Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald: Will He Be Re-appointed, Promoted, or Let Go? Live From Chicago, It’s BuzzFlash.com!

Patrick Fitzgerald, DOJ Special Counsel for PlameGate, came within a hair of indicting Vice-President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. He was relentless and the model of integrity in pursuing the prosecution of "Scooter" Libby.

Many political junkies forget, however, that his job as PlameGate Special Counsel was really a moonlighting position for his ongoing role as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. And rest assured that Fitzgerald, a legendary workaholic and the son of a New York doorman, is still punching a 24-hour a day time card in his role as lead DOJ prosecutor in the Land of Lincoln.

Of course, with every new president generally come new appointments to the U.S. attorney positions around the country, although sometimes "non-partisan" prosecutors are retained for a transition period or re-appointed.

For Barack Obama, the outcome of Patrick Fitzgerald’s role as U.S. prosecutor in our BuzzFlash hometown of Chicago becomes a highly significant one.

If you follow BuzzFlash, you will know that Fitzgerald has been leading the investigation into the corrupt political connections of one Tony Rezko (and for the umpteenth time, there is no legal issue involving Barack Obama in this investigation, just poor judgment in getting too close to Rezko). Already a number of political leeches, who make their money off of corrupt dealings with officials in the Illinois state government, have been indicted as a result of the Rezko prosecution.

This, of course, includes Tony Rezko himself, who has been convicted, but whose sentencing has been delayed because he is reportedly singing like a bird to federal investigators.

As BuzzFlash has reported for the last year, the big fish that Fitzgerald is after is none other than the Democratic Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. (People are betting each other in our home state on whether Blagojevich will be indicted before he decides on a replacement to fill the senate seat of Barack Obama.)

So with the potential indictment of an Illinois Democratic Governor on the line – and the Rezko legal affair in its final stages – a key question that has not hit the mainstream media yet is this: "Will the Obama administration allow Fitzgerald to stay on as U.S. Attorney until all potential indictments are exhausted, including the strong possibility that ‘Blago’ (as our Governor is unaffectionately called) will end up as a defendant?"

Traditionally Dick Durbin, Illinois’ senior senator and the assistant majority leader in the Senate, will have a big role in recommending whether Fitzgerald stays on. There is no love lost between leaders of the Democratic Party in Illinois and Blagojevich, so BuzzFlash doesn’t think that either Durbin or Obama will remove Fitzgerald to try and save "Blago." The reality is Blagojevich has apparently been at the center of Rezko’s "pay to play" scheme and – with a 13% approval rating in the state – is an embarrassment to the Democratic Party.

So what is likely to happen to Fitzgerald in the short term?

BuzzFlash speculates that Durbin and Obama will support the continuation of the "pay to play" prosecutions, including the allegedly looming indictment of Blagojevich (and possibly his wife). But beyond that, we think that Obama may very well promote Fitzgerald to a high DOJ position in the long-term, because Obama values the "Eliot Ness" qualities and legal acumen of Fitzgerald.

This would be consistent with an Obama administration looking to succeed by recruiting the best and the brightest and also do Mayor Daley a favor.

You see, while the knives in Illinois among the Dems are out for "Blago," Daley is an icon, who has enormously high favorability ratings even in the suburbs (although he is loathed downstate, but that is more a big city/rural animosity than resentment against Daley personally, who is just a "regular" guy.)

A couple of years back, Fitzgerald was indicting people around Daley like someone swatting flies in a Texas steer barn. Daley was not pleased. In fact, Fitzgerald got to Daley’s door but never went in, either due to a lack of evidence of any personal wrongdoing or to a strategy that was to send Daley a message to clean up hiring, contracting, and "ghost payrolling" practices in city departments, particularly Streets and Sanitation.

So while Durbin and Obama could care less if Blago ends up joining his predecessor, Republican Governor George Ryan, in a federal prison farm, they might want to promote Fitzgerald, after the Blagojevich case is over, and get him out of Daley’s hair.

To be fair, Daley appears to have gotten Fitzgerald’s message, but the decision about whether Chicago will get the 2016 Summer Olympics is coming up in the not so distant future. Obama is reportedly going to put his presidential muscle behind the bid, and further political prosecutions beyond Blagojevich – even of small fish – would not be helpful.

So watch for the Blagojevich and Republican leeches investigation to play itself out to the end, no matter who is U.S. Attorney.

But BuzzFlash predicts – although we could be wrong of course – that a promotion is in the offing for Patrick Fitzgerald to a high position in the DOJ, should he want it. (Although, he was recently quietly married and may now wish to make big dollars at a prestigious law firm.)

Then there will be a new U.S. Attorney appointed for the Northern District of Illinois, with Durbin consulting with Obama about who that might be. And they will pick a person of impeccable credentials (watch Obama put a lot of women in the U.S. Attorney posts), but someone who might leave Daley alone as long as he keeps higher ups in his public works departments from violating the law.

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