No sooner was Jeff Bingaman thinking he could, at last, put his own guy in New Mexico's U.S. Attorney's Office than The Wall Street Journal told him why he'd better stick with interim appointee Greg Fouratt:

Our states' federal prosecutors are presidential appointees, but by tradition the senior senator of the president's party — if there is one — makes the recommendation that counts.

Thus the now-retired Pete Domenici could choose David Iglesias back during the George W. Bush days — a choice he'd come to regret when, during the Bush administration purge of prosecutors unwilling to use their power for political ends, Iglesias would accuse the senator of interfering with the country's criminal justice system. Domenici remains under a cloud for what might not be much more than Pete behaving as Pete was wont to ...

But Fouratt, merit-selected by federal judges to replace Iglesias, has done a good job, putting such politi-crooks as Manny Aragón behind bars. He was hot on the trail of Gov. Bill Richardson when, toward the end of summer, someone in Washington told him to end his pursuit of contracting irregularities.

For lack of a case against the governor and assorted cronies? Or because the governor's party now runs the Justice Department? At any rate, the case involving CDR Financial Products came to an abrupt end.

Whew. With that out of the way, Sen. Bingaman could carry on with the nomination of a Democratic U.S. attorney, with no one complaining that the political-spoils system would be riding to the governor's rescue, que no?

Yes — but then came last week's confession by financial slickie Saul Meyer that he'd yielded to pressure to push deals enriching New Mexico politicians — and impoverishing state investment funds.

Meyer pleaded guilty to a whole separate kickback scheme in New York — but for good measure admitted to that state's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, that, "on numerous occasions," he had urged investments he knew "were not necessarily in the best economic interest of New Mexico." Mildly put.

Meyer didn't name the "politically connected individuals" — but The Wall Street Journal has begun connecting dots — beginning with its story a week ago. It began: "Corruption allegations are again swirling around Gov. Bill Richardson's administration ..."

A couple of big-time New Mexico Democratic contributors are on the lam from subpoena-servers — and, as Meyer continues to sing, maybe from law-enforcers as well.

This, to Greg Fouratt, should be what a fresh clue was to Sherlock Holmes: "Watson, the game is afoot, the chase anew!"

Whether it leads anywhere or not, now's no time for Jeff Bingaman, nor junior Democratic Sen. Tom Udall, who gets at least some say, to make a partisan pal U.S. attorney. It'd be a disservice to the nominee — and could sully a couple of heretofore unsullied senators.

What they should do is what our state's Republican senators did, and then some, back in the 1980s: Set up a bipartisan advisory committee to merit-select a few choices for U.S. attorney. The senators could accept one of them, or they could reject all — but at their political peril. First on anyone's list should be Fouratt.

Whether today's "pay-to-play" scandals are milder or hotter versions of New Mexico's long-corrupt politics, an honest, competent and politically untainted federal prosecutor is crucial to the credibility of our state's system of government — at least to the extent that there is any ...