IS THERE MORE TO THE CUMMINS* FIRING?

IS THERE MORE TO THE CUMMINS* FIRING? I am not a U.S. attorney firing-ologist, but when reading Jeffrey Goldberg�s piece in this week�s New Yorker about Democrats and Wal-Mart, I paused at this line about a case involving the Bentonville, Arkansas-based corporate giant:

Most recently, Wal-Mart announced that it had fired a technician from its Threat Research and Analysis division (which combats industrial espionage) for eavesdropping on telephone calls made by the Times� Wal-Mart beat reporter, Michael Barbaro. Wal-Mart claims that the technician acted alone; the U.S. Attorney in Arkansas is investigating.

That attorney used to be Bud Cummins, one of the eight fired last December. In the cases of the dumping of U.S. attorneys David Iglesias and John McKay, the presumption is that they had failed to satisfy the White House because they didn�t prosecute �voter fraud� cases or target Democrats. The firing of Cummins, however, was viewed as a move to make room for Tim Griffin, a less-qualified candidate who is a Karl Rove ally.Politically, having Griffin there could still be useful for Democrats as Mark Pryor, a top GOP Senate target for 2008, faces re-election next year. But maybe there�s something deeper going on here?*(Name misspelling fixed.)

--Tom Schaller