GLOBE EDITORIAL
Unfit for US marshalJuly 3, 2007
EARLIER THIS year, William Young, a federal judge in Boston,
issued a ruling that harshly criticized the US Marshals Service,
noting that its 94 regional chiefs are patronage appointees.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy has the same low opinion of the
selection process for marshals. He tried to improve it with
an amendment that Congress adopted to the USA Patriot Act,
establishing criteria for the posts.
President Bush apparently hasn't got the message. He has
nominated for marshal in Massachusetts a former Republican
legislator with a law enforcement background -- but not the
credentials called for in Kennedy's amendment. Senators
Kennedy and John F. Kerry are justified in opposing the
nomination of Reed Hillman to the position.
-snip-The cronyism in marshal appointments reached a nadir in
Massachusetts when then-Governor Paul Cellucci put forward
the name of a member of his State Police security detail,
Anthony Dichio. Bush nominated him, and the Senate confirmed
him. The president eventually dismissed him after a Justice
Department investigation confirmed Boston Globe articles
showing Dichio was spending little time on the job and was
using his government vehicle for personal errands.
Hillman, a former State Police commander who ran for lieutenant
governor last year, has a more impressive background than
Dichio. But Kennedy's amendment specifically requires that
nominees have "experience in or with county, state, and federal
court systems or experience with protection of court personnel,
jurors, and witnesses." Nominees, in other words, should have
worked their way up in the Marshals Service. Ideally, Congress
would let the service itself pick its regional chiefs, much as the
other federal law enforcement agencies do.
-snip-
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