Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 14, 1993 TAG: 9306140307
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGLAS PARDUE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Now, at age 45, just five years out of law school, Crouch is set to take on one of the most powerful law enforcement jobs in the state.
Last month, Sen. Charles Robb recommended him to be the next U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia. Crouch still has several hurdles to jump before getting the job, but the recommendation generally means he is assured of presidential appointment.
Crouch's odds aren't hurt by the fact that he was one of the first Virginia Democratic activists to join Bill Clinton's campaign. He was Clinton's Fifth Congressional District campaign coordinator before Clinton was nominated, and he went on to be a Clinton delegate and whip at the Democratic National Convention.
If party faithfulness is a factor, Clinton couldn't find a much more thorough Democrat than Crouch. In 1968, when he was a political science major in college, Crouch was a Democratic presidential campaign volunteer, working out of the Watergate, a Washington building that would become synonymous with politics and presidential corruption a few years later. By the time Watergate became a household word, Crouch was an aide for U.S. Sen. William Spong, working mainly as his driver.
Politics also helped Crouch's romantic life. While working in the Senate Office Building in 1971, Crouch spotted an attractive woman getting off an elevator. Even though the woman worked for a Republican, Crouch asked a friend for an introduction. Two years later Crouch and Clara Johnson married. They're still married, and she's a Democrat now, Crouch says.
He says he owes his law degree to his wife's support, encouragement and sacrifice. When he wanted to go to law school at the University of Virginia, his wife and daughter, Emily, agreed to move and make the financial sacrifice. She took a job as a legal secretary and he worked part time as a teaching aide during the school year and full time in the summer.
In order to go to UVa, Crouch gave up his fairly secure political and administrative career as clerk of Henry County Circuit Court. He was elected clerk in 1975, and was in his second eight-year term when he decided to go to law school. It was while he was clerk, working around attorneys, that he realized how much he wanted to be a lawyer, Crouch says.
After getting his law degree in 1988, Crouch went to work in Charlottesville with the influential law firm of McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe. In 1989 he returned to Martinsville, joining the law firm of Young, Haskins, Mann & Gregory. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Jackson Kiser was a member of the firm before he was appointed to the federal bench for the Western District of Virginia.
Crouch readily admits that he has less experience as a lawyer than many of the 17 assistant U.S. attorneys he would be directing. But, he says, the main role of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys is increasingly administration, an area in which he has a wealth of experience. He says he also plans to directly handle some cases in court.
"One of the main attractions of the job for me," Crouch says, "is that it combines judicial administration with . . . a dynamic trial practice." And, he says, the job provides him the "opportunity to serve in an administration that I campaigned for."
It's the perfect combination for a man who has devoted his life to politics, public service and a love of the law.
Since he still is only a "potential U.S. attorney," it's too early for him to set any new direction for the office, he says. But, he says, he doesn't anticipate any significant changes in the short term over the way the office has been run by U.S. Attorney E. Montgomery Tucker, a career prosecutor, who was appointed U.S. attorney in 1991.
While the office's focus ultimately will be set by Attorney General Janet Reno, Crouch says, he would prefer to take a slightly higher profile than recent U.S. attorneys in Roanoke. He would like to use the office more as a "bully pulpit" to promote community involvement in law enforcement and cooperation between federal, state and local agencies. He says he would also like to explore some alternatives to dealing with drug crime.
Crouch says it could take three to five months for him to go through the process of background investigation, Senate approval and appointment.
In the meantime, he is continuing his regular law practice. "I've even scheduled cases in September." The only major change in his lifestyle is that he has dropped out of active politics. For the first time in 20 years, he says, he's not on a Democratic Party committee of some sort or another.
He dropped out of active politics, he says, because he doesn't think the U.S. attorney's office should be political, even if it is a political appointment.
Crouch say he has "no interest" in using the office as a stepping stone to run for Congress or any other political position. "My hope is that this is an eight-year job."
by CNB