Obama nominates prosecutor fired in '06

WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) -- One of nine U.S. attorneys dismissed by the Bush administration has been nominated by President Barack Obama to return to his former job, the White House said.

Daniel Bogden was nominated Friday to serve again as U.S. attorney for Nevada.

"I sincerely appreciate the opportunity this nomination presents for me to return to public service," Bogden said in an e-mail to CNN, "so I can again pursue justice on behalf of the citizens of Nevada and the American people."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, had backed Bogden for the federal prosecutor job for months.

The 2006 firings of federal prosecutors set off a scandal that prompted a criminal investigation and numerous resignations in the Justice Department.

After the firing of Bogden, CNN reported, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee he could not recall a reason, but said, "There were concerns about the level of energy, generally, in a fast-growing district, concerns about his commitment to pursuing obscenity."

Deputy Attorney General James Comey offered a decidedly different view in 2007.

"Daniel Bogden," he said, "was straight as a Nevada highway."

Obama also announced Friday he is sending to the Senate nominations for three other U.S. attorneys: Deborah K. Gilg, for Nebraska; Peter F. Neronha, for Rhode Island; and Timothy J. Heaphy, for the Western District of Virginia.