What's it all mean? It means Blago ain't going quietly.
Visit John Batchelor's website at the following link to pick up links to his post and see the pix of Genson. Now to the circus:
"We're going to fight this case."
By John Batchelor on December 16, 2008 1:14 AM
Blago Hires "The Devil's Advocate"
Cheering up those of us who worried that Blago would bow to the finger-wagging in the national media, news arrives that the veteran showman defense attorney Ed "The Devil's Advocate" Genson, recently of R. Kelly fame, has taken on the defense of the governor of Illinois.
The quote about his client by the wavy-haired, burly and partially disabled 66 year-old attorney is everything to be wished for in the operatic, ruthless courtroom battles ahead and trial by silent jury: "He's not stepping aside. He hasn't done anything wrong. We're going to fight this case."
Ed Genson is a legend in Chicago as a defense attorney who "will do anything to win." He is expensive, comprehensive, tireless and ruthless and has long experience defending corrupt Illinois officials as well as mobsters, weirdos and other baroque rascals.
Only one question is of concern right away: Will he leak pre-trial information? Will we get Blago's point of view on the hours of recordings Patrick Fitzgerald has collected on the negotiation over the Obama Senate seat. Will we get Rahm Emanuel's reputed vulgar tongue in quotes? A guess is, affirmative.
Chicago Magazine three years ago celebrated Ed Genson as a man for all of the Chicago Way:
His cases tell the story of a certain slice of Chicago culture in the past three decades. Consider: Genson's cases have ranged from the old mobbed-up First Ward of Pat Marcy and Fred Roti to the criminal enterprise known as the Secretary of State's Office under George Ryan and Scott Fawell; from the burning of the West Side after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. to the vicious beating of Lenard Clark; from the wild sex trial of former U.S. congressman Mel Reynolds to the aforementioned saga of R. Kelly; from mass commodities fraud on the floors of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to alleged corporate corruption at politically influential companies such as Intercounty Title. Operations Greylord, Gambat, Silver Shovel, Haunted Hall, and Safe Roads-Genson has watched them all unfold from the best vantage point a city like Chicago has to offer: the defense table. "There's probably not a significant criminal prosecution in Chicago-a really significant one-in the last 20 years that Eddie has not had a client in...".
Ed Genson vs Patrick Fitzgerald
Elliot Ness has a match on his hands. Patrick Fitzgerald will not be able to move quickly if Ed Genson aims to slow this down and fight the war in parts. First there is the discovery, and since that is ongoing, and will include the just launched impeachment investigation by the Illinois legislature, there is no reason to expect a trial until the fall or next winter, meaning up to a year of strange leaking details on the Obama team's testimony to grand juries and in depostitions.
Also Ed Genson is a Chicago guy. He will call favors. We can expect that many possible villains will now emerge whose presence will mitigate the tale, such as billionaire Sam Zell for entertaining creepy deals about his Tribune, such as Rahm Emanuel for muscling a list of candidates on Blago on Election Day. Would Ed Genson start telling stories about the President-Elect? The reputation is that he will do anything to win. This is the Devil's Advocate. The self-elected and heroic and high-flying and Untouchable - such are Mother's Milk.
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