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Monday, Jun 25, 2012 5:15 PM UTC

Committee will help pick US attorney in Chicago

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Committee will help pick US attorney in ChicagoFILE - In this July 6, 2006 file photo, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro speaks at a news conference in Chicago. On Monday June 25, 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder named Shapiro to be acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois after the resignation of Patrick Fitzgerald. Shapiro has served as First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the last 14 years and has four decades of experience as a federal prosecutor in Chicago. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File) (Credit: AP)

CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin says he and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk will appoint a six-member committee to screen applicants for the job of U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Durbin said Monday that he and Kirk agreed that the ideal applicant should be even-handed and bipartisan or nonpartisan.

He says it doesn’t matter if the next top prosecutor is from Illinois or from the outside, as outgoing U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was when he was appointed.

Fitzgerald is retiring at the end of the week after 11 years in the post. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro has been named as interim U.S. attorney at Fitzpatrick’s suggestion.

Durbin says the committee members could be named within a few days.

He and Kirk will interview finalists and make a recommendation to the White House.

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