Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) asked the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee not to hold a vote on the Colorado U.S. Attorney nominee until Sessions receives more information about the candidate, The Denver Post reported today.
Jeff Sessions (Getty Images)
Sessions, the panel’s top Republican, wrote in a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) yesterday that the record for Stephanie Villafuerte is “incomplete.” Read her questionnaire submitted to the panel here.
The Alabama senator told Leahy he had concerns about the firing of a federal agent connected to a controversy swirling around Villafeurte. President Barack Obama nominated Villafeurte on Sept. 30 to be Colorado’s top federal prosecutor.
Sessions also asked Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano at a hearing Wednesday why Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Cory Voorhis lost his job for using a restricted government database. Voorhis had assisted the 2006 campaign of Republican Bob Bob Beauprez, who ran an ad about an undocumented immigrant whose information was in the law enforcement database.
Republicans have raised questions about whether Villafuerte asked people in the Denver District Attorney’s office to access the same database for political purposes, which could be a crime. Villafuerte is a long-time aide to Gov. Bill Ritter (D), who was Beauprez’s opponent in 2006. Ritter has defended Villafuerte in the matter.
Republicans say it appears Voorhis was treated differently from the U.S. Attorney nominee. Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder this week urging the Justice Department to probe Villafuerte over the database allegations.
