White House Close to Alabama U.S. Attorney Choice
November 17th, 2009by Glynn Wilson
Highly placed sources in Alabama legal and political circles are now saying the White House may soon break the logjam on the replacement of the unpopular U.S. attorney in Montgomery with the appointment of assistant U.S. attorney Tamara Matthews Johnson, an African-American woman with Republican leanings who has been involved in many of the political prosecutions against Democrats, including the case against Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford.
That is where things are headed today, according to one key source who insisted on remaining anonymous. The name was confirmed with others who have their ears to the ground in Montgomery and Washington.
Ms. Johnson is now “a strong contender with the inside track” — that is unless activists on the Democratic Party side of things act quickly to stop the White House train from rolling in the wrong direction.
As has been reported before somewhat accurately, according to the sources, Republican U.S. Senator Richard Shelby has held up the appointment of former public defender Joseph Van Heest, while Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions objected to Michel Nicrosi, a Montgomery native and former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District, as well as attorney George Beck, some of the names floated for the job.
A special committee appointed by Birmingham Congressman Artur Davis to recommend judicial appointments to the Obama administration named Van Heest as its second choice. Sources who know him say he would be an excellent choice, although Shelby’s objections are too strong to overcome, they say.
The Obama administration has charted a policy of not naming new U.S. attorneys until replacements can be found, in what our key source calls “a bad policy.” The administration is also reportedly searching for candidates who would not face controversial confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate, thus the reason Republican Senators such as Shelby have a voice at all with a Democrat in the White House and a solid Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.
While much speculation has appeared in the blogosphere and the mainstream media about who will replace Bush appointed prosecutor Leura Canary, who failed to recuse herself in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, none of the speculative reporting is spot on target, according to our source, who has been directly involved in talks with the White House staff and the Department of Justice.
Ms. Johnson ostensibly has the inside track in part because of a close friend on the White House staff from law school, but her appointment “would be disastrous,” the key source says. In spite of being black, she is a right-wing Republican in the mold of Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas, and would be the “absolute worse thing that could happen” to the Middle District of Alabama.
Shelby and others originally backed assistant U.S. attorney Anna Clark Morris for the appointment, the daughter of influential trial lawyer Larry Morris of Alexander City, a Democrat but a close friend of Shelby’s. Former U.S. attorney Doug Jones also recommended Morris for the position, as did the Alabama Democratic Party advisory panel, but she hasn’t been vetted by the White House and won’t be nominated, sources say, because of objections raised by Davis.
To avoid any confusion, it must be reported that the state Democratic Party panel also recommended a different woman from Birmingham with a similar name, city attorney Tamara Harris Johnson, to the U.S. District Court judgeship vacated by U.W. Clemon. That post was filled by Abdul Kallon.
Tamara Matthews Johnson, on the other hand, was involved in the public corruption unit in Birmingham that brought the original charges against Siegelman that were eventually dropped by U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon. She worked on every case brought against Democrats in the Alabama Legislature, sources say, as well as the Langford case, in what is being described as “an ethically challenged office.”
Ms. Johnson “is exceptionally bright and has a hell of a resume,” the key source says. She attended Duke Law School and clerked with a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. “But she is a rabid, right-wing Republican.”
Davis has indicated to the White House and the Justice Department that Democratic Party officials will oppose her nomination, the key source contends, but “the White House is driving this train.”
The Obama administration has prided itself on the non-partisan nature of its appointments, bringing some Republicans on board, including Senator Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary as well as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Obama also retained Robert Gates, a Bush appointee, as Secretary of Defense.
Who in the White House is driving the train for the nomination of Ms. Johnson is not clear, but our key source says it is not White House counsel Greg Craig, a friend of Siegelman’s who has also represented the Bush family, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush’s political attack dog Karl Rove in the past.
Craig recently announced that he would leave his job by the end of the year. According to most of the reporting by the national media, he announced his resignation mainly due to mishandling the closing of the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. To expert observers, however, that story didn’t make a lot of sense.
Local reporter Roger Shuler offered a different take in this report, but our sources say Craig is not behind the decision to appoint Ms. Johnson anyway. Our key source does not know who is directly driving the train in this case, but he urged people to call and voice objections with President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Senior adviser David Axelrod and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.
They should say “this is wrong,” the source said. “Yeah, we want Leura Canary out of there, but we don’t want somebody who is worse.”
Ms. Johnson, the source says, “would be another Alice Martin.”
November 17th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
This kind of mess is a superb argument for making U.S. district attorney posts part of the civil service merit system and not part of the other hundreds of political appointments presidents get to make.
Prosecutors are hybrids, functioning simultaneously as “officers of the court,” making them part of the judiciary, and as “law enforcement officials,” making them part of the executive. There is nothing inherent in the duties of the position that demand it be a politically-appointed job.
And, in case anyone needs a demonstration, just look at what happened in U.S. district attorney’s offices nationwide under eight years of Bush.
Let’s remove DAs from the list of political appointees and make them civil service merit system.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
That’s a great idea, but I have no idea where to start to accomplish it. Who in the world would you pitch it to? Congress?
November 18th, 2009 at 9:54 am
It would be Congress. They could simply pass a law including the position of federal district attorney in the civil service merit system and, presto, no more political appointments, ever.
For those old enough to remember: back when the Postal Service was the U.S. Post Office, not only the Postmaster General was politically appointed but the postmasters in all major cities and most minor ones. Since the post rotated between Democrats and Republicans, typically the old postmaster would become a civil service deputy until his party won again, and his predecessor would do the same thing, playing musical chairs over the years.
That bit of history also explains why Gene Crutcher got fired back in the early 60s from his Post Office job for writing letters to Castro. It likely wouldn’t happen today, but back then postmasters could circumvent civil service when they wanted and get rid of “undesireables.”
November 18th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Well, maybe we can bring up getting rid of the last remnants of the old political spoils system — after we pass a health care bill and a climate change bill and … get a few wins on Obama’s belt.
As you know, this bill won’t come from Alabama’s congressional delegation. Maybe someone should look around and find another state with a similar problem and get someone from Oregon, Wisconsin or Massachusetts to propose it…
November 18th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Another source reports today that Davis may go along if this is the choice the White House makes.
The state’s GOP and corporate press want someone appointed who will both keep the investigations going against Democrats and protect the Riley administration.
It is pretty obvious that the White House is tired of dealing with a divided state that matters little in the national picture anyway, so they are threatening to give the state Condi lite…
November 18th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
In reply to an e-mail question, Ms. Johnson clerked for Sandra Day O’Connor at the U.S. Supreme Court, a Reagan appointee…
November 18th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Wouldn’t that be political suicide for Artur Davis? That is, unless he decides to switch parties himself.
November 18th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
You got me, man. It’s a total mystery to me how Davis thinks he can win a Democratic Party primary for governor by running as a corporate conservative. Maybe in a general election, although as I reported way back last December, the people of Alabama are nowhere near ready to elect a black governor anyway. It will be another decade…
Fighting the Final Battles of the Civil War
November 18th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Can anyone hazard a guess as to why the Obama administration seems to be determined to defend the Siegelman prosecution? I’ve read the most recent developments and I am perplexed. Why did the justice department rush address the botched Ted Stevens prosecution but they are apparently going to let Siegelman twist in the wind. What is going on?
November 18th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
It has been clear from the outset, as I have written several times before, that Obama’s stance was to “look forward, not back.”
No one in DC is going to put their political career on the line, at least not until the legal process runs its course. There’s a motion for a new trial and an appeal with the Supreme Court still ahead for Siegelman.
Stevens was another case. He was a Republican with clear evidence of prosecutorial misconduct and, perhaps most importantly, several members of Congress willing to go to bat for him in Washington.
Since Davis resigned from the House Judiciary Committee right after the Nov. 2008 election to run for governor, proving he was a card carrying member of the look forward not back camp, he has not been willing to carry the political water to save Siegelman. Besides, if Siegelman were exonerated, either by DOJ dismissing the charges like they did in the Stevens case, or by presidential pardon, Davis might have to face him in a Democratic Party primary in Alabama for governor or Senator.
Davis would deny it, of course, and Siegelman has indicated publicly that he has no interest in running in the future, although privately that might not be the case.
There is little doubt who would win in a race between the two men for public opinion in Alabama, in spite of what you might read in the local chain press or hear on the radio or TV around here.
The Web Press is the place to be, if you want to know what’s really going on, and I’m not talking about anonymous blogs…
November 18th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Thanks so much for the detailed reply, Glynn. So appreciated!
November 18th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
No prob! There’s always the PayPal Donate button : )
Top left on the blog, top right on the news page…
November 18th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
From Jill Simpson via e-mail:
In recent weeks Alabamians have seen numerous articles appearing across the state that suggest Senator Shelby can single handedly block the appointment of the new Middle District United States Attorney by turning in a blue slip. For this reason I decided to research the Senate Blue Slip to see if this was true and found it was not the truth.
What I found is that the Senate Blue Slip is an opinion written by a Senator from the state of the residence of a federal judicial position nominee such as United States Attorneys. Apparently, both Senators any time there is a new appointment are sent a blue slip to fill out to tell their fellow Senators what they think about the appointment. At that point, they are able to submit a favorable report and opinion or an unfavorable report and opinion of a nominee. They may also choose to not return the blue slip at all. It is then the option of the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine what weight they will give the blue slip when considering whether or not to recommend to the Senate to confirm a nominee. This is considered just a senatorial courtesy. What this is not is a unilateral right for a Senator to be vexatious in the appointment of a judicial position nominee.
In fact, during President Bush’s reign a law professor at Cumberland University in Alabama named Brandon Denny, wrote an article called, “The Blue Slip: Enforcing the Norms of Judicial Confirmation Process”. The article appeared in The Williams and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, Vol. 10, 2001. In that article Professor Denny very accurately stated, “that the Executive Branch needs to take a more active role in identifying what is perceived to be an abuse of procedure during a confirmation process.” What he meant by that was that we cannot allow Senators to abuse the blue slip process to allow perfectly good nominees to be denied and that the Executive Branch should take active steps to notify the public when a Senator is abusing the procedure of blue slips just to get his way.
It is clear that in Alabama today we have that very situation. Richard Shelby took weeks to object, so we have been told, to Mr. Joe Van Heest. However, the White House has not released what Mr. Shelby put in his blue slip when he objected to Mr. Joe Van Heest. The White House should tell the Democrats in Alabama who helped in electing them what Senator Richard Shelby put in his objection to Mr. Joe Van Heest. If Mr. Shelby is just objecting without having made a formal report then he is clearly perverting the process of the blue slip he should be made to tell why he is objecting and it should be a good reason. This thwarting of the process is allowing a good nominee to be denied all because a Republican Senator is being allowed to run roughshod over the White House.
Surely, President Obama is not going to allow a little senator from Alabama to tell him not to appoint a good candidate who is approved by both Alabama Democrat groups that made recommendations for the appointment.
Additionally, Jeff Sessions supposedly objected to Michel Nicrosi. I am calling for the White House to also see that we are released the reasons in the blue slip for Jeff Sessions opposition to her.
One has to wonder what on earth is going on in the White House. Are they being held hostage from appointing a United States Attorney by two little senators in Alabama from the Republican party? Clearly the news coming out of Washington today that they may appoint Tamara Matthews Johnson is unsettling considering that she clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor who was a Reagan Republican appointee and was a key member in Alice Martin’s legal team that repeatedly targeted Democrats in political cases .
It is time for all the Democrats in America to call Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, and demand that he take steps to prove to the Democrats in Alabama that the White House is standing up to the two Republican Senators who are abusing the blue slip system to defeat two perfectly good nominees for the United States Middle District. Please tell him we want Obama to push one of these nominees.
President Obama can win this fight even without these two Republican Senators and it is time for him to stand up for the Alabama Democrats that voted for him to see that change is brought about to the United States Middle District of Alabama. For far too long Alabama Democrats have been politically targeted by a small group of Republicans called, “the Alabama Gang” and it is well known that Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions run that gang so there recommendations should mean absolutely nothing. After all it was not the Alabama Republicians who voted for President Obama. In fact they did everything they could to defeat him. The time has come for President Obama to support the Alabama Democrats in their fight against Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions and “the Alabama Gang.”
DANA JILL SIMPSON