Sen. Peter Fitzgerald [R.] Got Patrick Fitzgerald the Fed Prosecutor Job

Mark Shieldson PBS Lehrer News had an interesting pair of contributions today. Despite his tiresome class-warfare bitchery, Shields told Lehrer and Brooks that the person to thank for Patrick Fitzgerald's MOR prosecutorial zeal was former Sen. Peter Fitzgerald [no relation] who insisted after the 2000 election of GWB that the chief Fed prosecutor in Chicago be an "outsider," citing the precedent of the fellow who finally nailed Al Capone, a guy named Eliot Ness.

In a strange coincidence back at the end of the nineties, my wife, daughter & I ran into Sen. Fitzgerald at a west-side gas station in Chicago on a trip to pick up a cat from a small town near Rockford where Dem superlawyer David Boies [who was to head the team that lost Florida on behalf of Al Gore in 2000] was born. I told Sen. Peter that my wife had worked for Sen. Sarbanes & told my nine-year old daughter, who is now studying Poli-Sci at UMiami, that the Cadillac SUV was being driven by a U.S. Senator.

Shields pointed out the honorable integrity of Peter Fitzgerald, a rare quality among Illinois politicians, and that Fitzgerald resigned on a matter of principle in 2004 and allowed Obama to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. Patrick Fitzgerald, of course, did indict and convict Scooter Libby on a jumped-up case in Plamegate, but now is distinguishing himself by outing the stupid crook Blagojevich.

Just how stupid is Blago-bitch? Despite being elected to three terms to the House of Reps, the autistic Illinois guv'nr believes he has the power to appoint the successor to Rahm Emmanuel. [In another obiter dictum, Rahm and my daughter shared the same baby-sitter, albeit thirty years apart! Chicago politics tends to be chummy!] No, Rod, Congresspeople are always chosen by special elections, almost as dumb as Donovan McNabb not knowing that you can have a tie in an NFL game!]

Shields did come up with an interesting suggestion---appoint Patrick Fitzgerald Senator to close out the term, he has no political affiliations and could actually be better than a partisan like Atty Gen'l Lisa Madigan, now far ahead of "Candidate 5" who happens to be J.Jackson Jr.

And it looks like the flap over Blago and his clumsy feckless behavior has effectively eliminated Caroline Kennedy's chances to be appointed to Senator from NY to take over Hillary's seat. Or Bill Clinton's chances, as he has a few skeletons in his closet!!