I’ve been down on Obama since rumors started surfacing of the kind of people he’s thinking of putting into office. However, with todays announcement of Eric Holder to be our next Attorney General, I have to say that I am quite pleased.
This IS change.
If you don’t know who Eric Holder is, then let me explain why this man brings change to America.
In the early 90’s the Democrats controlled Congress. Newt Gingrich had offered up his Contract On America and not only were many right wingnuts ready to sign on board but a lot of other people were getting concerned about what they perceived as corruption in our government. This was to be the beginning of the right wingnut wackos rise to power on the basis of their beliefs that Democrats didn’t stand for anything.
Nothing represented that more to them than what became known as the Congressional Post Office Scandal.
What started as a simple case of embezzlement by a post office employee being investigated by the Capitol Police eventually grew into a national scandal that brought down one of the most powerful Democrats in office, head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and ushered in a new age of Republican rule. The Republicans, of course, in 12 short years out corrupted and out scandalled anything the Democrats had ever dreamed of.
But back to the investigation:
evidence rapidly led to the inclusion of several other employees, before top Democrats in the House of Representatives moved to shut down the whole line of inquiry, despite protests from Frank Karrigan, chief of the Capitol Police.
A new investigation was started by the United States Postal Service, which eventually submitted a report which was held in silence by Speaker Thomas Foley (D-WA) until media reports of embezzlement and drug laundering leaked out in 1992.
Following public outcry, the Democratic leaders of the House were forced to refer the matter to the Committee on House Administration, which started its own investigation.
That committee broke into two parts along party lines, the Democrats issuing a report saying the matter was closed, but the Republicans issuing a dissenting report including a number of unanswered questions and problems with the investigation.
The Republican charges were largely ignored until July 1993, when the Congressional Postmaster Robert Rota pleaded guilty to three criminal charges, implicating Representatives Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL) and Joe Kolter (D-PA). They were accused of heading a conspiracy to launder Post Office money through stamps and postal vouchers.
Ultimately, Rostenkowski was convicted and sentenced to 18 months in prison, in 1995.
Dan Rostenkowski, Democratic Congressman from Chicago. One of the most senior members of Congress at the time of his downfall. 36 years he served his nation. Richard Cohen was to write a book about Rostenkowski in which he claimed that “The rise and fall of Dan Rostenkowski tracks the rise and fall of Democrats in the House.” Republicans portrayed him as emblematic of the corruption of the Democratic Party and used it as a springboard to take over control of the reins of power during the Clinton administration.
And who brought down Dan Rostentowski?
Eric Holder.
It was Eric Holder’s 17 count indictment that ultimately led to the downfall of Dan Rostentowski and the corruption within the Democratic Party.
This guy was once a part of the Justice Departments elite Public Integrity Section. There he spent 12 years rooting out corruption. He went after an Assistant Attorney General from New York. A Philadelphia judge. A Floridian treasurer. Several corrupt FBI agents.
Now he’s our Attorney General. In my opinion, that means we should be seeing the return of integrity to that office. This guy will go after you if you’re a Republican. He’ll go after you if you’re a Democrat.
I feel like a little sanity is finally starting to return.
Of course, the Republicans will start screaming he’s the next coming of the Anti-Christ, but then, I said sanity was starting to return, I didn’t say it was returning to them.