Contenders for the top federal prosecutor post in Vermont are circulating as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office next month.
Christina Nolan, who has been the U.S. attorney for Vermont since late 2017, was appointed by Republican President Donald Trump.
Typically, a change in political party in the presidency results in a new federal prosecutor being appointed. Biden, a Democrat, is expected to get advice from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the state’s senior senator.
VTDigger reached out to several people who work in the legal field about who may be in the running for the position.
Among the names frequently mentioned:
— Timothy Doherty, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Vermont who is now in private practice at Downs Rachlin Martin. Doherty wrote a commentary published earlier this month in VTDigger titled, “U.S. attorneys can help build a more equitable criminal justice system.”
“It would be an incredible honor to be thought of,” Doherty said Thursday. Is he interested in the job? “If my name were raised, like I said, it would be an incredible honor to be even considered, so I would take it seriously, of course,” he said.
— Brooks McArthur, who was deputy state’s attorney in Chittenden and Washington counties and is now in private practice at Jarvis McArthur & Williams. McArthur has represented many clients in high-profile criminal cases in recent years, including the federal investor fraud case against Bill Stenger, the former Jay Peak president and CEO.
McArthur, reached Thursday, declined comment.
— Bridget Asay, who was solicitor general in the Vermont Attorney General’s Office. Asay is now in private practice in Montpelier as a partner in the firm Stris & Maher. Asay could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said Thursday he’s not interested in the federal post. Donovan mentioned that when he was the Chittenden County state’s attorney, McArthur was a deputy prosecutor in that office.
“I’ve heard a bunch of names; they are all excellent people and excellent lawyers,” Donovan said. “That being said, I worked with Brooks closely not only as a colleague but as an adversary and have great respect for his ability.”
Former Vermont attorney general Bill Sorrell said he has no inside knowledge of who may be in the running for U.S. attorney, but worked with Asay when he was in office and noted she argued on behalf of the state before the U.S. Supreme Court.
He described her as “brilliant,” and would be an “excellent” U.S. attorney.
Leahy, who is a member and former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has played a central role in recommending U.S. attorneys for Vermont to presidents, including Nolan, according to David Carle, a Leahy spokesperson.
“He points out that she has played a critical role in bringing together Vermont’s federal, state and local partners to tackle some of the toughest challenges Vermont faces,” Carle said in an email, “and that she has proven herself a highly respected and effective prosecutor.”
One of the highest profile cases her office has prosecuted is the notorious Jay Peak Resort fraud. In 2018, Nolan brought criminal charges against former CEO and President Bill Stenger and resort owner Ariel Quiros who collected more than $400 million from immigrant investors to develop the ski area, Burke Mountain, a biomedical center in Newport and several other Northeast Kingdom projects. McArthur is defending Stenger in the case.
Leahy had close ties to Stenger and was a big booster of the projects, which were promoted by Stenger and state officials to foreign investors from Europe, Asia and South America.
A U.S. attorney appointment by a president requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Many consider the job a “patronage” post, often tied to political connections with those in power.
With the change of presidential administrations, particularly from different political parties, a U.S. attorney from the outgoing administration may resign or be asked to resign as the new administration comes in. Whether that occurs in Nolan’s case is also not clear, and some say it’s possible she will stay in office after Biden takes over.
Attorney Dan Richardson of Montpelier, past president of the Vermont Bar Association, described Nolan as a “career prosecutor” who has focused on “substantive” prosecutions.
“There’s at least a chance that Biden may simply say it’s working fine, I’m happy with what I’ve seen her do, there’s no compelling reason to change,” Richardson said. “She’s not a Trumper; she’s not a partisan.”
At the same time, he said, a qualified person interested in the position who may have done work for the Biden campaign or has demonstrated “loyalty” to the Democratic Party could be a prime candidate for the post.
Nolan, through a spokesperson, provided an email statement in response to questions about her future as U.S. attorney for Vermont. She wrote that the post is “the job of a lifetime.”
“I don’t know what the future holds or when it holds it,” she said. “The U.S. attorney serves at the pleasure of the president with the advice and consent of the Senate and, I am sure, in consultation with the congressional delegation.”
“I respect that process and, certainly, the president should have the U.S. attorneys he wants,” she continued.
Other names mentioned in legal circles include two current state’s attorneys in Vermont: Sarah George in Chittenden County and Rory Thibault in Washington County.
George, in an email Thursday, said she was not interested in the post. While she hasn’t asked Doherty if he plans to seek the job, she “absolutely agreed with everything he wrote” in the commentary published earlier this month.
Contacted Thursday, Thibault said, “There are many well-qualified candidates with a lot more experience within the federal system and at this point I’m quite content working for the people of Washington County.”
