Senate GOP will bring up Holder's Blago ties in AG confirmation hearings

Eric Holder, Barack Obama's choice to be the nation's next attorney general, is best known to most Americans for his role in the Bill Clinton Pardongate fiasco.

A Senate confirmation hearing regarding Holder began an hour ago. The "good stuff" hasn't begun yet, namely, Holder's role in that pardon. Fearing a tough audience, at least from Senate Republicans, the attorney general designate admitted "mistakes" in the past, and says he has learned from them.

But Holder doesn't just have Rich to worry about, as the Chicago Tribune reports this morning:

As Eric Holder gears up to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday seeking confirmation as attorney general, some Republicans say they plan to question him aggressively about whether his ties to disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich are more extensive than Holder has previously acknowledged.

Republican staffers investigating Holder's background as part of the confirmation process say that while he has downplayed his connections to Blagojevich, new information has come to light that suggests Holder did at least some legal work for Blagojevich on an investigation into the controversial award of a state casino gambling license by the Illinois Gaming Board.

Republicans said they have obtained a letter Holder wrote to the state requesting records on the casino license. Holder did not bill the state for any work. Even so, GOP senators want details on that arrangement. They also want to know why Holder initially left out any mention of it—and of his relationship to Blagojevich—in the disclosure questionnaire he was required to file with the committee as part of his confirmation.

Aides have said Holder's failure to mention the relationship was inadvertent.

Hundreds, maybe thousands of public officials, fairly or not, will have to explain their Blago ties until the day they die. Another Blagojevich legacy.

Technorati tags: Blagojevich Illinois Politics corruption Illinois Democrats politics Pardongate Marc Rich Bill Clinton casinos