The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-10-02
Government Officials Must Let
Politics Alone.
THE RULE TO BE ENFORCED
District Attorney Lass1ter OF
Virginia Resigns.
ATTORNEY GENERALS LETTER
lnfin,ated to Lassiter That HIS Course
Was Detrimental to Justice and That
He Was NO Longer DESIRED
i'm the Service

NAV have existed as to the course OF
the administration with reference 20
the enforcement of the rule against
officers of the government, especially
those in any way connected with the
Judicial branch, actively engaged in
political campaigns, was dissipated
yesterday by the action of Attorney
General Harmon in accepting the resig-
nation of Francis r. Lassiter, United
State Attorney for the Eastern Dis
trict of Virginia. Complaints had
reached the department of justice
that Mr. Lassiter was acting as chair
man of a campaign committee and
otherwise taking a prominent and ac-
tive part in the practical politics of
his district. In a letter to Mr.. Lassiter
of September 18th Judge Harmon calls
attention to these complaints and says
that while of course there is moth
ing in the holding of any Office which
can or should interfere with a mans
freedom of private opinion or personal
political action, he cannot, when either
a candidate for another Office or ac-
lively engaged ia managing a campaign
for others who are such candidates,
avoid emharTassments and entangle-
ments which necessarily interfere, or
al least may be thought TO interfere,
with the proper discharge of his official
duties
In reply, Mr.. Iassi1er explains his
position. stating that he had previous
IL held the Office of committeeman for
his district and that he was known as
an active working Democrat at the
time or his appointment as United
States Attorney. He dissents from the
suggestion that such conduct is incon-
sistent with his obligations TO the adj
miniStra<i0n or TO the public service.
On the 18th Of September the Attorney
General sent him the following letter,
which called forth his resignation,
which has been accepted:
ATToRNEYGENERAL'S LETTER
sAg for some reason you have
thought best TO add your letter Of to-
day - the very full conversation we
had uEon your response In person 10
my letter of the 18th instant / reply
to your letter because you do not seem
to have understood clearly my letter
or my side Of our conversation.
ssWhatever rule may prevail In other
departments. ii is well settled in this,
as stated In my letter, that there is
an improperly IN officers ike you act
ing as committeeman TO manage and
conduct political campaigns. The rea-
sons are 50 manifest that they should
not require more than a mere sugges-
tion
THE same reasons which are uni
yersaily held to preclude judges from
active participation In political cam
paigns apply, though perhaps in some
what less degree, 10 all officers con-
cerned IN the administration of justice.
As United States Attorney you deter
mime whom to prosecute and whom
not TO prosecute. You conduct or re
commend the discontinuance Of prose
cutions already commenced. You have
admission to the grand jury room, and
indictments are found or refused
largely upon your advice. If concede
that you are, as you to-day claimed TO
be, one Of those rare men who are be-
yond the reach of the unconscious
operation Of feelings Of personal favor
or disfavor, as / am sure you are be-
yond the reach Of the conscious opera
ton Of such feelings, still the general
confidence of the community in your
conduct as a public officer of justice
is at least at risk if, while holding
that office, You so engage in the ex-
citing and often bitter political cam
paigns in which the entire community
is ranged on one side or the other.
FOSTERS UNFRIENDLY FEELINGS.
''Your political work necessarily
brings you ia direct contact with peo-
pie of all classes whose assistance you
seek to gain or whose opposition you
seek to overcome. ii is impossible for
you to do and have done the work
which deyolves on members of q cam
paign committee, especially in times of
high feeling and great excitement,
without gathering crop of friendly
and unfriendly feelings which, as COM
mon experience teaches, very often
have an unconscious influence on
thought and action. 1t is more than
likely that some of the persons with
whom your political action SO brings
YOU in contact will be involved in your
future official action. You may be able,
"a Won think you are, to escape or re-
r,resa in what you do as an officer all
effect of the recollections of your cam
paign work, but you viii be utterly uns
able, especially in cases where your
your supposed inclination, TO make the
community at large believe that your
action has not been in any degree so
affected. And, as has often been said
by those who have established and
maintained the high standing of the
tribunals of justice, it is not only nee
essary that their officers should be in
fact fair and impartial, but also that
they should avoid all circumstances
likely to give rise to suspicion that they
are or may be otherwise.
''The rule which ] have mentioned
is not new; it has been often enforced
both by my predecessors and by my
self. ] now repeat that your case
comes plainly within it.
"As | told you, neither the rule nor
its application are to be affected by the
man or the circumstances involved in
it's application. Whatever political
party or creed your action should be
exerted to support the rule would be
4hq same