Former lobbyist and chief counsel to Joe Biden to get the United States Attorney post for the Eastern District?

That’s what The Washington Post is saying:

Neil MacBride, who has been an associate deputy attorney general since January, is undergoing FBI background checks for the Alexandria job, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because no appointment has been announced.

MacBride, 43, is also a former prosecutor, former chief counsel to Vice President Biden and was a vice president at the Business Software Alliance, which represents Microsoft, IBM and several leading computer companies. He was a registered lobbyist for that organization in 2007, lobbying the Senate on topics such as copyright enforcement and cybersecurity, according to Senate records and federal officials.

It would be unusual for a recent corporate lobbyist to be a U.S. attorney, and some prosecutors and governmental watchdogs have questioned whether appointing MacBride would run counter to the spirit of the Obama administration’s efforts to change the lobbying culture of Washington.

What spirit? Banning the hiring of lobbyists by executive order than granting exception after exception after exception? That’s what I call the spirit of business as usual.

I also posted previously on my blog about Timothy Heaphy, the nominee for the United States Attorney post for the Western District of Virginia, and how he had contributed at least $6,138 to various federal and state Democratic candidates and PACs. Ironically, Heaphy previously penned an article for Legal Times titled “Good Choice, Sir: Let’s Try a Truly Merit-based System for Picking U.S. Attorneys”.

And it looks like MacBride has been doing a little donating to Democratic causes as well. There’s the $2,300 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the combined $2,300 to Joe Biden’s campaign, the $1,000 to Barack Obama’s campaign, as well as $500 to the DNC, for a total of $6,100 to Democratic candidates and organizations according to the FEC.

With the exception of the donation to the DNC, his employer is listed as being the Business Software Alliance. But didn’t Obama claim that he never accepted any money from lobbyists during his campaign?

H/t: Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s Blog

Not cross-posted at any other blog for a change.