Out Like a Lam

In 2001, for a brand-new Bush administration trying to move fast on many fronts, finding a new United States attorney for the Southern District of California wasn’t easy. Actually, finding any U.S. attorneys for the state of California wasn’t easy. Although they are officially nominated by the president, U.S. attorneys in each federal district—California is divided into four such districts—are traditionally chosen by the senior official of the president’s party in the state. Often that is a senator, but if there is no senator of the president’s party the responsibility passes to the governor. And if there is no governor of the president’s party—well, the White House tries to figure out another way.

That was the problem facing George W. Bush in California, with Democratic senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Democratic governor Gray Davis. The president’s solution was to rely on a selection committee headed by a man named Gerald Parsky, a Los Angeles investment banker who ran the Bush campaign in California and who also helped in the search for nominees to lower-court federal judgeships.

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Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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In 2001, for a brand-new Bush administration trying to move fast on many fronts, finding a new United States attorney for the Southern District of California wasn’t easy. Actually, finding any U.S. attorneys for the state of California wasn’t easy. Although they are officially nominated by the president, U.S. attorneys in each federal district—California is divided into four such districts—are traditionally chosen by the senior official of the president’s party in the state. Often that is a senator, but if there is no senator of the president’s party the responsibility passes to the governor. And if there is no governor of the president’s party—well, the White House tries to figure out another way.

That was the problem facing George W. Bush in California, with Democratic senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, and Democratic governor Gray Davis. The president’s solution was to rely on a selection committee headed by a man named Gerald Parsky, a Los Angeles investment banker who ran the Bush campaign in California and who also helped in the search for nominees to lower-court federal judgeships.