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 | Reform Lite: Obama goes soft on pork | |
| Obama: Time to rein in earmarks | |
| Jarrett, Obama announce council | |
| Dems announce earmark reforms | |
| Gays in the military: Is it time? | |
| How Low Can Roland Go? | |
| Robert Gibbbzzzz.... | |
| DE Sen: Castle Leads Biden | |
| Poll: Delaware Loves Its Dems | |
| A Digital 9/11 |
| Obama's Remarks on Earmark Reform | |
| The Future of Russia Goes on Trial | |
| Agree with Obama or You're an 'Ideologue' | |
| Behind the Cell Curve | |
| Obama's Gamble |
| Camelot is Not a State | |
| The Return of Hope | |
| Confirmation Hearings Lack Candidness | |
| America as an Honest Broker | |
| Hannity's Interview with President Bush |
December 16, 2008
Fitzgerald the Pit Bull
By Jack KellyIn these parlous economic times, many of us envy the job security U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald obtained for himself when he had Illinois Gov. Milorad Blagojevich and his top aide arrested for, among other things, conspiring to sell Barack Obama's senate seat.
U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president. When he took office in January, 1993, Bill Clinton fired them all. Dozens of nervous Chicago Democrats pray Barack Obama will follow his lead.
I doubt Mr. Obama would have fired Mr. Fitzgerald in any event. He said he would keep him on during a meeting with the Chicago Tribune's editorial board back in March. But he doesn't dare fire him now.
And I doubt job security was a consideration in the timing of the arrest of Gov. Blagojevich and his chief of staff. The criminal complaint makes it clear Mr. Fitzgerald acted to forestall "Hot Rod" from making a tainted appointment to the senate.
"With wiretap evidence piling up that showed that Mr. Blagojevich was intent on selling the Obama seat for a substantial personal benefit...Mr. Fitzgerald was forced to make the arrest," wrote novelist Scott Turow, a former prosecutor himself, in the New York Times. "He decided that he could not even wait for the grand jury investigating Mr. Blagojevich to meet on Thursday and indict him."
Usually months elapse between an arrest and a trial. But bypassing the grand jury puts the case on the fast track, which will keep it in the news.
"Mr. Fitzgerald will now have only 20 days to either give the governor a preliminary hearing -- which would amount to free discovery for his defense lawyer -- or return an indictment," Mr. Turow said.
The next few weeks should be wonderful theater. Democrats want Gov. Blagojevich to resign, so that the Senate vacancy could be filled by the current lieutenant governor, Pat Quinn. But if he resigned, Hot Rod would be throwing away what little leverage he has remaining, and Gov. Blagojevich isn't the sort of fellow who puts the interests of the party ahead of his own.
If Hot Rod doesn't resign, the legislature would have to impeach him, or pass a bill to fill the senate vacancy with a special election. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) is against this because the seat would be vacant until sometime in April, and a Republican might win it. Another problem with a special election is that it would remind voters of the scandal that made it necessary. But with the world watching now, it's hard to see what Democrats can offer Gov. Blagojevich -- or threaten him with -- that would induce him to resign.
Patrick Fitzgerald is the pit bull of U.S. attorneys, and the only one with a national following. He nailed Hot Rod's GOP predecessor, George Ryan in 2006, and, a year later, convicted Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for lying about what he told reporters about CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Mr. Fitzgerald, who grew up in Brooklyn, got his job because GOP Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (no relation) wanted somebody tough and honest as the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and there weren't many locals that fit that bill. He asked FBI Director Louis Freeh who the best assistant U.S. attorney in the country was. "Patrick Fitzgerald in the Southern District of New York," Mr. Freeh told him.
Patrick Fitzgerald has already put an end to several political careers, but he may jump start one.
Most of those few Americans who know who Tom Dewey was remember him as the "man on the wedding cake" who lost the 1948 presidential election to Harry Truman.
Dewey made his bones as a fearless prosecutor of the Mob in New York City. This led to two terms as governor, and the GOP nods for president in 1944 and 1948.
The Blagojevich affair may represent a tipping point in Illinois politics, when voters in the Land of Lincoln get sick of the corruption they've tolerated for so long. The next time voters choose a governor will be in 2010. By then, Patrick Fitzgerald may be ready for a new job.
