Durbin says he's 'glad' Gonzales is gone

Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said he's "relieved" Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned Monday, and he floated a former deputy attorney general's name as a potential successor in a chat with the White House.

"I'm glad that he's gone. He had passed the point of being an effective leader," Durbin told the Daily Herald editorial board. "He had as many critics on the Republican side as the Democratic side."

The state's senior senator, -- who, as No. 2 in Senate Democratic leadership, wields some say in whether a new attorney general nominee is confirmed -- said Bush chief of staff Josh Bolten called Monday afternoon to discuss Gonzales' replacement. Durbin said he told Bolten to look for a consensus choice, a real prosecutor, dropping the name of James Comey, a University of Chicago graduate.

Comey recently told Congress that, as deputy attorney general, he watched Gonzales, then Bush's counsel, unsuccessfully pressure then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to sign papers re-authorizing a controversial domestic surveillance program while Ashcroft lay in a hospital bed.

"Comey is well-respected on Capitol Hill," Durbin said. "I don't know if the president would choose him, but I think he would be a good choice."

While Durbin said Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney for the Chicago region, would be a truly independent and respected attorney general, he acknowledged Fitzgerald is a "long shot."

"Don't know if they could get the nomination past Vice President Cheney," said Durbin, a reference to Fitzgerald's recent prosecution of Cheney's former chief of staff, Scooter Libby.

Also Monday, Durbin called for manufacturers to voluntary agree to inspect all children's toys in light of a recent spate of recalls of products from China.

He also backed legislation that would end the Consumer Product Safety Commission's practice of negotiating the wording of recall notices with companies that are yanking unsafe products, a process that can take months.