President-elect Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, Eric Holder, is being slammed as a "lawbreaking opportunist" by a Utahn who says she knows Holder's tactics firsthand: former U.S. Rep. Enid Greene Mickelsen.

Holder was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia in the mid-'90s, when then-Rep. Enid Greene Waldholtz's personal life and political career spectacularly imploded, and prosecutors spent nearly a year investigating potential bank fraud and campaign law violations by her and her estranged husband, Joe Waldholtz.

Waldholtz was convicted and sent to prison; the congresswoman was eventually cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

Still, Mickelsen - who quickly divorced Waldholtz and recently remarried - carries a grudge against Holder. She said during her KSL radio show that she was "absolutely appalled, infuriated and disgusted" that Obama would pick Holder to be his attorney general.

"This man should in no way, shape or form be allowed to have so much power concentrated in his hands," she said on her show Saturday. Mickelsen says Holder abused his authority with an overaggressive, prolonged investigation into her own conduct. She said she has it "from the highest authorities in the Justice Department and FBI" that the scrutiny was kept up because she is a Republican and the attention to her saga diverted attention from Democratic scandals.

"I think [Holder] has absolutely no moral or ethical integrity and shouldn't be attorney general," she said in a Tribune interview Tuesday. Mickelsen said she did not intend to resurrect her political fall, but she feels so strongly about it that she needed to speak out.

However, William Lawler, one of the two federal prosecutors who investigated the Waldholtzes, said any claims of political motives are ridiculous and completely unfounded.

"It's absolutely absurd to suggest the case was handled improperly or that Eric Holder had anything to do with it," Lawler said.

"I think he wanted to make sure the case was handled appropriately, but I can tell you categorically he never gave any direction as to achieving a particular result or prolonging an investigation or doing anything like that," he said. "His concern with this case, as with any other case, was that it was done thoroughly and appropriately."

Lawler, who left the Justice Department shortly after the Waldholtz case concluded and is now in private practice in Washington, D.C., said Holder is "an excellent choice" for attorney general.

The Obama transition team did not respond to questions about the criticism. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday that he thinks Holder is a "good appointment."

"I like Holder. I have a very good relationship with him," he said. Asked specifically about Mickelsen's criticism, he said that "there are some things you can criticize."

In 1995, with federal investigators looking into the Waldholtz's finances, Joe Waldholtz became a fugitive. He surrendered to authorities six days later and was eventually indicted on 27 counts of bank fraud. Mickelsen held a five-hour, tear-drenched news conference in which she claimed she had naively trusted her husband, who had defrauded her father and others out of millions of dollars - including almost $2 million illegally funneled into her campaign.

Mickelsen said it was clear early on she and her father were innocent, but Holder and his prosecutors grasped at straws throughout the summer of 1996, as her ex-husband provided wild leads for investigators and "they continued to try to frame me for what they knew my husband had done."

Greene and her father ended up paying a $100,000 fine to the Federal Elections Commission for campaign law violations in her 1994 House race.

The chief point of criticism regarding Holder's selection thus far has involved his approval of the pardon for convicted tax evader Marc Rich, who fled to Switzerland to escape prosecution. President Clinton pardoned Rich on the last day of his term, after receiving a large donation from Rich's ex-wife, Denise.

Nate Carlisle contributed to this story.