Putnam Calls for Gonzales to Quit
    By Bill Rufty
    The Florida Ledger

    Friday 04 May 2007

    Lakeland, Florida - US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign, Rep. Adam Putnam, the third most powerful Republican in the House said Thursday.

    Putnam is the chairman of the Republican Conference Committee and the highest-ranking Republican official in the House to urge Gonzales to quit. The Bartow Republican also is a strong supporter of President Bush, who appointed Gonzales and continues to stand by him.

    "I had been saying all along that his (Gonzales') future was in his own hands by his testimony before the Senate committee and I don't think he did well," Putnam told The Ledger.

    Gonzales appeared April 19 before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify on the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, alleged to have been engineered in the White House and to have been politically motivated.

    "His credibility is so severely damaged with the committee that he is no longer able to advance the president's programs before Congress," Putnam said.

    Putnam's call for the Gonzales' resignation, particularly in light of his strong support for Bush, is significant and may very well be intended as a House Republican message to the White House.

    While numbers one and two in House GOP leadership, Minority Leader John Boehner and Whip Roy Blunt, remain silent, at least publicly, on whether Gonzalez should resign, Putnam's job as chairman of the Conference Committee is to help set policy and strategy for the Republicans in the House. He is the man out front in policy statements and in attacks on the majority Democrats in the House.

    Putnam has voiced his concern over Gonzales' continued service to several newspapers and television stations as well as national and international wire services. It is now a question of whether the Justice Department is able to function under him, he said.

    "This has to be affecting the efficiency and the morale of the people who work for the Department of Justice," Putnam said. "Clearly they are distracted by all of this and by the continued investigations and committee requests. The country deserves an attorney general with the credibility to perform this extremely difficult job, and it is now time for fresh leadership."