Fitzgerald is a Republican? Are those who say this sure of their facts?

[Stinky The Clown]

Here's an excerpt from a Feb. 2, 2005, Washington Post article about him:

Fitzgerald is careful to be apolitical in his targets and his public life alike. He registered to vote as an Independent in New York, only to discover, when he began receiving fundraising calls, that Independent was a political party. He re-registered with no affiliation, as he did later in Chicago.

He spit fire last year when reporters asked whether the racketeering indictment of Muhammad Hamid Khalil Salah, a fundraiser for the Islamic militant group Hamas, was timed to boost President Bush's reelection campaign. The case was trumpeted first by Attorney General John Ashcroft.

"I am not running for an election. I'm not part of a political party," Fitzgerald said at the time. "The election is irrelevant to this case. The reason we brought this case now is we're ready to proceed."

If accurate, this shows he's neither Repub nor Dem. Yet I see many posts here on DU referring to him as a Repub. Does anyone have any links that show that to be a fact?

The article from which the above was excerpted is a good one. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this guy. I concluded he's a straight shooter and not a partisan shill like ....... oh ....... Ken Starr.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55560-2005Feb1?language=printer

[AngryAmish]

1. He was appointed by SEN. Fitzgerald (R)

This gets kinda murky in Illinois politics, so here goes. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald was a rich Republican from the suburbs. He self-financed his campaign and beat Carol Mosely Braun (D) for her seat.

Any Sen. Fitzgerald discovered, shock of shock, that virtually everybody involved in IL politics was crooked - ESPECIALLY the Republicans. He got snubbed by IL repubs because he tried to be his own man. OF course the Dems would never like him.

So he got Sampson-like revenge late in his term (Obama got his seat now and Sen. Fitzgerald never ran again). Sen. Fitzgerald found the most honest, smartest and least political guy appointed as US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He got Fitzgerald. A legendary prosecuter.

He brought the cases against former gov. Ryan (R) that goes to trial soon. He is busting up corruption in many City of Chicago departments. He is slowly getting closer to Daley.

Anyway, he got nominated under Repubs so some people may consider him a Repub. But he really is a neutron.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. Yes, that's what I understood, too

A straight shooter, pure and simple ..... not a partisan hack. While appointed by repubs, he himself is neutral.

And yes, his biggest victories have been against repubs.

[ieoeja]

15. Didn't he come to Illinois by way of New York?

That is where I had heard he was a Republican.

As to Sen Fitz, he snubbed the Illinois Republicans, not the other way around. He not only refused to meet with Illinois Republicans, he would not even attend bi-partisan meetings of the Illinois congress critters in Washington. He was a wealthy businessman who arbitarily decided that he was IN CHARGE and that everyone else would either get into step or be left behind as he single handedly shaped the country as he knew it should be shaped.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Nope. He's as close as we'll see to a purely patriotic civil servant.

I'm a fan.

[acmejack]

4. His name was floated to run against Obama as a r

He wasn't interested.

"Some Republicans were also hoping to interest Patrick Fitzgerald (no relation to the outgoing senator), an Illinois-based U.S. attorney. He is leading a probe in Washington into the leak of Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA officer."

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. Irish, working class, catholic HS, Harvard Law, sheeeezzzz.....

I'd say Rove is in trouble.

[madrchsod]

6. no one knows because

he is not registered with any political party.

[autorank]

7. Husb, great point. Prosecutor gets confused with Sen Fitzgerald, R, IL

The Senator got the prosecutor appointed. Maybe it's the Senator's payback to the neocon and fundie factions who screwed him. If so, my compliments.

Here's an interesting fact. Fitzgerald is a New Yorker. He graduated in '78 from Regis High School. That's a Jesuit school for the brightest kids in NYC who cannot afford private school. Do you know how smart you have to be to get in that school? 8 million people, geez; plus the Jesuits are great teachers. Bush is screwed, Rove is screwed, if this guy is going after them.

There was an article last week that claimed Fitzgerald was pissed that his terrorist fund raising scam arrests were blown by an early notice to the groups, who destroyed evidence. Holy shit! It's a grudge match. Now all we need is Mr. McMahon and a steel cage!

A comprehensive explanation of fraud--text and key links

[Stinky The Clown]

13. That early tipoff ....... Judy Miller!

I don't have the time to find the link, but its been on here several times.

Miller called the investigation subjects to get their 'comments' about the fact that they were about to be busted by Fitgerald. The suspects then fled and destroyed the evidence.

Gee ..... I wonder how Judy knew all that shit ...... ?

[autorank]

14. oops. I hope she enjoys the nasty jail.

Well, then if she talks, she becomes part of a criminal conspiracy (well a second one after her WMD articles). Oh, she's fucked. And to think, she started her career at a Pacifica station. haha...AMF Judi, you're going down!

[napi21]

8. The easy was ti orive Fitz is apolitical is to check the proir cases

he's fought HARD and WON! CAses involving the Mafia, Osama Bin Laden, A Pub Governer...

EVERYONE has a personal political bent, but NOT everyone brings it into the workplace. Fitz sure doesn't seem to!

[H2O Man]

9. He's not a republican.

Those who insist on repeating this misinformation tend to note that republicans wish he was one of them, and have tried to interest him in running for office. That doesn't make him a republican, any more than republicans calling Wilson a liar makes him one. Those who repeat either of these lies in a way that indicates they "may" be true are either dull-witted or purposely attempting to mislead.

[Walt Starr]

10. He's called a REpublican because a Republican appointed him

He is, to put it bluntly, a patriotic American. That's as close to defining him politically as you'll ever get.

Put it this way, if he ran for any office at any time under any party, he'd get my vote.

[FreedomAngel82]

16. I agree

I think he's great. Of course I could be a bit biased. ;) Think of his place in the history books. I know I'll remember this and tell my future kids even if it isn't in the history books. That's why I save stuff to data discs. ;)

[alkaline9]

11. well he will certainly be disowned...

...by the repukes after the indictments come flyin! A person like this should be the kind of person we elect to be president... but it never seems to work out like that.

[kevsand]

12. Whoever wrote the WaPo article doesn't understand Illinois.

In Illinois, NOBODY registers with a party affiliation. It is simply not part of the voter registration process, and there is no other mechanism for registering or joining a political party. In that sense, we are all independents.

There are only a handful of ways to tell someone's party affiliation in Illinois:

1) They make a public statement on their own, i.e., "I am a Democrat."

2) They file a petition to run for political office in the primary of an established party.

3) They hold an office in a political party.

4) They vote in a primary of an established political party. (In Illinois, you must declare a party in order to vote on a primary ballot of an established party. If you don't wish to declare, all you can vote on are referenda and the like, which appear on a special non-partisan ballot.)

5) They sign a petition to put a candidate on the primary ballot of an established party. These are hard to track, as they do not exist in digital form anywhere.

These last two ways are purely circumstantial, and have been held to be "non-binding" in court. In other words, under Illinois case law, your party affiliation is what you say it is at the time you say it, at least in regards to voting or running for office.

Voter registration records in Illinois are public records, available to established political parties and all candidates for office, and include a record of the party primary ballots the voter has requested over time. This is the most common means for determining a voter's party preference.

I have not seen any definitive proof of Fitzgerald's party affiliation. Having said that, everyone in Illinois has always assumed he was a Republican, perhaps in part because of his appointment on the recommendation of Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.

[FreedomAngel82]

17. That's how it works here

Here we do it that way as well. I think it's a good way because of what happened last November with a group registering people and at the end of the day they threw away forms that said democratic on it.

[Hippo_Tron]

18. I wonder if anybody would appoint him to the SCOTUS

Obviously Bush wouldn't, but maybe the next guy might. Would he be a good justice?

[brentspeak]

19. Well, whatever party he belongs to

If he suceeds with getting convictions from this case, he's a fix to win a seat in Congress - if he's at all interested.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

20. Great old article about him from Chicago Mag....Apolotical

http://www.chicagomag.com/stories/0702fitz.htm
snip
And so Fitzgerald, the Mob-busting, terrorist-chasing 41-year-old prosecutor from New York City tabbed as the outsider who would clean up the town, sealed his place as the political man of the moment, despite his professed political independence (to avoid aligning himself with a party, he doesn’t vote in primaries). Gubernatorial candidates Jim Ryan and Rod Blagojevich can argue all they want about who can best restore trust and integrity in Illinois politics. It is Fitzgerald who is likely to have the most impact on the state’s political culture in the coming years.