Hey Cynthia-
My first take on this (and yes, I saw the presser) is that, if you are under indictment by the Feds, at worst hyperbolic language by your prosecutor on behalf of the government is pretty tame stuff. And this is no ham sandwich, at least the way I read it.

You have to remember the context of the press conference. Blago had been arrested PRE-indictment to stop the crime (of selling the senate seat) in progress.

Pat, I believe, was trying to explain the magnitude and urgency of the situation which made it necessary to arrest Blago before the Grand Jury had indicted.

BTW, indictment is NOT a pre-requisite to arrest.

You have to remember the context of the press conference.

I do now. Thanks.

It was silly for Mikva to bring it up all over again.

In his defense, I believe it was in response to a question, but still: Judge Mikva is doing an investigation in some alleged shenanigans at the University of Illinois and before his investigation was finished he told the press that all the trustees should resign.

My point is, in the moment, when you are trying to get your point across, you say things that make total sense and are appropriate in context, but when taken out of context, don’t always sit so well.

Thank you, Cynthia. The obvious trumped once again by the stupid.

I thought Fitz’s comments were uncalled for. If he has the case, just state it, don’t hype it. (If you take an elementary course on fiction writing, the first lesson you learn is “show, don’t tell.” Same advice for prosecutors.)

Don’t have any problem with Mikva’s calling him on it. Prosecutors have the whole weight of the govt heavy hand on their side. If no one ever calls them on their missteps, you know, slippery slope and all that.

Oh, I might mention that after all Fitz’s hyperventilation, the case has gone nowhere in the intervening months. What’s the holdup??? If what Fitz said is true, there should have been a trial and conviction by now. You know, speedy trial & all that.

under the speedy trial act, the prosecution has only 72 days to bring a case to trial.

The ONLY way there is a delay this long is if the defense consents to it. This delay is ENTIRELY within the power of the defense.

The prosecution does not have the power to tdealy, only the defense does

Well, I don’t suppose there’s ANY dirt the prosecution can throw in the defense’s eyes to postpone the trial. No. Never. The prosecution would NEVER resort to such tricks.

Last time I showed up for jury duty (got many notices after that but trashed them), I said on the 4 voir dires that I got called for, that I would vote against the more powerful side because it held all the cards. It was federal grand jury in Manhattan. Wouldn’t have believed a word the govt said.

Oh, and I don’t believe anything that any power sez, including corps. I’m an equal opportunity power-that-be disbeliever.

It maybe that the Judge knows more about the extent of the Illinois corruption on a more personal level.

This is just a conjecture. but if the Judge is also dirty then finding any dumb problem to screw up the trail would be in his best interest.

Again just pure speculation.

Bells don’t get unrung.

I hope Blago goes down and hard, but I think the statements were out of line and I don’t think Mikva was wrong to comment on them. A panel before the ABA isn’t quite the same as him, oh, maybe holding a press conference and getting it splashed on news at nine that a Fed Judge is in front of the press putting out an absolutist statement to the public on prosecutorial misconduct.

OTOH, pollution of a jury pool is so far down on the list of bad things the DOJ is embracing that I guess next to torture conspiracies it doesn’t really warrant much of a mention.

In my opinion, Fitz was in unchartered waters and he knew it. He wanted to keep Blago from selling the Senate seat – the remedy for which is unclear, would be messy, and would deprive IL citizens of representation for months while the matter was resolved.

He did not have all his evidence squared away on all the counts of other corrupt dealings. He would have preferred to continue to investigate but he must have heard enough to believe Blago was about to sell the seat, and he had enough probable cause on other counts to make the arrest and halt the sale of the Senator’s seat.

Another element of Fitz’s statement made an impression on me. He talked about lying in bed and worrying about Blago’s other corrupt dealing, specifically accommodating a business deal in return for the termination of a newspaper columnist. Fitz described that he was troubled about the columnist losing his job. If he acted he could keep that from happening.

That said, I would prefer if USAs and DA didn’t sell the merit of the charges by using colorful and/or morally judgmental language. The fundamental facts or the alleged crimes ought to do the trick.

The Boston USA published photos of city councilors allegedly taking bribe money in FBI sting operations. I was appalled to see the photos, which are evidence, on the front page of the Boston Globe. I think Federal prosecutors don’t want too many question when they arrest elected officials.

Amazes me that a judge said this at all, given the other context at the time — the media was watching the entire state of Illinois like a hawk and trumpeting any observation it made related to the departure of Obama from the Senate.

BTW, will we see you at Netroots?