UPDATE: These appointments make even less sense when you consider that the Patriot Act allows INTERIM APPOINTMENTS as/when needed ..
.in March 2006 — again without much debate and again as a part of a larger package — a statutory change was inserted into the PATRIOT Act reauthorization. This time, the Executive's power was expanded even further, giving the Attorney General the authority to appoint an interim replacement indefinitely and without Senate confirmation.
thanks to chuckvw for his comment pointing this out
Michelle Obama may not get the warm and (financially generous) reception she is expecting when she visits Park City, Utah, later this month.
The Deseret News (aka propaganda arm of the LDS Church) is reporting that Obama is seriously considering nominating a Republican for US Attorney for Utah.
The White House is finally considering someone for Utah's next U.S Attorney, but some Utah Democrats aren't happy with the choice.
The Obama Administration is checking the background of David Barlow, legal counsel to freshman GOP Sen. Mike Lee.
"I recommended him. Sen. Lee recommended him, too," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah's senior senator who plays a key role in judicial and U.S. attorney nominations to Utah. "I recommended him about two or three months ago, so it takes quite a while down at the White House. They do a lot of vetting."
The article goes on to note that big money Utah Dems are NOT happy.
First lady Michelle Obama will be in Park City later this month for a fundraiser and another Democrat, who asked to remain anonymous, questioned why anyone would donate.
"Why give money (to the president's campaign) if we're just going to be ignored," he said
Think Progress also has the story and the following quotes from a story in the SL Tribune...
“I think it’s a travesty,” said Todd Taylor, executive director of the Utah Democratic Party. “There is a phenomenally talented bunch of Democratic attorneys in the state of Utah. To have to make that kind of political compromise is just ridiculous.”
Taylor said the state party has recommended more than a half-dozen qualified candidates and, to his knowledge, none had heard any response from the White House. “It’s an insult,” Taylor said.
FYI (I used to live in Park City): Some very BIG Dem donors live in Park City (think major Hollywood names)...
The article goes on to note
Obama snubbed Texas Democrats last month by nominating Republican picks for all four U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Texas, according to the website Main Justice.
This is on top of Obama's nominating (and the Seante confirming) a key figure in the Don Seigelman frame up in Alabama. As JusticeIntegrity.org reports,
The U.S. Senate approved by voice vote June 30 a new U.S. attorney for Alabama, thereby extending a series of disgraces blighting the federal justice system in that state and nationally. The Senate voted to approve George Beck, 69, to run the Middle District office in Alabama’s capital city of Montgomery. The Senate failed to require that Beck, right, appear at a hearing to answer questions about a host of pending issues.
The most important question is how he could supervise personnel in that office who framed former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman after Beck himself represented the main witness who helped secure convictions. It remains as the nation’s most notorious political prosecution of the past decade. In 200Mark Fuller8, CBS 60 Minutes reported that DOJ’s prosecutors coached and threatened Beck’s client Nick Bailey in up to 70 interrogations without required disclosure to the defense. Our Justice Integrity Project's four-part investigative series cited below explains further why Beck’s role is especially disturbing.
Something's happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear... is this some kind of rope-a-dope, elven dimensional chess, or maybe a bit of deal cutting to get some hopeful bi-partisanship... sounds like the kind of deal that will come back and bite Obama and the Democrats in the butt come election year..