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U.S. attorney trumpets public service

By Blackwell Thomas, The Southern

Thursday, March 27, 2008 10:46 PM CDT

CARBONDALE - Touting the virtue of public service, a man who made his name nailing some of the toughest and most notorious criminals in the country addressed a crowded auditorium at Southern Illinois University Carbondale Thursday evening.

Among the people U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has prosecuted and convicted are members of the Gambino crime family, Vice President Dick Cheney's assistant Scooter Libby and the Al Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.

So, in dealing with such sordid characters on cases of such importance, does he ever get scared?

"You'd have to be an idiot not to," he said, in response to the question offered by an audience member.

In a talk that lasted about an hour, Fitzgerald touched on a number of topics: freedom of the press, corruption by public officials, including convicted ex-Gov. George Ryan, and the CIA leak case, where Libby gained his notoriety.

But throughout the evening Fitzgerald came back to the topic of public service.

Recounting his younger days, when he said his view of success was tied largely to financial success, Fitzgerald said his career path was not necessarily chosen but guided by interest.

"There was a difference between doing well and doing good," he said of financial success versus public service. "Public service was something that I was hoping other people are doing. It was the kind of job you did if you found out you had a trust fund you didn't know about."

Fitzgerald said after a short stint working for a private law firm he took a pay cut and began working in the public sector.

"Public service is enriching, just in a way that they can't tax," he said. "Public service is not a sacrifice. I like to try to get it into other people's heads in the way that it was not in mine when I started. The best thing I ever did was take that cut in pay."

Blackwell.thomas@thesouthern.com

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