The "company man" hired and fired by the Bush administration as U.S. attorney in San Francisco was a loyal Republican the administration wanted to keep on — until it appeared he could become a public relations liability.

Unlike seven other fired federal prosecutors who may have run afoul of the administration for political reasons, San Francisco U.S. Atty. Kevin Ryan was a team player for Bush and had influential Republican support. A friend of the president even went to bat for Ryan after his firing.

"You would have to know Kevin," said UC Hastings College of the Law professor Rory Little. "You can't find a stronger supporter of the Bush administration agenda."

His tenure, however, was plagued by morale problems and accusations that he was a bad manager. A number of the office's most experienced lawyers left.

Despite his problems, which were well documented in legal newspapers, Justice officials wanted to keep Ryan on, even as they plotted the firings of other U.S. attorneys. It was only when a Democratic judge threatened to go to Congress to raise a public fuss over an excoriating written evaluation of Ryan's office that Ryan was put on the termination list, according to e-mails released by the White House.

Some lawyers in San Francisco speculated that Ryan hung on so long because of strong political connections. One of them, Gerald Parsky, a Los Angeles-based Republican fundraiser who vetted federal appointments in California for the Bush administration, quickly came to Ryan's aid.

"FYI," William Kelley, the deputy White House counsel, e-mailed Sampson on Dec. 7. "Jerry Parsky has put in an outraged call protesting the fact of Ryan's departure.''

The e-mail warned that Parsky was scheduled for lunch with Bush the following week.

Parsky's intervention spurred more e-mails. William Kelley, an aide to White House political strategist Karl Rove, told Sampson that "Ryan is the only one so far calling in political chits (which is reason enough to justify the [firing] decision, in my view), but Karl would like to know some particulars as he fields these calls."

Ryan, however, sought to assure the Bush administration that he would not cooperate with critics of the firings.

In an e-mail to Sampson, Elston said Ryan's former deputy had called and assured him that Ryan was not returning telephone calls from Feinstein or Carol Lam, the ousted U.S. attorney in San Diego.

"He wanted us to know that he's still a 'company man,' '' Elston wrote.

Parsky, an investment banker in Los Angeles, chaired the Bush effort in California, and even though the GOP ticket was soundly whipped-Al Gore won the state by 12 percentage points-Parsky has become an extraordinarily influential figure in Bush's circle of advisers. Virtually unknown in Washington, Parsky talks to top Bush aide Karl Rove several times a week (that's in addition to their regular politics-and-policy phone conversation every Sunday). He's deeply involved in some of the president's top-priority initiatives, including Social Security reform and the selection of federal judges.