PITTSBURGH, PA — Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, remains steadfast in her refusal to tender her resignation to the incoming administration in stark defiance of political tradition.Buchanan, whose anti-porn and anti-pot zealotry and dogged pursuit of corrupt Democrats have served her well within a Department of Justice known more for its staunch adherence to conservative doctrine than for any true dedication to constitutional precepts, counts among the high points of her career spending $12 million to jail entertainer Tommy Chong for sending a bong through the mail and the on-again, off-again obscenity prosecution of Extreme Associates. In addition, Buchanan took a personal interest in the obscenity prosecution and eventual guilty plea and home confinement of Karen Fletcher, former webmistress of Red Rose Stories, as well as in ensuring Pennsylvania physician Bernard Rottschaefer stays in prison for exchanging prescriptions for sex despite the admittedly perjured testimony that put him there.

Oh, and let’s not forget Buchanan’s alleged involvement in the firing of several dozen assistant U.S. Attorneys who declined to toe the Republican Party line.

For the most part, adult industry attorneys view Buchanan’s announcement — made during a press conference called specifically for the purpose of informing anyone who would listen that she wouldn’t abandon her post without marching orders — with a mixture of disbelief and amusement.

“It is bizarre,” Larry Walters told YNOT, noting that it’s traditional for all U.S. Attorneys appointed by one President to tender resignations upon the ascension of his successor. “That’s been appropriate in every other administration as far back as I can remember. The resignations may not be accepted, but they’re at least offered.

“She either wants to force [President-elect Barack Obama to fire her], or she believes the Obama administration wants to keep her on, despite her political ideology being at complete odds with what Team Obama stands for,” he opined. “It’s going to be a big surprise to me, personally, if that happens. Obama is trying to put together a ‘team of rivals,’ but she has to know her time is up. She’s done enough damage to the Constitution for one lifetime.”

J. D. Obenberger chalked up Buchanan’s move to political grandstanding.

“She’s a Republican soldier. If [former Attorney General] John Ashcroft or [former AG] Alberto Gonzales had come to a rapid halt, Mary Beth Buchanan would have broken her nose,” he said. “There’s no question she’s trying to embarrass the Obama administration: Either she’s setting up Obama’s people or she’s delusional and believes she’s something special. In either case, what she’s really after is to become a martyr to the conservative agenda so she can run for Senator in the mid-term elections.”

Obenberger is not the only one who sees a political run in Buchanan’s future. Reason magazine’s Radley Balko made no bones about that hypothesis when he wrote, “Buchanan isn’t delusional. She’s calculating. My guess is that this is a stunt to force Obama to fire her, at which point she’ll make a public stink, play the martyr, then attempt to parlay the resulting controversy into a run for the Senate, or perhaps for governor of Pennsylvania.”

Attorney and Free Speech Coalition Chairman Jeffrey Douglas said Buchanan’s political aspirations should be no secret, considering her apparent love for the media spotlight (she has appeared on a number of national news and talk shows) and preference for high-profile court appearances over the administrative tasks that typically form the bulk of a U.S. Attorney’s job.

“That she would call a press conference [to announce her refusal to resign] is just pathetic,” he told YNOT. “She may hope for political standing within the Republican Party, but even that’s pretty silly. I hope she does [seek office]. It’s just wonderful when resources are wasted on people who are that ideological running for office. I might even send her a $3 campaign contribution myself.”

According to Douglas, reporters in Buchanan’s home district are both amused and appalled by the woman.

“Reporters have told me that she’s grossly incompetent and an embarrassment,” he said. “Normally [U.S. Attorneys are] invisible. Hardly anyone knows who the one in their district is — unless they wind up with a high-profile political corruption scandal in Illinois. For most [the job] is an administrative position making sure everything is done right, but [Buchanan] would rather sit in on Tommy Chong’s sentencing.

“As unsympathetic as I usually am to prosecutors, my heart goes out to the assistant U.S. Attorneys who have to work with her.”

For her part, Buchanan — who has worked in the federal prosecutor’s office since her graduation from the University of Pittsburgh’s law school in 1988 — downplayed the political overtones of her announcement in favor of a more altruistic motive.

“It doesn’t serve justice for all the U.S. Attorneys to submit their resignations all at one time,” she told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I am open to considering further service to the United States.”

Attorney Robert S. Apgood got a charge out of that.

“Quite frankly, Buchanan is not merely arrogant — she’s downright impudent,” he told YNOT. “She ‘might consider working in the Obama administration?’ Bah. As if he’d have her! And, I suspect, she actually believes that her position is reasonable and tenable. What egotism!

“I hope she stays put, just so Obama can make a fanfare about booting her conservative, nepotistic ass right down to Dubya’s front lawn in his fancy new exclusive North Dallas suburb. AGs serve ‘at the pleasure of the President.’ They are not entitled to ‘hold on’ to their positions when the President who appointed them is no longer President.

“[This is] typical Republican arrogance,” he added. “They’ve been pulling this kind of shit for so long that now they think it’s status quo. Elephant guano.”

Regardless of the stink that probably would be raised by far-right pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly should Obama fire Buchanan — though both O’Reilly and Limbaugh have vocally supported President George W. Bush’s executive privilege to do much worse — many mainstream media voices are imploring the President-elect to do exactly that.

“…President Obama should fire her,” Ann Davidow wrote at BuzzFlash.com. “It can’t be okay anymore for anyone to dream up their own rules and practices. Part of a new way forward must be to rid Washington of the self-indulgent Bush contingent and its unparalleled arrogance. Besides, retaining loyalists to a former president isn’t always a good idea. Who can forget the part Bush holdover Linda Tripp played in sabotaging the Clinton administration? One can carry the bi-partisan thing too far.”