Local
D.C. to consider electing its attorney general
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
January 27, 2009
The D.C. Council will consider legislation making the District’s attorney general an elected position, which if passed could be the first step toward seizing the job of criminal prosecutions away from the U.S. attorney.
A measure offered by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson calls for a partisan attorney general election as soon as 2010, so that the AG’s four-year term coincides with that of the mayor. If the bill wins D.C. approval, Congress would still have to back it through federal legislation because it amends the District’s Home Rule Charter.
“If that passes the council and is signed, I will immediately introduce a similar bill, take it through committees and get it passed,” D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said Monday.
Under the legislation, D.C.’s elected AG would only prosecute juvenile and misdemeanor criminal cases, as it does today, while the responsibility for felony prosecutions would remain with the U.S. attorney for D.C. The District’s attorney general would continue to chiefly serve as the government’s lawyer, issuing legal opinions, defending the city in court, and filing lawsuits.
Current Attorney General Peter Nickles supports the idea of an elected AG, he said Monday.
“I like the idea of bringing democracy to the District,” he said.
But would he be the one?
“By the time the council and the Congress get over it,” he said, “I’ll probably be 100.”
Nickles, 70 and a renowned litigator for more than four decades, was criticized during the appointment process for his close ties to Mayor Adrian Fenty and his public support of the executive’s policies.
Despite his support of an elected AG, Nickles said he opposes Mendelson’s bill due to several “troublesome” provisions, including one that bars the mayor from firing his appointed AG without cause.
An elected AG “solidifies the independence of the office,” Mendelson said Monday. And once D.C. elects its first attorney general, Mendelson said, it can take the next step of transferring the U.S. attorney’s prosecutorial powers to the city office, with congressional approval.
“It would be an important step toward getting our own district attorney and would facilitate that transition,” Mendelson said. “This doesn’t go there, but it would be a step there.”
Norton said Monday she would soon reintroduce legislation to create a D.C. district attorney who is responsible for all prosecutions and is wholly independent from the government. She offered the same bill in 2007 and 2006.
The U.S. attorney will continue to prosecute “vigorously and effectively” as long as it has the authority to do so, said Patricia Riley, spokeswoman for the office.
A measure offered by at-large Councilman Phil Mendelson calls for a partisan attorney general election as soon as 2010, so that the AG’s four-year term coincides with that of the mayor. If the bill wins D.C. approval, Congress would still have to back it through federal legislation because it amends the District’s Home Rule Charter.
“If that passes the council and is signed, I will immediately introduce a similar bill, take it through committees and get it passed,” D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton said Monday.
Under the legislation, D.C.’s elected AG would only prosecute juvenile and misdemeanor criminal cases, as it does today, while the responsibility for felony prosecutions would remain with the U.S. attorney for D.C. The District’s attorney general would continue to chiefly serve as the government’s lawyer, issuing legal opinions, defending the city in court, and filing lawsuits.
Current Attorney General Peter Nickles supports the idea of an elected AG, he said Monday.
“I like the idea of bringing democracy to the District,” he said.
But would he be the one?
“By the time the council and the Congress get over it,” he said, “I’ll probably be 100.”
Nickles, 70 and a renowned litigator for more than four decades, was criticized during the appointment process for his close ties to Mayor Adrian Fenty and his public support of the executive’s policies.
Despite his support of an elected AG, Nickles said he opposes Mendelson’s bill due to several “troublesome” provisions, including one that bars the mayor from firing his appointed AG without cause.
An elected AG “solidifies the independence of the office,” Mendelson said Monday. And once D.C. elects its first attorney general, Mendelson said, it can take the next step of transferring the U.S. attorney’s prosecutorial powers to the city office, with congressional approval.
“It would be an important step toward getting our own district attorney and would facilitate that transition,” Mendelson said. “This doesn’t go there, but it would be a step there.”
Norton said Monday she would soon reintroduce legislation to create a D.C. district attorney who is responsible for all prosecutions and is wholly independent from the government. She offered the same bill in 2007 and 2006.
The U.S. attorney will continue to prosecute “vigorously and effectively” as long as it has the authority to do so, said Patricia Riley, spokeswoman for the office.
