U.S. Attorney Contender is not "Rabid, Right Wing Republican"

by: mooncat

Fri Dec 04, 2009 at 13:57:03 PM CST

Have you heard the Obama administration might appoint a (gasp) Republican as the next U.S. Attorney in the Middle District of Alabama?  Let me set your mind at rest.  No matter what you may have heard, Tamarra Matthews Johnson is not a "rabid, right-wing Republican."  She's not any sort of Republican at all.  In fact, Ms. Johnson is definitely a Democrat -- no matter what a single, unnamed source alleges.

Let me back up a step or two.  New U.S. Attorneys have already been nominated and confirmed in the Northern (Joyce Vance) and Southern (Kenyen Brown) districts of Alabama, but Bush nominee Leura Canary is still in place in the Middle District.  Several names have been floated for that job but so far there has been no actual nomination from the White House, apparently because of political maneuvering on the part of Senators Sessions and Shelby -- these appointments are subject to Senate confirmation, after all.  The three names most often mentioned as potential nominees are George Beck and Joe Van Heest, both defense attorneys, and Tamarra Matthews Johnson, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Alabama.

Personally, I don't think partisan politics has much place in the Department of Justice -- didn't we have enough of that in the Bush years? -- but the partisan leanings of U.S. Attorneys do seem to matter to some folks.  For the last week rumors have been swirling around the state that Ms. Johnson is not only a Republican, but a "rabid, right-wing Republican."  These rumors have been picked up and repeated around the blogosphere and even by a print journalist.  From the outset it seemed incredible the Obama Administration would consider a foaming-at-the-mouth Republican to replace the U.S. Attorney most identified with political prosecution -- Canary was behind the successful prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman and the folks at DoJ would have to be living on another planet not to realize that -- so I was prompted to do a little digging.  Here's the scoop:

1. Tamarra Matthews Johnson is a prosecutor. 
2. She has participated in a number of cases against Democrats while working for the DoJ. 
3. Ms. Johnson is NOT A REPUBLICAN, diseased or otherwise. 

I can't say how disappointed I am that the bloggers and journalist involved in propagating this rumor didn't perform due diligence and check that last point out before they ran with this story.  This is the way vicious, despicable, damaging to real-life human beings, RUMORS propogate, not the way responsible journalism is supposed to work.

Exactly how can I be sure Tamarra Matthews Johnson, contender for the U.S. Attorney's job in the Middle District of Alabama -- is a Democrat?  Let me just count the ways ...

First, her political contributions have all been to Democrats.  These are public record and ought to be the first stop for anyone trying to ascertain someone's political leanings.  From OpenSecrets here's the entry for Tamarra Matthews (that's how her contributions are listed, according to her husband):

Don't confuse her with Tamara Harris Johnson, also a Birmingham attorney.  The Tamarra Johnson we're interested in contributed to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Barack Obama.  They're all Democrats!  There's no real need to go beyond this -- Ms. Johnson hasn't given any money to Republicans, but she has given to Democrats -- that's the best indication going when it comes to political leanings.  Putting your money where your mouth is, you know?

Second, I spoke with a close friend of the Tamarra Matthews Johnson -- a person who requests anonymity but is indisputably an Alabama Democrat in good standing -- who assured me in very strong terms that both Tamarra and her husband are good, left leaning, progressive Democrats. 

Third, I spoke to Rusty Johnson, Tamarra's husband.  She isn't speaking to journalists at the moment, but I managed to get him on the phone and he agreed to answer a few questions and provide some biographical details.  He has been doing civil rights and employment discrimination law at the firm of Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantazis, LLC (that firm represented Lilly Ledbetter, btw) for several years.  He assured me he is and always has been a Democrat and said "My wife is also a Democrat and a progressive."  Based on this conversation (and after checking with others who know them) I am more than satisfied that Rusty and Tamarra Johnson are both deeply committed to justice, which ought to be the real issue for federal prosecutors.  I will just remark here that Rusty Johnson is the kind of progressive we should all aspire to be -- he has been in both the Peace Corps and Americorps and last November 4, Election Day, he was one of those "rapid response" lawyers we heard about monitoring polling places (Bessemer and Birmingham, in his case) to resolve issues quickly and make sure people got to vote.  His legal practice is exactly what we would want it to be--he advocates for women and minorities who have been discriminated against.  But I digress.  Back to Ms. Johnson's career.

She's a graduate of Yale.  She was a Bristow Fellow in the Office of the  Solicitor General during the Clinton Administration.  She clerked for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ... oops, wasn't she a Republican?

Yep, Justice O'Connor was appointed by St. Ronnie Reagan himself.  Does that mean only Republicans clerked for her?  No.  That's what Rusty Johnson told me and I have verified it with several others in the legal profession.

Competition for those clerkships is incredibly intense  because the 9 Justices have, at most, 4 clerks each, 5 for the Chief Justice.  Lawyers who want to clerk are advised to apply to all the justices, regardless of ideology, and to accept any offer because it is such a very valuable experience.  According to a fascinating, survey-based study of the ideology and influence of Supreme Court clerks (Peppers and Zorn, 2007) only about half of Justice O'Connor's clerks identified as Republicans while working for her -- see figure below.  In short, clerking for O'Connor is not an indication of political ideology.

Rusty Johnson told me that he and Tamarra have given money "only to Democratic candidates in the past."  He said most of their gifts go to charities (for example: their church, the International Rescue Committee, the MS Society and their respective alma maters) but if anything is left over for political candidates they discuss the contributions and both agree before making a contribution.  OpenSecrets lists the following contributions under his name:

Again, only Democrats.

Tamarra Johnson was hired by the DoJ in 2004.  She had a strong background in legal research and writing and was assigned to some major cases in that office right away.  Gov. Don Siegelman had already been indicted before she began work in the office, but she did work on the case -- this was the one where charges were dropped after it went to trial.  She also worked on the Richard Scrushy case that went to trial and resulted in acquittal.  More recently she worked on the E.B. McClain prosecution and the Larry Langford case, although her effort on that one was interrupted by maternity leave.  Everyone I've talked to has indicated that Assistant U.S. Attorneys, such as Ms. Johnson, don't have much control over which cases they work on -- nor would we want them to.

The Johnsons do not typically attend partisan political events like Democratic Committee meetings, the JJ Dinner or local fundraisers.  Rusty told me they've been so busy with work and a young family (they have a 3 year old and a 7 month old) that they have not found time for such activities and because of her position at DoJ, Tamarra Johnson "does not engage in political activities" other than the occasional political contribution.

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Tamarra Matthews Johnson is a prosecutor, hired by Alice Martin (boo, hiss) in the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of Alabama.  Ms. Johnson is damned smart -- you don't clerk for a Supreme Court Justice unless you are.  She's a Democrat.  There is nothing rabid or right-wing or Republican about her.  I don't know if she's the best qualified person being considered to replace Leura Canary or not, but she darned sure shouldn't be disqualified on the basis of outright -- and easily identifiable -- false information.

May I suggest all you folks who called the White House and said something like, "You can't appoint her because she's a Republican," owe Ms. Johnson a profound apology and ought to call back and say, "Excuse me.  I was misinformed.  It turns out Ms. Johnson is a Democrat after all, and always was."