Committee votes to give federal prosecutor his old job

By Lisa Mascaro

Thursday, Sept. 10, 2009 | 8:12 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- With little discussion today, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved the nomination of Nevada’s former U.S. Attorney, Daniel Bogden, to have his old job back as the state’s top federal prosecutor.

Bogden’s nomination was recommended in a block with several others and now moves to the Senate for full approval.

Bodgen had been dismissed in late 2006 as part of an unusual purge of U.S. Attorneys nationwide that led to an ongoing congressional investigation into politicization of the Bush administration’s Justice Department and the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

No reason was ever given for Bogden’s firing, and Gonzales testified that he regretted letting the career federal prosecutor go.

With the election of President Barack Obama and the chance for new attorney appointments, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in March recommended Bogden for his old job, because “he felt what happened to Bogden was wrong and he wanted to right that wrong,” a spokesman said at the time.

However, word of Bogden’s return sparked grumbling within Nevada’s legal community, with federal prosecutors and others saying they did not believe his nomination reflected the change they expected from the Obama administration.

Bogden has been working in private practice in Nevada and neither he nor the other nominees appeared before the committee today.

The state’s current U.S. Attorney, Greg Brower, had been appointed by President George W. Bush following Bogden’s dismissal, and is expected to step down.