Recently a friend revealed a conversation he had several years ago with Scott Falwell who is currently in prison. Falwell is being used as a witness by the prosecution (Patrick Fitzgerald) to present evidence against his former boss, George Ryan; George Ryan is a former governor of Illinois. None other than Patrick Fitzgerald has handled the indictment and now trial of George Ryan.
Scott Falwell was head of the gigantic MPEA Metropolitan Pier and Expostion Authority. He was head of McCormick Place where conventions are held and Navy Pier a multi- purpose tourist, concert and convention facility. He was described as a favorite of George Ryan.
Long before he went to prison, and while he was under investigation by Patrick Fitzgerald, my friend, said Scott Falwell told him that George Ryan had been warned by Karl Rove not to pursue clemency for death row convicts in Illinois. This occurred at a meeting, I am not sure, perhaps of governors in Washington. Later, after Ryan declared a moratorium on the death sentence, a representative from Karl Rove’s office appeared in Illinois, arriving quite unexpectedly and asked to see the Governor. Ryan was told by this representative that his moratorium for death row prisoners would not go unpunished. He said George Bush was very unhappy. George Bush presided over 152 executions in Texas as governor and is famous for his mocking of Karla Faye Tuckers pleas to be granted clemency.
Ryan was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his decision to commute the sentences of 167 death row inmates and his placing a moratorium in 2000 on the death penalty. He did this he said, given the evidence that DNA testing had shown many on death row to be innocent. There is no political gain for a Republican governor to do this. It seems he did this based on conscience.
Now whether the indictment of Ryan is part of the punishment or coincidence I don’t know. But apparently, according to my friend, Scott Falwell thinks it is. And according to this friend Scott Falwell has said the indictment of Ryan and all the underlings that preceeded him is the direct result of Ryans’s actions on the moratorium.
The charges against Ryan could be leveled against almost any politician. They are racketeering, mail fraud, perjury, and income tax evasion. This means he received gifts, lied and did not report the gifts on his income tax. It’s not as impressive as it sounds. But that’s another matter.
George Ryan has been indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald and is currently in court. Patrick Fitzgerald has been heralded as the savior of those who want Bush administration officials indicted in the Valerie Plame Scandal.
These same people who would like to see Bush officialdom indicted point to Patrick Fitzgerald as a non-partisan attorney general, a “bulldog” acting in the interests of the law. He is in fact a Republican who was appointed by James Comey who worked for John Ashcroft at the time of his selection to investigate the Plame affair. Ken Mehlman has said that he has the highest regard and faith in Patrick Fitzgerald’s ability to come to a just conclusion to the Plame investigation.
I have never believed that attorney generals act in the interests of the law but rather for political reasons. Whenever a politician is indicted it is always a political act without regard to guilt or innocence. This is true for Tom Delay, it was true for Richard Nixon and it was true for the Whitwater investigation of Bill Clinton.
James Comey who now works for Lockheed Martin appointed Patrick Fitzgerald to be the special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame affair. James Comey is described as being best friends with Patrick Fitzgerald.
Phillip Perry is a lawyer whose former firm Latham and Watkins represents Lockheed Martin. He has just been selected (as of April) to be the general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security. Lockheed Martin has won billions in contracts with Homeland Security. His wife is Elizabeth Cheney who is the Vice President’s daughter. Perry has also represented a private prison firm and American Hospital Corporation. Elizabeth Perry (Cheney’s daughter) is the second-ranking U.S. diplomat for the Middle East and the State Department’s principal deputy assistant secretary of state.
Lynne Cheney had served on the board of Lockheed Martin for 7 years (1994-2001). Lynne Cheney is of course the wife of the Vice President.
I cannot imagine that after Comey’s having appointed Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the Plame affair, that Lockheed Martin could have hired James Comey, as it’s new general counsel unless this appointment of Patrick Fitzgerald was not seen as a “mistake” or error on the part of Comey. In other words, the Cheney connections to Lockheed Martin in the form of his wife and son in law are very great and very substantial. Comey was hired by Lockheed Martin just a few months ago. The Plame investigation is a couple of years old. If the investigation were going badly for the Bush Administration they would certainly know that. Cheney would know that. With Cheney’s influence at Lockheed Martin, one has to wonder why Comey would be hired if he had chosen a person in the form of Fitzgerald who was about to take down a part of the Administration.
I have always been skeptical of the administration investigating itself – and Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the Plame affair is just that. The Bush administration is investigating itself. The suggestion that Patrick Fitzgerald is non=partisan as seen by his indictment of George Ryan, a very liberal Republican who defied George Bush, has never held water.
Currently, Fitzgerald is going after Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s administration and will inevitably focus on the Mayor. A mayor who shares a lot of things with the President. Both having had father’s who preceeded them in their jobs. But Daley is a Democrat and no one can remember the last time Chicago had a Republican Mayor. Fitzgerald is attempting to destroy the corrupt democratic machine. But for what purpose?
I hope that Patrick Fitzgerald indicts someone of significance. But I am very skeptical.
It is time for the indictments, The grand jury term is ending in October. It is also possible that the investigation into the Plame affair has gotten out of the control of Patrick Fitzgerald. He cannot force the grand jury. If incontrovertible evidence was presented that could not have been foreseen by Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald can only influence, not control the grand juries decision to indict. At least that’s my understanding. Judith Miller’s incarceration is often pointed to as evidence that Fitzgerald is getting to the bottom of the matter. But I have always wondered if her being put in jail for contempt has more to do with protecting herself than her sources. But I cannot say that I understand why Fitzgerald would do this as she too has connections to Cheney. Perhaps it has to do with the fact she allegedly interfered in one of Fitzgerald’s previous investigations while he was in New York.
Somehow, this just doesn’t all add up.