The former Chief of Staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the administration had a number of problems with the performance of ousted San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam.
Kyle Sampson said there was no connection between her firing and federal corruption investigations. But her failure to bring immigration cases wasn't the only objection to her performance.
Sampson : In the beginning, it was due to her office's failure to embrace the president's anti-gun violence initiative, Project Safe Neighborhoods. The district in San Diego simply didn't devote any resources to that initiative, and it was the subject of consternation in former Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey's office, and early on through the process. Later in early 2005 and 2006, the concerns related to her office's immigration enforcement.
Sampson said at one point in his testimony that "Carol Lam is a good person, and a very skilled lawyer".
