Connecticut’s top federal prosecutor said Wednesday he hopes to return to the state full-time soon, ending a temporary assignment as chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor has been dividing his time between Connecticut and Washington, D.C., where he is the top adviser to Gonzales, who announced Monday that he will leave office Sept. 17.
O’Connor, who became Gonzales’ chief of staff in April, said he expected to serve in the job four to six months. That remains his goal.
“It’s always been my plan to get back to Connecticut by October,” O’Connor said. “I want to do what’s right for the department but I do want to return to Connecticut as soon as I can.”
O’Connor said he was not sure if Gonzales’ resignation would lead him to return sooner or later. He said he will help with the transition.
“A lot will be determined in the next few weeks,” he said.
O’Connor, 40, said he is not sure if he will remain U.S. attorney until Bush leaves office in January 2009, saying that he expects to return to the private sector at some point. He once ran for Congress and was mentioned last year as a possible running mate for Gov. M. Jodi Rell, but O’Connor said he has no plans to seek office.
O’Connor said he is not a candidate to replace Gonzales and does not know who Bush might nominate.
O’Connor, appointed U.S. attorney for Connecticut in 2002, became Gonzales’ chief of staff while on another temporary assignment as an associate deputy attorney general.
The position put him in the middle of a firestorm over the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. Republicans and Democrats alike questioned Gonzales’ honesty on a range of topics — including the administration’s domestic terrorism spying program.
O’Connor replaced Kyle Sampson, who had orchestrated the firings for the department.
O’Connor said he did not regret taking on the assignment. He had little to say about Gonzales’ resignation.
“I respect his decision,” O’Connor said. “I know he put a lot of time and thought into it.”
