At Justice Department, a Watchdog on Graft Finds Its Teeth Again

By MATT APUZZO, NYT, APRIL 1, 2014

WASHINGTON — When Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., two months into his tenure, dismissed all corruption charges against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, it was an embarrassing nadir for the Justice Department section responsible for prosecuting politicians accused of misconduct.

The Public Integrity Section, long accustomed to exposing the official misdeeds of others, became the focus of two investigations of misconduct leading up to Mr. Stevens’s conviction. The head of the unit left under a cloud of suspicion. A promising young prosecutor committed suicide.

Since then, the unit known for headline-grabbing cases — from Abscam to Jack Abramoff — has kept a much lower profile. An elite team formed in the wake of Watergate, it has sought less publicized cases, often at the state level. Its prosecutors have taken routine gun and drug cases for the trial experience. Congress, kickbacks and dirty Washington politics seemed to take a back seat.

Now, after years of retooling, the Public Integrity Section has tiptoed back into the public light.

(More here.)