including obstruction of justice, tax evasion and mail fraud-involving efforts to place his girlfriend and others in no-show jobs...