Federal
prosecutors have recently been handed a couple of big setbacks in their ceaseless
pursuit of governmental corruption. But you would hardly know it considering
the lack of press coverage the cases have received here.
The
first case, USA v. Georgia Thompson, involved the allegedly corrupt selection
of a travel agency to handle the state of Wisconsin's travel business. Georgia
Thompson (no relation to our former governor) was convicted of federal mail
fraud charges and for violating a federal law that provides penalties for
anyone who "without authority knowingly converts [funds] to the use of any
person other than the rightful owner" and who works for any entity that
receives at least $5,000 in federal funding.
The
7th Circuit Appellate Court ordered Ms. Thompson released on April 5th and then
provided a follow-up opinion several days later. The opinion, which also
applies to all Chicago-area cases involving US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, was
scathing. The justices took a thorough look at the case and decided that
Thompson had been railroaded by federal prosecutors.
A
couple of weeks later, lawyers for people convicted of participating in an
allegedly illegal Chicago patronage hiring scheme, including Mayor Richard M.
Daley's former patronage chief Robert Sorich, used the Thompson case in their
own appeal to the 7th Circuit. That appeal could weigh heavily on future
corruption investigations.
Take
a look at some of the quotes below, which are taken directly from the appellate
court's opinion, and you can easily see how a whole bunch of city and state
officials who are either appealing their convictions or are now under
investigation might be breathing a little easier.
"The
idea that it is a federal crime for any official in state or local government
to take account of political considerations when deciding how to spend public
money is preposterous."
"An
error - even a deliberate one, in which the employee winks at the rules in
order to help out someone he believes deserving but barely over the eligibility
threshold - is a civil rather than a criminal transgression."
"But
these [previous court] decisions do not say that the Constitution forbids all
politically motivated contracting practices."
"Treating
an incorrect application of state procurement law as a 'misuse of office' and
[an employee pay] raise as a 'private gain' would land us back in the soup -
once again, simple violations of administrative rules would become
crimes."
Robert
Sorich and his Chicago co-defendants argued that since they did not receive any
"private gain" beyond their normal salaries when they violated a
civil court order (the "Shakman Decree," which supposedly ended city
patronage), they, like Ms. Thompson, shouldn't have been convicted. It's the
same logic Blagojevich administration officials were using in off the record
conversations right up until Sorich was convicted. Former Governor George
Ryan's lawyers used some of the same arguments in their appeal of his
conviction.
So,
should Mayor Daley, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, George Ryan and a whole lot of other
people uncork the champagne bottles and get back to business as usual? Not yet
Elsewhere
in the opinion, the appellate justices wrote that "this would be a hard
case" if Ms. Thompson had "acted because of political
contributions." Sorich and his cohorts were convicted of fraudulently
evading the Shakman Decree in order to build a massive political organization.
Their city jobs weren't incidentally political, as Ms. Thompson's job was, but
were at the very heart of Mayor Daley's campaign organization. Also, some of
Blagojevich's people have been accused of doing governmental favors in exchange
for campaign contributions.
Another
case that has received almost no attention was the recent dismissal of all
charges against Nick Hurtgen. This was the much celebrated US Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald's first ever loss in a long string of prosecutorial victories
against governmental corruption.
The
Chicago-based district court judge ruled that all charges should be dismissed
because Fitzgerald did not show that Hurtgen knew he was being used as a
middleman in a hospital construction kickback case involving the notoriously
corrupt Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board. Fitzgerald had claimed that
it was sufficient to allege that Hurtgen participated in the scheme - knowingly
or unknowingly - and it should be up to a jury to determine guilt or innocence.
Nobody
loves corruption. I certainly don't. But I do think it's a little strange that
two big cases of prosecutorial overreach have received almost no media
attention to date. That needs to change.
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Rich
Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com