Trend, coincidence, or just business as usual?

While skimming the news this morning, I cam across a trio of quasi-related tidbits, which is all the excuse I needed to blog about 'em:

• Tidbit numero uno: In the (disturbingly low-profile, IMO) scandal over whether the Bush Administration fired seven US Attorneys for political reasons, it has been revealed that one of those attorneys -- David C. Iglesias of New Mexico -- was contacted by two Senators, possibly in an attempt to pressure him into speeding up a corruption investigation involving Democrats before last fall's elections:
  

  Rep. Heather A. Wilson (R-N.M.) acknowledged yesterday that she contacted a federal prosecutor to complain about the pace of his public corruption investigations, as the Senate ethics committee signaled that it had opened a preliminary inquiry into a similar communication by her state's senior senator, Pete V. Domenici (R).

  ...Iglesias, one of seven U.S. attorneys fired by the Justice Department on Dec. 7, is expected to tell Congress today that Wilson and Domenici were trying to sway the course of his investigation. Domenici acknowledged Sunday that he called Iglesias about the corruption case but said he did not pressure him. The telephone calls to Iglesias by Domenici and Wilson appear to put them in conflict with congressional ethics rules that bar contacts with federal agency officials during most active investigations.

  The furor over Domenici and Wilson has rapidly become the focus of the dispute over the firings of eight U.S. attorneys and a change in law that allows Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to appoint interim prosecutors for an indefinite period of time. The Justice Department has said that seven of the prosecutors were dismissed for failing to follow Bush administration policy on multiple issues, and acknowledged that one was sacked to make way for an ally of White House political adviser Karl Rove.

  A video clip of Iglesias' testimony can be found here, including this exchange:

  Domenici: "Are these [corruption cases] going to be filed before November?"

  Iglesias: "I didn't think so."

  Domenici: "I'm very sorry to hear that." [Line goes dead]

  Wow. Insert an ominous sting at the end there, and it could almost be a scene from The Godfather...
• Tidbit numero two-o: It turns out the seven fired Attorneys may be part of a bigger trend, as another prosecutor says he was ousted for political expediency:
  

  The former federal prosecutor in Maryland said Monday that he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, a Republican.

  "There was direct pressure not to pursue these investigations," said the former prosecutor, Thomas M. DiBiagio. "The practical impact was to intimidate my office and shut down the investigations."

  ...His office had been looking into whether associates of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. had improperly funneled money from gambling interests to promote legalized slot machines in Maryland. Mr. DiBiagio said that several prominent Maryland Republicans had pressed him to back away from the inquiries and that one conversation had so troubled him that he reported it to an F.B.I. official as a threat.

  Gosh, Republicans putting party loyalty above all else? WHo'da thunk it?

• Tidbit numero three-o: Bush's Director for U.S. Attorneys Mysteriously Resigns
  

  It was revealed today that Michael Battle, the director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys, will resign on March 16.

  Battle personally informed the fired attorneys of their removal, but the Department of Justice insists he was not involved in the actual decision making process... A spokesperson also said the timing is merely a coincidence and "is not connected to the U.S. attorney controversy whatsoever."

  ...Congressional Democrats are understandably skeptical. Sen. Charles Schumer wondered whether Battle's resignation was merely "another casualty of the U.S. attorney's imbroglio."

Now, why am I suddenly thinking about rats and sinking ships, hmmmm?