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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lorne who wrote (71174)	12/2/2005 10:27:34 AM
From: lorne	Respond to of 81568

FBI, IRS search Geoffrey Fieger's Southfield office Midday update By TOM KRISHER Associated Press Published December 1, 2005 lsj.com DETROIT — A federal investigation surrounding prominent trial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger is being led by a section of the U.S. Justice Department that focuses on public corruption and campaign finance violations, officials confirmed Thursday. The FBI and Internal Revenue service raided Fieger’s Southfield offices Wednesday night, seizing boxes of documents while spending about four hours inside the building. Fieger, a Democratic candidate for state attorney general best known for defending assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, said Thursday morning that the probe is politically motivated by Republicans who control the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit and the attorneys general in Washington and Lansing. Fieger said subpoenas left by the federal agents stated they were looking into campaign contributions his staff made to Democratic presidential candidates John Edwards and John Kerry. Federal authorities aren’t saying the reason for the search. “All I can do is confirm that we did execute the warrant, the FBI and the IRS,” said John V. Gillies, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit office. IRS spokesman Stephen Moore said 10 FBI and IRS agents participated in the raid. Gina Balaya, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney in Detroit, said the probe is being led by officials in Washington. “The Public Integrity Section is the lead on this, and we’re assisting,” she said, referring all further questions to officials in Washington. Balaya said the federal investigation was begun before Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox started his probe into whether Fieger illegally funded a $457,000 ad campaign against state Supreme Court Justice Stephen Markman in last year’s election. “This investigation pre-existed and is separate and independent from the investigation announced by the attorney general,” she said. On Nov. 9, Cox called a news conference at which he admitted cheating on his wife and accused a Fieger associate of trying to expose the indiscretion unless he stopped the campaign finance investigation. The Public Integrity Section combats corruption among public officials and “monitors the investigation and prosecution of election and conflict of interest crimes,” according to the Justice Department Web site. Bryan Sierra, a department spokesman in Washington, confirmed the section’s involvement in Wednesday’s raid, but declined further comment. “It’s McCarthyism all over again,” said Fieger, who maintains the raid was related to his candidacy and the allegations made by Cox. Fieger, who was not present during the search, said the agents seized his financial records for this year. His staff described the agents as being perplexed as to why they were searching his office and confused about what items to take, he said. The search began about 7 p.m. Wednesday and finished as agents loaded boxes from the offices into a car and a truck. The Oakland County sheriff’s office investigated Cox’s allegations against Fieger, but on Nov. 15, Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said he did not have sufficient evidence to prove extortion. He referred the matter to the state Attorney Grievance Commission. On the day he declared his candidacy in October, Fieger filed a federal court suit against Cox, Markman and Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, accusing them of conspiring to retaliate against him and deprive him of his free speech rights. Fieger is known for his flamboyant courtroom style and outspokenness, notably in his former role as attorney for Kevorkian. Kevorkian claimed to have attended more than 130 deaths before being convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 in the death of a Lou Gehrig’s disease patient. Fieger has said he was not asked to represent Kevorkian in that case. Fieger unexpectedly won the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary largely based on his popularity in Detroit. But Gov. John Engler easily beat Fieger, 62 percent to 38 percent, on the Republican’s stroll to a third term.

To: lorne who wrote (71174)	12/2/2005 10:28:19 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 81568

I thought it was the party of "Peace." The US liberal movement and its lefty 'news' media are now circling the drain to oblivion.