President Bush will nominate a native Utahn to be the next top federal law enforcement officer for the state, ending a reported impasse between senators and the White House, which preferred another candidate.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, confirmed to the Deseret Morning News that the White House is set to nominate Brett Tolman, a former assistant U.S. attorney for Utah and native of Provo. That nomination, when released, will be sent to the U.S. Senate for confirmation.

If confirmed by the Senate, Tolman will replace Paul Warner, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton and served 7 1/2 years in both Democrat and Republican administrations. Warner stepped down in late January to become a U.S. magistrate in Utah.

Tolman, a law school graduate of Brigham Young University, joined the U.S. attorney's office in 2000 in Utah. He made his mark in Utah for prosecuting gun-related crimes as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program in which federal prosecutors worked with Utah law enforcement to get guns off the streets and out of the hands of convicted felons.

He was chief of the violent crime and firearm unit before being sent to Washington to work for the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he was counsel for crime and terrorism, first for Hatch and now for Committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., where he has most recently worked on the renewal of the Patriot Act.

But Tolman's expected nomination was not without its competitors.

While Tolman had the support of Hatch, Specter, Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, and even Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the White House has been eyeing Kyle Sampson, chief of staff for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Sampson was a former White House counsel and Judiciary Committee staffer.

In addition to strong support from Senate leaders, Tolman also had support from many in Utah's local law enforcement for his work in prosecuting illegal gun possession cases.

The U.S. attorney's office for Utah has been temporarily headed by assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Sorenson.

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Contributing: Associated Press

E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com; suzanne@desnews.com