Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Pence Drops U.S. Attorney Bid

The Indianapolis Times blog reports on Linda Pence's withdrawal from consideration as the next U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. Pence, who boasts of being a Super Lawyer, lost last year's race for Indiana Attorney General to Republican Greg Zoeller. The post has been vacant for more than two years after Susan Brooks left to become general counsel for Ivy Tech. It's a shame that the Obama administration has wasted so much time in appointing a new U.S. Attorney. If the past is prologue, we can expect another political hack as opposed to a professional prosecutor to eventually be named to the post. Federal law enforcement officials have been thwarted for many years from policing public corruption in the Southern District by political prosecutors of both parties. In Chicago, the Bush administration made the deliberate decision to appoint an outsider professional prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, to weed out systemmic public corruption in Illinois. So far Obama's Justice Department has allowed Fitzgerald to continue his work, which includes the prosecution of former Govs. Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan and high-ranking members of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's administration.

5 comments:

swan said...

President Obama's choice for U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Indiana, will tell us whether he is about change we can believe in. I hope so, but am not holding my breath.

artfuggins said...

Obama may name the most qualified candidate to be found but the republicans will delay, stall and filibuster just like they are in many of his other appointments.

Gary R. Welsh said...

You obviously haven't been living in the USA the last several decades, art. At no point in my adult life have the Democrats had such overwhelming majorities in both houses. They have about 60 votes in the Senate. If they can't get their nominees through Congress, then it has nothing to do with the Republicans.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Art,

If Pres. Obama appoints someone who is a Democrat but not part of the corrupt old boy Indianapolis political network and is willing to go after political corruption, then he or she would have my complete support.

artfuggins said...

You know full well that Senators Lieberman and Bayh have more in common witht he republican caucus and only serve as roadblocks to the Democrats.
This makes it impossible to stop the republican filibusters.