The White House has ordered deep background checks on Troy Eid, a lawyer and former counsel to Gov. Bill Owens, in preparation for nominating him as Colorado’s U.S. attorney.
Sean Conway, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, confirmed Wednesday that Eid, who had dropped out of the nomination process, is in serious contention for the job and is being vetted before his name is submitted to the U.S. Senate for consideration.
“Sen. Allard has been informed that Troy Eid is an active candidate for U.S. attorney,” Conway said.
Eid declined to comment.
The Denver Post has learned that the FBI is conducting extensive background checks on Eid as a necessary precursor to sending his name to the Senate for confirmation. Sources close to the process said Eid is the only candidate.
The U.S. attorney selection process began more than 15 months ago when John Suthers said he was leaving the job to become Colorado’s attorney general.
Allard, as the state’s senior senator and one who is of the same political party as the president, was tapped to compile a list of potential replacements for the White House. Allard’s list included Eid; Stu VanMeveren, former district attorney for the 8th Judicial District, which includes Larimer and Jackson counties; and Jim Peters, who had been the district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, which includes Douglas, Arapahoe, Elbert and Lincoln counties.
One by one, the candidates removed themselves from contention. Eid and VanMeveren dropped out about a year after the process began, saying it had gone on too long and required them to put their lives on hold. In late January, Peters said he received a call from the White House in which he was told the administration “had gone in a different direction.”
William Leone, who had been first assistant U.S. attorney, was appointed to lead the office pending a nomination and confirmation of a successor.
During the past two months, Allard’s office communicated with White House officials about how to handle the situation.
If Eid is nominated, the confirmation process is likely to last into the summer. And if confirmed, the Eid family would become a uniquely powerful force in Colorado jurisprudence. This month, Eid’s wife, Allison, was sworn in as Colorado’s newest Supreme Court justice.
Eid, who is a shareholder at the Denver law firm of Greenberg Traurig, focuses his practice on land use and environmental law, federal Indian law, American Indian tribal law, business negotiations and public law.
Greenberg Traurig also was the law firm that disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff worked for before he was indicted on fraud and bribery charges.
Though Eid and Abramoff worked in divisions that represented American Indian tribes, Eid has said he had nothing to do with wrongdoing perpetrated by Abramoff. Eid has said he joined Greenberg Traurig in 2003, about the time Abramoff was being fired by the firm.
