President Barack Obama and one of his core advisors, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), are deliberating on a choice for the next U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri at a very exciting time.
A young, energetic, historic U.S. president has appointed a young, energetic, historic U.S. attorney general in Eric Holder. In St. Louis, the city that dominates the Eastern District of Missouri, in a fortunate happenstance we have a young, energetic and highly professional new police chief in Daniel Isom, who is calling out for more assistance from the U.S. attorney in prosecuting organized street crime.
The new U.S. attorney for this area is also being considered just when apparent corruption in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and its towing vendor are under federal investigation. Just as Isom needs federal help in combating organized street crime, the U.S. attorney for Missouri’s Eastern District also may have an opportunity to expose organized criminal networks at a higher level.
McCaskill’s office would not confirm reports that Cole County Judge Richard G. Callahan currently is being vetted for the position. That may be because Peg Gustafson, McCaskill’s legislative counsel, is reconsidering her interest in the U.S. attorney position for the Western District of Missouri, according to the Kansas City Star.
It would make better sense – and do far less to insult the many eminently qualified attorneys in St. Louis – for Callahan to move from Cole County to Kansas City to run the Western District office, and for McCaskill to suggest that the president appoint a St. Louis-based lawyer to run the Eastern District office.
We think we know a perfect candidate to join a chain of authority that begins with Barack Obama and passes through Eric Holder: St. Louis native Gabe Gore.
As Robert Kenney, chief of staff for Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster and president of the Mound City Bar Association, argues in a letter of support, Gore has precisely the most relevant jury trial and appellate experience as a former assistant U.S. attorney in the district.
When he was an associate with Williams and Connolly, Gore worked successfully alongside Brendan Sullivan, one of the nation’s preeminent experts in white collar crime, in an eight-month jury trial involving allegations of securities fraud and insider trading. He served in the John C. Danforth Office of Special Counsel, playing an integral role in the investigation into the deaths of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. He now heads the white collar crime group in the St. Louis office of Bryan Cave and is deputy leader in that department firm-wide.
The most-effective U.S. attorneys have experience arguing both sides of the kinds of cases that federal prosecutors take to trial, and Gore has that experience at the highest levels – and right inside the U.S. attorney’s home courtrooms in St. Louis.
Symbolism is not enough incentive to guide a crucial decision of this sort, but let it be said: an African American has never served the U.S. government in Missouri as U.S. attorney. Gore would be the first. He would join Obama and Holder in making history in this way.
“Mr. Gore has the perfect temperament and breadth of experience necessary to serve with distinction as the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri,” Kenney argues in his letter of support. We agree. We join many others in strongly urging Senator McCaskill to recommend this young, energetic, experienced and capable attorney for this important position and for President Obama to make the appointment.