Friday, 10:55 AM
Senate Judiciary Committee approves Sullivan's BATF nomination
(William Moore for The Boston Globe)
Sullivan at a news conference this summer.
Michael J. Sullivan, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, won a key congressional approval today in his bid for the post of director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the appointment this morning in a voice vote, said Erica Chabot, a spokeswoman for Vermont Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the chairman of the committee.
The appointment will now go to the Senate floor.
Sullivan, a law-and-order Republican, has been acting head of the bureau for the past 13 months while remaining US attorney.
Sullivan has had "the impossible responsibility" of serving in both jobs and he's "done as good a job as one could have hoped at both. We'll miss him in Massachusetts, but he'll be a strong leader at ATF, and I look forward to working with him on key issues on gun control," US Senator Edward M. Kennedy said in a statement.
US Senator John Kerry said in a statement that Sullivan was a "good law enforcement officer who should do a fine job. ... Stretched way too thin over the past year caught between two full time jobs, he's still stood out as a highly competent professional and a person of character."
Sullivan was named US attorney by President Bush shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
He served before that as district attorney in Plymouth County. He also served three terms as a state representative.
The Globe reported recently that, despite his crimefighting reputation, he has brought fewer criminal cases almost every year since he was appointed as US attorney.
