The U.S. attorney general has appointed an outsider from Pennsylvania to the highest ranking federal law enforcement office in Alaska -- and made Sen. Ted Stevens mad.
Stevens has been trying to get an Alaska lawyer appointed U.S. attorney here, but for one reason or another the people he recommended have been knocked out, a spokesman for the senator said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, the Justice Department made an interim appointment, naming Nelson Cohen, an assistant U.S. attorney in western Pennsylvania to the job. Cohen does have 10 years of experience in Alaska, just not this century.
If there has ever been a non-Alaskan named to the job before, no one contacted Tuesday for this story could recall one.
U.S. attorneys are generally nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
In this case, the U.S. attorney general had to get someone in the post quickly because of a new rule that says an assistant can fill in for only 210 days. Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Smith has been filling in, and Tuesday was her 210th day, according to a Justice Department press release.
An immediate appointment was necessary, officials said.
There is no limit on how long Cohen can serve, said a Justice Department spokesman.
"From Senator Stevens' standpoint, the important thing is this is an interim appointment, not a presidential nomination," said Stevens press secretary Aaron Saunders. Still, Stevens objected to the decision.
"I am just furious at the way the attorney general handled this," the aide quoted Stevens as saying.
But a former Alaska U.S. attorney, Mike Spaan, now in private practice here, said he believes Cohen has a strong background in Alaska and is a "top-notch guy."
"I am confident Nelson knows Alaska. I'm not remotely upset about it," Spaan said.
Since 1987, Cohen has been an assistant U.S. attorney in western Pennsylvania. Most recently he was deputy criminal division chief overseeing white collar crime.
Before he joined the U.S. attorney's office in Pittsburgh, Cohen spent 10 years in Alaska, some of it as an assistant U.S. attorney and the rest in private practice.
Cohen earned a law degree from Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh.
The last U.S. attorney here, Tim Burgess, resigned in 2005 after he was appointed to be a U.S. District Court judge. He had served about four years.
Smith replaced Burgess on an acting basis, but under federal law, she could serve as acting only until Aug. 22.
The U.S. attorney is responsible for prosecuting violators of federal laws in Alaska. The most prominent Alaska case lately was the government's prosecution of Security Aviation and its executive, Rob Kane, on charges of illegally possessing rocket launchers. After a nine-day trial in May, the government lost the case.
Daily News reporter Rosemary Shinohara can be reached at rshinohara@adn.com or 257-4340.
