Blago Near-Acquittal Sparks Media Backlash Against US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald

by Frances Martel | 2:32 pm, August 19th, 2010

» 10 comments

It’s been a big week for Rod Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois who made a name for himself after committing acts that US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald declared would “make Abe Lincoln roll in his grave.” Except the jury couldn’t convict him on 23 of those 24 charges, and now the tables have turned on Fitzgerald, with the media rallying against a retrial and the Wall Street Journal calling for Fitzgerald’s resignation.

Judge James Zagel has already said he intends to call a retrial, especially in light of the news that Blagojevich was one juror away from a complete conviction. Many, however, seem to question the reasoning behind going through the entire process all over again. Reporters at Reuters and the Chicago Tribune have speculated that having yet another trial, especially so close to the midterm elections. In Illinois, questions are being raised over whether the money it will cost to host the retrial and defend Blagojevich will be worth it. And then there’s the positive press; Roger Simon at Politico is literally “cheering” for Blagojevich after his legal success. But perhaps the most unexpected reaction to the possibility of a retrial has been the backlash on Fitzgerald, who is now facing criticism for his failure to get Blagojevich convicted of most of the charges that extends as far as calling for his resignation.

In an editorial today, the Washington Post warned that a retrial could “cross another fine line” into “persecution” of the governor, rather than mere investigation. It wasn’t exactly a glowing piece for Team Blago– “the Blagojevich brand of politics is repugnant, beyond any doubt. It perverts democracy and puts moneyed interests over the common good,” it argues– but nonetheless the editorial calls for Fitzgerald to “stand down”– he “took his shot and lost.”

The Wall Street Journal was not as kind to Fitzgerald, calling for his resignation whether Blagojevich is innocent or not. If he is, the initial arrest and press conference was an overreaction on Fitzgerald’s part, and if he’s not innocent, “incompetence alone is grounds for Mr. Fitzgerald’s removal.” They describe Fitzgerald’s behavior as “unaccountable federal prosecutor run amok.” Nor do they limit themselves to the Blagojevich trial, citing several scandals in which Fitzgerald took a part and came out in the wrong:

Blagojevich may or may not be corrupt, though he has repeatedly proved his stupidity. In any event, Mr. Fitzgerald’s legal team failed to persuade a jury that Blagojevich was guilty of racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion, kickback schemes and a litany of other crimes, despite five weeks of argument and testimony that included incriminating selections from thousands of wiretapped phone calls. The defense did not call a single witness. The jury also deadlocked on four charges against Blagojevich’s brother, while his chief of staff earlier copped a plea. [...]

If Mr. Fitzgerald doesn’t resign of his own accord, the Justice Department should remove him—especially after such other recent examples of prosecutorial bad faith or bad judgment involving Blackwater contractors in Iraq, the forgotten backdating accounting scandal and the late Senator Ted Stevens.

Who would have thought two years ago that the person to come out the worst out of the entire Blagojevich mess would be someone other than the colorful ex-governor? Fitzgerald, should he go forward with the retrial, still has a change to redeem himself, although the circus atmosphere surrounding the first trial seems to only be growing stronger in anticipation of the second round– Blagojevich’s attorney has already said he would try to drag President Barack Obama into the second trial while the governor himself busies himself selling various Elvis-themed tchotchkes for charity.

Blago, Chicago, Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, Rod Blagojevich, wall street journal, Washington Post

JimBob

As well it should! Fitzgerald is an incompetent boob!
http://insidecablenews.wordpress.com/ Spud

This story is a complete joke. “Near-acquittal”?!?!? What kind of BS headline is that? A hung jury on all but one count doesn’t come anything close to “near-acquittal”. You even cite in your own article that the jury was one vote away from conviction on all charges and you still put “near acquittal” in the headline? Un-freaking-believable.

As for the “media backlash”…cherry picking a few people here and there does not constitute a media “backlash”. And the Wall Street Journal’s editorial? Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, this might be some Journal editorial payback for Fitzgerald for the Valerie Plame CIA leak investigation his trying and convicting of Scooter Libby, someone the Journal probably didn’t want and didn’t believe should have been convicted? That is too big a coincidence to not cite in your article, let alone ignore as you did.

I expect better from Mediaite than poorly thought out twaddle like this…
valkyrie101

That’s an outrage. The Republicans should get behind the movement to repeal the trial by jury provision of the constitution.
Rescuedog

“Judge James Zagel has already said he intends to call a retrial, especially in light of the news that Blagojevich was one juror away from a complete conviction.”

Frances, this is not correct and the article you linked doesn’t say that.

The judge didn’t say he would call a retrial, the prosecutors did. The judge does not have the power to unilaterally make that decision. All he can do is approve or reject the prosecution’s request for a retrial.
newzmaker

When the Blago story first broke in 2008, there were other high profile Chicagoites, whom were alleged to have been working with Blago, indirectly or directly, to obtain Obama’s Senate seat. For some unexplained reason, in 2009, Blago became the only focus in the investigation, while the investigation into other alleged ‘pay-to-play’ players, seemed to disappear. In order to possibly convict Blago, and perhaps others, shouldn’t the other alleged players, have been included in the investigation? Imo, to make Blago the lone player of the investigation into Chicago politics, has to be one of the most unprofessional nonsensical decisions, ever, in the legal profession.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/16/jesse-jackson-jr-may-have_n_151514.html
timzank

Anybody check the bank account recently of that lone hold out juror? Any new cars in garage?
JimBob

I don’t care one way or the other what anyone thinks of Scooter Libby!
This shyster went after him KNOWING he was NOT the person that outed
that CIA Clerk! That is pure crap!! I hope Blago keeps sticking to this bum!
Blago has the Public Ear for now and he should use it to continue speaking out
againt this fool!!
Puter Boi

JimBob said:
I expect better from Mediaite than poorly thought out twaddle like this…

Well….it IS Frances after all….

valkyrie101 said:
Frances, this is not correct and the article you linked doesn’t say that.

Well it IS Franc……………oh nevermind….
Arkansas Steve

FITZGERALD, the ONLY thing about this case that makes anyone want to roll over is YOU. Your pompous attitude is what makes me want to stick my finger into the back of my tongue. Yuk!

Do you think we aren’t all aware that Blago is a shallow creep. We know that he is. But in the middle of a Chicago culture of corruption, how can you single him out, ruin him financially, and walk the streets like a noble public servant.

Why don’t you offer to drop the 23 remaining counts, offer a moderate prison sentence for the lying (I’m thinking about 12 months) and then LET GO!

We all know our President has far exceeded Blago in the “dirtbag” category. Save us some $$. Save us some time. Save us some national dignity.
http://none pyrope

Steve, we’re in agreement again…well, sort of.

Just as OJ Simpson escaped conviction for murder, Blagojevich has escaped the verdict he probably deserved. I cannot really fault the one “rogue” juror, I can only fault the prosecution; they did not sufficiently make their case to the jury.

One thing for sure though, Chicago has a dismal record on political (and just about every other kind of) corruption. I used to say, back in the Edwin Edwards days, that Louisiana had the best politicians money could buy. I must recant and assign that distinction to Illinois.

The taxpayers have paid enough to a faulty prosecution on Blagojevich, and it’s time to move on.