Texas finally to see U.S. attorney selections - My West Texas

WASHINGTON - After two years of missteps and partisan bickering among Texas lawmakers, President Barack Obama is poised to soon nominate candidates to fill several U.S. attorney vacancies in the state.

The nominations could come as early as next week, officials said, giving the U.S. Senate time to confirm the appointments before an election year.

Obama has nominated - and the Senate has confirmed - U.S. attorneys for every state but Texas, Utah and Mississippi, a source of frustration for state legislators.

"I'm a little dumbfounded by their inactivity and their unwillingness to move forward," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "They haven't made this a priority."

But an Obama administration official said U.S. attorney nominees for Texas would be announced soon.

Of the 93 U.S. attorney posts in the country, 12 remained unfilled. According to Main Justice, an organization that focuses on the Justice Department, the four vacancies in Texas are in San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Lufkin.

White House spokesman Adam Abrams defended a deliberate system by the president to nominate "well-qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds who will respect the rule of law and understand how the law impacts Americans' daily lives."

Texas Republicans and Democrats, however, say the White House has been slow to fill the posts.

Also to blame, others said, is partisan bickering between the state's Republican senators and House Democrats over a panel created by Cornyn and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to screen potential judicial nominees.

"That has slowed everything there," said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond School of Law professor.

Cornyn said the judicial evaluation panel is bipartisan, and has taken into consideration the concerns of House Democrats.

Texas Democrats, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin, have chafed at the power leveraged by senators over the nomination process. The White House, Texas Democrats said, has sought their input for the vacant federal judicial posts, which include judges, attorney and marshals.

But the Republicans senators, with the constitutional power to block presidential nominees, have used their leverage to prescreen Democratic candidates.

Even when both sides have agreed, problems have plagued the process for Texas.

The senators and Democratic lawmakers agreed on two candidates - recommended to the White House for U.S. attorney positions in East and West Texas - but both candidates withdrew when the process dragged on.

Obama nominated John Stevens Jr. in Feb. 2009 to serve in the Eastern District of Texas as U.S. attorney, but the Senate Judiciary Committee never conducted a confirmation hearing. Stevens withdrew his nomination a year later.

Michael McCrum, a San Antonio lawyer, was recommended by the senators and House Democrats for U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas. But McCrum never was nominated, and he cited his frustration when he withdrew his name in October.

McCrum said he gave up cases for nine months waiting for a nomination that never came.

The San Antonio-based Western District has been without a presidential appointed U.S. attorney since Johnny Sutton stepped down in April 2009.

U.S. magistrate Judge Robert Pitman of Austin has been recommended for the post.

In the Houston-based Southern District, congressional Democrats want Obama to nominate Larry Veselka, a lawyer and former Harris County Democratic Party chairman.

But the senators have recommended Kenneth Magidson, an assistant U.S. attorney and former interim Harris County district attorney.

Sources in Houston said Magidson is expected to be one of those nominated by the White House. When contacted, Magidson declined to comment.

Republican senators also recommended Sarah Saldana, an assistant U.S. attorney in Dallas, for the Northern District.

Her nomination is opposed by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, who wants Obama to select Dallas lawyer Roger Williams or Terri Moore, the Dallas County assistant district attorney.

Malcolm Bales, currently serving as the U.S. attorney in Lufkin, is recommended by Texas senators for appointment by the president.

In the absence of appointments, career Justice Department lawyers are running the U.S. attorneys offices and prosecuting cases.

Presidential appointees also carry out the administration's priorities through judicial discretion.

"There is always discretion of picking cases you want to prosecute," Tobias said.

Houston Chronicle Staff Writer Brian Rogers contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_4fa22521-50f1-550d-95da-fd58a336a026.html

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