Favorite prosecutor

Looks like someone had a similar thought. What a surprise to agree with an ex-admin, now military-industrial Rep (ok, Comey is "special", even if he mostly allowed illegal wire-tapping) about putting a Republican in a top position in a Democratic administration -- but that's the type of bipartisanship that I think any Dem could get behind.

Fitzgerald Deserves Top U.S. Law Post, Comey Says (Update1)
By Patricia Hurtado and David Voreacos (Bloomberg)

``I think he would make a spectacular attorney general,'' said former Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Comey, now general counsel at Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed Martin Corp., the world's largest defense contractor. ``He certainly is one of the very best federal prosecutors in America.'' ...

Fitzgerald, who has held his job for almost six years, declined to be interviewed by Bloomberg News. His spokesman, Randall Samborn, wouldn't discuss Fitzgerald's career plans. ...

Fitzgerald, who is single, is the son of Irish immigrants. He grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and attended Catholic elementary school before going to Regis High School in Manhattan. During summers, he worked as a doorman, like his dad. ...

He spent years pursuing mobsters and terrorists before focusing on al-Qaeda leader bin Laden, long before Sept. 11, 2001. Four months before the attacks, he won terrorism convictions of four bin Laden associates for embassy bombings in Africa that killed 224 people.

``This is a guy who's spent time in small rooms in a lot of countries around the world with people who've killed a lot of people,'' Comey said. ``He's not intimidated by pressure.'' ...

Former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Comey, who got to know Fitzgerald as a law student when they shared a summer house in Spring Lake, New Jersey, said his friend once competed fiercely in rugby and darts.

``He drank a lot of beer without paying for it,'' Comey added with a laugh.

Fitzgerald now enjoys traveling, exploring caves in New Zealand, going white-water rafting, and visiting relatives in Ireland, Comey said.

Fitzgerald may return to New York, said Chicago attorney and best-selling novelist Scott Turow.

``Pat is deeply committed to public service,'' Turow said in an e-mail. ``But I never heard anyone say that he'd like to stay on'' as U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Daniel Richman, a Columbia Law School professor who worked as a prosecutor with Fitzgerald, disagreed.

``I think that something that's gotten lost in the focus of his role in the Libby investigation is how committed and excited he's been to be working in Chicago,'' Richman said. ``And he certainly seems to be in a target-rich environment.''

Target-rich, indeed!

And, finally here's Berube's brief nod to his high school time at Regis with Fitzgerald that for some reason always sticks in my mind. Something about that elite Jesuit thing seems to turn out such fascinating people (Fitzgerald, Berube and no doubt many others).