Earlier this month we learned that the Bush administration was determined to oust Carol Lam, the San Diego U.S. Attorney who has successfully prosecuted corruption cases against former-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and others connected to a scandal surrounding bribery of public officials in return for government contracts. At the time, the administration and its Republican allies said the reason behind what amounted to the firing of the able prosecutor was that she was not moving aggressively enough in immigration-related cases. But a pair of new stories indicate the real reasoning likely had more to do with the fact that Lam was uncovering the corrupt activities of Republican officials than any improper actions, or lack of actions on her part.

First, The Wall Street Journal, via TPM Muckracker, reports that Brent Wilkes, the man alleged to have bribed Congressman Cunningham, will likely be indicted before Lam leaves office on February 15. As TPMm's Justin Rood notes,

"Wilkes is involved -- some say centrally -- in more than the Duke Cunningham scandal: prosecutors chasing Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) also think he holds secrets that would help make a case against the former House Approprations Committee chairman, WSJ says. One of his companies was also the recipient of a questionable earmark courtesy of Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA), who is also under scrutiny by federal investigators."

Yet not only are there rumors that Lam is moving ahead with her probe into the improprieties of Republican lawmakers. According to an article in tomorrow's issue of The Hill penned by Susan Crabtree, Lam's office was taking her cause directly to the halls of Congress.

A flurry of subpoenas issued late last year to three powerful House committees and two staffers are raising new questions about House policies on document retention as well as internal House rules governing response to subpoenas.

A U.S. district court in San Diego sent subpoenas to the House Appropriations, Armed Services and Intelligence committees late in the year, according to notices in the Dec. 27 and Jan. 4 editions of the Congressional Record.

Elizabeth Phillips, an Appropriations staffer, and Rebecca Kuhn, who formerly worked as ex-Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's (R-Calif.) executive assistant, were also subpoenaed to testify, according to letters they submitted to then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as required by House rules.

The subpoenas originally carried a Jan. 11 deadline, but the assistant U.S. attorney's office in San Diego has extended it to Jan. 31 to give the new Democratic majority and new leaders of the three committees time to "compile documents that are responsive to the subpoena," said Drew Hammill, spokesman for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

The subpoenas stem from the case against Cunningham, a former member of the Appropriations and Intelligence panels who is serving eight years in prison for accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for earmarking government contracts. A grand jury in San Diego has been considering evidence against Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor who is accused of conspiring with Cunningham.

It's not clear if the new Democratic Congress will comply in this matter as the previous Republican Congress failed to in the investigation of "Dollar" Bill Jefferson last year. That said, given the fact that it has been a matter of public record that Lam's office was plowing ahead with its investigation of the crimes related to Brent Wilkes -- crimes that have the potential of bringing down high-profile Republican members of Congress -- it is less and less plausible that the White House's firing of Lam was simply a result of her alleged unwillingness to deal with immigration cases as they saw fit. Instead, it is becoming abundantly and painfully clear that the Bush administration is stamping out any effort to shed light on the wide-ranging Republican culture of corruption. In this case, the judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate must lean on the Department of Justice and not allow Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to squelch necessary investigations, and the House ethics committee or perhaps even a special select committee appointed by Speaker Pelosi need to conduct their own corruption probe that uses the powers entrusted in Congress to weed out the wrongdoers on Capitol Hill.