President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder to serve as U.S. attorney general could “be much more controversial than a new administration ought to try and put forth,” Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said today.

During a conference call with reporters, Grassley called into question Holder’s involvement with the pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich near the end of Bill Clinton’s second term, saying that may be a reason for some in the Senate to vote against him.

“I have vague memories of some of his actions being very, very controversial,” Grassley said, adding: “I don’t remember enough from eight years ago to say how serious that is.”

Hours before leaving office, President Clinton granted Rich a presidential pardon. Since Rich’s former wife and mother of his three children had made large donations to the Democratic Party and the Clinton Library during Clinton’s time in office, Clinton’s critics alleged that Rich’s pardon had been bought.

Holder was the No. 2 official at the Clinton Justice Department at the time of the pardon. According to the Associated Press, Holder told the White House that he was “neutral, leaning toward favorable” for a presidential pardon.

“But if you disregard what I mention, there isn’t any dispute about his talent as a lawyer or his capability as an assistant attorney general or whatever he was in a previous administration,” Grassley said. “So I don’t want to knock his credentials, and I tend to have deference to president on whom they might want to appoint. But if he’s done some things that are strictly political, it might question the judgment he uses and might question the judgment of Obama.”