Obama names Fitzgerald to senior DOJ post -- Bush junta criminals shitting in their panties

Also rehires US Attorney Bush Justice Dept. fired

Patrick Fitzgerald, who as a special prosecutor investigated the Bush
administration’s involvement in leaking former CIA agent Valerie
Plame’s identity to the press, has been appointed by the Obama
administration, to a new position in the Justice Department with
important new responsibilities.

Fitzgerald is currently the United States attorney in Chicago, where
among other things he has overseen the investigation of impeached
Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

The new appointment was disclosed in a little noticed story on the
website, MainJustice.com.

The appointment is an additional indication that the Obama
administration is attempting to reverse the politicization of the
Department by the Bush administration.

Fitzgerald was named to the new position despite the fact that his
original appointment as U.S. attorney was made by the Bush
administration.

After President Obama took office, Attorney General Eric Holder and
other Obama administration officials said that they would keep
Fitzgerald in his new position as the U.S. attorney for the Illinois’
Northern District– despite the fact that he had been originally
appointed to that position by a Republican administration.

In a similar appointment on Friday, the Obama administration nominated
Daniel G. Bogden, one of the nine U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush
administration to his old job as U.S. attorney for Nevada. Obama
administration officials had said that they made the appointment, in
part, to demonstrate that they would no longer tolerate the
politicization of the Department.

Meanwhile, MainJustice.com had this to report about Fitzgerald’s new
responsibilities:

Patrick Fitzgerald, the top prosecutor in Illinois’ Northern District,
has been named interim chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory
Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC).

In his new role, Fitzgerald will be the lead voice for the U.S.
attorney community. It’s the latest high-profile assignment for
America’s prosecutor, who has been busy overseeing the prosecution of
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), bringing down mortgage fraudsters,
and fighting with journalists…

The committee, which represents the views of the nation’s top
prosecutors and molds law enforcement policy, has dwindled in size as
Bush-era appointees have headed for the exit. Fitzgerald replaces
Karin Immergut, the former U.S. attorney in Oregon, who stepped down
as chairwoman this month to become a state judge…

Fitzgerald’s assignment is significant. It means the U.S. attorney
community now has a chief ambassador with some staying power. Sen.
*** Durbin (D-IL) recommended Fitzgerald for another term, an
overture that was well-received by Attorney General Eric Holder.

Holder’s Justice Department has been working with a group of outgoing
Bush-era U.S. attorneys, except for Fitzgerald, who was appointed to
AGAC last year, and possibly Jim Letten, the U.S. Attorney for the
Eastern District of Louisiana. (Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) has said she
wants Letten to stay on the job. He serves on the AGAC subcommittees
on national security, environmental crimes and violent crimes.) The
AGAC meetings have been constructive, Justice officials say, but it
stands to reason that Holder would prefer a committee of Obama
appointees, vetted and interviewed by his department, to help him put
policy in motion.

Fitzgerald will be keeping the seat warm for B. Todd Jones, who, as
reported here, is slated to chair the committee if confirmed. Jones,
the nominee for the U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota, has
broad support and could see a vote on his nomination in the full
Senate before the August recess. Jones is currently a partner at
Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi in Minneapolis.


http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/08/03/plame-prosecuctor-fitzgerald-gets-new-doj-gig/

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