Dec 04 2009
Obama Names New U.S. Attorney
President Barack Obama late Monday nominated Charlotte lawyer Thomas G. Walker to replace U.S. Attorney George Holding, who has spent months overseeing federal probes of two of the state’s most prominent Democrats: two-time presidential candidate John Edwards and former Gov. Mike Easley.
Walker, 45, has worked at Alston & Bird since 2003, and before that worked for Cooper for two years. At Alston & Bird, he concentrates on complex federal and state government investigations and white-collar defense.
Federal election data show Walker gave $1,250 to help elect Obama, $750 to Hagan’s Senate campaign, and $750 to Edwards’ presidential campaign in 2003.
Walker certainly seems qualified, but Obama has been appointing a lot of partisan hacks to high-ranking positions of great importance (as did GW Bush). I hope Walker is better than that. He had better allow Holding to complete those investigations, or at least take them over and give them high priority.
One problem though…
ShareAlso, Walker was a campaign donor to Easley, state records show. In 2002, he gave Easley’s campaign $250. Two years later, as Easley sought a second term, Walker gave $2,000, records show. The state elections records do not show any donations to statewide candidates when Easley first ran in 2000, nor when Easley was campaigning for attorney general in 1992 and 1996.
