Corporate America had its first glimpse into the Obama Administration’s thinking yesterday with the news that Eric Holder, a partner at the law firm of Covington and Burling, will be nominated to be our next attorney general. Sure, we’re still in the rumor phase of this news, but the Obama team hasn’t made any mistakes yet and isn’t going to bungle its first Cabinet announcement now. This guy is in.
The appointment is a telling one for compliance executives. Holder spent his early years as a federal prosecutor, U.S. attorney, and judge in Washington, D.C. In the Clinton Administration, he rose to be deputy attorney general (that is, No. 2 in the Justice Department under Attorney General Janet Reno), overseeing all the department’s litigation and enforcement matters. Holder has also been a high-level adviser to the Obama campaign. Regardless of your particular political views, you have to admit that he has the chops to be attorney general under a President Obama.
