Friday, April 10, 2009

Johnny Sutton: He gone. More US Attorney replacement gossip

A little more Texas US Attorney replacement news:

US Attorney Johnny Sutton of Texas' Western District - more famous now for prosecuting two Border Patrol agents who shot a drug smuggler than for his days as a UT-Austin baseball great - has resigned. Three names have been forwarded to President Obama by the Democratic Congressional delegation for possible replacements, according to the Austin Statesman:

Sutton declined to disclose his plans, but as a GOP appointee in a new Democratic administration, his resignation was no surprise. Potential replacements — recently whittled down to three candidates, including Travis County Attorney David Escamilla — have been jockeying to replace Sutton since the early days of Obama's victory in November.

The names of Escamilla and two San Antonio lawyers were recently submitted to the White House by the Texas congressional delegation, led by Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Austin, as potential replacements for Sutton, a Democrat familiar with the selection process said Thursday. ...

The other names sent to the Obama administration, the Democratic source said, were Michael Bernard, the city attorney for San Antonio, and Michael McCrum, a private San Antonio lawyer who spent most of the 1990s in the U.S. attorney's office as a prosecutor and chief of the major crimes unit in the San Antonio division.

Bernard, who was on the dais during a San Antonio City Council meeting Thursday night, was not available for comment. An after-hours message left for McCrum at his office with the Thompson & Knight law firm was not returned.

I'd written earlier that I didn't know much about Michael McCrum, after which the man himself sent me a nice note giving more details about his background. I've uploaded the text of McCrum's email into a Google document which you can view here. (Sorry, Mike, for not getting that out sooner.)

Meanwhile, in Texas' Eastern District, the Dallas News reports that:

Becky Gregory is stepping down as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, taking a job as senior counsel with the Texas attorney general's office.

Gregory's departure as chief federal prosecutor for the swath of Texas stretching from Plano to Beaumont is effective April 30. ...

Gregory's top assistant, Tammy Reno, will likely be chosen as acting U.S. Attorney until President Barack Obama picks a permanent replacement. His choice must be approved by the U.S. Senate.

In the Northern District, reports Gromer Jeffers, Jr., at the Dallas News:

Based on several conversations with Johnson, I believe she's supporting little-known Dallas civil attorney Roger Williams.

Democrats in the know consider Williams the No. 1 contender and say his name is bound for the White House.

I'm told that there are possibly two other names under consideration, including federal prosecutor Sarah Saldana and Dallas County Criminal Court Judge Mike Snipes.

I've seen no word on the Southern District slot beyond Mary Flood's reporting for the Houston Chronicle last month.

As always, leave additional rumormongering in the comments.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been told that Michael Bernard's brother was in charge of fund raising for Obama in California. Many expect this post to go to Bernard.

Anonymous said...

Escamilla is being pushed forward by Doggett with the encouragement of former Travis County Attorney Ken Oden. Why??? David is completely unqualified and better, qualified choices were ignored.

Who stands to gain from his appointment as US Attorney? Who stands to gain from his replacement in the County Attorney's office?

Anonymous said...

Her is the best endorsement for McCrum I have read by Sol Wisenberg from Washington DC

http://letterofapology.com/?s=Mike+McCrum

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