The Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Cleveland Assistant U.S. Attorney Benita Pearson to be a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.

The confirmation is part of a rapid series of Senate judicial approvals, following a deal reportedly struck by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to break a logjam caused by GOP objections that Democrats had denounced as without substance.

On Tuesday, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys urged the Senate to confirm more judges.

Pearson, whose nomination was reported by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, worked in the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s office from July 2000 to August 2008.

She currently serves as a magistrate judge for the Northern District of Ohio. Pearson previously was an associate at Jones Day Reavis & Pogue (now Jones Day) and McDonald Hopkins LLC.

Former Northern District of Ohio U.S. Attorney Greg White denied allegations from Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora that the Bush Justice Department orchestrated a “witch hunt” against local Democratic leaders, The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported last night.

We previously reported that Dimora, who is also head of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, is calling on the Justice Department to review a federal investigation into alleged corruption by local Democrats. Corruption charges were filed this month in federal court against four people, but the indictments did not name Dimora. Multiple references in the indictments to “Public Official Number One” reportedly refer to Dimora.

White, who was the U.S. Attorney when the corruption probe began last year, told The Plain Dealer that the Bush Justice Department did not try to improperly influence the investigation in the wake of the 2008 presidential election.

“Political considerations were never an issue,” White told The Plain Dealer. “No one ever tried to steer an investigation to any individual. The history of the U.S. Attorney’s office is well documented for its public-corruption cases.”

White told the Plain Dealer that his office did not intentionally single out Democrats in investigations. His office successfully prosecuted Republican fund-raiser Tom Noe, who was convicted in 2006 of illegally funneling more than $45,000 in campaign contributions to President Bush’s re-election campaign.

Jimmy Dimora (Cuyahoga County)

Several Democrats told The Plain Dealer that they do not see a conspiracy plot, pointing out that indictments were not brought before the election of President Obama.

“I’m not opining about whether Mr. Dimora is guilty or innocent, but a strategy of impugning the prosecutors’ motives as being political is misguided, based on the players involved,” Subodh Chandra, a former Assistant U.S. attorney and a Democratic Ohio attorney general candidate in 2006, told The Plain Dealer.

Cuyahoga County, Ohio County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora urged the Justice Department to review a federal investigation into alleged corruption by local Democrats, Cleveland’s NewsNet5 reported yesterday.

Jimmy Dimora (Cuyahoga County)

Dimora, who is also head of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party, said the probe is a “witch hunt” by the Bush DOJ, according to NewsNet5. The FBI raided the commissioner’s home and office last summer, according to Cleveland’s WCPN. Corruption charges were filed this month in federal court against four people, but the indictments did not name Dimora, WCPN reported. Multiple references in the indictments to “Public Official Number One” are believed to refer to Dimora, according to WCPN.

“I believe that the … DOJ was engaged in a conspiracy to prosecute democratic elected officials in the Great Lakes industrial areas,” Dimora said, according to WCPN. “The Republican Party, through the DOJ, was trying to destroy me and our local democratic party to prevent us from delivering the votes that were necessary to elect Barack Obama.”

Dimora said he will send the Justice Department a formal request for a review of the probe later this week, according to WCPN.