Baird for U.S. Attorney? Of Course

Sen. Pete Wilson’s recommendation of Superior Judge Lourdes G. Baird as U.S. attorney in Los Angeles is an imaginative and constructive move. President Bush will be wise to make the nomination.

The proposal is being read in the context of the senator’s campaign for governor. Even in that regard, it suggests a serious commitment by Wilson to less partisan leadership that is more open to women--though it will scarcely silence concern about Wilson’s support for a state initiative that endangers abortion rights. But the senator, a Republican, has recommended a Democrat, a refreshing departure from partisanship. And in turning to a Latina, he has given tacit recognition of the failures of the past to give appropriate recognition to women and minorities.

Judge Baird comes highly recommended, with qualifications that seem to fit the job well. Her experience has included service as an assistant in the U.S. attorney’s office, private attorney, Municipal Court judge, and, since 1988, Superior Court judge. Her public service has won widespread praise. We find particularly promising the words of Richard Kendall, an attorney who served with Baird in the U.S. attorney’s office. He remembered her as “tough but compassionate” with “a richness of personal experience that has engendered an unusual degree of perceptiveness about people.”

The Los Angeles office, one of four in the state, serves a seven-county region stretching from San Luis Obispo south through Orange County. It is the most populous of all the areas served by U.S. attorneys and has the third largest staff in the nation.

The Justice Department must now complete its review before Bush can make the formal nomination of this wholly qualified candidate.