I see that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley finds himself embroiled in a corruption scandal. If ever there was a case of “if you’re shocked, you’re not paying attention,” it’s the nexus of corruption, Daley, and Chicago.
I heartily recommend listening to This American Life’s “Harold,” an hour-long story about Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington (Real Audio). It’s not just a wonderful story about what was and what could have been, but it provides some great insight on Chicago politics, corruption, and the Daley family.
The article doesn’t mention it, but the US attorney for Northern Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, is the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.
He’s gone after the Gambino family, the 1993 WTC bombers, the 1998 embassy bombers, Bin Laden himself, Illinois Governor George Ryan, and now Mayor Daley.
So, I wonder, how much sleep is Karl Rove getting these days?
There’s actually a movement afoot in the GOP to have Fitzgerald fired as US Attorney for N. Illinois. These people are getting pretty desperate. You don’t start thinking about obstructing justice like that unless you are really, really guilty and pretty sure that you’re going down.
That said, I doubt they’ll actually go through with it. It would be such an unambiguous statement of guilt that impeachment and prison would only become more certain.