Senate to vote on U.S. attorney for Oregon

Published 5:00 am Thursday, September 8, 2011

PORTLAND — The U.S. Senate is expected to vote today on the appointment of Amanda Marshall as U.S. attorney for Oregon after a last-ditch appeal from sheriffs around the state for retaining the interim prosecutor, Dwight Holton.

Marshall heads the child advocacy section of the state Department of Justice in Salem and was nominated last year by President Barack Obama.

The Oregonian reported that the Oregon State Sheriffs’ Association asked Sen. Ron Wyden at the end of August to push for the full-time appointment of Holton, who has been acting U.S. attorney for 19 months.

“He definitely has tried many criminal cases, whereas we believe the other person who’s potentially going to be appointed doesn’t have the capabilities and doesn’t have the background that Dwight does,” said Clatsop County Sheriff Thomas Bergin, president of the association.

Wyden said Holton had done “an admirable job” but pointed out that he wasn’t in a position to assume the job, since the president hasn’t nominated him.

In a letter, Wyden said Obama nominated Marshall from a pool of three that also included Assistant U.S. Attorney Kent Robinson and Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis.

Holton, who has raised the public profile of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment.

His office has for many months taken the position that it is preparing for the transition to Marshall’s leadership.

Marshall also declined to comment.

The names of the three finalists came from a panel convened by Wyden in October 2009, when former U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut was named a judge in Multnomah County.

Obama named Marshall last year, but Congress recessed before voting on her.