Fitzgerald makes his non-partisan bones

baltimoresun.com - 2 charged in Chicago patronage

One was a drunk. Some were laughed at as "goofballs." One was declared the best-qualified candidate for a job on the city payroll, even though he was dead.

All were recommended for city jobs or hired because they were politically connected and helped to get out the vote on Election Day, according to U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
...
The new charges strike at the heart of political power in Chicago - the patronage system under which thousands of precinct workers who get out the vote are rewarded with jobs on the city payroll.

The charges bring the scandal closer than ever to (Mayor Richard M.) Daley, who has been mayor for 16 years and whose father, Mayor Richard J. Daley, oversaw a political machine that dispensed patronage with ruthless efficiency.

Being interested in good government and not purely partisan, I applaud Fitzgerald's move against corruption in Chicago regardless of the politics of the folks implicated. That is exactly what separates most of us on the left from our "my junta, right or wrong" counterparts. And it is going to be vital ammunition when the Plame war resumes.

When the Rove-scented shit really hits the fan, the Republicans will throw around wild unsubstantiated charges, and I would assume "partisan witch hunt" will be one of them. We need to make sure the press covers and is aware of Fitzgerald's work in Chicago so that there is at least some small chance that they will not play their normal co-conspirator role in trumpeting and validating the smears that come from Bush's Brain.