From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

P. Nicholas Hurtgen has successfully tapped his friends in high places for a variety of favors over the years. With their help and his own moxie, he rose from a mere cabana boy in then-Gov. Tommy Thompson’s administration to a go-to guy at Bear Stearns & Co., a major investment banking firm.

Now he’s asking a select group of pals for one more favor, the most important one yet:

Please write a letter to the U.S. attorney in Chicago, urging him not to indict Hurtgen. […]

The fact that Hurtgen, one of Thompson’s closest friends, is under investigation is not new. He and Bear Stearns are defendants in a whistle-blower lawsuit filed last year accusing him of attempting to push a Naperville, Ill., hospital to award a $200 million construction job to a firm with ties to a key Illinois official.

It has since been disclosed that Bear Stearns’ Chicago office, which Hurtgen headed, is under investigation by federal regulators and prosecutors and the state. Hurtgen was forced out of the firm last summer.

What is new is the fact that his lawyer disclosed that Hurtgen is the “subject” of the federal probe. That’s legalese meaning someone is in trouble. Among the feds, being the “subject” of an investigation is one step short of being a “target,” but it’s still not good news.

Read the whole thing. It’s an interesting tale of not only the letter-writing campaign, but of Hurtgen’s involvement in Wisconsin politics.

(Hat tip to the IL Leader.)