May 18, 2007 07:18 PM UTC

U.S. Attorney Scandal Grows in Colorado

• 8 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

Republican Sen. Wayne Allard told the Rocky Mountain News  that he found it “strange” that Leone was not named the official U.S. Attorney in Colorado:

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard thought it was “very strange” when the White House in early 2006 rejected William Leone, his latest pick for U.S. attorney for Colorado.

Leone had been serving on an interim basis for more than a year, and the senator had heard no concerns about him, Allard’s chief of staff, Sean Conway, recalled Thursday.

“It was just kind of weird to us,” Conway said, adding that the White House gave no reason for the decision.

Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Troy Eid issued a statement yesterday about his alleged connections to Jack Abramoff. Click below for the complete statement.

“The role of a United States Attorney is entirely apolitical, and must be free from outside influence or pressure.  That is how I have always approached this position, and I will keep doing so as long as I serve.

“It has been widely reported that I was a partner at Greenberg Traurig (“GT”), the same “lobbying” firm where convicted felon Jack Abramoff worked. This attempt at guilt-by-association is like saying that anyone who has worked for the FBI is tainted because one renegade former agent, Robert Hansen, was convicted of spying.

“GT is one of the world’s largest law firms, and like many others it does engage in lobbying – but at heart it is a full-service, litigation and transactional law firm. There were more than 1,600 attorneys in 34 offices when I was there from Oct. 2003 to Aug. 2006. 

“Abramoff and I overlapped in the same firm for only a few months of my GT employment.  During that time, while he was a non-lawyer lobbyist in the DC office, I was a litigation partner in the Denver office focused on environmental law.  We did not work together. 

“After Abramoff was terminated from the firm, I was asked by the managing partner, Cesar Alvarez,  to serve on the internal committee that proposed changes designed to help avoid future wrongdoing.  At the time I was chairing the Colorado Board of Ethics, and I was selected because of my expertise on ethics issues.

“It has also been suggested that the fact that I worked for GT had something to do with the slow pace with which my Presidential nomination took place.  The fact is, my background check took two months – standard for U.S. Attorneys.

“The reason for the hold-up in naming a new U.S. Attorney in Colorado had nothing to do with background checks or investigations, but with the politics of whittling down the list of the three finalists recommended and supported by Colorado’s two U.S. Senators.

“At one point I publicly withdrew from the nomination process, which had dragged out too long, only to be asked to reconsider.  My entire Senate confirmation process took less than two months, and the vote was unanimous.

“There is no greater professional honor than to serve as Colorado’s top federal law enforcement officer.  I am very grateful to President  Bush and the United States Senate – and especially to  my colleagues in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado – for this high privilege.”

Eid’s statement is likely in reference to some increased attention over his background, which a diarist at Daily Kos mentioned earlier this month. The Eid questions are nothing new, however. Colorado Pols first mentioned it back in February 2005.