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Jim Letten, United States Attorney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The federal Eastern District of Louisiana, which includes the city of New Orleans, has long been a hotbed of crime and corruption. While local police and prosecutors have continually been involved in endemic misconduct, federal prosecutors in the district were highly successfully at positioning themselves as models of probity. Now, however, this burnished facade of integrity has been all but shattered in light of recent revelations cascading out of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Orleans.
U.S. Attorney James B. Letten was first appointed to his post by Republican President George W. Bush. While it is customary for new presidents to replace U.S. attorneys with appointees from their own party, Barak Obama took the unusual step of allowing Letten to remain at his post. Democratic Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu was reportedly instrumental in convincing Obama to make the unconventional reappointment.
