Barbara McQuade (DOJ)

Detriot’s new U.S. Attorney says she wants to help local prosecutors pursue violent criminals, The Associated Press reports. Barbara McQuade — who already has her hands full  preparing to prosecute Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas — told The AP that she doesn’t “want to step on toes” of local law enforcers.

But she said that given local budget constraints, it might make sense for federal prosecutors to offer assistance when possible.

Accused carjackers, armed robbers and people who illegally possess guns often can be prosecuted federally, if local prosecutors are unable to handle such cases, she told The AP.

McQuade was sworn in Jan. 4 as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. The Detroit area, home to struggling car makers, has been especially hard hit in the recession.

Over the holiday week, five U.S. Attorneys were sworn in. They are:

• James L. Santelle (Eastern District of Wisconsin): The former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin was sworn in this morning. He was confirmed Dec. 24. Santelle replaces Bush appointee Steven Biskupic. Biskupic was appointed U.S. Attorney in May 2002. In 2007, Biskupic and his office came under review by congressional investigators looking into the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys. He resigned in January 2009 to join the Milwaukee law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich as a litigator.

• Beth Phillips (Western District of Missouri): The former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri was sworn in Dec. 31. She was confirmed Dec. 24. Phillips replaces Bush appointee John Wood. Wood headed the office from 2007 to 2009 before resigning in February to join the D.C. office of a leading Wall Street law firm as a partner.

• Mike Cotter (District of Montana): The private practice attorney was sworn in Dec. 30. He was confirmed Dec. 24. Cotter replaces controversial Bush appointee William Mercer, who had held the post since 2001. Mercer wore two hats at DOJ, serving as U.S. Attorney and as Acting Associate Attorney General from September 2006 to June 2007. At DOJ headquarters, he assisted in the politicized firings of other U.S. Attorneys, congressional investigators found. A federal judge and leading Democrats in Montana had called for his resignation.

• Sanford Coats (Western District of Oklahoma): The former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Oklahoma was sworn in Dec. 30. He was confirmed Dec. 24. Coats replaces John C. Richter, who was named to head the office on an interim basis in 2005 and confirmed by the Senate in 2006. Richter resigned in August to teach law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

• Barbara McQuade (Eastern District of Michigan): The former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Michigan was sworn in today. She was confirmed Dec. 24. McQuade replaces Stephen J. Murphy who became U.S. Attorney in 2006. In 2008 he became a federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Barbara L. McQuade (ICLE).

Barbara L. McQuade (University of Michigan, University of Michigan Law School) is nominated to replace  Stephen J. Murphy as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. He served from 2006 to 2008 before resigning to become a federal judge in the district.

Her vitals:

• Born in Detroit, Mich., in 1964.
• Has been Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district since 1998.  Also has served as the deputy chief of the office’s national security unit since 2005.
• Was a law professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law from 2003 to 2009.
• Worked as an associate attorney at Butzel Long, P.C. in Detroit from 1993 to 1998.
• Clerked for the Hon. Bernard A. Friedman in the Eastern District of Michigan from 1991 to 1993.
• Worked as a summer associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago in 1990.
• Interned in the antitrust division at Justice Department headquarters during the summer of 1990.
• Was a summer associate at Clark, Klein & Beaumont, P.C. in Detroit in 1989.
• Worked as a sports writer and copy editor at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle from 1987 to 1988.
• Has tried 12 cases to verdict. Served as sole counsel on 10 of those cases, chief counsel on one and co-counsel on another.

Click here for her full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On her Senate Judiciary financial disclosure McQuade reported assets of $1.5 million (mostly from her three properties valued at a combined $706,000). However, McQuade still owes $175,300 on her personal residence. She has a net worth of $1.3 million.

On her Office of Government Ethics disclosure she reports a $5,000 salary from her job at the  University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Less than two weeks after their Nov. 30 nominations, the Senate Judiciary Committee has released questionnaires completed by the four would-be U.S. Attorneys.

Here they are:

• Christopher A. Crofts, District of Wyoming. Click here.
• Thomas Walker, Eastern District of North Carolina. Click here.
• James L. Santelle, Eastern District of Wisconsin. Click here.
• Barbara L. McQuade, Eastern District of Michigan. Click here.

The nominees’ questionnaires from the Office of Government Ethics have yet to be posted. We will update with the nominees’ financial information when it becomes available.

Barbara L. McQuade (ICLE).

Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, who has been nominated to head the Detroit U.S. Attorney’s office, believes the office has a productivity problem, The Detroit News reports. The question of whether the office has an issue with productivity was raised during interviews with prospective appointees for the U.S. Attorney slot, the newspaper reports.

While McQuade confirmed she believes there are such problems, interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg, who was considered by some to be the recommending committee’s favorite, said there were no productivity issues, The News reports.

The recommending committee apparently sided with McQuade, advancing her name to the White House in June. President Obama formally nominated McQuade to be the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan on Monday. The News reports that McQuade’s “lack of supervisory experience was seen as a handicap” in being recommended for the position.

The News reports that there has been “intense arguments among attorneys and career prosecutors” about the output and efficiency, or lack thereof, in the U.S. Attorney’s office. Some argue the office has allowed local prosecutors to handle smaller cases in order to allow the U.S. Attorney’s office to handle the larger cases, as it is a better allocation of resources, The News reports.

McQuade’s recommendation and nomination might be an indication the recommending committee is taking the appearance of delays seriously, The News reports. Ann Arbor, Mich., attorney John Minock told The News, “The change I would expect to see is that more prosecutions will be brought, and in a timely manner, instead of after lengthy delay.”

U.S. District Judge Marianne O. Battani, who has handled several of the cases McQuade has prosecuted, told The News, “She has to be tremendously organized,” adding, “I know she has four kids — little kids. How she does that and does the work she does is amazing to me.” However she has help from her husband Daniel Hurley, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the appeals division of the office, the newspaper reports. In order to avoid potential conflicts, Hurley will begin reporting to a supervisor in an office outside Detroit.

If confirmed, McQuade, who also serves as  deputy chief of the national security unit in the office, would be the first female U.S. Attorney in Detroit’s history, according to The News.

President Obama nominated U.S. Attorneys for Wyoming, the Eastern District of Wisconsin, the Eastern District of North Carolina and the Eastern District of Michigan today. They are:

• Christopher A. Crofts (Wyoming): Gov. David Freudenthal’s legal counsel since 2006 previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for 16 years. He would replace Bush holdover Kelly Rankin, who has headed the office since 2008.

• 

  James L. Santelle (Wisconsin Law Journal).

  James L. Santelle (Eastern District of Wisconsin):  The Assistant U.S. Attorney has served in his current role since 1985. While working in the office he simultaneously has had stints as  principal deputy director for the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys, civil division chief for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Michigan and a Justice Department attaché. He would replace Steven Biskupic who was appointed U.S. Attorney by Bush in May 2002. In 2007, Biskupic and his office came under review by congressional investigators looking into the dismissal of U.S. Attorneys. He resigned in January to join the Milwaukee law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich as a litigator.

• 

  Thomas G. Walker (Alston & Bird)

  Thomas G. Walker (Eastern District of North Carolina): The partner at Alston & Bird, LLP has been with the firm since 2003. He previously served as special counsel to North Carolina attorney general Roy A. Cooper, III,  an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina and an assistant district attorney for Mecklenburg County, N.C. Walker would replace Bush holdover George E. B. Holding. Holding is overseeing federal probes of two prominent Democrats: Former Gov. Mike Easley and two-time presidential candidate, ex-Sen. John Edwards.

• 

  Barbara L. McQuade (ICLE).

  Barbara L. McQuade (Eastern District of Michigan): The Assistant U.S. Attorney has served in her role for 11 years. Simultaneously she has served as deputy chief of the national security unit since 2005. McQuade previously was an associate at Butzel Long, P.C. She would replace Stephen J. Murphy who became U.S. Attorney in 2006. In 2008 he became a federal judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Obama has now made a total of 34 U.S. Attorney nominations. The full Senate has considered 24 of those nominees and they were all confirmed by unanimous consent.

Ryan Reilly contributed to this report.

Former Eastern District of Michigan Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino will represent a former state representative embroiled in a Michigan bribery scandal, The Detroit Free Press reported this afternoon.

Convertino will defend former state Rep. Mary Waters. Waters and political consultant Sam Riddle were charged with paying a $12,500 bribe to a Southfield councilman to receive approval to relocate and expand a pawnshop. Riddle also faces charges in connection with a case that snared former Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.).

Monica Conyers pleaded guilty last month with taking bribes to vote in favor of a $1.2 billion waste disposal contract for Synagro Technologies. Riddle, a former aide to Monica Conyers, is also charged in the Synagro matter. Read our previous post on Monica Conyers here.

Convertino received national media attention for his handling of a 2003 terrorism trial, which prompted a DOJ ethics investigation into whether he committed misconduct. Two of the defendants in the case were found guilty, but their convictions were overturned. The former federal prosecutor was acquitted in 2007 of conspiring to hide evidence in the case. We previously reported that he is suing the DOJ to find out who leaked the news of the ethics investigation.

Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, the wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), pleaded guilty this morning in federal court to one count of conspiring to commit bribery. Conyers is out on bond as she awaits sentencing. She could face up to five years in prison.

We previously reported that Detroit businessman Rayford Jackson admitted to bribing a council member in 2007 to gain approval for a $1.2 billion waste disposal contract for Synagro Technologies, according to court documents he filed. Jackson allegedly bribed Monica Conyers with at least $6,000 to help win the contract, The Detroit Free Press reported.

John Conyers’s office released this statement to the Free Press today:

“This has been a trying time for the Conyers family. With hope and prayer, they will make it through this as a family. Public officials must expect to be held to the highest ethical and legal standards. With this in mind, Mr. Conyers wants to work towards helping his family and the city recover from this serious matter.”

President Obama nominated Detroit attorney Portia Roberson to lead the Justice Department Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, The Detroit News reported today.

Roberson, the Detroit Medical Center associate general counsel from 2004 to 2007, most recently served as an Obama campaign director in Michigan, The News said. She was also an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County, Mich.  from 2002 to 2004 after she spent roughly seven years in private practice, according to The News.

“New day, new week, new city, new apartment, new job at the department of justice !!!!!” Roberson wrote on Twitter Monday morning.

Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison was created in 1996 to provide a link between the Justice Department and outside organizations including local and state groups.

Associate Attorney General Tom Perrelli was at an event in Detroit today to show support for the sinking auto industry. Are you also wondering why someone from the Justice Department is giving a speech in Michigan about the economy?

Answer: Stimulus politics.

Perrelli appeared at the Detroit Police Department with Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Chief of Police James Barren and other officials to announce a $10 million grant for more Detroit police officers.

The $787 billion stimulus package (known as the “Recovery Act”) contained $4 billion for the Department of Justice to distribute to local and tribal law enforcement and the COPS program. About $67 million from the Edward Byrne Memorial Assistance Grant Program is slated to go to Michigan, an important swing state in presidential elections that went for Obama. See the DOJ fact sheet here.

Said Perrelli at the event:

We all know what has been happening in our automobile communities across the country.  In recent years, in Detroit and communities like it, you have seen factories close, jobs move overseas, and your friends and neighbors worry about what they’re going to do next.  And we all know what can happen in times like these.  You lose one factory, you lose hundreds of jobs, and people don’t have the extra money to spend they used to.  It doesn’t take too much of this before a couple more stores have shuttered, a couple more homes are vacant, and the neighborhood might not feel like it used to.  Maybe it even feels a little less safe. That is where you come in, and we at the Department of Justice need to stand with you.