Appoint a Special Counsel to Investigate Campaigns
I have extremely mixed feelings about President George W. Bush. I think he did some good things early in his presidency, but also made some terrible decisions.
President Bush can perform one of his most important acts for the welfare of the United States before his term expires: Appoint a Special Counsel to investigate two aspects of this election.
1. Potential violations of the campaign finance laws
2. Potential violations of voter registration and related laws
The Special Counsel should be tasked with investigating both the McCain and Obama campaigns and voter registration activities of individuals and organizations associated with both the Republican and Democrat parties.
My recommendation for this Special Counsel: Patrick Fitzgerald.
I believe that Fitzgerald was overly-aggressive in his prosecution of Scooter Libby, but, unlike Ken Starr, it will be difficult for the liberal press to tar him with pro-Republican biases. While I disagree with some of Fitzgerald’s prior actions, I think he is very resistant to being deterred or intimidated. Fitzgerald has deep experience with corrupt money in politics, a fixture in Chicago where he is the current U.S. Attorney. Fitzgerald has prosecuted both Tony Rezko and Illinois Republican Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Bush should make the appointment immediately following the election regardless of who wins. Bush will take heat for this, regardless of who the successful candidate is, but it will go a long way toward protecting the election process in the United States. If one party or the other believes the election was stolen, the uproar over hanging chads in Florida will look mild by comparison.
The Independent Counsel statute under which Ken Starr was appointed has expired. The Special Counsel is part of the Justice Department and the Special Counsel can be fired by the Attorney General. By appointing a Special Counsel before the next administration takes office, President Bush will cause the next President and his nominee for Attorney General to be asked whether they will allow the Special Counsel to continue with the investigation. I believe that the American people will react negatively if this investigation is prematurely terminated.
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[...] Appoint a Special Counsel to Investigate Campaigns Bush will take heat for this, regardless of who the successful candidate is, but it will go a long way toward protecting the election process in the United States. If one party or the other believes the election was stolen, … [...]
A big risk for Bush, but that would take him out with a bang, not a whimper.
Why not announce this before the election instead of afterwards?
If Bush announces this before the election, he would get accused of improperly trying to swing the election to McCain and McCain would feel the backlash.
Doing it afterward means that no one can claim that the Republicans were trying to influence the election. In the announcement, he can say that he was going to do it regardless of who won.