The new U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina recently shared several choice words with a Charlotte television news anchor in her first interview since she was appointed.

Anne Tompkins (DOJ)

“I am driven.  I am passionate.  I am ‘all-in’. I think I’m compassionate. And I’m formidable,” U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said after Molly Grantham of WBTV pressed the prosecutor to describe herself in five words. She became U.S. Attorney in April.

Tompkins said in the sit-down interview, which aired Thursday, that she also expects the Assistant U.S. Attorneys in her office to be “all-in.”

“When I first met with the office, I said to everyone, ‘What I am about is passionate professionalism,’ ” Tompkins said, according to the article on the interview. “That’s what I’m looking for from every one of these lawyers in the office. I wan [sic] to see passion. I want to see professionalism. I want them getting to the office everyday and knowing they’re ‘all-in.’ “

The U.S. Attorney said her office will continue to be tough in its prosecutions of  white-collar criminals and gang members.

Her office successfully prosecuted MS-13 gang leader Alejandro Umana for killing two people in July. He was the first member of the gang to receive the death penalty in the United States.

“I’ll tell you, there probably wouldn’t be a gang case we wouldn’t be interested in,” Tompkins said. “There just probably isn’t. Bring it on.”

Tompkins, a Democrat who has held Justice Department posts in the past, said her friends urged her to apply for U.S. Attorney if President Barack Obama won the 2008 election.

“So the day after the election I wrote a letter to Senator Kay Hagen [sic] and introduced myself to her and said, ‘I’m interested in being appointed to this position,’ ” Tompkins said, according to the article.

But the U.S. Attorney said politics do not influence her work.

“[W]hen you get the job, you check your politics at the door and go about the business of the office,” she said. “It’s about justice. It’s about getting the bad guys. And that doesn’t have anything to do with politics.”

Here’s the raw video from the interview:

The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed two U.S. Attorney nominees by voice vote Thursday morning.

They are:

David A. Capp (DOJ)

– David A. Capp (Northern District of Indiana): The Northern District of Indiana interim U.S. Attorney was tapped to be the leader of the Hammond, Ind.-based office on Dec. 23. He would succeed Joseph S. Van Bokkelen, who stepped down as U.S. Attorney in 2007. Read more about Capp here.

Anne Tompkins (Alston and Bird)

– Anne M. Tompkins (Western District of North Carolina): The Charlotte, N.C., lawyer also was nominated on Dec. 23. She would succeed Gretchen Shappert as the Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney. Shappert resigned as U.S. Attorney in March 2009. Since then Ed Ryan has filled the job. Read more about Tompkins here.

The panel has now approved 40 U.S. Attorney nominees, 36 of whom have already won Senate confirmation. The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 16 would-be U.S. Attorneys.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to take up consideration of the Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney nominee at its meeting next Thursday.

Anne Tompkins (Alston and Bird)

Anne M. Tompkins was tapped to lead the Charlotte, N.C.-based U.S. Attorney’s office on Dec. 23. She would succeed Gretchen Shappert, who resigned as U.S. Attorney in March 2009 to take a job at Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

Tompkins has been a partner at the Charlotte law offices of Alston & Bird since 2005. She previously served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of North Carolina from May 2000 to August 2005. Read more about her here.

The committee has yet to schedule votes for another 17 would-be U.S. Attorneys. The panel has approved 38 U.S. Attorney nominees, 36 of whom have already won Senate confirmation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has released questionnaires for an additional five U.S. Attorney nominees. Information from their Office of Government Ethics disclosures will be added as it becomes available.

• Sally Quillian Yates, Northern District of Georgia
• Anne M. Tompkins, Western District of North Carolina
• William J. Hochul, Jr., Western District of New York
• Andre Birotte Jr., Central District of California
• William N. Nettles, District of South Carolina

Anne Tompkins (Alston and Bird)

Anne M. Tompkins (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law) is nominated as U.S. Attorney in the Western District of North Carolina. The Charlotte-based office has been run by U.S. Attorney Ed Ryan since Gretchen Shappert’s resignation in March 2009 to take a job at Justice Department headquarters in Washington.

Tompkins’s vitals:

• Born in Waynesboro, Va., in 1962.
• Earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Has been a partner at Alston & Bird, LLP in Charlotte, N.C., since August 2005.
• Was an adjunct professor at Charlotte School of Law in Charlotte from 2007 to 2008.
• Served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Western District of North Carolina from May 2000 to August 2005.
• Worked as an assistant district attorney in Mecklenburg County, N.C.,  from September 1992 to April 1997 and from October 1997 to May 2000. Also was a summer law clerk in 1990.
• Worked at Fialko & Tompkins, PLLC in Charlotte from April 1997 to October 1997.
• Was a summer law clerk at Horack, Talley, Pharr & Lowndes in Charlotte in 1991.
• Worked as a researcher in the City of Charlotte’s Office of Budget and Evaluation from May 1990 to August 1990. Also worked as a budget analyst in the office from August 1987 to August 1989.
• Was an administrator in the recreation division of the City of Charlotte’s Department of Parks and Recreation from August 1986 to August 1987.
• Has tried approximately 37 cases to verdict and served as sole counsel on almost all of the cases.

Click here for her full Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire.

UPDATE: On her Senate Judiciary financial disclosure, Tompkins reported $1.6 million in assets, mostly from $1.2 million in real estate. She owns her personal residence and undeveloped land. Tompkins reported liabilities of $798,200 due to her mortgages resulting in a net worth of $850,100.

On her Office of Government Ethics financial disclosure, Tompkins reported earning $591,290 in salary and bonuses from Alston & Bird, LLP from January 2008 to October 2009. She also reported earning a $4,800 salary from the Charlotte School of Law. Tompkins only reported one mortgage for between $100,001 and $250,000.

C. Nicks Williams, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Assistant U.S. Attorney C. Nicks Williams, a man who the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina referred to as its “Small Crimes Chief,” died of a heart attack Nov. 3 as he was was preparing for closing arguments in a trial.

Williams came to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1996 and had taken on a wide variety of cases — from environmental crimes to violent crimes and crimes committed in national parks and on reservations. When the office was restructured, leaving a vacancy in two different positions, Williams volunteered to take on both of them.

He “carried an incredible caseload, including the monthly indictment of between six and a dozen cases, many of which went to trial,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte. He averaged one trial per month while maintaining his travels to the western part of North Carolina to retain his position as coordinator for the prosecution of national forest and parks cases.

“Never complaining, despite his burdensome caseload, rarely even asking for assistance, and only accepting help with the promise to repay at least two-fold, Nicks went about his business as the district’s trial dog cheerfully and diligently,” the office said in a statement.

When Williams fell ill, both the government and the defense had rested during a one-day trail involving unlawful transportation of a firearm. The judge was poised to conduct the charging conference, according to Suellen Pierce of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“The next step following the judge’s charge to the jury would have been closing arguments. Closing argument on behalf of the government was made on Thursday, November 4, by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Martens. The jury returned a guilty verdict that same day,” Pierce told Main Justice via e-mail.

Williams came to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 1996 on a one-year detail from his position as Assistant Regional Counsel with the Department of Energy, and was assigned a number of environmental crime cases based on his experience with such issues. He was reappointed to a second term in 1997 and took on responsibility for a DOJ initiative involving the prosecution of delinquent child support cases, according to the office.

The office writes that Williams’ devotion to his family was evident, and “was devoted to his work but always seemed to understand that family was most important.” He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and three sons.

Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) submitted her recommendations to replace North Carolina Middle District U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner and Western District acting U.S. Attorney Edward Ryan. Read her letter to President Obama this week here.

The Middle District candidates (with biographies from Hagan):

-Lee Farmer has been the member-manager for the law offices of R. Lee Farmer since 2004. Prior to that, Farmer was a partner at Farmer and Watlington LLP for 20 years, gaining extensive background in civil litigation and the general practice of law. He has worked with various local, state, and federal law enforcement and public agencies.

Ripley Rand (Gov)

-Ripley Rand has served as a Superior Court judge in Raleigh since 2002. Prior to that, Rand was an assistant district attorney in the Tenth Prosecutorial District of North Carolina directing the Domestic Violence Unit and participating on the Dangerous Offenders Task Force.

-Susan Taylor has over 30 years of North Carolina judicial and prosecutorial experience. Since 2002, Taylor has served as a resident Superior Court judge in District 20A and 20B. Prior to that, for 12 years she served as a District Court judge in the Twentieth Judicial District, and another 12 years as an assistant district attorney.

The Western District candidates (with biographies from Hagan):

Peter Anderson (Anderson Terpening)

-Peter Anderson is a partner at Anderson Terpening, PLLC where he specializes in federal criminal defense, complex commercial litigation and corporate compliance counseling. Prior to that, he served as the federal prosecutor with the Environmental Crimes Section of the Department of Justice and the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District.

-Danny Davis has served as the chief district court judge for the 30th Judicial District of North Carolina since 2004. In that role, Davis oversees five district court judges and 31 magistrates, while also preparing the court schedule for a seven-county district. Prior to his, Davis served as a district court judge for 20 years and was a partner at Noland, Hold, Bonfoey & Davis PA for three years.

Anne Tompkins (Alston and Bird)

-Anne Tompkins is a partner at Alston and Bird, LLP concentrating on government investigations and compliance. In 2004 and 2005, Tompkins was one of four Assistant U.S. Attorneys who were part of the initial Iraqi Regime Crimes Liason Office in Baghdad, Iraq, under the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. She has also served as the assistant district attorney for Mecklenburg County.