As a new administration begins in Washington, D.C. next year, it will appoint two new U.S. attorneys in Ohio. The process isn't well known or particularly open to the public, but a former U.S. attorney shed some light on how he was selected.

Edmund A. Sargus, Jr. served as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio from 1993 to 1996 after being appointed by President Clinton and confirmed by the Democratic U.S. Senate. Sargus is now a judge on the U.S. District Court for Ohio's southern district. Sargus said the men most responsible for seeing someone nominated for U.S. attorney are the two U.S. senators from Ohio.

"Traditionally, the senators of the same party of the president of course have great influence of selecting those people who may later be nominated," Sargus said.

Sargus said he served for the campaigns of both U.S. Sens. Howard Metzenbaum (D) and John Glenn (D) and worked for Metzenbaum's law firm.

Sargus said he made it clear to both men that he was interested in becoming U.S. attorney and after further discussions they suggested him to Clinton weeks later.

Even if the administration likes a senator's U.S. attorney pick, the other senator from that state can place a hold on the nomination, Sargus said. This means that whoever U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) suggests to the Obama administration, he'll almost certainly consult with U.S. Sen. George Voinovich (R).

"Truthfully, what the big hold up always is that there will be people in both the White House and the Justice Department that will be part of that process who aren't in place yet," Sargus said, adding that these people largely conduct background checks of possible nominees.

Sargus said he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate without a hearing, but he did have to give "scores" of pages of background to the Senate Judiciary Committee. If there had been an issue, he would have stood in front of a hearing. Despite U.S. attorneys being political appointees, Sargus said they must pursue political corruption cases against their own parties with vigor because they work closely with career prosecutors and law enforcement, especially the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

"If anything, dropping a case against someone of your own party should be more embarrassing than pursuing it, if there's merit to it of course," Sargus said. "If you're perceived as having axes to grind on a political basis, you will have a very difficult time working with an organization like the FBI."

Among the names being mentioned publically and privately for both U.S. attorney positions are: Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Steve Dever, Gov. Ted Strickland's chief legal counsel Kent Marcus, former Democratic attorney general candidate Subodh Chandra; assistant U.S. attorneys Dick Chema and Sal Domingus; former federal prosecutors Steve Dettelbach and James Wooley.

Attorney General Nancy Rogers would be eligible for nomination after she finishes Marc Dann's term and leaves in January.

EARLIER on PolitickerOH.com:

• Chandra wants to be U.S. attorney
• Cuyahoga prosecutor makes U.S. attorney endorsement