LA TIMES: USA Threatened Corruption Prosecutors to Stay Silent = RE: public corruption unit

[L. Coyote]

LAT: USA Threatened Corruption Prosecutors to Stay Silent
By Paul Kiel - March 20, 2008 - http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/lat_usa_threatened_corruption.php

Earlier this week, we reported on the decision by U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles Thomas O'Brien to disband the office's public corruption unit. The official line from O'Brien was that disbanding the 17-lawyer unit would actually boost the number of public corruption investigations, because other units would now have the opportunity to take on such cases. The was a line of reasoning with which a former prosecutor from that office disagreed.

And not surprisingly, the current lawyers there don't think much of that either. But, reports The Los Angeles Times, O'Brien warned them not to dispute that publicly:

..............

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Shake-up roils federal prosecutors
U.S. attorney in L.A. defends his decision to disband a high-profile unit that specialized in public corruption.
Scott Glover, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer - March 20, 2008 - http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shakeup20mar20,1,7868966.story?track=rss


.... During the meeting, held in a conference room on the 12th floor of the U.S. attorney's office, O'Brien displayed statistics showing that the section had produced only one public corruption case since the beginning of the fiscal year, which started Oct. 1.

He said that capped a trend that showed the number of cases declining for several years.

One of the lawyers in the disbanded unit acknowledged that its numbers were not impressive. The lawyer noted, however, that there were several cases in the pipeline and that statistics can be misleading because of the complexity and time-consuming nature of such prosecutions.

[aquart]

1. Trying to give every Republican a Get Out of Jail Free card?

By messing up the investigations so badly that they won't be able to resume in January?

[blm]

2. This is what happens when even Dems have gone along with the deep-sixing of corruption matters

for the powerful elite - it's been going on for decades, and government is now closed off to accountability in so many ways it will take a massive, pointed effort to open government to the people at this point.


Closing government to protect the powerful elite has come back to hurt this country in immeasurable ways.

http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

[L. Coyote]

3. Good point. We need to watch for actions that prepare to sink future prosecutions too!

[hootinholler]

4. They've been playing musical chairs for years in LA!

Sounds like another round just finished. Here's a prior round.

-Hoot