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* Editorial: Advocacy group stands up for public’s right to know

* Prosecutors of Ryan trial defend judge - Tell appeals court she made great effort to be fair

* ‘Reform is desperately needed’

* Bill may boost rail prospects - Legislation encourages state funding of Amtrak

* Durbin’s newfound clout - Senator’s busy day goes from Capitol to White House to delivering Democratic response to Bush war plan

* Tank vs. Troutman

* Naperville votes to join electricity consortium

* Ameren faces storm of scrutiny

* Daily Herald:

Car buyers long have been protected by lemon laws in case their vehicle turns out to be a bucket of bolts.

But if youâ€™re buying a cat instead of a Cadillac, you donâ€™t have the same protection. That could soon change as one suburban lawmaker wants Illinois to join the growing number of states offering â€œpet lemon laws.â€

* At least 7 US Attorneys throught the nation are either resigning or have been pushed out.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 8:01 am

Comments

Refusing to be stonewalled by the governor, the Better Government Association is suing the governor’s office to gain access to the documents on behalf of the public.

The BGA deserves a pat on the back for pursuing this issue.

———-

Thank goodness for the Better Government Association! Good work guys.

Comment by Squideshi Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 8:27 am
Let’s hope the Democrats turn on the screws to make sure our guy stays.

Comment by Bill Baar Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 8:36 am
Treasurer Giannoulias is dead on regarding the ramada renaissance swindle. There were two deals, this one for the Republican lobbyists and a Hilton downstate for Jerry Costello. As a banker, he is ideally experienced to know a sack of manure when it crosses his desk.

The pressure from Springfield officials is disingenuous. The hotel and its revenues will not vanish with foreclosure and transfer of ownership. Perhaps only Bill Cellini will vanish.

One has to admire the chutzpah of attaching Honest Abe’s name to this piece of work.

Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 9:09 am
So today the governor’s office and CMS announced they are going to a new electronic web-based job application system “to fight corruption”. Probably in the wake of the IDOT chief personally interviewing and hiring a guy off the street to stare at Chicago traffic signals on his way to his county patronage job, I reckon.

I think what they mean is “to hide paper trails”, like the faxes between Brad, Rezko, and Rod, and the lists of “knuckleheads” kept by those under Ryan. Good luck with that, guys. The feds are very good at forensic data analysis and electronics.

What’s funny to me is the state touts that they will post ALL the jobs on a state web site for you to find, but this has been the case for a long time already. It’s just that the current system, including Illinois Skills Match, was made deliberately Byzantine, impenetrable and obtuse to outsiders, so people on the inside track could get an advantage.

I saw a job posted on an internal billboard in a state office, wrote the info down and told an out of town friend about the posting becasue she fit the description to a “t”. She called in to CMS personnel the next morning with the title, description, and special serial numbers for the job posting.

The reply was about like asking Rod to answer a FOIA response. “Doesn’t exist, never heard of it, not in the system”, she got told. Yet they filled the job a week later.

I fully expect the new web-based application system has already been gamed-out with special cheats and get-arounds that will let key folks advance regardless of qualification. Or they just need to put their own hacks in charge of administering the system, and they have deniability.

Comment by Michael Scott from Scranton branch Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 12:40 pm
In 1935, the United States Supreme Court described the duty of a federal prosecutor in the following passage:

“The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all; and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done. As such, he is in a peculiar and very definite sense the servant of the law, the twofold aim of which is that guilt shall not escape or innocence suffer. He may prosecute with earnestness and vigor-indeed, he should do so. But, while he may strike hard blows, he is not at liberty to strike foul ones. It is as much his duty to refrain from improper methods calculated to produce a wrongful conviction as it is to use every legitimate means to bring about a just one.” Berger v. United States, 295 U.S. 78, 88, 79 L. Ed. 1314, 1321, 55 S. Ct. 629, 633 (1935).

Paragraph (a) of Rule 3.8 does not set an exact standard, but one good prosecutors will readily recognize and have always adhered to in the discharge of their duties. Specific standards, such as those in Rules 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, the remaining paragraphs of Rule 3.8, and other applicable rules provide guidance for specific situations. Paragraph (a) of Rule 3.8 is intended to remind prosecutors that the touchstone of ethical conduct is the duty to act fairly, honestly, and honorably.

So in reply:

“Prosecutors said Pallmeyer was right because Ezell and Pavlick’s problems were substantially worse than those of the other jurors.”

Reply: There is no degree of determining criminality. If one person is convicted of a crime and another is convicted of a crime; they are both considered criminals. A determination that one jurors “problems were worst” is prejudicial to the administration of the court’s business and the administration of justice.

“The court meticulously ensured that the alternates had not been exposed to media coverage or other extraneous influences,”

There was no way for Judge Pallmeyer to make such a determination. Only a person that can read another person’s mind can make such a determination and I havn’t met one yet. This trial was all over the newspapers and in on the news. If one of the new juror prior to become a juror walked passed a newspaper stand and saw George Ryan’s picture with a quote from the newspaper, that could have been exposure to media coverage. The statement that the court ensured that the alternates were not exposed to extraneous influences is contradictory as it is a known fact that one of the jurors brought into deliberations external materials in violation of the court’s instruction and further in contempt of court.

“The material was consistent with the court’s instructions and clearly did not burden the expression of jurors’ views,” they said. It said the judge was right “in concluding that there was no reasonable possibility that this material prejudiced the jury.”

Again, a judge is not a mind reader and cannot determinate what effect external materials brought into deliberation could have on the jurors. Questioning jurors about having read the information or having the information read to them is not enough to determine what effect it had on anyone jurors deliberations.

All of the actions of the court outlined by the prosecution was prejudicial to the administration of the court’s business and the administration of justice.

1st amendment to the U.S Constitution

Comment by One_Mcmad Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 1:15 pm
Michael Scott from Scranton branch - Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 12:40 pm:

Michael your comment brings up several points:

1. Isn’t there a hiring freeze in state government or did it just dissolve?

2. Did Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Court know that one of her employees was also working (contracted) for another government agency simultaneous to working for the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County?

Does Dorothy Brown, Clerk of the Court, Inspector General require that employees working duo government jobs report this information to the Office of Inspector General to ensure that there are no conflicts of interest involved?

Comment by One_Mcmad Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 1:32 pm
- Bill Baar - Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 8:36 am:

Letâ€™s hope the Democrats turn on the screws to make sure our guy stays.

Bill how about Patrick Fitzgerald himself ensures that he and his office are doing the right things so that he stays. It’s always a known fact that if you’re doing the right thing(s) justice will prevail.

Comment by One_Mcmad Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 1:35 pm
One_Mcmad,

Tres, tres amusing, sir. I hope you did not bite off the tip of your tongue in your cheek with your comment on PatFitz and the extreme rectitude of Illinois politics.

Comment by Truthful James Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 1:45 pm
- Truthful James - Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 1:45 pm:

No I did not bite off the tip of my tongue in my cheeks with my comment on Fitzgerald.

The truth is the truth. I understand that there are politicians who are corrupt. However, if the system that goes after the corrupt politicians play the same games that the corruptive politicians play, the process will never be just.

The late Dr. King stated this better than I can any day.

Comment by One_Mcmad Wednesday, Jan 17, 07 @ 6:16 pm