Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) told reporters in a telephone conference ^[1] yesterday that he submitted recommendations for his state’s next U.S. Attorney to President Barack Obama.

The New Mexico senator declined to say who is on the list of candidates that he sent to the White House last year.

Jeff Bingaman (Gov)

“We have made a list of recommendations available to the White House and we did that several months ago and the White House is trying to determine which of the individuals on that list they wish to go ahead and recommend for appointment to that position,” Bingaman said.

He added: “We have — just for reasons of privacy for the individuals — decided not to put that list out. But it’s up to the White House to choose from the group that we submitted.”

Bush holdover Gregory Fouratt currently leads the New Mexico U.S. Attorney office. He was appointed by the court after David Iglesias was forced out in the 2006 U.S. Attorney purge.

Fouratt was criticized last year by former Republican U.S. Attorneys ^[2] for accusations he made about Gov. Bill Richardson after his office decided not to file charges against the governor for an alleged pay-to-play scheme.

The U.S. Attorney wrote that Richardson’s office acted corruptly in pressuring the state to select the company of a campaign donor, California-based CDR Financial Products, as an adviser on transportation bond transactions.