"Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus recently forwarded three names to President Barack Obama as his top picks for U.S. attorney in Montana, his spokesman confirmed.

As of this week, only two people confirmed they were interviewed for the job.

Attorneys Mike Wheat of Bozeman and Mike Cotter of Helena both said they were interviewed in late January by Baucus and Sen. Jon Tester at the senior senator's Helena office. Billings attorney and Baucus staff member Melodee Hanes once confirmed her interest in the job, but is no longer competing.

“Max and Jon cannot make the names of those who applied for these positions public out of respect for their privacy,” Barrett Kaiser, the spokesman, said in an e-mail to the Missoulian. “However, I can tell you that Melodee Hanes is NOT a candidate for U.S. attorney.”

The U.S. attorney selection process was a political flashpoint during the second term of President George W. Bush when nine U.S. attorneys were dismissed, apparently for partisan reasons, prompting Tester's fury during a Senate hearing.

Meanwhile, at least half a dozen Montana lawyers have expressed interest in the U.S. attorney job, including Hanes; Wheat, a recent attorney general candidate; Cotter, a civil law attorney; Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg; John Mudd, executive counsel for the state auditor; and Josh Van de Wetering, a former deputy U.S. attorney."

Get the Story:
2 interviewed for U.S. attorney post (The Missoulian 3/12)

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