Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus Nominates Girlfriend For Top U.S. Attorney Job

Jillian Bandes | December 07, 2009 10:38 AM

It's normal for Senators to nominate people they're familiar with to positions like U.S. Attorney, but isn't one's girlfriend a little too familiar? Baucus, 67, has been dating

Melodee Hanes, 48, for about a year, during which time Hanes has worked in the Justice Department and moved into Baucus's home.

It looks like Hanes has the qualifications needed to be nominated for the post, but the fact that they're romantically involved makes it more than a little non-kosher. One anonymous Democratic aid told the New York Daily News: “They’re both divorced. They’re free to fall in love with whoever they want.”

Well, yes. But that doesn't mean they're now free to move each other up in the federal government. U.S. Attorneys sometimes investigate U.S. Senators. I can't imagine how that relationship would go.