Bogden replacement nominated

wplog

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007 | 6:49 p.m.

WASHINGTON — Busy couple of days at Justice.

No sooner did President Bush host a swearing ceremony for his new Attorney General Michael Mukasey than the White House announced nominees to replace some of the fired U.S. Attorneys, including Nevada’s Daniel Bogden.

Bogden, you remember, was caught up in the unprecedented dismissal of U.S. attorneys nationwide, leading to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Nevada attorney Gregory A. Brower, who served two-terms as a Republican state assemblyman as well a stint at the Justice Department in Washington, was tapped for the Nevada job. He'll need Senate approval, which seems a given.

Greg Brower is well suited to be our next United States Attorney,” read a statement from Nevada Sen. John Ensign, who as the state's Republican senator was responsible for suggesting a replacement for Bogden. Brower was among three names he gave the White House.

Missing from Ensign’s list was Bogden, a career prosecutor who had tried unsuccessfully to get his old job back after congressional hearings showed Justice could not fully explain why he was canned.

Gonzales testified that he regretted Bogden’s dismissal.

Ensign’s support of Gonzales partly hinged on the Attorney General helping find Bogden another position at the department. But Bogden decided to take a job at a Nevada firm this fall. Ensign was the only member of the Nevada congressional delegation not to call on Gonzales to step down.

“Greg is a talented and widely respected lawyer, which is why I nominated him for this position." according to Ensign’s statement.

A 1982 graduate of Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Brower graduated from UC Berkley, served as a lieutenant in the Navy, then went on to earn a law degree from George Washington University in Washington. After his legislative work in Carson City, he went into public practice before joining Justice. In 2004, he was tapped by Nevada Republican Bruce James, then the White House-appointed government printer, as Inspector General at the Government Printing Office.

(For those keeping track, James is sometimes mentioned, by himself and others, as a possible 2010 challenger to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.)

Reid, who had signed off on Ensign’s recommendation, welcomed the nominee. Brower “has big shoes to fill -- our previous U.S. Attorney Dan Bogden did an outstanding job and was treated very unfairly by the current Administration,” Reid said in a statement. “Greg Brower will play an important role in restoring the confidence of Nevadans in the Department of Justice.”