THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

PRESIDENT NOMINATES 4 TO THE U.S. SENTENCING COMMISSION

President Clinton has nominated Richard P. Conaboy as Chair, and Michael Goldsmith, Wayne A. Budd and Deanell R. Tacha as members of the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

The Honorable Richard P. Conaboy of Pennsylvania was nominated in 1979 by President Carter to serve as a federal judge in the Middle District of Pennsylvania. He became Chief Judge in 1989 and took senior status in September 1992. Prior to becoming a federal judge, he served for seventeen years as a judge on the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas. During his last year of service with that court, he served as presiding judge. From 1979 to 1982, Judge Conaboy served as Chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. He also served on the Pennsylvania Joint Council on Criminal Justice, the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges and on the Pennsylvania Governor's Justice Commission.

Wayne A. Budd of Massachusetts is a senior partner at Goodwin, Procter & Hoar in Boston, Massachusetts. Immediately prior to joining that firm, Mr. Budd served as the Associate Attorney General of the United States. Previously, Mr. Budd served for three years as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. A past President of the Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association, Mr. Budd was the first African-American to lead a state bar association when he became President of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

The Honorable Deanell R. Tacha of Kansas was nominated for appointment to the Tenth Circuit by President Reagan in 1985. Prior to her service on the federal bench, Judge Tacha was a Professor of Law and Vice Chancellor of the University of Kansas. She served as a judicial advisor to the Sentencing Commission, reviewing and commenting upon proposed amendments. Currently, Judge Tacha chairs the Judicial Conference's Committee on the Judicial Branch which is responsible for many of the issues relating to the judiciary's relationship with Congress. Judge Tacha is the author of the leading Tenth Circuit opinion regarding the application of the guidelines.

Michael Goldsmith of Utah is a Professor of Law at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he teaches courses on RICO, criminal procedure, evidence and complex criminal investigations. Prior to his work at BYU, Professor Goldsmith taught at Vanderbilt Law School, served briefly as Assistant U.S. Attorney, worked as Counsel to the New York Organized Crime Task Force, and served as the Senior Staff Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Assassinations. Professor Goldsmith has written extensively on a wide range of criminal law topics, including sentencing and federal guidelines.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, an independent agency in the judicial branch of government, was created by the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984. The Commission, which is comprised of seven voting members, is responsible for promulgating guidelines to be applied by federal judges when sentencing criminal offenders

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