Although Texas House Democrats have told the White House they expect to be in control of U.S. Attorney recommendations, the state’s Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn have plowed ahead with their own screening committee.
In a concession to political reality, however, the Republican senators have enlisted Democrats to help review U.S. Attorney candidates for recommendation to President Obama, The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday.
The fact that the Republican senators are even going ahead with their search committee at all is an affront to the leader of Texas’s House Democratic delegation. Rep. Lloyd Doggett told the Morning News:
“No one will serve in these positions without the approval of our Democratic delegation. The White House reaffirmed this position only this week. We continue to welcome the input of the senators, using whatever process they prefer.”
Read our previous story here about the struggle — mediated by White House counsel Greg Craig — between the Republican senators and the House Democrats over who will control the recommendation process.
The GOP senators asked former Northern District of Texas U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins, a Clinton appointee, and other high profile Democratic lawyers to join the screening committee, The Morning News said. The panel met last Friday, marking the first time in 14 years there has been Democratic input on the committee, according to the newspaper.
Coggins told The Morning News that during his own nomination process he couldn’t rely on the Texas Democrats alone. The former Clinton-era U.S. Attorney said he was able to get his nomination after he went against the Justice Department’s wishes and reached out to the Texas Republican senators.
“Obviously I respect the Texas Democrats,” Coggins told The Morning News. “But I have to say this. Having gone through the process, regardless of what role the senators play, they will play a role.”
The Morning News reported a partial list of the high-profile lawyers who sit on the committee. They are:
-James Ho: Texas Solicitor and the former Cornyn legal adviser and clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas
-Dan Hedges: Selection committee chairman and former Southern District of Texas U.S. Attorney from the Reagan-era
-Tony Canales: former Southern District of Texas U.S. Attorney from the Carter-era
-Dee Kelly: of Fort Worth, Texas attorney
-Andy Taylor: Republican redistricting lawyer
-Victor Vital: Represents the wife of Democratic Dallas council member Don Hill in a city hall corruption trial that started today
