CBS Legal Blogger Cites Dem Donors In Swipe at Attorney General Gonzales

By Ken Shepherd | March 13, 2007 | 16:42

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CBS legal expert Andrew Cohen took to the "Couric & Co." blog to blast Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as a Bush toadie, then turned to law scholars with a history of donating to liberal Democratic candidates to back up his claims.

We’ve indeed got trouble. Few attorneys general in recent history have been more beholden to their President than Gonzales is to President George W. Bush. In fact, two years ago, when asked by the Academy of Achievement to list his role models, Gonzales listed his mother, his father, and the President as the three people to whom he owed the most. This would be more charming if the Attorney General had during the past two years stood up to his hero-- on domestic surveillance, on Guantanamo Bay, on protecting good federal prosecutors—instead of simply defending or justifying White House policies and practices.

So, in essence, Cohen asserted that Gonzales has no independent thought on his own because Gonzales failed to act how Cohen thinks he should have. That is, Gonzales is at fault for doing his job: crafting and implementing the president's legal strategy for the war on terror.

Not content to leave his gripe with Gonzales as a matter of personal opinion, Cohen brought in two ostensibly politically neutral legal experts to lend credence to his attack on the attorney general's performance in office: Stanley Kutler of the University of Wisconsin and Stanley Katz of Princeton University.

Cohen was particularly enamored with Katz, quoting him as he closed his March 13 blog post:

"It is not fair to say that we all are agreed upon what the ideal Attorney General should be. But it is fair to say that Gonzales falls short of any ideal I can think of."
This from a guy who can name attorneys general in American history like the rest of us can name members of our family.

So what's the problem? Both Katz ($4,650) and Kutler ($4,950) are heavy donors to liberal Democrats.

Kutler has frequently contributed to the campaigns of liberal Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and gave $500 to the John Kerry campaign. Katz frequently gave money to liberal Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and former Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), as well as the Democratic National Committee.

Below are Kutler's donations in the past few election cycles, according to OpenSecrets.org...:

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UW-MADISON

8/7/2002

$1,000

Feingold, Russ

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

7/31/2003

$500

Feingold, Russell D

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON

9/2/2004

$500

Feingold, Russell D

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

8/6/1997

$500

Phelps, Richard J

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UW-MADISON

3/10/1997

$500

Feingold, Russell D

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UW-MADISON

7/3/1997

$500

Feingold, Russell D

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UW-MADISON

10/22/1998

$250

Feingold, Russell D

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN

9/26/1996

$250

Soglin, Paul

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI 53593

SELF/WRITER

4/19/2004

$250

Baldwin, Tammy

KUTLER, STANLEY
VERONA,WI

10/5/1998

$200

Feingold, Russell D

KUTLER, STANLEY I
VERONA,WI 53593

NOT EMPLOYED/RETIRED

5/27/2004

$500

Kerry, John

...and Katz's donations in the past few election cycles, according to OpenSecrets.org. :

KATZ, STANLEY
PRINCETON,NJ 08540

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY/PROFESSOR

4/28/2006

$250

Sarbanes, John

KATZ, STANLEY
PRINCETON,NJ 08540

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY/PROFESSOR

10/30/2006

$250

Sarbanes, John