Democrats fix sights on GOP prosecutor (John Edwards, Mike Easley)

[cali]

Easley, Edwards probes under way
BY J. ANDREW CURLISS - Staff Writer
Published: Sun, May. 17, 2009 04:06AMModified Sun, May. 17, 2009 04:22AM



As the separate federal probes into a former senator and the former governor are emerging, Democrats are taking steps to replace the Republican prosecutor who is spearheading the inquiries about the highest-profile North Carolina Democrats of the past decade.

All the nearly 100 top federal prosecutors across the country serve at the will of the president. Any replacement for U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding, a Bush appointee who has kept a priority on public corruption cases from Raleigh to the coast, will be subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.


The process gives a key role in the decision to U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat who was in the state Senate leadership for several years until she unseated Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in November. Already, Hagan has formed a panel to screen candidates. It is led by Burley Mitchell, former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court who now works at the Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice law firm.

Interviews were scheduled for last week and this one, and Mitchell said he expects to forward the name of a preferred candidate to Hagan by midweek. "We're definitely working on those right now," Hagan said in an interview Wednesday. "And hopefully within the next few weeks we can go forward."

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