Two weeks after Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton was ordered to give up his post, he sent an e-mail to a top Justice Department official asking how to handle questions that his ouster was connected to his investigation of Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz.

Charlton, one of eight federal prosecutors forced to resign last year, never received a written response.

His December e-mail was among more than 3,000 pages of records the Bush administration turned over to Congress late Monday as part of an ongoing congressional investigation into the ousters. Democrats released the documents Tuesday.

Charlton’s ouster is emerging as another red flag in the prosecutor purge, with congressional investigators and others trying to figure out if he was scuttled by partisan politics. Administration critics say the dismissals of at least two prosecutors, David Iglesias of New Mexico and Carol Lam of San Diego, have been linked to political investigations by their offices.

“Obviously, there needs to be an investigation,” said Rep. Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz. “You need to find out the facts. It shouldn’t be partisan at all.”

Tucson Citizen