Fitzgerald should be appointed Special Counsel.

The recent arrest of Governor Blagojevich proves the need to appoint Patrick Fitzgerald as Special Counsel to reprise his role in the Plame investigation. Governor Blagojevich has been part of the machine politics in Illinois that brought president-elect Obama to his state senate and US Senate positions. Regardless of present attempts to distance himself from Blagojevich, the president-elect long supported Blagojevich and derived support from those who funded and supported Blagojevich in his campaigns.

US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has a well earned reputation as an independent prosecutor who follows leads wherever they lead, regardless of the political affiliation of those being investigated. The president-elect faces a looming danger to his credibility and that of his administration. Will he succumb to the overwhelming temptation to fire Fitzgerald along with all Republican US Attorneys as generally done by a new admministration?

Obama could easily think that he could justify such firing as simply politics as usual. That would be a terrible mistake. Of course, his allies in media would likely give him a pass as they have throughout the campaign. The president-elect may believe that only the right would take exception to such politically motivated firing and that he could withstand such criticism with the aid of the mainstream media.

Even if the president-elect promised to allow Fitzgerald to continue in his present position, a President Obama could fire Fitzgerald at any time during his administration. He would attempt to argue that he had given a Republican prosecutor adequate time to investigate and was simply replacing a Republican US Attorney with a Democrat as all Presidents eventually do.

Furthermore, the past close association of Obama with Blagojevich creates the appearance of a serious conflict of interest that would raise serious doubts as to the legitimacy of any decision of Fitzgerald or any US Attorney not to pursue possible prosecution of those close to the Obama administration.

For these reasons the Department of Justice under President Bush with the concurrence of president-elect Obama should name Fitzgerald to the US Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel to pursue the investigation and prosecution of Blagojevich, Rezco and the Chicago crowd wherever the evidence leads. This is exactly the position he held in pursuing the Plame investigation.

While President Obama could subsequently fire Fitzgerald as Special Counsel, the reason for such firing would be readily apparent to all.