Obama pledges to keep Patrick Fitzgerald on job

John McCain pledged back in November that if he's elected president, he'd keep US Attorny Patrick Fitzgerald, whose office is currently prosecuting Tony Rezko, on the job.

While meeting with the Chicago Tribune editorial board on Friday, Obama pledged he'd do the same, telling columnist John Kass, "I think he [Fitzgerald] has been aggressive in putting the city on notice and the state on notice that he takes issues of public corruption seriously."

While he's best known for his role as special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame leak investigation, Fitzgerald has successfully prosecuted dozens of corrupt "public servants," most notably former Chicago City Clerk James Laski, former Governor George H. Ryan, and Mayor Richard M. Daley's patronage chief, Robert Sorich.

More from Kass' column. Free registration is required for the link:

Obama was asked if coming out of the most politically corrupt city in America hinders his image as a reform candidate for the presidency.

"Look, Sen. [Hillary] Clinton comes out of New York, and there are apparently some issues there as well," he said, chuckling about the flameout of Clinton's superdelegate and soon-to-be-former-governor, Eliot Spitzer. "I think that all of you have been following my career for some time. I think that I have done a good job in rising politically in this environment, without being entangled in some of the traditional problems of Chicago politics.

"I know that there are those, like John Kass, who would like me to decry Chicago politics more frequently."

Just the corrupt parts, I said.

Obama goes on to boast about his "high ethical standards."

"Except for Rezko," Kass writes.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has not said if she'd keep Fitzgerald in his position.

Illinois' Governor Rod Blagojevich has seen two of his closest associates, Rezko and Chris Kelly, indicted by Fitzgerald's office. The Democratic governor's campaign fund has paid its law firm, Winston & Strawn, over $1 million in legal fees.

And in another crazy Illinois coincidence, Winston & Strawn is the same firm that defended, unsuccessfully, Blagojevich's Republican predecessor, George Ryan.

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