McIlheran Should Be Ashamed

The Sunday before last, Patrick McIlheran wrote a column celebrating the clearing of former US Attorney Steven Biskupic.

Biskupic, I'm sure the gentle reader will remember, was investigated for possibly being part of the Bush/Cheney attempt to smear Democrats by bringing up trumped up charges against Democrats or their staff. Biskupic went after Georgia Thompson of the Governor Doyle's staff. Ms. Thompson was convicted, but had that overturned by a higher court, who called Biskupic's evidence as being "beyond thin."

The problem with PaddyMac's article is that he seems to have his sense of proportionality all out of whack. Or as Erik Gunn of Milwaukee Magaizine's "Pressroom Buzz"puts it:

At least McIlheran acknowledged that Biskupic's target, Thompson, lost her job and spent four months in prison. Still, his dudgeon at what remained an arguably legitimate inquiry into the U.S. attorney's motives for pursuing the Thompson case is astonishingly disproportionate in light of all that Biskupic suffered -- namely, a nice job with a private law firm, where an educated guess says he probably makes at least as much in one year as Wisconsin taxpayers had to pay to reimburse Thompson for her legal fees.

Scooter Libby v. Georgia Thompson

McBride on the Libby "get out of jail free" card:

Remember that Libby was convicted of lying in a politically-motivated investigation into something that wasn't a crime. In other words, he covered up something that wasn't criminal.

Right. He was convicted of four felonies for lying to FBI agents and the grand jury. No big deal.

Here in Wisconsin, we know a woman, Georgia Thompson, who spent four months in federal prison and didn't even commit a crime. McBride thought that was perfectly OK.

Remember that the next time Ms. Law 'n Order mouths off about double standards.

UPDATE: McBride can't stop talking about Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich, as a defense for what Bush has done for Libby. Jay Bullock reminds us, however, that Libby was Rich's lawyer.

Lock 'em up, Stevo

Can't wait to hear McBride's defense of US Attorney Steven Biskupic, who took time out from prosecuting Democrats to put a Vietnam era veteran behind bars for seeking benefits from the Veterans Administration.

Her rap on Georgia Thompson was that sometimes an aggressive prosecutor like Stevie B. will overreach and put an innocent person away, but, hey, that's what makes this country great.

Michael Leon has the story.

'Congress convicted Georgia Thompson'

McBride has a new theory on who railroaded an innocent Georgia Thompson into prison: It wasn't US Attorney Steven Biskupic, it was the Congress.

She also laments that the world will never know what political reasons Thompson may have had for preferring the Wisconsin bidder -- the one with the low bid -- to be awarded the travel contract. Doesn't matter. The court said it was not a crime.

And she cites a Richmond law professor who says, "The court seems to be saying reasonable people differ about whether this is a crime."

Actually, and we'll do it slowly this time, so maybe McBride can grasp it. The court said it was Not. A. Crime.

If McBride is truly looking for someone besides Biskupic to blame, she might look in the direction of Judge Rudolph Randa, an appointee of Bush I, who presided at the trial. He's the one who controlled what the jury heard and told the jury what the law was and how to determine guilt. Randa's responsibility was to determine that the prosecution had not made its case and dismiss the case, rather than allowing it to go to the jury.

Why? Because it was Not. A. Crime.