Bush appoints out-of-state lawyer to be U.S. Attorney for Alaska

From today's Anchorage Daily News:

Outsider named U.S. attorney for Alaska

Anchorage Daily News

Published: August 22, 2006
Last Modified: August 22, 2006 at 09:14 PM

Nelson Cohen, a federal lawyer from Pennsylvania, has been appointed U.S. attorney for the district of Alaska, taking the post held by Deborah Smith in an acting capacity since U.S. Attorney Tim Burgess resigned last year to take a seat on the U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

An announcement from the U.S. attorney's office in Anchorage did not explain why the job was given to a non-Alaskan. It said only that Smith's 210-day legal limit as acting U.S. attorney expires today.

Cohen has been an assistant U.S. attorney in the western district of Pennsylvania since 1987. Before that, he worked as a lawyer in Alaska, initially in the U.S. attorney's office, then in private practice.

Cohen got his law degree from Duquesne University of Law.

I love the passive voice--"has been appointed." Makes it sound like it just happened, rather than something that the president did. It always disappoints me when stuff like this happens--it makes it look like there's no local talent here. Sure he has Alaska ties, which is nice, but he hasn't practiced up here in nearly 20 years. I know for a fact that there are Republican lawyers in Alaska. Some of them are eminently qualified, and I'll bet some of them are even nice. Heck, some folks on Gov. Murkowski's staff might be looking for work.