by Glynn Wilson

Highly placed sources in Alabama legal and political circles are now saying the White House may soon break the logjam on the replacement of the unpopular U.S. attorney in Montgomery with the appointment of assistant U.S. attorney Tamara Matthews Johnson, an African-American woman with Republican leanings who has been involved in many of the political prosecutions against Democrats, including the case against Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford.

That is where things are headed today, according to one key source who insisted on remaining anonymous. The name was confirmed with others who have their ears to the ground in Montgomery and Washington.

Ms. Johnson is now “a strong contender with the inside track” — that is unless activists on the Democratic Party side of things act quickly to stop the White House train from rolling in the wrong direction.

As has been reported before somewhat accurately, according to the sources, Republican U.S. Senator Richard Shelby has held up the appointment of former public defender Joseph Van Heest, while Republican U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions objected to Michel Nicrosi, a Montgomery native and former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District, as well as attorney George Beck, some of the names floated for the job.

A special committee appointed by Birmingham Congressman Artur Davis to recommend judicial appointments to the Obama administration named Van Heest as its second choice. Sources who know him say he would be an excellent choice, although Shelby’s objections are too strong to overcome, they say.

The Obama administration has charted a policy of not naming new U.S. attorneys until replacements can be found, in what our key source calls “a bad policy.” The administration is also reportedly searching for candidates who would not face controversial confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate, thus the reason Republican Senators such as Shelby have a voice at all with a Democrat in the White House and a solid Democratic majority in both houses of Congress.

While much speculation has appeared in the blogosphere and the mainstream media about who will replace Bush appointed prosecutor Leura Canary, who failed to recuse herself in the political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, none of the speculative reporting is spot on target, according to our source, who has been directly involved in talks with the White House staff and the Department of Justice.

Ms. Johnson ostensibly has the inside track in part because of a close friend on the White House staff from law school, but her appointment “would be disastrous,” the key source says. In spite of being black, she is a right-wing Republican in the mold of Condoleezza Rice and Clarence Thomas, and would be the “absolute worse thing that could happen” to the Middle District of Alabama.



Shelby and others originally backed assistant U.S. attorney Anna Clark Morris for the appointment, the daughter of influential trial lawyer Larry Morris of Alexander City, a Democrat but a close friend of Shelby’s. Former U.S. attorney Doug Jones also recommended Morris for the position, as did the Alabama Democratic Party advisory panel, but she hasn’t been vetted by the White House and won’t be nominated, sources say, because of objections raised by Davis.

To avoid any confusion, it must be reported that the state Democratic Party panel also recommended a different woman from Birmingham with a similar name, city attorney Tamara Harris Johnson, to the U.S. District Court judgeship vacated by U.W. Clemon. That post was filled by Abdul Kallon.

Tamara Matthews Johnson, on the other hand, was involved in the public corruption unit in Birmingham that brought the original charges against Siegelman that were eventually dropped by U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon. She worked on every case brought against Democrats in the Alabama Legislature, sources say, as well as the Langford case, in what is being described as “an ethically challenged office.”

Ms. Johnson “is exceptionally bright and has a hell of a resume,” the key source says. She attended Duke Law School and clerked with a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. “But she is a rabid, right-wing Republican.”

Davis has indicated to the White House and the Justice Department that Democratic Party officials will oppose her nomination, the key source contends, but “the White House is driving this train.”

The Obama administration has prided itself on the non-partisan nature of its appointments, bringing some Republicans on board, including Senator Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary as well as Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Obama also retained Robert Gates, a Bush appointee, as Secretary of Defense.

Who in the White House is driving the train for the nomination of Ms. Johnson is not clear, but our key source says it is not White House counsel Greg Craig, a friend of Siegelman’s who has also represented the Bush family, former Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush’s political attack dog Karl Rove in the past.

Craig recently announced that he would leave his job by the end of the year. According to most of the reporting by the national media, he announced his resignation mainly due to mishandling the closing of the detainee prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. To expert observers, however, that story didn’t make a lot of sense.

Local reporter Roger Shuler offered a different take in this report, but our sources say Craig is not behind the decision to appoint Ms. Johnson anyway. Our key source does not know who is directly driving the train in this case, but he urged people to call and voice objections with President Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Senior adviser David Axelrod and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs.

They should say “this is wrong,” the source said. “Yeah, we want Leura Canary out of there, but we don’t want somebody who is worse.”

Ms. Johnson, the source says, “would be another Alice Martin.”