Posted on 11/02/2008 8:18:00 AM PST by PBRCat
Despite the national media's childlike fantasy that Illinois is something like Camelot—where the knights rise to power without staining their shining armor—we're still neck deep in corruption and sleazy pay-to-play politics.
The Chicago Outfit, the Democratic Daley machine, is now poised to leverage the awesome power of the White House. And the machine wants control of the federal hammer in its backyard.
Will the next president keep Patrick Fitzgerald as the U.S. attorney in Chicago?
McCain was unequivocal in his support for Fitzgerald and said the prosecutor should remain where he is, fighting political corruption in Illinois, not promoted up or out.
Obama, meanwhile, talks reform. But he's backed by the Chicago machine. Obama's own longtime friend and real estate fairy, Tony Rezko, has been convicted of corruption and is believed to be preparing to talk to the feds.
Mayoral brother Bill Daley has been rumored for a Cabinet post in an Obama administration... Bill Daley will look to protect his brother first. Although Bill is a thoughtful politician, I just don't see the phrase "Barack, we've gotta keep Pat Fitzgerald" on Billy's lips in the personnel meetings.
U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Tomczak), is being rumored as a possible White House chief of staff. Emanuel would also look first to protect the mayor. Washington Beltway reporters won't tell you this, because they must figure that what happens in Chicago stays in Chicago, but a few years ago, Emanuel was elected with the help of a massive patronage army of stooges on the City Hall payroll who pounded the precincts.
The fellow who directed this army for Emanuel is the corrupt former city water boss Donald Tomczak. He now sits in federal prison in Duluth, Minn., while Emanuel prepares to reform us all. It was Fitzgerald's office that put Tomczak away.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Kudos to Fitzgerald (He needs to be elevated to the position of U.S. Attorney General).
Fitzgerald has had amazing success in Illinois against one of the most corrupt political machines in the U.S. !!!!!
Here’s another example of a federal prosecutor closing in on a another “Queen Bee” Democratic mayor, Martin O’Malley, Baltimore.
Maryland is a mirror image of Chicago !!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1360653/posts?page=2
EXCERPT :
The job of U.S. attorney is a political appointment. The top man in any U.S. attorney’s office comes and goes. The real continuity in the office rests in the hands of scores of often anonymous assistant U.S. attorneys working there. DiBiagio had a foot planted in both worlds.
Before his appointment as U.S. attorney by the Bush administration, DiBiagio worked in the Maryland office as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1991 to 2000. So he was a longtime internal operative. He’s a graduate of Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the University of Richmond, where he earned his law degree.
From the earliest days since his elevation as U.S. Attorney in 2001, Republican DiBiagio emphasized prosecution of cases involving public corruption and white-collar crime. In a state historically dominated by Democrats, that means prosecuting Democrats.
Early on, U.S. Attorney DiBiagio found himself at odds with the Baltimore office of the FBI, notably former Agent-in-Charge Gary Bald, who soon left to oversee FBI counterterrorism efforts. In 2002 DiBiagio wrote a memo scolding the Baltimore FBI field office for failing to investigate white-collar crime.
Before long, DiBiagio launched a probe of the Democratically controlled Baltimore city council. He subpoenaed the financial records of every council member.
In his sights, everyone understood, was Democratic Mayor Martin O’Malley. O’Malley was seen as Gov. Ehrlich’s chief threat and rival. U.S. Attorney DiBiagio would soon reveal a penchant for writing embarrassingly ill-conceived and revealing letters, memos and e-mails, many of which were leaked to the press.
Short answer: Not if Obama wins.
You are giving Fitz kudos, but so far, it is not clear whether he got some of the machine as scapegoats for the survival of the machine or whether he is working hard to eliminate all corruption. He wasn't getting many kudos here during the Plamegate fiasco, where he knew from the beginning who the culprit was, and kept investigating anyway, manufacturing a conviction against an innocent man. It seems like his real target was Rove, and when he couldn't get Rove, he wanted to get someone in order to justify all the money he spent.
Regardless, he will be gone in January.
Maybe Bush can name Fitz Special Prosecutor on his way out
**in case you missed it ~~PING!
“”If we lose him, we lose everything,” said a Chicago FBI agent wise in the ways of Chicago politics and its symbiosis with the Chicago mob. “I can’t imagine it happening. He’s the guy who pulls the trigger on all these investigations. If it happens, if they get rid of him, forget it.”
~~~
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-fitzgerald-bdnov02,0,6826493.column
No way .. unless extreme pressure or shame is brought .. would zero keep Fitzie in place. In fact, I think he’d pull a Clinton .. fire ‘em all.
God help us all .. keep praying.
Illinois politics is the worst. Both parties.
Do you know what allowed 0bama to rise to the senate in the first place? RINOs forced Senator Peter Fitzgerald to quit the senate after one term. They threatened to finance a hugely expensive primary challenge, and also cut off all sources of campaign contributions to him. His crime was refusing to “play ball” with the crooks that run that state.
No way will 0bama allow Patrick Fitzgerald to remain. I know he took flack for going after Scooter - but he really does strike me as a true no nonsense nonpartisan prosecutor.
I know he took flack for going after Scooter - but he really does strike me as a true no nonsense nonpartisan prosecutor.
~~~
I think he was delusional about Scooter .. totally, but I do think he’s a bull of a relentless prosecutor.
Are you kidding me? If you read anything about his prosecution of Scooter Libby, you know that's false. The man played to the grandstands of the kook leftist fringe, convicting a man because he had a different memory of a conversation with Tim Russert.
He knew from day one that neither Rove, nor Scooter, nor anyone else with a Republican axe to grind outed Valerie Plame, yet he continued his highly partisan witch hunt. This guy will never go after a Democrat.
If he isn’t nonpartisan then why is he going after all the Democrat crooks in Chicago right now?
And how do you know he is? If he was, and if he was serious, wouldn’t he have busted them before this election?
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