You thought you we’re busy?

Ever wonder what ace crime-buster Patrick Fitzgerald does when he's not busy with various Bush Administration high crimes and misdemeanors?


First his formidable CV, snipped from this Daily Kos diary...

US Atty Patrick J. Fitzgerald
by Nicholas Phillips
Thu Jul 14th, 2005 at 09:17:10 PDT
[I thought a little stroll through Fitzgerald's bio might be fun. Read on...]
From the US Dep't of Justice bio:

Patrick J. Fitzgerald began serving as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois on September 1, 2001. Mr. Fitzgerald was...nominated by President G. W. Bush. The Senate confirmed his nomination by unanimous consent on October 23, 2001, and President Bush signed his commission on October 29, 2001.
As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Fitzgerald serves as the district's top federal law enforcement official. He manages of staff of approximately 300 employees, including approximately 150 Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Looking over his past, we can see he doesn't like corruption in public offices.
In Chicago, Mr. Fitzgerald has supervised the continuing public corruption investigation known as Operation Safe Road, which began in 1998, and which resulted in the convictions of more than 65 defendants, including more than 30 public employees and officials.

It is not just local corruption he seems to dislike, also with an eye toward conspiracies.
Mr. Fitzgerald also served as trial counsel in United States v. Arnaout, in which the executive director of Benevolence International Foundation, Inc., a charitable organization based in south suburban Chicago, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy for fraudulently obtaining charitable donations to provide financial assistance to persons engaged in violent activities overseas, including to fighters in Chechnya and Bosnia, instead of using donations strictly for peaceful, humanitarian purposes.

I know what you are thinking: The guys hates corruption, but is he soft on terrorism?
· ...participated in the prosecution of US v. Usama Bin Laden, et al., in which 23 defendants were charged with various offenses...Four defendants went on trial in January 2001 in New York, and a jury returned guilty verdicts against all four on May 29, 2001. All four were sentenced to life in prison on Oct. 18, 2001.

· ...participated in the trial of US v. Omar Abdel Rahman, et al., a nine-month trial in 1995 of 12 defendants who participated in a seditious conspiracy that involved the February 1993 bombing of the WTC...

· He also supervised the case of US v. Ramzi Yousef, et al., the 1996 prosecution of three defendants who participated in a conspiracy in the Philippines in late 1994...

Well, he does seem to be someone who is more than a little hard on terrorism. Moreover, he appears to like to find conspiracies of illegal activity. Has his work cut out for himself this summer.
His awards:
· Attorney General's Award for Exceptional Service in 1996
· Stimson Medal from the Association of the Bar of the City of New York in 1997
· Attorney General's Award for Distinguished Service in 2002

Personal bio:
Mr. Fitzgerald, 44, is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y. He joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Manhattan in 1988 after three years as a litigation associate at the New York law firm, Christy & Viener. He graduated from Amherst College, Phi Beta Kappa, with a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics in 1982, and from Harvard Law School in 1985.

Jesus, what an impressive profile. Fitzgerald's one of those people that makes me very hopeful for the future of our country. I shot a little pool in my spare time this weekend, ran some errands and did some laundry (those underpants aren't going to fold themselves!) Here’s what Patrick Fitzgerald did with his spare time:

Feds charge 'massive fraud' in city hiring
'People with clout received the jobs.'
By Matt O’Connor
Tribune staff reporter

July 18, 2005, 5:22 PM CDT

The federal investigation into corruption in Chicago's Hired Truck Program entered a new phase today, as two city officials – one widely known as Mayor Richard Daley's patronage chief – were charged with rigging the city's hiring process to guarantee jobs to political favorites.

Robert Sorich, an employee of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs who the Tribune on Sunday identified as the Daley administration's patronage chief, and Patrick Slattery, director of staff services for the Streets and Sanitation Department, each was charged in a federal criminal complaint with one count of mail fraud.

U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald described the scheme as a "massive fraud in the hiring process going back more than a decade."

Sorich ran the scheme from his post in Intergovernmental Affairs, also known as IGA, while Slattery carried it out in Streets and Sanitation, court papers said. But the alleged fraud extended farther than just Slattery's agency, officials said.

...
"On one occasion a person who was picked for a job was described as a drunk. It's alleged defendant Sorich said, 'Do the best you can with him,'" Fitzgerald said.

"There were occasions people were told not to put scores down during an interview," and scores "were filled in later so pre-selected people would win," the prosecutor said. In one case, a person who had been picked for a position died before the job interview took place, Fitzgerald said.
...
Job candidates with equal or better qualifications were turned down, according to court papers. They said one city official drew up color-coded charts showing who had sponsors in high places and another referred to those with powerful patrons as being on "the blessed list.''
...
An aide to IGA head John Doerrer, Sorich has longtime ties to the Daley family. His father was the official photographer for the late Mayor Richard J. Daley. Before joining IGA, Sorich served as 11th Ward aldermanic secretary.
...
IGA is responsible for promoting Daley's legislative agenda in the City Council, Springfield and Washington. Politicians report that IGA also has been the place to go for city jobs.
...

This is mostly for people living in the Mysterious Realms beyond the area codes of 312 and 773; if you live in the City you know this stuff. If you don't, jeez, read a paper OK? Schoolteacher, bus driver, museum docent or beef sammich slinger...you llive here, know how the City works. It has ever been thus, and shall probably ever be. Occasionally the pot boils over and then there is a sudden flush of Reformation Fever abroad in the land.

Doesn’t last – nothing does -- but when the pendulum reaches its apex and swings back, positively crackling with pent-up energy, things do get interesting.

So the thing that probably won’t jump out at you is you’re from out of town is the IGA part of this article. Cynic that I am, that’s what made me raise an eyebrow and go “Hmmm”.

Why?

Remember “The Hunt for Red October”? Remember the scene where Sean Connery arranges to break the neck of the guy who holds the other nuclear launch key? Kills his Political Officer (one of whom are assigned to every vessel to make sure that the crew remains loyal) over tea so he can run out the rest of this plan to defect?

The Intergovernmental guys hold the other launch keys, so-to-speak. They’re the “Political Officers”.

And when one of the top Political Officers is this deeply implicated in something that makes it onto the front page of the Tribune, if you live ‘round here, you know that things are about to get very lively indeed.