Judge Baird Named by Bush to Fill U.S. Attorney Post : Justice: Conservative Democrat was recommended for position by gubernatorial candidate Pete Wilson.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lourdes G. Baird, a conservative Democrat, was nominated by President Bush on Monday for the coveted position of U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, based in Los Angeles.

If confirmed by the Senate, as expected, Baird would head one of the highest-profile prosecutorial offices in the country.

The Central District is the nation’s largest federal district, spanning seven counties from San Luis Obispo to Riverside and encompassing 14 million people. It has experienced massive amounts of drug trafficking, as well as an abundance of defense industry fraud and savings and loans scams--three of the highest-priority targets of federal prosecutors in this era.

“I’m delighted,” Baird, 55, said in a telephone interview. “I know there are incredible challenges out there.”

She had been waiting for the announcement for some time.

U.S. Sen Pete Wilson recommended Baird to the Bush Administration late last November. Political observers said then that it was a savvy move by gubernatorial candidate Wilson that could win him points with women, Democrats and Latinos. Baird would be the first U.S. attorney in this district in some years who was not a member of the party of the President.

A native of Ecuador, Baird is fluent in Spanish.

Since November, Baird has gone through a formal background check by the FBI and other Justice Department officials. Although no problems arose, it took Bush almost six months to nominate Baird, creating what for some prosecutors was a frustratingly long transition period.

The position became vacant last June when then-U.S. Atty. Robert C. Bonner became a federal judge. Since then, there have been two interim U.S. attorneys--Gary Feess, and Robert L. Brosio, who is the senior member of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. Bonner was nominated by Bush last week to head the Drug Enforcement Adminstration.

Baird said she was told by a Justice Department official Monday that her Senate confirmation process is likely to take about a month.

If the one-month timetable holds up and Baird is confirmed, she will be sworn in just weeks after standing for reelection on June 5. She is expected to win another term on the Superior Court, to which Gov. George Deukmejian appointed her in September, 1988. He elevated her from a Municipal Court judgeship to which he had appointed her in 1986.

Baird raised a family before starting law school in 1973. After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1976, she served as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1976 to 1983 and then spent three years in private practice before becoming a judge.

She was widely praised Monday by judges and lawyers who have worked with her.

“The qualities that she has displayed in abundance on the Superior Court . . . will serve her well and ensure her success in her new position,” said Paul Boland, presiding judge of the dependency court, where Baird has handled custody and child abuse cases for the past 1 1/2 years.

“I think she’ll be a great leader,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. William F. Fahey, who heads the office’s government fraud unit and worked with Baird in the office in the early 1980s.

Brosio said he thought Baird would do an excellent job and expressed the hope that the Senate would move quickly on her nomination. He said the job of U.S. attorney has changed dramatically as the office has expanded and confronted increasingly complex cases, particularly drugs and money-laundering.

When Brosio joined the U.S. attorney’s office in 1963, there were about 20 prosecutors, he said. There are now 138 lawyers in the office, and he said he expects another 30 or so to be hired within the next year, many of whom will be assigned to work on drug and savings and loan cases.

One of the first major investigations Baird will have to review is the ongoing federal probe of Mayor Tom Bradley. The mayor has been the subject of a federal grand jury investigation since last year, apparently focused on his dealings with private banks and stock brokers.