Panel Seeks Written Account From Gonzales

By DAVID JOHNSTON

WASHINGTON, April 5 — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on Thursday to provide the panel with a written account of his role in last year’s dismissals of eight United States attorneys at least two days before his scheduled April 17 testimony.

In a letter to Mr. Gonzales, the chairman, Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, requested “a full and complete account of the development of the plan to replace United States attorneys, and all the specifics of your role in connection with that matter.”

Mr. Gonzales’s aides regard the hearing as a crucial performance in which he must do a better job than he has in explaining his actions. He made public statements asserting he was not involved in discussions regarding the dismissals, but e-mail messages later released by the Justice Department showed he was briefed at least twice on the matter.

Mr. Gonzales’s statements were contradicted by his former chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, who told the Senate panel last week that Mr. Gonzales was incorrect when he asserted that he had had very limited involvement in the discussions.

The skirmishing over the hearing began as another panel postponed a budget hearing set for next Thursday in which Mr. Gonzales was to testify. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat who is chairwoman of the appropriations subcommittee, said the uproar over the dismissals made it difficult to focus on the Justice Department’s budget.

The decision to postpone the budget hearing was not unexpected, but Mr. Gonzales’s aides had hoped he could use that forum, which they thought likely to be less hostile than the judiciary panel, to defend his past statements.

Brian Roehrkasse, a Justice Department spokesman, said the change was “regrettable,” adding that Mr. Gonzales “looks forward to testifying before Congress on Department of Justice appropriations, U.S. attorneys and the other important work of the department as soon as possible.”

In another development, a federal watchdog agency that investigates violations of employment laws has opened a preliminary inquiry into last year’s dismissal of David C. Iglesias, the former United States attorney in New Mexico, an agency spokesman said.

Mr. Iglesias has been interviewed by investigators from the Office of Special Counsel, an executive branch agency that investigates accusations of employment abuses under laws including those that protect the rights of military reservists like Mr. Iglesias, who is a Navy lawyer.

Loren Smith, a spokesman for the agency, said Mr. Iglesias had filed a complaint.

Under the Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act, employees may not be demoted or dismissed because of absences for military service. Some Justice Department officials said Mr. Iglesias was removed in part because he had been absent and had left an assistant in charge.

If the office determined that Mr. Iglesias had a valid claim, it could seek remedies like back pay or reinstatement in administrative proceedings. Mr. Iglesias has said he does not want to return to office. The office does not have authority to conduct criminal investigations.

Mr. Iglesias said that he was gone from his office 36 to 45 days a year for required military service and that he had notified the Justice Department each time he left for duty.