5 lawyers recommended for Eastern District US Attorney

Sens. Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson have recommended five candidates to fill the open U.S. Attorney position for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

The senators sent a letter to President Joe Biden on Tuesday naming the following five attorneys as candidates:

• Richard Frohling, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District. Frohling has served as an assistant U.S. attorney for more than 20 years and as the first assistant since 2015.
• Gregory Haanstad, also federal prosecutor for the Eastern District. Haanstad held the role of U.S. attorney for the Eastern District from 2015-17.
• Susan Karaskiewicz, a Milwaukee lawyer who practices federal and state criminal defense, civil rights and pro bono prisoner litigation. She previously worked for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections as chief legal counsel and as a prosecutor in Kenosha and Walworth counties.
• Kent Lovern, the chief deputy district attorney for Milwaukee County. Lovern has been with the county district attorney’s office for more than 23 years.
• Benjamin Taibleson, an assistant U.S. attorney with the Eastern District. He’s also been serving as special counsel to the director for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the past year and a half, according to his LinkedIn page.

The letter said those selected were chosen by a bipartisan commission established to screen applicants. Hon. Charles Clevert Jr. and attorney Paul Swanson were the chairs of the commission, according to an announcement from the group. The U.S. Senate must confirm the applicant Biden recommends.

The new U.S. Attorney will replace Matthew Krueger, who served in the role for three years. He stepped down in February, as did the other U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Donald Trump, to allow the Biden administration to put forward its own nominees.