Fitzgerald Deliberately Held Off On Charging Blago To Help Obama Bid For White House?

IIRC, there was a similiar situation when George Ryan ran for governor. There were stories of the Feds having enough info the indict him, but made announcement that Ryan was not the subject of an investigation. After Ryan was elected, it turned out they did have the dope.

I think that there should be a special proscecutor to investigate ALL cases where an indictment may have been held off because of an election.

I think that big indictments like this should be held up until after major elections. An indictment is just that: an indictment. It is not a conviction. If there is not enough time to prosecute and try the case before the election, then all the rampant speculation can and will surely (and unfairly) taint the election.

This obviously goes for both Republican indictments and Democratic indictments. To have indicted Scooter Libby 4 months before the 2004 Presidential election would have been a travesty. Libby’s grand jury was empaneled in October, 2003, and his indictment was October, 2005. Had Libby been indicted in the summer of 2004, the Democrats would have had a powerful hammer against President Bush. It is right and proper to delay such indictments until after major elections.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA

BTW – You’ll never get a special prosecutor for this – when Bush went 8 years trashing the constitution without even a whimper from the left – give it up…

Where have you been the past 8 years, Ms. Warp’edpublican? Evidently not reading any MSM headlines… the same that have quoted Congressional members trashing Bush for everything from perceived Constitutional violations to calling him Hitler.

…”not even a whimper”…. give it up.

politics is a big game and there is alot of cheating. this does stink of game playing to get the desired results. i think we need a special prosecutor and to have an indipendent review of all of obama, rahm, blago, all of them and their corrupt ties to one another.

Reading in my local paper I noticed that the charges Fitz brought only nets 30 years max for Blago. Ryan got 6 1/2 years, people died as a result of what he did. If convicted, Blago’s sentence could be pretty enemic. Hopefully Fitzgerald has more charges to come, after seeing this I’m wondering.

Being an Illinois resident, hoping that some day someone will clean this mess up, I was encouraged when the third team of FBI investigators was added. Thought they would get to the bottom of the scourge in this state and clean it up. Rigt now I’m thinking that the Chicago machine is just playing with them, hope I’m wrong.

I don’t know about your news… but every channel is talking about this 24/7 (oh sans the part about finding the skull of that missing kid). It is nauseating already.

Have to agree, blast. The tunnel vision, and inability of our media to multitask on news is seriously depressing. I turn to the internet, and even that is filled with the same…. like there’s nothing else happening in the world? Chicago corrupt politician discovered… ho hum. Yup. Big surprise. Gee… what’s in the WH?

OT: The Grandparents wanted to believe their daughter was innocent. Now proof to the contrary has appeared to surface. So they bail. Can you blame them?

Victoria Toensing takes Fitzgerald to task for another unethical dog and pony show.

excerpts:

Fitzgerald Should Keep His Opinions to Himself
As in the Libby case, his behavior is ‘appalling.

By VICTORIA TOENSING
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s “conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Throughout the press conference about Gov. Blagojevich, Mr. Fitzgerald talked beyond the four corners of the complaint. He repeatedly characterized the conduct as “appalling.” He opined that the governor “has taken us to a new low,” while going on a “political corruption crime spree.”

Additionally, Mr. Fitzgerald violated another ethical mandate under Justice guidelines for prosecutors: He is supposed to “exercise reasonable care to prevent” law enforcement — in this case the FBI Agent — from making the same type of extrajudicial statements. Mr. Fitzgerald exercised no care.

Special Agent Rob Grant volunteered that when he arrived in Illinois four years ago, he was asked by the media whether Illinois is the “most corrupt state in the United States.” He then answered that four-year-old question claiming, “[I]t’s one hell of a competitor.” Mr. Grant did not stop there. He revealed that the FBI agents who participated in the case were “thoroughly disgusted and revolted by what they heard.”

Well, weren’t we all? Even though the governer’s maneuvering to sell the Senate seat most likely had not yet crossed the line to become criminal behavior, it was base, sordid conduct. But those thoughts and words are for the rest of us to express before the trial. It is unethical for those who are government prosecutors to do so.

Ms. Toensing, a former Justice Department official, is a lawyer in Washington.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122913032247103429.html?mod=rss_opinion_main

Larry: If it’s the right thing to hold the criminal complaint (the grand jury has yet to indict) until after the election then why not wait until after Blagojevich actually committed the crime of selling the senate seat to make the case stronger?

O.K. That’s a valid point. It’s also a point in favor of your position (with which I agree) that a special prosecutor would be in order.

I still stand by the position that the idea of federal prosecutors issuing indictments right before major elections is something which could lead to electoral manipulation. A lot of indictments seem like big deals, only to be revealed as small potatoes after all the evidence has been sifted and exposed during the trial.

I think you’d agree that the big deal here is the solicitation of a bribe in return for a Senate appointment. Had Fitzgerald not waited until the election was over, I’ll wager that all he’d have had is a bunch of parochial local Chicago stuff, uninteresting to the rest of the country and having a minimal effect at the level of the Presidential election, getting lost in the general background of the William Ayers, Reverend Wright, Rezko claptrap; none of which resonated with the electorate, beyond the GOP base.

- Larry Weisenthal/Huntington Beach, CA

Andy Martin slams Barack Obama and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in Illinois Supreme Court filing, for mendacity in “Blagogate/Obamagate”
http://www.contrariancommentary.com/community/Home/tabid/36/mid/363/newsid363/332/Default.aspx

Excerpt:

“Attorney General Lisa Madigan(“the AG”) and President-elect Barack Obama are attempting to stage a political coup against the people of this state by using this Court as a political instrument to accomplish their goals.”