The swearing-in of Attorney General Doug Gansler turned into a small alumni gathering of U.S. attorneys, the local federal prosecutors appointed by the president. Gansler himself spent six years as a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, where, unlike in the rest of the country, the office serves to prosecute every sort of local crime.
It was there that he worked for Eric Holder, a former D.C. judge who would become the first African-American deputy U.S. attorney general and is now in private practice.
“I was never really Doug?s boss,” Holder said at Gansler?s swearing-in. “I could make respectful suggestions and then stand aside.”
“At a time when too many get ahead on image and connections, Doug has reached the pinnacle of the legal profession with vision, hard work and zeal tempered by compassion,” Holder said.
Gansler said he learned about community prosecution from Holder, and that “our most important job is that we never convict an innocent person.”
Joseph Tydings was the U.S. attorney in Maryland before he was elected as one-term U.S. senator in 1964, a post his father also held. As U.S. attorney, “we can keep our eye out for people interested in public service.” Tydings said it was Holder who encouraged him to support Gansler when he ran for Montgomery County state?s attorney, where “he has done a marvelous job.”
Tydings chaired Gansler?s campaign and said he was most impressed with his environmental stand, even though polling showed it was not the top issue for voters. “He will be an advocate and protector of the Bay,” the ex-senator said.
“I personally believe that we wouldn?t be here today if it weren?t for Joe Tydings,” said Gansler?s father, Jacques Gansler, the vice president for research at the University of Maryland, College Park.
One assistant U.S. attorney Tydings hired out of law school was Stephen Sachs, who later became U.S. attorney and eventually Maryland attorney general for two terms before J. Joseph Curran Jr.
Gansler and Sachs “didn?t see eye to eye” on issues, Gansler said, but Sachs, who had supported Gansler?s opponent, Tom Perez, attended Gansler?s swearing-in.
People have compared Gansler to Sachs, the new attorney general said. “I?m proud to be just like him.”
