DOJ Diva of the Day: Rachel Paulose

Many tipsters have written in to ask us why we haven’t written about a certain delicious DOJ diva: U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose (D. Minn.), who has just been reassigned to Main Justice. From the New York Times:

The embattled United States attorney in Minnesota announced today that she would be stepping down to go work at the Justice Department in Washington on legal policy issues.

The announcement by the prosecutor, Rachel K. Paulose, 34, came in the wake of reports of new staff turmoil in her office, with at least one senior lawyer resigning from his management post in Minneapolis on Friday in a protest over her leadership. Three other managers gave up their administrative jobs in a similar protest in April.

Her resignation message appears here.
Some of you claim that we overuse the term “diva.” But diva is as diva does:

In an unusual public statement on a conservative blog last week, Ms. Paulose suggested that she was a victim of “McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the Federalist Society, a person or faith and/or a conservative (especially a young, conservative woman of color).”

For more evidence of diva-hood, see Eric Blank:

Paulose alienated most of the office staff with a leadership style that was described as insulting, an inability to listen respectfully to opinions that ran contrary to her own. Recently, she has been under investigation by two federal agencies for a series of alleged misdeeds, mostly involving the way she treated the staff but also her alleged improper handling of classified national security materials. She was also the subject of a very negative job review, based substantially on her management style.

One tipster writes, referring back to the controversy over her allegedly extravagant investiture as U.S. Attorney: “A diva reassigned. Will she have a coronation when she gets back to DC?”
Lots of links and more discussion, including disclosure about our prior interactions with Ms. Paulose, after the jump.

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Considering all the controversy around her over the past few months, we haven’t written as much about Rachel Paulose as one might expect. We have a confession to make. We felt a little weird writing about her, since we know Rachel personally.
We won’t give you the full account of our history with Rachel Paulose, which you probably wouldn’t find very interesting. Here’s the abridged version.
We didn’t know Rachel terribly well in law school, since she was two years ahead of us. But we bonded when we attended the post-graduation wedding of two mutual friends and classmates, and we remained friendly for a number of years. We would email and talk on the phone with some regularity, often about career-related matters. We had similar career trajectories: appellate court clerkships, law firm gigs, federal prosecutor stints.
But after we embarked upon our sinful blogging career, we got kicked to the curb. Rachel made quite clear to us that she did not approve of our professional trajectory. We could say more, but we’ll leave it at that.
Were we a little miffed at our dismissal? Sure. C’mon, Rachel… Why must you be so judgmental of how people earn a living? Even Jesus hung out with tax collectors and hos.
(Of course, part of us loved the high-handed treatment. Getting abused by divas is our idea of a good time!)
P.S. Now that we’ve issued this disclosure, we will feel more free to write about Rachel Paulose going forward. But we suspect that she won’t make as many waves now that she’s back in the loving embrace of Main Justice.
Paulose Resigns [Eric Blank Ink]
Paulose Offered Justice Department Position [TPMmuckraker]
U.S. Attorney in Minnesota Is Reassigned [New York Times]
Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney To Leave For Justice Department [WISN.com]
Earlier: DOJ Diva Alert! Meet U.S. Attorney Rachel K. Paulose

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