Administration unprepared for furor over fired prosecutors

An article in today's New York Times indicates the Bush administration was caught off guard by the furor over the mass firing of eight U. S. attorneys, including H. E. Cummins of Arkansas.

Congressional hearings are scheduled to begin Tuesday into the matter. Many of the attorneys who were fired were in the middle of investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Republican officials, including Cummins' examination of the way license fee offices were awarded in Missouri:

Summoning five of the dismissed prosecutors for hearings on Tuesday, the newly empowered Congressional Democrats have charged that the mass firing is a political purge, intended to squelch corruption investigations or install less independent-minded successors.