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By lindbergh (about the author)
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 7 page(s)
Convicting at least Ryan was a lead pipe cinch -- after all, what wouldn't Ryan stoop to?
Based mostly on the testimony of a trusted aide and confidante -- Scott Fawell -- and a lot of circumstantial evidence, a Ryan conviction would make Fitzgerald look impeccable. After all, he's somebody who isn't afraid to go after his 'own kind'.
Still, it wasn't that easy to convict Ryan and the others. George had done what Al Capone had done 65 years earlier; he kept with two sets of financial statements. Most of the money he extorted wound up in off-shore banks and Ryan also funneled kickback money via campaign contributors to "re-invest" using shell companies for many state projects. In short, despite a lot of smoke it would take a man inside the organization to explain it all in Federal court.
To get Fawell to rat out Ryan, Federal attorneys had threatened some of his co-workers with perjury charges. Allegedly, some folks in Ryan's office had lied to a grand jury or on affidavits to protect the boss. As for Fitzgerald's role -- although by now he was in Washington at his new job -- it was still his office that got the convictions and he most of the credit.
As of April, with the Ryan and Warner guilty verdicts in, Fitzgerald's NO-ILL Office can move on another target -- the Richard Daley political machine -- with off-year elections looming just over the horizon. That's too bad for Dick Daley; all that kissing up he'd done to George Bush may not keep Daley out of Federal court for doing "business as usual" in Chicago.
Fitzgerald's now almost a cult icon with an adoring MSM making him look even better. That shouldn't make finding the "real" Fitzgerald impossible, despite all the current hoopla.
Patrick Fitzgerald was -- and continues to be -- a Federalist Society man and a Heartland Institute Republican from day one who was appointed by a Republican president to the Chicago Office.
A little Internet work can go a long way -- and I found some things in the MSM as well as the public record that paints a rather different picture of "Fitzy."
Here are the House CTHS Subcommittee's notes from its "First Session" in April 2005 -- concerning civil rights issues posed by the PATRIOT ACT. The arguments Fitzgerald made during his appearance are the stuff rarely found in legal textbooks. In fact, one wonders if you find them anywhere.
[From the US House Congressional Record]:
Hearing Before the:
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY of the COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 109th CONGRESS:
First Session April 28, 2005 (Serial No. 109 16)
TESTIMONY OF PATRICK J. FITZGERALD, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
[In excerpted form. The Record picks up during Fitzgerald's questioning by Rep. Robert Scott (D-VA) of his stance on section 218 of the PATRIOT Act. The topic in particular concerned the now infamous "Wall" that Jamie Gorelick supposedly put up between the FBI and the other intelligence agencies in the late 90s. Fitzgerald would probably have insinuated in greater detail that such a "Wall" exists -- but he was being questioned by a pretty tough cookie in Scott.]
FITZGERALD: "When the PATRIOT Act included section 218, that wall changed. And now, when we sit down in my district, the Northern District of Illinois, and work together with the FBI, we sit down and talk about our criminal investigations; we talk about the intelligence investigations. And we try to make sure that we're doing the right thing; that we're coordinated. And we move forward."
"I, too, am concerned about civil liberties and privacy. In my view, the way we're working, we're doing things coordinated. We're talking things through. We're making sure the law is followed. I do not see abuses of privacy or civil liberties. What I do see is that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. And I think we do a much better job. Thank you."
Become a Fan -- Page 2 of 7 page(s)
Based mostly on the testimony of a trusted aide and confidante -- Scott Fawell -- and a lot of circumstantial evidence, a Ryan conviction would make Fitzgerald look impeccable. After all, he's somebody who isn't afraid to go after his 'own kind'.
Still, it wasn't that easy to convict Ryan and the others. George had done what Al Capone had done 65 years earlier; he kept with two sets of financial statements. Most of the money he extorted wound up in off-shore banks and Ryan also funneled kickback money via campaign contributors to "re-invest" using shell companies for many state projects. In short, despite a lot of smoke it would take a man inside the organization to explain it all in Federal court.
To get Fawell to rat out Ryan, Federal attorneys had threatened some of his co-workers with perjury charges. Allegedly, some folks in Ryan's office had lied to a grand jury or on affidavits to protect the boss. As for Fitzgerald's role -- although by now he was in Washington at his new job -- it was still his office that got the convictions and he most of the credit.
As of April, with the Ryan and Warner guilty verdicts in, Fitzgerald's NO-ILL Office can move on another target -- the Richard Daley political machine -- with off-year elections looming just over the horizon. That's too bad for Dick Daley; all that kissing up he'd done to George Bush may not keep Daley out of Federal court for doing "business as usual" in Chicago.
Fitzgerald's now almost a cult icon with an adoring MSM making him look even better. That shouldn't make finding the "real" Fitzgerald impossible, despite all the current hoopla.
Patrick Fitzgerald was -- and continues to be -- a Federalist Society man and a Heartland Institute Republican from day one who was appointed by a Republican president to the Chicago Office.
A little Internet work can go a long way -- and I found some things in the MSM as well as the public record that paints a rather different picture of "Fitzy."
Here are the House CTHS Subcommittee's notes from its "First Session" in April 2005 -- concerning civil rights issues posed by the PATRIOT ACT. The arguments Fitzgerald made during his appearance are the stuff rarely found in legal textbooks. In fact, one wonders if you find them anywhere.
[From the US House Congressional Record]:
Hearing Before the:
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY of the COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 109th CONGRESS:
First Session April 28, 2005 (Serial No. 109 16)
TESTIMONY OF PATRICK J. FITZGERALD, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
[In excerpted form. The Record picks up during Fitzgerald's questioning by Rep. Robert Scott (D-VA) of his stance on section 218 of the PATRIOT Act. The topic in particular concerned the now infamous "Wall" that Jamie Gorelick supposedly put up between the FBI and the other intelligence agencies in the late 90s. Fitzgerald would probably have insinuated in greater detail that such a "Wall" exists -- but he was being questioned by a pretty tough cookie in Scott.]
FITZGERALD: "When the PATRIOT Act included section 218, that wall changed. And now, when we sit down in my district, the Northern District of Illinois, and work together with the FBI, we sit down and talk about our criminal investigations; we talk about the intelligence investigations. And we try to make sure that we're doing the right thing; that we're coordinated. And we move forward."
"I, too, am concerned about civil liberties and privacy. In my view, the way we're working, we're doing things coordinated. We're talking things through. We're making sure the law is followed. I do not see abuses of privacy or civil liberties. What I do see is that the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. And I think we do a much better job. Thank you."
pellelindbergh@lindisfarner.blogspot.com
Hod carrier; professional pall bearer; plumbobber to the stars
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