Hagan's Nominees

I had a chance to review Kay Hagan's recently announced nominees to various federal posts.  There were two that aroused my interest.

First, Hagan nominated Al Stewart to be U.S. Marshal for the Middle District of North Carolina.  Many of us will recall that Mr. Stewart played a fairly prominent role in the Rhino series written by Jerrry Bledsoe.  My recollection is that Mr. Stewart's input was relied upon to justify action against David Wray and his men.  It appears Senator Hagan has, intentionally or unwittingly, taken sides with respect to the handling of the GPD fiasco with this particular nomination.  (She also nominated W.R. Stafford, who was being considered for the job of chief when Wray was selected).

Second, she nominated Ripley Rand-- the son of Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand-- to be U.S. Attorney.  Hagan once served with Tony Rand as a part of the Senate leadership.  That one should also raise a few eyebrows.

Comments

[anonymous]

Stewart, as I recall was, and so far as I know still is, a staunch defender of Julius Fulmore. Question.. Does Senator Burr have a say so in this process ?

[Joe Guarino]

I don't know, anon. Each Senator has a role with Court of Appeals nominations, if I remember correctly. But in the case of an office like US Marshal, I am just not sure.

It is interesting that Stewart was mentioned even in the most recent installment of the Cops in Black and White series that appeared just this past week:

"The (RMA) report previously stated that retired Vice and Narcotics Capt. Al Stewart and SBI Agent James Bowman, who are both white, told Wray about veracity issues involving (Brian) Bissett and (Scott) Sanders when they were under Stewart's command. Wray said this never happened. If Stewart had evidence of dishonesty by Bissett and Sanders, said Wray, Stewart was duty-bound to take action about it, but he had not."

If he was involved in defending Fulmore, it seems the public should know about it.