It wasn’t too long ago when former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales — the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer, former White House counsel, and rumored to be a possible Supreme Court justice — was charging $40,000 for each public appearance. Now he’s stuck doing commencement addresses.
That, in and of itself, wouldn’t be especially embarrassing. After all, for a former AG to speak at, say, Harvard Law School’s commencement is a pretty prestigious gig. But Alberto Gonzales isn’t speaking at elite law schools’ graduations. Or non-elite law school. Or university.
Reader JRD alerted me to Gonzales’ latest appearance.
Former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served in the Bush Administration until his resignation in September 2007, gave the commencement address at Free Will Baptist School’s graduation ceremony Friday night, delivering a personal story of how his persistent pursuit of education brought him the American dream.
Yes, Gonzales gave the commencement address at a high school in the Virgin Islands. It’s not even an especially big high school — the graduating class has six students.
Stephen Beck, Free Will Baptist’s principal said Gonzales is “a friend of a friend.” One assumes Beck did not pay Gonzales $40,000.
David Lat added, “Does he do children’s birthday parties too?”
And all of this comes not long after we learned that Gonzales has not exactly been sought out by law-firm recruiters.
Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.
He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.
Well, sure they’re “typically” sought after. Most law firms would love to have a former Attorney General on their roster. When a firm is approaching a potential client, and anxious to emphasize the prestige and influence of the firm, a partner takes pride in saying, “Yes, we even have a former Attorney General on staff.” When that AG was rumored to have been considered for the Supreme Court, the cachet is even more impressive still.
But that’s the problem for ol’ Fredo. Everyone knows him, everyone saw his performance as arguably the worst Attorney General in history, and everyone knows the disdain with which he regards the rule of law. He’s not the guy you hire; he’s the guy whose phone messages you ignore.