IS THE ARTICLE REAL OR IS IT ASHCROFT ASTRO-TURFING?

If witnesses in a criminal trial all told the same story, a U.S. attorney
might question if they had collaborated on their story for the benefit of a
defendant.

So when Middle Tennessee's U.S. Attorney, Jim Vines, writes an opinion
piece on mandatory minimum sentencing that reads like a similarly written
article by the Eastern District U.S. Attorney Sandy Mattice for the
Chattanooga Times Free Press, and another article by a federal prosecutor
in Guam, he shouldn't be surprised that someone might ask how this occurred.

Vines is entitled to his opinion, even one remarkably like that expressed
by other federal prosecutors. He explained that he had taken some talking
points and statistics from a U.S. Department of Justice report and used it
in his article, but he insisted the department was not directly involved in
the article.

Pardon the suspicions, but Attorney General John Ashcroft hasn't shown much
of a preference for independence in his U.S. attorneys. Many attorneys
general run a tight ship, but Ashcroft's is tighter than most. Indeed,
Ashcroft has called for prosecutors to monitor which judges are more
lenient on sentencing, a threat to judicial independence if there ever was one.

Astro-turfing or phony grassroots campaigning on mandatory minimum
sentencing sounds like the department doesn't brook much freedom of thought
there either. It also sounds like red meat for an election year bid to be
the toughest on crime. With a war on terror, the Justice Department surely
has better things to do than provide talking points for its attorneys.

The issue of mandatory minimum sentencing deserves the widest possible
debate within the federal government and within states. While it can cause
prison overcrowding and long sentences for lesser crimes, it has an impact
close to home. Federal prosecutors may be employees of the U.S. Department
of Justice, but the cases they choose and the decisions they make directly
impact the communities they serve. State and federal prosecutors need
leeway to make the best decisions to fight crime in their areas.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, one of the court's
conservatives, has called for scrapping mandatory minimum sentencing for
certain federal crimes. People do have different views. The scales of
justice have two sides. The Department of Justice should have no less.