THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 9, 1994 TAG: 9410090036
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
If former North Carolina Attorney General Lacy H. Thornburg's Democratic nomination as a federal judge isn't overwhelmingly confirmed on Capitol Hill, it won't be the fault of the state's two Republican senators.
President Clinton named Thornburg to a U.S. judgeship in the Western District of North Carolina last week and ``the papers have already gone to the Senate Judiciary Committee,'' a White House spokesperson said Friday.
Although Thornburg has been a revered Democratic party leader for years, he lost his last major political bid in the 1992 gubernatorial primary, and Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. went on to win a third term after an eight-year hiatus. Since then, leaders in both political parties have been trying to get the 65-year-old attorney to the federal judiciary. He is a former legislator and state superior court judge.
Even Republican Sen. Jesse Helms, the conservative senior member of the Tarheel congressional delegation, told friends last week he had joined in the effort that led Clinton to nominate Thornburg to the lifetime job.
``Lacy Thornburg was the best attorney general North Carolina ever had,'' said Helms in Washington. ``He's the best possible nominee for the Federal bench . . .
``And furthermore,'' Helms added, ``Lacy will be confirmed, and Senator Faircloth will hear from me if he doesn't help out.''
Sen. D.M. ``Lauch'' Faircloth is a former Democratic party fund-raiser from Clinton, N.C., who joined the GOP and won Terry Sanford's Democratic Senate seat in 1992. After the election, Faircloth boasted that his victory made Helms ``the liberal Senator from North Carolina.''
But Faircloth is also an old friend of Thornburg and helped raise money for Thornburg's first successful run for N.C. attorney general in 1984. Thornburg maintained a strong Democratic presence as the state's top lawyer through GOP Gov. James G. Martin's two Republican administrations that ended in 1992.
``I've never heard Sen. Faircloth say anything that would lead me to believe he won't do everything he can for Lacy Thornburg,'' said John Preyer, legislative director for Faircloth in Washington. Faircloth was not available for comment.
William Adams, a spokesman for the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the impending adjournment of Congress would probably keep Thornburg's nomination from being acted on ``until the new session starts in January.''
But Adams said if the Judiciary Committee holds a meeting during November, Thornburg's nomination could be brought up.
Should Thornburg be confirmed as a federal judge in the state's U.S. Western District, it will be an item for collectors of political paradox.
Mountainous western North Carolina is a stronghold of Republican conservatism where Thornburg's Democratic Party loyalty may raise an occasional eyebrow.
On the other hand, U.S. Judge Terrence W. Boyle, a jurist of tested Republican connections, presides in Elizabeth City in the heavily Democratic U.S. Eastern District of North Carolina.
With the enthusiastic endorsement of Helms, Boyle was named to the federal bench during the Reagan-Bush Republican administrations.
Boyle is a son-in-law of Tom Ellis, a Raleigh attorney who founded the Congressional Club to help Helms raise money for his four successful Senate campaigns.
Helms and Ellis remain close friends, although this year they distanced themselves from the Congressional Club in a disagreement over management of the organization. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
In his bid to become a federal judge, Lacy H. Thornburg has powerful
allies, including Sens. Jesse Helms and D.M. ``Lauch'' Faircloth.
KEYWORDS: JUDGESHIPS NORTH CAROLINA by CNB