Many people believed that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald would be replaced in Chicago by the newly elected president Barack Obama because of Fiztgerald's continued harassment of the Daley Administration's seemingly endless corruption.
But Fitzgerald is no dummy and he trumped everyone when he announced that he was going to charge Gov. Rod Blagojevich with corruption on the unproven assertion that the governor was trying to "sell" the U.S. Senate seat that Obama vacated when he was elected president.
Wow. He not only went after Blagojevich, satisfying the growing political Machine in Illinois that wanted him to leave, but also check-mated Obama. How could Obama replace Fitzgerald in the wake of his taking action against Blagojevich over Obama's old senate seat without looking like he was protecting "corruption" in Illinois?
Never mind that what Fitzgerald did was wrong. People are innocent until proven guilty in America, but not in Fitzgerald's eyes. And, there is a process of prosecution that Fitzgerald side-stepped and avoided in going after Blagojevich to protect his own political career in Illinois. Instead of filing charges, Fitzgerald used the Chicago FBI to arrest Blagojevich one year ago at his home not on charges but on trumped up claims thatw ere not backed by evidence at all.
Imagine if the US Attorney can do that anytime he doesn't like someone? Accuse them of a crime, disgrace them publicly? Say things to disparage someone you don't like and set up a political movement to have him removed from office and never, ever have to provide one real bit of fair evidence in a court room where the target, Blagojevich, can defend himself?
It's a sad day. And worse, the tragedy is that nothing -- absolutely nothing in Illinois politics has changed.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com
Subscribe to Ray's
Join Ray Hanania on the LinkedIN network today
Follow Ray Hanania's Suburban Chicago Blog
No comments:
Post a Comment