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The announcement wasn’t a surprise, as federal prosecutors typically resign when a new president takes office.
“On the whole I think I’ve put together a pretty good track record,” Biskupic said, citing convictions that he won in cases involving public corruption, gangs and drug activity.
Biskupic, 47, was appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin by President George W. Bush in 2002. The district based in Milwaukee covers the state’s 28 eastern counties.
Biskupic’s name came up last year during a congressional investigation into whether politics prompted the 2006 firings of nine other U.S. attorneys. His name appeared on documents questioning his performance and loyalty to Bush.
That led Democrats to ask whether political pressure from the Bush administration influenced Biskupic’s prosecution of Georgia Thompson, a state employee under Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle. A federal appeals court vacated her bid-rigging conviction last year for lack of evidence.
Then-Attorney General Gonzales testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee last year that politics did not affect the Thompson prosecution. He acknowledged Biskupic was once on the list of U.S. attorneys being considered for removal and said he didn’t know why that decision was overturned.
Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm said Biskupic never deserved to have his professionalism questioned.
“He was completely nonpartisan, apolitical, a professional prosecutor across the board,” said Chisholm, a Democrat. “When he was criticized for being partisan, I always saw the opposite, just first-rate professionalism.”
Biskupic said he planned to move from criminal law into “nice and boring corporate civil cases” by February. He said he might also return to teaching, having taught at Marquette Law School in Milwaukee last spring.
It wasn’t known whether Erik Peterson, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin in Madison, planned to resign as well. A message left for him through a spokeswoman was not immediately returned Tuesday.
In his six years as a federal prosecutor, Biskupic won a number of high-profile convictions against public officials, including former state Sen. Gary George, D-Milwaukee. George was sentenced in 2004 to four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to running a kickback scheme involving a Milwaukee social service agency.
Biskupic also successfully prosecuted former Milwaukee aldermen Paul Henningsen and Mike McGee Jr.
Henningsen was sentenced to 33 months for embezzling from his campaign fund and falsifying campaign finance reports. McGee was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in federal prison on charges including bribery and extortion.
Biskupic said Tuesday his only regret was that he didn’t pursue public corruption cases more aggressively. He said trust in government is paramount, and he hoped the convictions he did win made a difference.
“I hope I helped people in Milwaukee and the Eastern District have a better life,” he said.
Biskupic quickly shot down speculation that he would run for public office. Prosecuting public corruption cases means he created enemies who could interfere with his efforts to raise money for a campaign, he said.
“I thought to myself seven years ago, if I’m going to go after public corruption in government that I’d have to decide not to run for public office,” he said.
Biskupic said he was especially proud of the convictions he won in the case of Frank Jude, a biracial man who was badly beaten by a number of white off-duty Milwaukee police officers. Five officers were convicted, including three who received prison terms of more than 15 years.
“I found that very rewarding,” he said.
Biskupic was an assistant U.S. attorney from March 1989 until his appointment in 2002. Before that, he worked for two years as a judicial law clerk for the late Robert W. Warren, a U.S. district judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
