Executive Session
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I am pleased that the Senate has just confirmed Zach Fardon to serve as the next U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Mr. Fardon is going to be an outstanding U.S. Attorney. He has a superb résumé. He served for six years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago, where he worked on one of the highest-profile prosecutions in our state's history, the prosecution of Governor George Ryan. He also served for several years as a First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Nashville, which was the number 2 position in that office. Additionally, he has experience working as a public defender in Nashville, which has given him perspective from both sides of the courtroom.
It is hard to imagine a more bipartisan nominee. Senator MARK KIRK and I worked together every step of the way in identifying our next U.S. Attorney. We established a blue-ribbon, bipartisan screening committee to evaluate candidates for this job. Our screening committee highly recommended Mr. Fardon, and Senator KIRK and I agree that Mr. Fardon is an outstanding pick.
Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the man whose shoes Mr. Fardon will fill, agrees that he is up to the task. When Mr. Fardon was nominated, Pat Fitzgerald said ``Zach is a wonderful person, a great lawyer and a natural leader.''
I want to commend and thank Gary Shapiro, who has served as Acting U.S. Attorney for over a year, for his service and his excellent work. He has been a tremendous asset to the Northern District of Illinois. But it is important to get Senate-confirmed leadership in place in this office, and I believe Zach Fardon will do an outstanding job.
Now that the Senate has confirmed Mr. Fardon, he can get to work addressing the urgent problems of gang and gun crime in the Northern District of Illinois. I have talked with Mr. Fardon about the need for the U.S. Attorney's office to take a leading role in this fight, and he agrees.
I am glad that the Senate has taken this step today, and I wish Mr. Fardon well as he takes on this new role. I look forward to working with him.
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