Posted on 11/18/2001 4:23:42 PM PST by Jean S
With the resignation of a top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, senior Democrats have stepped up their calls for the end of investigations into two prominent Senate Democrats.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) said the resignation of U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White from the Southern District of New York should mean an end to the separate probes into Sens. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).
"It's time to move on," Daschle said Thursday, shortly after White's announcement. "It's time to bring it to a close, and perhaps this might serve as a catalyst to do just that."
Since early this year, White's office has been in charge of the investigations into Torricelli, accused of campaign irregularities and taking illegal gifts from a donor, and Clinton, regarding a last-minute Clinton administration pardon of four Hasidic men and the huge number of votes their hometown gave the Senator in her 2000 race.
In connection with pardons, White was also examining the controversial decision by former President Bill Clinton to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose ex-wife Denise became a large soft-money donor to Democrats in the months leading up to the pardon.
Announcing her decision last week, White didn't refer to the political cases still left on her plate, but said her resignation, effective Jan. 1, left enough time for "an orderly transition of pending matters."
But it's likely that it will be months before a replacement for White is selected, vetted, sent to the Senate and confirmed, particularly with Congress headed for adjournment at some point next month. The New York media have floated several potential successors to White, from a top aide to Gov. George Pataki (R) to a onetime aide to former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato (R) to former Whitewater prosecutor Robert Ray.
Any nominee will have to first get through the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee, where Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is a senior member.
Just as important, a Democratic aide noted that Chairman Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) has continued a "blue-slip" policy that requires both home-state Senators to sign off on nominees to the federal bench, U.S. Attorneys offices and the U.S. Marshals Service.
That policy effectively gives Clinton the ability to reject - by not returning a positive review of the nominee, on a blue slip of paper - any nominee to take over the office that is handling the investigation into her and her husband.
Neither Schumer's nor Clinton's offices would comment on speculation about who would succeed White or the roles they would play in making that selection.
In the Torricelli case, White was the third different lead prosecutor to handle the federal case, beginning with the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, which recused itself several years ago when the state's top federal prosecutor was nominated to the federal bench.
The case was then handled by the Justice Department's Campaign Financing Task Force in Washington, which secured guilty pleas from six contributors who evaded contribution limits through "straw donors." The task force was disbanded last winter and the Torricelli matter was handed over to White, whose office specialized in white-collar crime cases.
By giving the Clinton and Torricelli cases to White, a Clinton administration appointee whose first major case was the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Justice Department also sought to avoid charges it was conducting partisan investigations into prominent Democrats.
White's departure will leave Justice without that veneer, leading some to believe that the probes are going to quietly end with no indictments - or at least should end now.
"It's time to wrap it up," said Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), a prominent defender of Torricelli who has contributed $10,000 to the Senator's defense fund. "It would be timely to have it wrapped up when you have a change in U.S. attorneys."
Torricelli's office declined to comment, but his lead lawyer, Theodore Wells, who for months declined to comment publicly, said in a brief interview Friday that the case is headed for its conclusion.
"Senator Torricelli is completely innocent, and Iam very optimistic that the investigation will soon be formally closed," said Wells, who has handled the gifts aspect of the case.
The campaign finance portion of the case appears to have withered away without any indictments. The five-year statute of limitations on the 1996 campaign has expired, and three former campaign aides who received official "target" letters exactly 10 months ago - Jan. 19, the last day of the Clinton administration - were never indicted.
There is some speculation, however, that the Torricelli case will end up back in Justice's Washington office, in the Office of Public Integrity, which oversees most corruption cases.
One senior Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), argued against bouncing the Torricelli or Clinton cases around to different federal prosecutors. Both probes have been handled, at least recently, in the Manhattan office, and the Bush administration should just make a very prudent choice in who succeeds White "because of the highly sensitive cases" she has handled, Specter said.
"Every [other] place you go, you're going to find Republican appointees," said Specter, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, who complimented White's work and said he was "sorry to see her go."
Some Democrats, however, have grown weary of her investigations, which have focused on Democratic targets such as the Clintons, Torricelli and the Teamsters. "She's a woman without a home," said one senior Democrat on the Hill, who accused her of lengthening the pardon and Torricelli probes to curry favor with the Bush administration "to simply prolong her term in office."
"She prolonged them for months for her own interests," the Democrat charged.
Justice Department officials did not return calls seeking comment for this story.
Even if White or her successor decides not to pursue an indictment of Torricelli or anyone in the pardon case, it's unclear whether there will ever be a public recognition of that decision.
Many federal investigations are concluded without any formal pronouncement that they are over, leaving the possibility that Torricelli will never get a formal clearance and could possibly have the investigation hanging over his entire re-election campaign in 2002.
Well, he has brought it upon himself by effectively sitting on all judicial appointments that Bush has made. It is well past "payback time" for whatever imagined offenses occurred during the previous administration and Republican controlled Senate.
It couldn't happen to a nicer guy. </sarcasm>
The left would have to admit that their utopian, egalitarian ideas are wrong and they will never do that.
Wouldn't the ones (the common folk) who broke Laws Love to hear that!!!! Must be nice to be above the Laws of the Land. /sarcasm
One of Bush's goals has been to put aside the partisan rancor and to sweep the Clintons out of public life and off the front pages. Whatever his reasons for this, either political or sincere or both--or whether we conservatives like it or not, this strategy has been working for him.
The minute Bush pulls a partisan political move, the left will be screaming to high heaven, "See, he didn't mean all of what he said, blah, blah..."
Your idea is brilliant and all of us would love to see it, but Bush won't allow it, IMO.
Here's one!
Freepmail me if you're interested in assisting me in several projects to do just that.
Regards...EV
In my opinion
The clinton's played their get out of jail free card during impeachment. They had more than enough proof of wrongdoing by the republicans to stymie any real punishment.
Their blackmailing continues to this day. trent lott and the republicans in the senate let bill off the hook and will continue to do nothing about the crimes involved. Pathetic
The following is posted on a web site during a discussion about the replacement possibilities for Mary Jo White. It's revealing that the general public has so little faith in our government system for justice.
Standard Clinton Political Corruption Cycle: Crimes are committed, evidence suppressed and destroyed, witnesses and whistle blowers intimidated, blackmailed and indicted if Clintonite in Fed or State position to do so (Linda Tripp), mainstream press manipulated, Justice Department drags feet- runs phony investigations into "allegations", FBI destroys or falsifies evidence, partisan politicos and Clintonite pundits robotically mouth the words "Can't we just move on.." Republicans dither, more evidence of guilt comes out, Bush restrains Ashcroft to "improve the tone" in Washington, Clinton hold-overs in DOJ continue to destroy documents behind the scenes, Clinton parades arrogance and indifference to rule of law in public, life goes on, partisan Democrats quash investigations, massive troves of evidence sealed, the people forget, ... and American dies just a little bit more.
PLEASE do the right thing for America and see that a serious and law abiding replacement is appointed for Mary Jo White. If the laws are good enough for the common man, they are good enough for the political elite.
BUMP!
August 3, 2001
Mary Jo White Out: Will Trumka be Brought to Justice?
Union Corruption Watchdog Praises Bush Move to Replace White WASHINGTON, DC -- Today National Legal and Policy Center Chairman Ken Boehm issued the following statement regarding President Bush's decision to replace U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Mary Jo White.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration will nominate its own candidate for U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, replacing a Democrat overseeing two politically sensitive cases, a Justice Department official said Thursday. The White House began announcing its U.S. attorney nominees this week, but the official could not give a time frame for when a candidate would be named to replace Mary Jo White, a holdover from the Clinton administration.
The administration did not move earlier to replace White because of her work on terrorist bombing cases involving followers of Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden.
Practice!!
Which was the plan by both sides from the very beginning.
You know that and I know that. Do you think that the Bush boosters will ever know that?
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