When Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993, his attorney general, Janet Reno, proceeded to get rid of all 93 U.S. attorneys at once.
Fourteen years later, President Bush, on recommendation of the Justice Department, got rid of eight of the 93 U.S. attorneys – and there was a Democrat-led (and Old-Big-Media-nurtured) national uproar.
On March 20, 2007, President Bush told reporters: “In the last 24 hours, the Justice Department has provided the Congress more than 3,000 pages of internal Justice Department documents, including those reflecting direct communications with White House staff. …
“As we cut through all the partisan rhetoric, it’s important to maintain perspective on a couple of important points. First, it was natural and appropriate for members of the White House staff to consider and to discuss with the Justice Department whether to replace all 93 U.S. attorneys at the beginning of my second term. The start of a second term is a natural time to discuss the status of political appointees within the White House and with relevant agencies, including the Justice Department. In this case, the idea was rejected and was not pursued. … (Later) the Justice Department made recommendations, which the White House accepted, that eight of the 93 would no longer serve.”
This is important at this time because Illinois senior Sen. Richard Durbin has publicly called on his former Senate colleague from Illinois, President-elect Barack Obama, to keep Patrick J. Fitzgerald as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Fitzgerald, on Tuesday, Dec. 9, unveiled the indictment of his second Illinois governor in five years, which the New York Times noted is “the latest in a streak of prosecutions that have made him a folk hero in a state beleaguered by official crime.”
But the Washington Post reported that Obama is “refusing to talk about the indictment of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich during his only public appearance outside his Chicago transition offices.
“Federal prosecutors said flatly that there is no evidence of involvement by the president-elect in allegations that Blagojevich attempted to sell Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. …
“By all accounts, Obama and Blagojevich are not close, though then-Sen. Obama endorsed his fellow Democrat’s re-election bid in 2006.”
“I had no contact with the governor or his office, and so I was not aware of what was happening,” Obama told reporters as he emerged from a meeting with former Vice President Al Gore. “It is a sad day for Illinois. Beyond that, I don’t think it’s appropriate to comment.”
On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported President-elect Obama joining others in calling upon Gov. Blagojevich to resign – which is to Obama’s credit.
What would seem to be most important is for the president-elect to announce – immediately – that he will follow the very good advice of his former fellow senator from Illinois, Richard Durbin, and assure the nation that U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald will NOT be replaced before he can complete the case against Gov. Blagojevich.
But no such assurance has come from Obama with regard to Fitzgerald.
And that is cause for national concern.
Further concern arises from the press office of the incumbent President Bush, in view of the response on Thursday of Press Secretary Dana Perino, whom I asked:
Q: Illinois Democrat U.S. Senator Richard Durbin has called upon President-elect Obama not to replace Chicago’s U.S. attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald. And my question: The president agrees with and is grateful to Senator Durbin for his support of Mr. Fitzgerald, isn’t he?
MS. PERINO: Les, that will be a decision that the president-elect makes when he decides to make it.
Q: OK. The president surely agrees with the president-elect in that the governor of Illinois should resign, doesn’t he?
MS. PERINO: I have not spoken to the president about that in particular. I just –
Q: Well, what do you think?
MS. PERINO: It doesn’t matter what I think.
Why on earth did presidential press secretary Perino fail to ask our still-incumbent chief executive whether or not he agrees with our president-elect’s call for the governor of Illinois to resign?
Is it possible Mr. Bush’s press office will henceforth avoid all comment on this very serious major news in the United States – of which he is still president?
