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WHNT-TV Huntsville ALWebsite Goes Online to Find New U.S. Attorneys December 18, 2008
From WHNT NewsChannel 19 Chief Investigative Reporter, Greg Privett
U.S. Representative Artur Davis has launched a website to help find new federal prosecutors for Alabama. The website, click here, went live today. Anyone interested in one of the state's three U.S. Attorney slots can go online to download a questionnaire. All prospective applicants must go online to register.
The information will go to an advisory committee that the Democratic Congressman has set up. Davis' committee is composed of seven people: former U.S. Magistrate Delores Boyd, Cumberland Law School dean John Carroll, retiring U.S. district judge U.W. Clemon, former Alabama supreme court justices Ralph Cook and Douglas Johnstone, former U.S. Attorney Caryl Privett, and University of Alabama Law School dean Kenneth Randall. "I have asked this outstanding panel to assess potential candidates based on three criteria," Congressman Davis told WHNT NewsChannel 19. All three of Alabama's current U.S. Attorneys - Alice Martin, Leura Canary, and Deborah Rhodes - were appointed by President Bush.
Martin and Canary, in particular, have been accused by many critics of poisoning their prosecutions with partisanship. Don Siegelman, a Democrat, has come to exemplify the problem of mixing politics with prosecution. U.S. Attorney Leura Canary brought corruption charges against Siegelman despite a conflict. She's married to G.O.P. strategist Bill Canary, the man who ran Republican Bob Riley's campaign against Siegelman. Currently, the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering throwing out the bribery conviction of the former Alabama governor.
Davis says he's looking for U.S. Attorney candidates who rise above politics.Read more:
http://www.whnt.com/Global/story.asp?S=9551461