Times editorial: Senate committee should question Graves

In an editorial today, the New York Times says the Senate Judiciary Committee should add former U. S. Attorney Todd Graves of Missouri to the list of people it interviews in connection with the dismissal of eight, make that nine, U. S. attorneys:

He said this week that when he interviewed for the job, he was asked to name one attribute that describes him. “I said independent,” he said. “Apparently, that was the wrong attribute.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee has asked to question Mr. Schlozman, and it should also question Mr. Graves. But Karl Rove and the former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who appear to have been deeply involved in the United States attorney firings, are likely to know the most about what happened, and should be made to testify as well.

The Times editorial suggests the main reason for removing Graves and putting political operative Bradley Schlozman in his place was to try to ensure Jim Talent's re-election:

A single Senate campaign may not seem that important. But Missouri’s race was among the nation’s closest, and if Mr. Talent had won, the Republicans would have kept their Senate majority. The American people have a right to know whether Mr. Schlozman was sent on his brief assignment in Missouri to pursue justice, or to affect the outcome of an election