Joyce White Vance has already been confirmed as the new U.S. Attorney for Alabama's Northern District and Kenyan Brown's nomination for the Southern District is on it's way to the full Senate for a vote, but there's still no nominee for the Middle District, a post currently held by Leura Canary. What's up with the delay? Danny offered a good explanation at the Political Parlor last week.
He points out that Rep. Artur Davis's advisory committee on appointments initially put forth the names of Michel Nicrosi and Joe Van Heest for this slot. Sen. Jeff Sessions voiced some sort of objection to Nicrosi and Sen. Richard Shelby is opposing Van Heest's nomination. Since these appointments must be confirmed by the Senate, even one Senator can block them -- that isn't the president's fault, it's a fact of life under Senate rules -- so the appointment is languishing.
Our source familiar with the process believes that there is a very good chance that the matter will be resolved in a matter of weeks in one of three ways in this order of likelihood: 1) Shelby will release the hold on Van Heest, 2) George Beck will be nominated, or 3) the Obama Justice Deparment will send in a career person from outside the state, similar to what George W. Bush’s Justice Department did when it sent Deborah Rhodes to the Southern District of Alabama.
A deal to keep Bush appointee Leura Canary? That’s not what we hear.
Of course, not everyone agrees this delay isn't some kind of secret deal to keep Leura Canary in office and, like so many things these days, it's really all Artur Davis' fault.
A recent piece from Legal Schnauzer (emailed to me by someone on the Sparks campaign under the subject line; "Wow") relays information from Dana Jill Simpson, a key figure in the Don Siegelman saga who has very strong opinions about this nomination, emphasis mine.
What will happen in the Middle District of Alabama? That remains unclear. But Jill Simpson clearly does not intend to sit quietly by while Artur Davis pushes George Beck for U.S. attorney. She says Joe Turnham, chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, should examine why Davis is pushing a candidate with ties to Bill Canary and Karl Rove.
Is this about Davis' attempts to gain support from business interests in the 2010 campaign for governor? Simpson has some pretty clear thoughts on that, and she is calling on Democrats to help her stop it:
Please call everyone you know to stop this appointment. I will be fighting it daily, 24/7, because I believe Mr Beck is the wrong guy to clean up the Middle District in Montgomery. Also, I am asking all state Democrats to call Joe Turnham and ask him to bring Artur Davis before the State Democratic Executive Committee and ask him to explain how he can support a guy who was key to wrongfully prosecuting Don Siegelman. If Artur Davis is going to support all of Bill Canary and Karl Rove's picks, shouldn't he be running as a Republican?
...
The Democrats of Alabama need to wake up and throw Artur Davis out on his behind. Please tell the White House that we know down here in Alabama that Artur Davis is curled up with the Big Republicans and doing what they ask.
Ms. Simpson obviously doesn't have much use for either Beck or Davis, but I'd be very surprised amazed if the Alabama Democratic Party took the advice of a former Republican* opposition researcher about hauling one of it's own in for questioning -- especially considering that this is a presidential appointment subject to Senate confirmation and the Democrat in question is a member of the House, which has no formal role in the appointment of a U.S. Attorney. Also, is there any evidence that Davis is (ick!) "curled up with Big Republicans?" Shouldn't a person making such a claim provide one or two shreds of evidence to back it up? Maybe former Republican researchers operate under different standards or something ...
In response to my query, a spokesperson from Congressman Davis' office said Jill Simpson ...
... has apparently forgotten that Congressman Davis actively pushed for an investigation of the very serious claims she made regarding the Siegelman case. The Congressman wishes Ms. Simpson well as she seeks to re-establish her career. As far as George Beck is concerned, Beck has expressed his interest in the US Attorney’s position as have other individual in the middle district. Davis continues to believe that Joe Van Heest is the best qualified candidate for US Attorney in the Middle district. Ultimately the White House and the Justice Department will make their own choice as to whom they want to be the US attorney.
I don't believe there's a grand conspiracy to keep Leura Canary in office -- as Danny pointed out, it took Bill Clinton 19 months to get around to filling this post -- but it's starting to look like some of Don Siegelman's most vocal supporters are also the quickest to find fault with Davis. Which is pretty ironic, because Davis actually did stick his neck out back in 2007 to get Siegelman's case before the House Judiciary Committee. Like they say, no good deed goes unpunished.
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