Ex-AG Gonzales lands Texas Tech job
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/08/art.albertogonzales0709.gi.jpg caption="Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has taken a job at Texas Tech University."](CNN) - Nearly two years after being pushed out of office by a scandal surrounding the firing of federal prosecutors, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has taken a job at Texas Tech University, the school announced Tuesday.
Gonzales will work to recruit minority students for the Lubbock-based college's diversity office and teach a junior-level political science seminar on "Contemporary Issues in the Executive Branch," according to a statement from Texas Tech.
"I am excited that Alberto Gonzales is bringing his experience to Texas Tech," Kent Hance, Texas Tech's chancellor, said in the statement. "His own upbringing in Houston as part of a migrant family with eight children makes him qualified to tell underrepresented Texas students that college is possible."
Gonzales became the lawyer in the 1990s for then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush, who later appointed him to the state Supreme Court. In 2001, he followed Bush to Washington to serve as White House counsel and attorney general - a post he was forced out of in August 2007, amid several investigations into the Justice Department he led.
A special prosecutor is still looking into whether Justice Department officials broke the law in the 2006 dismissals of at least eight U.S. attorneys, several of whom have said they were fired after refusing to mount prosecutions they considered politically motivated. During appearances before Congress, Gonzales appeared to contradict himself, other officials or Justice Department documents and repeatedly said he did not recall the answers to senators' questions.
And Gonzales was at the center of a dispute into the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program. He originally told senators that there was no dissent among administration officials over the program. But after former Deputy Attorney General James Comey described a dramatic confrontation among top White House, Justice and FBI officials in then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital room, Gonzales acknowledged he "may have created confusion" in his testimony.
Gonzales had blamed "a very tough economy" and ongoing investigations into his tenure at the Justice Department for his extended stretch of unemployment following his 2007 resignation.
"That is why I am working as hard as I can with my legal team to try to get these investigations completed as quickly as possible, because I am anxious to move on to the next phase of my life," he told CNN in February. "I feel like I still have a lot to contribute to our community and to our country and I want to do so."
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You liberals are so right.
Why would a former AG and a former State Supreme Court Justice be qualified to do this job? Especially since it involves recruiting minorities!
It seems like this will serve the Latin community well.
I hear this is a low paying job. I don't think he's doing it for the pay check. Chances are he is still practicing law and he probably has plenty of money. So don't worry about that.
This makes me ashamed to be a Tech Alum.
At least it's not SMU, the Methodist University and the future home of the Bush Museum.
Thanks for spreading the shame around
The AG that should be in jail is the current AG and the POTUS for war crimes and crimes against humanity and trampling the Constitution.
right there with ya, Simon–and next time the Ex-Students call, I will tell them why I'm no longer a member
Another scumbag making big bucks!
Have a close friend who worked on her Ph.D at Texas Tech and it was the most horrific environment and educational experience of her life. Lubbock is a *scary* place...so it sounds like they are BOTH getting what they justly deserve! He gets to spend the rest of his life at this awful institution and they have the honor of having a liar in their administration. Perfect!
My husband, a Hispanic, was a presidential DOJ appointee under President Carter. The cluelessness in America regarding the appointment process is appalling. All US Attorneys and US marshals and other appointees serve at the pleasure of the president who appoints them. They can be hired and fired at the administration's whim! Additionally, to be appointed to these posts one must be connected politically and a big contributor to the 'cause'. Sorry to burst balloons but it is a flawed, corrupt process no matter which party is in power.
I think Gonzo should go back to the DOJ and hire Qualified staffing for all the good people who left during the Cheney/Bush debacle....
He's being punished, not rewarded. Considering the high offices he once held, this seems like a lowly place to land.
As a Tech grad, I am extremely embarrased and ashamed of the hiring of Gonzales. It was bad enough when Karl Rove was the commencement speaker for the law school graduation. I agree that Kent Hance and Rick Perry are the problems. Tech is, was, a fine school and deserving of much more. Not all Texans are in the tank with those Republicans and not all Texas Republicans are like that as well.
Why are liberals so mad and full of hate? Thank god for CNN so they have a venue to kick and scream.
Instead of hiring someone to recruit minorities, how about just recruiting the most qualified STUDENTS you can get? College applications, like job applications, should not force applicants to identify their race.
Simon, this makes me feel ashamed to be a Texas Tech student.
Wow. Texas Tech's reputation has gone way down in my opinion. Can't believe any legitimate college would hire this dirtbag.
Criminals should be prosecuted and do hard time instead of landing elite jobs.
The univerdity is most fortunate to get this man period!!!!!!!!!
To: GOP = 21st century dodo
I'm at least on his side, sorry about you anonymous blogger, we don't even know if you are latino.
Perhaps he will reconsider his actions as Attorney General. Power is seductive, and most of us could not handle it either.
He belongs in Texas with W. Thank God all the idiots can go to one place!
West Texas is our answer to Siberia
Please – Be fare for once.
Nice to have you gainfully employed.