Friday, December 14, 2007

Fitzgerald Inching Closer To Illinois Governor

Proving once again that a good U.S. Attorney can go along way towards cleaning up political corruption, Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has indicted yet another close pal of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagoyevich and re-indicted others close to him. The latest target of Fitzgerald's work is Christopher Kelly, one of the governor's closest friends, biggest political fundraiser and go-to-guy on gaming issues. Kelly allegedly wagered millions with bookies in Las Vegas and used a roofing company he owns to avoid paying taxes. This comes at the same time Gov. Blagoyevich has been trying to broker a major deal on expanding gaming in Illinois with the state's lawmakers.

Although the governor is not specifically mentioned in the Kelly indictment, another indictment handed down by the U.S. Attorney's office does name him as Public Official A. "Former investment banker P. Nicholas Hurtgen allegedly told a hospital executive 'Official A' wanted hospital projects steered to a preferred contractor, and that the desire to reward that contractor was 'all about money' for political campaigns, Hurtgen's indictment alleges," the Sun-Times reports. The governor's office issued a forceful denial, claiming not to be that public official according to the newspaper. Others weren't so sure. "It's like the game Battleship, and the shots are landing all around him," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "If [the investigation] isn't directed at the governor, it's sure coming close to him."

Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is facing more scrutiny after the Sun-Times reveals that his son and nephew had hidden interests in a sewer inspection business whose business with the City of Chicago rose sharply while they were owners. "Patrick Daley invested in Municipal Sewer Services in June 2003, along with Robert Vanecko, a nephew of the mayor," the Sun-Times reports. "The pair cashed out their small investment about a year later, as federal investigators were swarming City Hall in the early days of the Hired Truck scandal." The newspaper reports that five months after Daley's son and nephew became owners, the company got a $3 million contract extension from the city. “Yes, it is the mayor’s son, and, yes, it is also his nephew,” Daley press secretary Jacquelyn Heard said. “But, as you know, the mayor is a very busy man, and he does not make a practice of knowing the details of other people’s investments, including those of his son and/or his nephew."

I'm betting Patrick Fitzgerald's office won't see it the same way. You can bet his office is on it. He's already nailed a number of high-ranking Daley officials as part of his Hired Truck investigation. When I post about these matters about Illinois corruption, invariably people sometimes ask why I'm talking about them. This is Indiana, after all. Well, it's simply to prove a point that these matters can be detected and prosecuted when you have a prosecutor on the ground who is willing to fight public corruption head on. These kinds of case aren't prosecuted here in Indianapolis because we don't have a prosecutor on the ground willing to tackle public corruption, which is too apparent to many of us. Some of us would like to see that change.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

More proof that only suckers pay their "fair share" in taxes.

Anonymous said...

Hm, would you be talking about Republican Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi-- implying that he isn't doing his job? Why is that? What's the point of having a separately elected County Prosecutor (see the Kernan-Shepard Report) if he/ she won't do his job?

Wilson46201 said...

Republican President George W. Bush has run the U.S. Justice Department for over 6 years now. Are you saying Bush's Justice Dept is slacking off prosecuting local Democrats in Indianapolis?

The Urbanophile said...

Fitzgerald is an aggressive prosecutor, which has its positive points. He's doing a lot to clean up corruption in Chicago. (He was selected by the independent minded Republican Senator Peter Fitzgerald, no relation).

On the other hand, he is a typical "win at any cost" prosecutor who is a scalp collector versus a justice seeker. He often uses tactics like threatening people's wives with indictments if they don't cooperate, throwing up extremely broad indictments for things like "wire fraud" and "obstruction of justice" that don't seem to have a tangible connection to an underlying crime, etc. One commentator in the paper talked about one of his 30+ count indictments by saying basically, "I read the thing, but I still can't figure out what he's charged with actually doing".

I'd refer to the famous Pittsburgh Post-Gazette series on how federal prosecutors play this game.

http://www.post-gazette.com/win/

Anonymous said...

Illinois politics have long been labeled corrupt with the infamous Daly Machine still chugging along.

But the surprise is what a parallel to Indianapolis/Marion County Politics as of late. The exception is that at least in Illinois you had Elliot Ness and a strong US Attorney to reel in some of the major players.

Where is our US Attorney (Susan Brooks) doing nothing then stepping down for a plum position at Ivy Tech. Ivy Tech has become quite the den of inequity with a gang of our illustrious Indiana Legislators collecting a little spare change on the public dime.

The criminal political connections to the Pea Shake Houses would make an Indiana Who's Who; from Past Mayors, Prosecutors, Sheriff's and Chiefs of Police. If they were not on the take; they knew about it and did nothing. The racket encompasses both Democrat and Republican Administrations.

It almost seems to me that IndyU's demise was after the outcry to close down the Pea Shakes and talk of exposing the Money Laundry Machine. Officers were chiming in with locations and promises to take official action. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist or even a very smart police man to close down the Pea Shakes in Indy but they are still open and collecting their due.

The Indy Blogs were all set on exposing and righting the wrong in Indy (Pea Shakes) included but now several are amiss with exposing IndyU authors instead of continuing the fight for a corruption probe in Marion County. Someone stepped in when the heat was on and changed the course of direction at IndyU. Outlandish (homophobic & racist) comments made by anonymous posters were not screened and allowed to discredit the blog.

I do know that many of the things stated about the corruption in IMPD brought on by the Anderson Administration (or lack of it) are true. Many of these things carried over from the McAtee/Cottey era but flourished under Anderson to an all time high.

If I were still active in Marion County Law Enforcement and on the ad hoc staff at IndyU I would not want to be exposed either. The repercussions would not only be career altering but could possibly endanger one's life.

So a plea to the legitimate Indy Blogs; continue to investigate the Marion County Corruption and do not give them a pass or allow them to turn each blogger against each other over petty jealousies.

Fight the Good Fight

Anonymous said...

Republican President George W. Bush has run the U.S. Justice Department for over 6 years now. Are you saying Bush's Justice Dept is slacking off prosecuting local Democrats in Indianapolis?
Yes!!
In case you haven't noticed, they are also NOT going after certain republicans either.
I won't mention names, however I'm certain that Mr. Wilson46201 can inform us of the illegal activities have transpired.
The democrats are just a bit more brazen about their activities.

Anonymous said...

Quote-In case you haven't noticed, they are also NOT going after certain republicans either.
I won't mention names, however I'm certain that Mr. Wilson46201 can inform us of the illegal activities have transpired.
The democrats are just a bit more brazen about their activities.-Quote

If you can read thru your Democrat eye glasses that's exactly what I said - Both Democrat and Republican Corruption but you are correct the Democrats are very brazen about it.

But it's Not George Bush's fault as much as you want to believe because it goes back much longer than 30 years. It's Institutional Corruption long ingrained in many cities including Indianapolis

Anonymous said...

Fitzgerald has cooperated in covering up Bush corruption. Is this to be his reward......

Sir Hailstone said...

"Fitzgerald has cooperated in covering up Bush corruption."

He has? Someone forgot to inform Mr. Libby of that fact.

Anonymous said...

The Democrats of Illinois should be lucky enough to run against a Bush lap dog......

Anonymous said...

Libby was the low level token thrown to the wolves....what about Rove or Cheney or maybe even Bush????