Allard, Salazar Come To Agreement on Judges

DENVER - Colorado's two U.S. senators broke an impasse at the eleventh hour, making it much more likely the short-handed U.S. District Court for Colorado will get two more judges after all.

A third nominee was sacrificed when the senators reached a compromise to support confirmation of the other two nominees.

As recently as Friday, Republican Sen. Wayne Allard and Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar were in a stalemate they had said might stop any of the three judge vacancies from being filled.

On Monday, however, they jointly announced Christine Arguello and Philip Brimmer will be considered for confirmation. The consideration will come at a hearing today of the Senate Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C.

Until their announcement, both senators also had agreed on Gregory Goldberg to fill the third vacancy on the court. Goldberg, however, now is not part of the deal between the senators. In the joint statement, Salazar said, "This agreement is not perfect," and Allard said, "It has always been my desire to have all three qualified nominees appointed."

They negotiated the agreement during the weekend. Until then, Salazar was blocking Brimmer's confirmation and, as a bargaining tool, Allard temporarily was blocking Arguello's confirmation.

Arguello, who has family ties to Pueblo and Southern Colorado, is managing senior associate counsel for the University of Colorado.

Brimmer is a supervising prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office for Colorado.

Goldberg, a former prosecutor in the same office, is a partner in a Denver law firm.

"The agreement broke the logjam," Salazar spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley said. "It's the art of the possible."
Pueblo Chieftain