The Bureaucracy Eats One of Their Own

What a glorious day to be a federal bureaucrat. Standing in front of microphones; speaking to a gathered throng of anxious media personnel all salivating for your every word. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, well dressed, well coiffed; and oh so glad to be a part of this magnificent moment. This culmination of tens of thousands of hours of dedicated work to the public; countless meetings and dinners and important gatherings doing the people’s business – ferreting out one of your own; one who violated the high standards and impeccable ethics of bureaucratic activity. One who violated the standards of “to serve and protect.” To work tirelessly for the common good. To never place one’s own advancement or one’s own position ahead of the larger community.

So, Pat Fitzgerald stood there with his aides de camp behind him; the cameras running; the practiced determination of his presentation; his firm jowls; his glancing eyes showing unbridled commitment to getting his man. They got the bad guy. He’s going down. This will show the scumbags what happens when you abuse the public’s trust.

The set was structured to show the overwhelming power of his office. Plaques displaying all the federal bureaucracies that are ready to go after the miscreants who violate this trust that are the very foundation of our democracy. It doesn’t matter the cost; it doesn’t matter how many agents must be mustered; it doesn’t matter how many times we have to try you or what we can collect; it doesn’t matter if we fail once or even twice because we will get you and we will convict you and we will send you up the river.

The plaques say FBI and ATF and Postal investigations or some such thing and IRS investigations and Department of Labor and on and on and on. The bureaucracies are numerous and they all focused on this one man enriching himself at the expense of the fine citizens of Illinois. The bureaucrats got their man. Here are a few quotes from the press release issued by Pat yesterday:

“Blagojevich betrayed the trust and faith that Illinois voters placed in him, feeding great public frustration, cynicism and disengagement among citizens,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

“The sentence handed down today represents a repayment of the debt that Blagojevich owes to the people of Illinois,” said Robert D. Grant, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“The United States Postal Inspection Service is proud to be one of the federal law enforcement agencies to help ferret out this type of political corruption in Illinois,” said Thomas P. Brady, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in Chicago.

Alvin Patton, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago, said: “Today’s sentence sends a loud message that public corruption will not be tolerated.”

James Vanderberg, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, said: “This sentence sends a clear message that public officials cannot engage in corruption for personal benefit in exchange for political favors.”

So at least five big shot bureaucrats got their names on the release. You can read the entire bragging rights release at http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2011/pr1207_01.pdf  Bureaucrats sure do love their gloating moments.

Blagojevich was fined $20,000 to pay for all his ill gotten gains and the costs of pursuing him. He is selling his home because he can’t afford it. He says he is penniless. His family will seek financial support elsewhere because dad is going to get free room and board from the taxpayers. We don’t know how much the taxpayers are paying for the hundreds of bureaucrats who went after Blagojevich. We guess that it could run into the millions of dollars. We also note that the debt of our country is rising rapidly in no small part because we are forced to finance a lot of federal bureaucrats.

Pat first had Blagojevich arrested on December 9, 2008. In case you’re wondering, the US debt on that date was $10.7 trillion. On December 7, 2011, they nailed him with a $20,000.00 fine and 14 years free room and board. In case you’re wondering, US debt had risen to $15.1 trillion. Debt? Not Pat’s concern. It has risen by $4.4 trillion. Pat doesn't mess with the big stuff.  

So the question this essay poses to you, our valuable readers, is this, “What is the biggest threat to the people of Illinois and, for that matter, the people of the United States? Our answer is simple, "It's debt." (See the comment at the top of the page from America's recently retired top military man.) What is America's biggest threat?  Rod Blagojevich and his shenanigans that have cost you a lot to indict, arrest, try and convict compared to the pennies of Rod’s personal gain or the skyrocketing debt of the United States? Is it legal to accumulate debt when you have no plans or ability to repay it? What would Pat do if a business or a person accumulated debt with no ability to repay? Does it make sense that politicians and bureaucrats can build massive debt, pay themselves large salaries and even more generous pensions and just pass the bill on to the taxpayers?  Why isn't Pat focused on this larger issue?  This more important issue?

 
Pat and his endless supply of well paid bureaucrats are way off the mark with their priorities. But apparently there is no law against building debt you can't repay and we doubt many bureaucrats would support one. We all need to spend a few minutes with Admiral Mullen.