http://www.dailypress.com/chi-0605110271may11,1,1881473.story
Judge queries jury pool in public
Chicago Tribune (IL) - Thursday, May 11, 2006
Author: Rudolph Bush and Dan Mihalopoulos, Tribune staff reporters.
(snip)
U.S. District Judge David Coar questioned jurors in public Wednesday about a variety of matters, including whether they had been arrested, are employed by the city, involved in politics or harbor any views about unions or affirmative-action hiring.
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Before the jury pool entered the courtroom, Sorich’s attorney, Thomas Anthony Durkin complained to Coar that the “well is getting poisoned” by the Tribune’s coverage of the case.
Durkin also said prospective jurors might have been influenced by an anti-Daley protest in front of the courthouse Wednesday morning.
But earlier Wednesday, Durkin expressed confidence.
“We’re delighted to be here,” he said in the courthouse lobby. “We’re more than happy to take on this evidence.”
The defense has suggested they will argue that Sorich and the others were engaging in a widely known, longtime and legitimate practice of passing along job recommendations. McCarthy’s lawyer, Patrick Deady, suggested in a court filing this week that the system helped promote diversity on the city payroll.
With about 60 prospective jurors in his courtroom, Coar read aloud a long list of names that may come up in the trial.
The list read like a who’s who of local politics, including Daley, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Cook County Board President John Stroger, U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill) and almost all of the Chicago City Council. The judge even mentioned long-dead former mayors Richard J. Daley and Harold Washington.
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The list also included more obscure City Hall insiders who have figured prominently in the federal investigation. Among them was retired Streets and Sanitation Department official Daniel Katalinic, who admitted running a pro-Daley patronage army last year and is expected to be a key prosecution witness.
Also on the list was the pro-Daley Hispanic Democratic Organization, whose members allegedly were rewarded for their political work with city jobs and promotions.
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Thanks. This lawyer sure is representing lots of shady clients involved in the Chicago Thug game of politics..isn’t he? He goes from representing terrorists, Rezko associates and Daley union thugs to visiting Obama in the WH to ‘discuss’ Gitmo.
There is alot of smoke here if you ask me.
This Durkin fellow was also a former Assistant US Attorney in Chicago. Looks like he went after John Kass during the same Daley investigation you linked to:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/chi-0605110187may11,0,2949985.column
Rahm Emmanuel has ties to Durkin too:
http://www.goldtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26591&page=6
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“Last week, investigators revealed the boys from the Water Department were heavily involved in Mr. Clean’s 2002 primary. That is important because Emanuel may be sitting in Congress today only because of the illegal contributions and help he received from the Daley machine back then.
Anyone who thinks that’s a stretch should ponder the situation young Emanuel was facing back then. He was one of eight Democrats fighting for his party’s nomination in a district the Democratic nominee was almost certain to win. It was a bitter primary that he finally won by only 11,058 votes. His major advantages were money and the support of the Daley machine. Still, he was forced to spend nearly $2 million and put hundreds of “volunteer” workers onto the streets of his district.
Emanuel denies any knowledge of all that. One assumes he must have just thought his message was really resonating with water department workers as they streamed in to help.
So the man the Democrats have chosen to fight the ethics war was himself elected only as a result of the machinations of a corrupt machine that he must have known was operating on his behalf, and he, like those he attacks, will be forced over and over again to argue that he just didn’t know what was going on around him.”
What a nest of vipers, traitors and thieves!
DEMOCRAT CULTURE OF CORRUPTION! AND THE MEDIA IS PART OF IT ALL!
Well..well..well. One of the scumbag lawyers involved in this also represented the Al Qaeda terrorist that plotted to kill Bush.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/27/national/a012409D74.DTL
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“Defense lawyer Joshua Dratel said he will appeal the sentence. Dratel said he hoped that Abu Ali’s statement did not persuade the judge to impose a life sentence.”
What is it with these leftists and liberals? They are always on the side of the enemies of this country!
Pathetic!