The Senate Judiciary Committee approved four U.S. Attorney nominees by voice vote at its meeting Thursday.

They are:

Alicia Limtiaco (UCLA)

– Alicia Limtiaco (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands): The Guam attorney general would replace U.S. Attorney Leonardo Rapadas, who has led the territories’ offices since 2003. President Barack Obama nominated her on Feb. 24. Read more about her here.

– Kenneth J. Gonzales (New Mexico): The Assistant U.S. Attorney, who has worked in the New Mexico U.S. Attorney’s Office since 1999, would replace interim U.S. Attorney Gregory Fouratt, who has led the office since David Iglesias was forced out during the 2006 U.S. Attorney firings. Obama tapped Gonzales on March 3. Read more about Gonzales here.

David Hale (Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice)

– Kerry Harvey (Eastern District of Kentucky): Harvey has been the general counsel and acting inspector general of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services since 2008. He previously was a partner at Owen, Harvey & Carter. President Barack Obama tapped him on Jan. 20 to succeed U.S. Attorney James A. Zerhusen. Read more about Harvey here.

– David J. Hale (Western District of Kentucky): Hale is a partner at Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice in Louisville, Ky., and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district. Obama nominated him on Jan. 20 to succeed David L. Huber, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney last year. The district’s interim U.S. Attorney is Candace G. Hill. Read more about the nominee here.

The panel has now approved 45 U.S. Attorney nominees, 36 of whom have won Senate confirmation. The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 21 would-be U.S. Attorneys.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the nominees to lead Kentucky’s U.S. Attorney’s offices at its meeting next Thursday.

They are:

– Kerry Harvey (Eastern District of Kentucky): Harvey has been the general counsel and acting inspector general of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services since 2008. He previously was a partner at Owen, Harvey & Carter. President Barack Obama tapped him on Jan. 20 to succeed U.S. Attorney James A. Zerhusen. Read more about Harvey here.

David Hale (Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice)

– David J. Hale (Western District of Kentucky): Hale is a partner at Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice PLLC in Louisville, Ky., and a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in the district. Obama nominated him on Jan. 20 to succeed David L. Huber, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney last year. The district’s interim U.S. Attorney is Candace G. Hill. Read more about the nominee here.

The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 23 would-be U.S. Attorneys. The panel has approved 41 U.S. Attorney nominees, 36 of whom have won Senate confirmation.

David Hale (Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice)

David J. Hale (Vanderbilt University, University of Kentucky College of Law ) is nominated to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. He would replace David L. Huber, who was the district’s U.S. Attorney from 2003 until January 2009.  The district’s current U.S. Attorney is Candace G. Hill.

His vitals:

• Born in Ft. Campbell, Ky., in 1967.
• Has worked at Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice PLLC in Louisville, Ky., since October 1999, first as counsel and since January 2002 as a partner.
• Was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Kentucky from January 1995 to 0ctober 1999.
• Worked as an associate at Brown, Todd & Heyburn (now Frost Brown Todd LLC) in Louisville, from August 1992 to December 1994. Was a summer associate at the firm in 1990 and 1991.
• Was a summer associate at Greenebaum Treitz in Louisville, from May 1991 to July 1991.
• Worked as a runner and office assistant for Miller, Griffin & Marks, PSC in Lexington, Ky., from June 1989 to August 1989.
• Volunteered on a few political campaigns including Jonathan Miller for Governor (2007), Ben Chandler for Congress (2008, 2006, 2004), Jonathan Miller for State Treasurer (2003, 1999) and Ben Chandler for Governor (2003).
• Has tried approximately 13 cases to verdict. Served as sole counsel in eight trials, co-counsel in four trials and associate counsel in one trial.

Click here for his full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On his Senate Judiciary financial disclosure he reported assets of $856,300 mostly from his personal residence valued at $550,000. Hale also reported liabilities of $385,500 for a net worth of $856,300.

On his Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure Hale reported his law partnership income for 2008 and most of 2009 to be $464,152.

President Barack Obama tapped five lawyers to lead U.S. Attorney’s offices in Louisiana, West Virginia, Kentucky and New York, the White House announced today.

They are:

-Stephanie Finley (Western District of Louisiana): She has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana since 1995. Finley would succeed Donald Washington, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney this week to enter private practice.

-R. Booth Goodwin (Southern District of West Virginia): He has been an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia since 2001. Goodwin would replace U.S. Attorney Charles T. Miller.

David Hale (Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice)

-David Hale (Western District of Kentucky): He has been an attorney at Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice since 1999 Hale previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky. Hale would succeed David Huber, who resigned as U.S. Attorney in January 2o09. Read more about the nominee here.

-Kerry Harvey (Eastern District of Kentucky): He has been the general counsel and acting inspector general of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services since 2008. He previously was a partner at Owen, Harvey, and Carter.

Loretta Lynch (Hogan & Hartson)

-Loretta Lynch (Eastern District of New York): She is a former U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of New York. She served from 1999 to 2001, after nine years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney. She is currently a partner at Hogan & Hartson. Read more about her here.

Marc S. Murphy (Stites & Harbison)

Note to aspiring U.S. Attorney candidates: Don’t publish cartoons of your state’s senior senator wearing a cheerleader uniform.

Louisville lawyer Marc S. Murphy at Stites & Harbison found his name floated earlier this year for U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Kentucky. But Murphy also moonlights as an editorial cartoonist for the Louisville Courier-Journal, which runs three or four of his drawings weekly. His cartoons have skewered earmarks, the economy and politicians. But one important politician apparently doesn’t think Murphy is funny.

Since February 2008, Murphy has drawn several cartoons featuring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Senate minority leader — not much known for a sense of humor — has been depicted as a pom pom-wielding cheerleader for President George W. Bush, as suffering unintended slights from Paris Hilton and in a barber’s chair seeking a Sarah Palin updo.

“I’ve been a very harsh critic of [McConnell's] positions. There’s no question about that,” Murphy said. However, “He’s a very important powerful person who has done  a lot of good things.”

But Murphy never anticipated how McConnell might react.

After President Obama’s election, Murphy said prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Western District of Kentucky encouraged him to seek the head prosecutor position. Sometime during the late winter or early spring, Murphy contacted Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) to express his interest in the job.

Murphy said he’d considered running in 2006 for the seat eventually captured by Yarmuth. But Yarmuth had talked him out of it. After President Obama’s election, Yarmuth considered recommending Murphy for the Louisville-based U.S. Attorney post, according to Murphy and another Kentucky lawyer with knowledge of the process.

While U.S. senators traditionally make recommendations to the president for their states’ U.S. Attorney posts, both senators from Kentucky — McConnell and Jim Bunning — are Republicans. As a result, the Democrats in the delegation,Yarmuth and Rep. Ben Chandler, were in charge of the recommendations.

However, when Yarmuth consulted McConnell earlier this year about his possible recommendations, he got a surprise, Murphy said. According to Murphy, who said he heard the story from Yarmuth, McConnell told the congressman: “You’re not going to recommend that guy who draws those cartoons of me, are you?”

Yarmuth laughed, according to Murphy. McConnell didn’t laugh back. Yarmuth asked McConnel if he was serious.  Apparently so.

Oops!

Murphy said he hasn’t spoken to Yarmuth since then. Yarmuth spokesman Trey Pollard said the congressman interviewed a number of candidates and selected the most qualified.

Murphy says he is disappointed but not discouraged. “I’m a very big supporter of President Obama,” adding he “would have been very proud to be part of the Obama administration.” He emphasized that he “didn’t feel cheated” because he “never thought [he] was a top candidate.”

But does Murphy regret drawing his McConnell cartoons?

“My night job got in the way of my public service,” he conceded. However, Murphy said there would have been an upside for McConnell if he’d gotten the job.

“If I became the U.S. Attorney I wouldn’t be able to do cartoons about him anymore.”

David Hale (Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice PLLC)

The field appears to be narrowing for candidates for U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

David Hale of Reed Weitkamp Schell & Vice PLLC and Patrick Bouldin, an attorney in the Office of the Federal Defender for the Western District of Kentucky, are considered to be finalists, according to attorneys familiar with the recommendation process.

Hale (Vanderbilt University, University of Kentucky College of Law) has worked at Reed Weitkamp since 1999.  Before joining RWSV, Hale was a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Kentucky. Bouldin attended the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville School of Law.

The people familiar with the process said several others were also under consideration for the post at one time. They include:

• Benham Sims, a former judge in Jefferson, Ky., District Court
• Fred Cowan, a former state attorney general, a former member of the state House and currently a circuit court judge
• Tom McDonald, a retired judge from the Jefferson Circuit Court
• Marc S. Murphy, an attorney in Louisville

While U.S. senators traditionally make recommendations to the president for their states’ U.S. Attorney posts, both senators from Kentucky — Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning — are Republicans. As a result, the two lone Democrats in the delegation, Reps. Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth, are left to do the nominating. Spokespeople for Chandler and Yarmuth did not return phone calls seeking comment.

“I don’t know that they agree between themselves who should do the recommending,” Scott C. Cox, a Republican lawyer in Kentucky who served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney  from 1987 to 1994, said in an interview.