Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (AP) ― Gov. Rod Blagojevich's defense attorneys urged a federal judge Thursday to throw Chicago's top federal prosecutor and all of his assistants out of the fraud and bribery case against the governor.

Federal prosecutors immediately retorted that the effort was "meritless" at a federal court hearing.

Blagojevich's attorneys acted as chances grew dimmer that state lawmakers weighing his impeachment will ever get to see transcripts of the FBI's secretly made tapes of the governor's private conversations.

Chief defense counsel Edward M. Genson filed the motion to have U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald thrown off the case, it was disclosed at the hearing.

He charged in the motion that Fitzgerald violated the rules with pretrial publicity at a Dec. 9 news conference announcing the charges against Blagojevich and his former chief of staff John Harris.

The motion was filed under seal and not immediately available from the court clerk's office but was described to reporters by Chief Judge James F. Holderman of U.S. District Court and another Blagojevich defense attorney, Sheldon Sorosky.

The motion sought Fitzgerald's ouster from the case "because of the statements he made in announcing the arrest of Gov. Blagojevich," Sorosky said.

"He violated the rules of the American Bar Association," Sorosky said.
Blagojevich, 52, is charged among other things with plotting to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by the election of Barack Obama as president.

While Sorosky was not specific about the contents of the motion, Fitzgerald said at the news conference that the governor had been on "a political corruption crime spree" and "the conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave."

A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, Randall Samborn, had no immediate comment. The motion stayed under seal Thursday afternoon as paperwork was processed.

But federal prosecutor Edmond Chang told Holderman that the U.S. attorney's office regards the motion as "meritless." Holderman indicated he would take it up later.

Meanwhile, the prospects that FBI tapes of Blagojevich would make it to Springfield in time for any impeachment vote grew more and more remote as Holderman set a schedule for legal skirmishing on the issue that could run into early February.

Holderman said he was sorry the courts "aren't able to do things on the timetables others might request and I think the members of the General Assembly will understand that."

Under the schedule, defense attorneys must file any motions to suppress the tapes and rule them out of evidence by Jan. 23. The government would then have until Jan. 29 to respond to those motions and defense attorneys would have until Feb. 5 to file replies to the government.

Defense attorneys are expected to ask the court to suppress the tapes.

"I want to file a motion to suppress if I can find a good faith basis to do so," said Michael D. Ettinger, who represents Blagojevich's brother, Robert.

Robert Blagojevich is heard on some of the tapes which involve an alleged effort by the governor to shake down racetrack owner John Johnston for a sizable campaign contribution while a bill worth millions to the racing industry was pending.

But Robert Blagojevich is not charged with any wrongdoing in the case.
Lawmakers have made it plain that they want the tapes but can complete their work without hearing them. They are plowing ahead with a move to impeach Blagojevich even as the judge and attorneys lumber through a legal obstacle course.

An attorney for the House impeachment panel, Michael James Kasper, told Holderman as the attorneys sought to set their schedule that if it ran into February "in all probability that would moot out the entirety of this proceeding."

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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