WP: The Costly Price of Facing a Grand Jury (W.H. staffers suffer stress)

[kskiska]

White House Staffers Suffer Stress, Fees

Sympathy can be hard to come by for White House officials who are summoned to appear before a grand jury.

Those whose identities remain a secret suffer in silence, discouraged from reaching out to their closest friends for help. Those whose names leak into the public domain become lightning rods for rumor, suspicion and innuendo, as politicians, commentators and journalists try to divine a meaning behind each summons.

(snip)

But while the politics of every appearance is picked over in minute detail, there is also a human story to each summons that often goes unexplored.

Witnesses face stress, uncertainty and -- worst of all -- crippling lawyer's fees that can take years to pay off. And as prosecutors cast their net ever wider, inexperienced staffers with few financial assets are increasingly facing the emotional and financial burden of grand jury testimony.

Ralston appeared at the end of July on the same day as former Rove aide Israel "Izzy" Hernandez, according to ABC News. The reason Ralston, 37, was asked to testify remains unclear, but it has heightened suspicions that the locus of the investigation still centers on Rove.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/12/AR2005091201630.html

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I know that

I would need diapers.

[Mari333]

2. Play me the violin

no pity.

[Benhurst]

3. Bush White House Staffers?

:nopity:

Every day they are not in jail, they are away from home.

[Lochloosa]

4. What did it cost this person?

[Mountainman]

5. What about all the people that Starr caused to run up unnecessary legal

bills. I'll bet the prosecutor is not saying, "give me some dirt on Rove or I'll sentence you to 6 months in jail" either.

[wakeme2008]

6. BooHoo...hoo

Let's talk about the Clinton WH staffers and their bills.

[ret5hd]

7. i guess they should have thought of that...

before accepting the job offer from the "White House Mafia". Would anybody feel sorry for me if i was john gotti's book-keeper and they called me to testify?

[joanski0]

8. What a stupid story. Why didn't they report

on Clinton's aides at the time they were going though it? Why did they wait until two of Georgie's staff had to go though it to make a big issue out of it? I've had way more than enough of bush* and his crap.

[gratuitous]

9. And how much more stressful is it . . .

When you have an out of control prosecutor like Ken Starr aided and abetted by a crooked judiciary panel headed by David Sentelle?

But wait, I seem to recall something.

Oh yeah . . . "If these Bush administration officials haven't done anything wrong, then they have nothing to worry about."

Yup, that fits the goose-and-gander principle nicely.

[Career Prole]

10. Look...look between the carets!

Between the carets I have thoughtfully "pre-positioned" 50,000 pounds of compressed give-a-shit. :)
><

[liberal N proud]

11. Do you hear that?

it is the tiniest fiddle playing a tune for those sorry ass bastards.

[Robeson]

12. To Washington Post: How about investigating WHY these people....

...are going before Grand Juries, and maybe you might - just might - help to uncover something yourself! Its called investigative journalism. Think about it...

Total puff-piece...:puffpiece:

[jsamuel]

13. Old from the 12th

[shrike]

14. Boo frickin' hoo

Sorry to be crass, but what all those people in the Clinton administration that got paraded in and out of the GJ room? Nobody lost any sleep over their legal bills/woes?

[napi21]

15. I don't understand why the staffers need private attorneys?

I had to testify several times when the Co I worked for was being investigated by every Gov't agency I can think of, and I never got a private attorney! I knew I had done nothing wrong, and I also knew the Co hadn't either. I just accepted the subpoenas and testified to the truth each time I was called!

I understand why Rove, Cheney, Shrub, Condi, etc. got personal atty's but the staffers????