Eric Holder's Possible Replacement

[Restorium2]

Obama Eyes Patrick Deval To Replace Eric Holder

 

Deval's Stance on Medical Marijuana:

 

Goveror Patrick Deval Leaning Away From Medical Marijuana

 

By State House News Service

on September 27, 2012 at 11:22 AM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

090412 Deval PatrickThe Associated PressMassachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

 

By Andy Metzger, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

 

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON — Speaking about the two medically related ballot questions, Gov. Deval Patrick said the experience of watching his mother die has moved him toward favoring life-ending medication, and said he has no personal experience with marijuana, medical or otherwise.

 

“I am told, and I will tell you that you will laugh when I say it because most people do - never having experienced marijuana myself,” Patrick began to tell co-hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan on WTKK Thursday morning, when Eagan interjected.

 

“You’re kidding,” Eagan said. “You were never curious at Milton Academy when all the other kids were getting stoned?”

 

“Let me put it this way: There was probably enough around me that there was a second-hand, a contact-high,” Patrick said.

 

While Patrick said he was leaning against Question 3, which would legalize medical marijuana, he said he was leaning in favor of Question 2, which would allow physicians to prescribe life-ending medication to certain terminally ill patients who request it.

 

It was the loss of Patrick’s grandmother and especially the loss of his mother, who succumbed to uterine cancer and hepatitis, which he said swayed him to favor giving people control over the end of their lives.

 

“I’m a lot more sympathetic to that ballot question,” Patrick said. He said, “Life is a mystery and God works in extraordinary ways and sometimes people defy their physicians’ predictions, but having seen my mother’s experience most especially – and I think thinking about my own one day – I think I would like to have that option personally, but as I said I think it’s a very personal thing.”

 

Later in the morning at an event in Cambridge, Patrick told the News Service that he was not formally endorsing a position on Question 2, because he believes it is personal. Speaking on the radio about medical marijuana, Patrick didn’t firmly come out for or against the medical marijuana enabling Question 3, either, but expressed some reservations and said he was unenthused by the prospect.

 

“I don’t have a lot of enthusiasm for the medical marijuana. I mean I have heard the views on both sides and I’m respectful of the views of both sides, and I don’t have a lot of energy around that,” Patrick said. He said, “I think California’s experience has been mixed, and I’m sympathetic to the folks who are in chronic pain and looking for some form of relief.”

 

In California, the state’s legalization of medical marijuana has at times run head-long into federal authorities, who follow federal laws wherein marijuana remains illegal.

 

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr., whose jurisdiction includes Los Angeles, took actions against what his office described as 71 “illegal marijuana stores,” including asset forfeiture lawsuits and warning letters.

 

In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed a ballot law decriminalizing possession of less than an ounce of marijuana.

 

 

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/09/gov_deval_patrick_leaning_away.html

Edited September 25, 2014 by Restorium2

[Highlander]

Hmmm.  So he supports a person's choice about how and when to end life but doesn't support a person's choice on how to actually live their life.

[cristinew]

Holder was not so bad after all,  Well when he leaves  Under the current classification, marijuana is placed in the same category as heroin. That places it in a strict regulatory class that severely limits how researchers and doctors can use the drug. The reclassification, then, could dramatically shift how the federal government handles marijuana in the war on drugs and provide some legal legitimacy to medical marijuana at the federal level.

"I think it's certainly a question that we need to ask ourselves — whether or not marijuana is as serious a drug as is heroin," Holder said. "[T]he question of whether or not they should be in the same category is something that I think we need to ask ourselves, and use science as the basis for making that determination

[t-pain]

the new guy sounds like a clown.

 

hes leaning towards life ending medication? after watching his mom and grandmother die in some hospital?

 

i guess he has to say stuff like that to get sympathy from the people who hate assisted suicide. why do people hate dr kevorkian??

[Restorium2]

Meet the Top Picks to Replace Eric Holder as Attorney General

 

 

 

By

REID J. EPSTEIN

 

 

Whenever President Barack Obama names a replacement for departing Attorney General Eric Holder, he’s likely to choose from among his top loyalists.

 

The president’s key second-term appointments have followed the same pattern: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew were all close to Mr. Obama and shared his core philosophies and confidences – which wasn’t always the case for their first term counterparts.

 

White House officials said Mr. Obama won’t name a successor when he formally announces Mr. Holder’s departure Thursday afternoon, but here’s a look at some of the top candidates for the job.

 

* * *

 

Former White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler

 

Kathryn Ruemmler in 2013Associated Press

Mr. Obama knows her closely from the three years she served as the top lawyer in the White House. It was she who informed the president that the Supreme Court upheldObamacare in 2012.

 

Ms. Ruemmler, 43 years old, navigated the White House through the various investigations House Republicans led of the administration, including the handling of the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the response to the attacks on the U.S. consulate at Benghazi, Libya, and the Justice Department’s seizure of reporter phone records.

 

She left the White House in May and returned to private practice.

 

* * *

 

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli

 

Solicitor General Donald Verrilli speaks during a forum at the Georgetown University Law Center on March 9, 2012 in Washington. Associated Press

Mr. Verrilli’s predecessor, Elena Kagan, got a promotion to the Supreme Court in 2010 and was mentioned by NPR in its initial scoop as a possible replacement.

 

Mr. Verrilli, 57 years old, made the Obama administration’s case for its health care law before the Supreme Court and was initially pilloried by commentators for a poor showing, though he was vindicated when court declared the law constitutional.

 

He’s already been confirmed once by the Senate, in 2011 for his current post, though he would face questions about the administration’s defense of same-sex marriage, voting rights laws and requirements the Affordable Care Act’s contraception coverage requirement.

 

* * *

 

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick

 

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick at a news conference at the Statehouse in Boston in January. Associated Press

Instantly anointed as the favorite to succeed Mr. Holder, Mr. Patrick led the Justice Department’s Civil Rights division during the Clinton administration and is a close friend of Mr. Obama’s.

 

Mr. Obama touted Mr. Patrick, 58 years old, as someone who “would make a great president or vice president” during a March interview with NECN-TV in New England. Mr. Patrick is leaving office at year’s end and has said he intends to return to the private sector.

 

Mr. Patrick’s public schedule for Thursday shows him leaving Boston for Washington after a 2 p.m. meeting, though he suggested at an event earlier in the day that he didn’t want the post.

 

That’s an enormously important job but it’s not one for me right now,” Mr. Patrick said Thursday in Hudson, Mass., according to his office.

 

* * *

 

California Attorney General Kamala Harris

 

California Attorney General Kamala Harris Associated Press

Considered one of the Democratic Party’s rising stars, Ms. Harris is best known nationally for the time Mr. Obama referred to her as the nation’s “best looking” attorney general” during a California fundraising stop. He later apologized to her.

 

Ms. Harris, 49 years old, hasn’t worked in Washington and isn’t as close to Mr. Obama as Mr. Verrilli, Ms. Ruemmler or Mr. Patrick. Appointing her would instantly launch a fight with the National Rifle Association. She’s backed forbidding most firearms within San Francisco, where she served as district attorney.

 

Ms. Harris faces re-election to attorney general in November, though she is considered a heavy favorite to defeat Republican Ronald Gold. In a statement Thursday, she said: “I am honored to even be mentioned, but intend to continue my work for the people of California as Attorney General. I am focused on key public safety issues including transnational gangs, truancy and recidivism.”

 

* * *

 

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara

 

Holder, right, speaks in April while U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara looks on. Associated Press

A former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), Mr. Bharara has been the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan since 2009. He’s overseen a series of high profile federal cases in New York, prosecuting terrorism, financial fraud and public corruption cases.

 

Recently, Mr. Bharara’s office has been involved high stakes intramural battles in New York Democratic politics. This summer he launched an inquiry into Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s disbanding of an anticorruption commission without seeking prior authorization from the Justice Department, the Journal reported in August.

 

 

 

Recent top federal prosecutors in New York have gone on to top political posts. Rudolph Giuliani became mayor of New York, Mary Jo White is Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman and James Comey is now Mr. Obama’s FBI director.

 

* * *

 

Any Sitting U.S. Senator

 

Historically the Senate has made it easier to confirm its own members to cabinet posts, though Republicans roughed up Mr. Hagel last year during his confirmation process.

 

Among Democratic senators the possibilities include Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

 

Of course naming a senator, especially one from a conservative state like Missouri, would complicate Democratic efforts to control the Senate, either after the 2014 or 2016 elections.

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/09/25/meet-the-top-picks-to-replace-eric-holder-as-attorney-general/

[Chauncy Gardner]

the new guy sounds like a clown. hes leaning towards life ending medication? after watching his mom and grandmother die in some hospital? i guess he has to say stuff like that to get sympathy from the people who hate assisted suicide. why do people hate dr kevorkian??

 

 

I think it has something to do with religion. Why we are letting somebody's religious views determine how we live and die is a question that needs to be addressed by society. One person's religious views should not be the basis for determining another person's life choices. One need look no further than the Middle East to see how that scenario works out.

[Habenero]

Whatcha talkin bout tpain? I'm not too bright but it seems he favors assisted suicide. So what does yer comment mean?

 

I don't know that he's worse than Holder. He said he is against legalization, right? But was the question asked if he is against medical marijuana?? Don't think so.

[t-pain]

Whatcha talkin bout tpain? I'm not too bright but it seems he favors assisted suicide. So what does yer comment mean?

he cant even endorse a ballot initiative about giving the choice of end-life drugs. he cant even answer an easy question yes or no. worthless.

 

then he gives a non answer, 'its personal' ? yes obviously , its personal, thats why we are asking for his personal opinion. enough of these muffin makers that hide in half truths and speak in doublespeak and cant even answer a yes or no question.