DU inspired Valentine's Day roses for outgoing Attorney Carol Lam in today's Union Tribune!

[cascadiance]

Though we all weren't the primary donors of these roses, etc., this event was inspired by your earlier givings of roses to folks like Barbara Boxer and Helen Thomas... I want to really thank two gentleman at Progressive Post here locally who picked up the ball on this and made it something nice! Rick Hall was earlier responsible for the petition that was generated to get Barbara Boxer to protest the election, so he's used to getting out there in heavy activist efforts.

Anyway, about 3-4 weeks ago, I came up with the idea of giving flowers to Carol Lam the day before she left for Valentine's Day. I was going to try and start up a thread here to have you all involved. I actually did try to start a couple of threads, but the one I tried to get serious about it was unfortunately not timed very well with Molly Ivins passing and was dwarfed by our feelings elsewhere when that happened. I was also sidetracked into other personal issues that needed dealing with, but after I mentioned earlier to Rick and Joe this idea, who really liked it, they picked it up heavily, got LTTE's here in San Diego papers and got a very nice thing happening on Valentine's Day. Even though Carol now is at Qualcomm, you all should be proud to help inspire me, and in effect help me get Rick and Joe to carry this out. I don't think our concerns were lost on Carol, as she might be a factor for us down the road sometime, though her present position might be hard to leave, even if perhaps Brent Scowcroft (sitting on the board at Qualcomm) helped make it a nice position to get her away from the investigations.

Here's text from an mail that Rick sent me yesterday that you might all enjoy!

I called Carol Lam’s office yesterday to ask if it might be possible for me to drop off a coffee mug for her. I was transferred to her secretary. I told her that I was kind of responsible for the flowers and that I wanted to deliver a mug to leave for Ms. Lam if possible. The secretary advised me that Carol is very busy and might not be able to meet with me, but I could leave it. She asked what time I was thinking about and I said I was shooting for 10:30.

Today, I did just that. When I got to the reception area on the 6th floor of the federal building, the receptionist asked if I was Rick Hall and then called Carol Lam’s Secretary as they were expecting me! The secretary escorted me to Carol Lam’s office, knocked on her door and advised her that Rick Hall was there to see her. I met her, shook her hand and thanked her for all the great work she has done for San Diego, and presented her with the Rebuke Duke coffee cup. She loved it. She thanked me for the plant I sent her, and said she was overwhelmed by the flowers. I told her we would watch the papers to learn what she would do next, and support her any way we could. I shook her hand again, and was on my way back to work. As I was escorted back out, I told the secretary I just met a real star. She giggled, and said she thought so too.

All together, there were over $800 worth of flowers donated.

Here's the story link in today's Union Tribune on this:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070216-9999-1m16lam.html

U.S. attorney thanks well-wishers on her final day
By Kelly Thornton
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

February 16, 2007

On her last day as U.S. attorney, Carol Lam sat in her mostly empty bay-view office surrounded not by stacks of legal documents but by 15 elaborate floral arrangements from well-wishers she has never met.

One of the cards read: “Thank you so much for fighting political corruption for us in San Diego.”

LAURA EMBRY / Union-Tribune
U.S. Attorney Carol Lam relished the bouquets that surrounded her on her final day on the job at the downtown federal building. Lam was asked to resign last month by the Justice Department, prompting criticism on Capitol Hill.
Lam, who bowed to pressure to resign amid partisan protests in Washington that continued yesterday, will start a new job as senior vice president and legal counsel at Qualcomm Inc. later this month. Her third-in-command, Karen Hewitt, was appointed Lam's temporary successor yesterday.

Lam's departure capped a busy final week in which her office announced more indictments stemming from the Randy “Duke” Cunningham congressional bribery case.

She spent part of her final day socializing at a farewell reception in her honor attended by judges, attorneys and law enforcement officials. And there was one other task: “I have to water my beautiful flowers.

...

DU (and Progressive Post) strikes again!

[blm]

1. Glad to see it - I hope this helps keep the overall story alive.

And a salute to you, calipendence.

[MindPilot]

2. (deep bow) domo arigato Calipendence-san!!!

Very nice work!! :applause::applause::applause::applause::applause::applause: