Peter Nickles
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Confirmation of the District of Columbia's acting attorney general will go to the full City Council after a committee rejected his nomination.
The Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary voted 3-2 Monday against Acting Attorney General Peter Nickles' confirmation.
Committee Chairman Phil Mendelson and committee members Yvette Alexander and Mary Cheh, voted against Nickles' confirmation, while Councilors Jack Evans and Muriel Bowser voted to confirm the former veteran corporate lawyer at Covington & Burling.
The full 13-member City Council is set to vote on his confirmation today.
Mendelson in a 20-page report on Nickles said he has "exceptional experience and knowledge" but questioned some of his aggressive tactics and his allegiance to Mayor Adrian Fenty.
"Mr. Nickles' tenure as acting attorney general is replete with actions and statements that show he regards his primary responsibility to be to the mayor," the committee report said. "The energies of this office should not be spent pursuing a partisan agenda."
The District of Columbia has the seventh largest AG's office in the nation, with 750 employees and a $90 million budget.
After Monday's vote, Fenty issued a statement pressing for Nickles' confirmation.
Nickles, 69, is the Democratic mayor's former general counsel who has been serving as interim attorney general since Attorney General Linda Singer resigned in December.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.