It’s been a while since Judicial Watch, the one-time roost for Clinton-antagonist Larry Klayman, has managed to inject itself into a national scandal. But with a little help from the Illinois legislature, the litigious public interest group is back with a role in this holiday season's biggest political story.
Judicial Watch’s Director of Litigation Paul Orfanedes will be testifying today before the Illinois House of Representatives committee that is deciding whether or not to impeach troubled Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
According to the Judicial Watch, the group filed an open records request with the Blagojevich administration back in January 2007, asking for “any and all grand jury subpoenas received by the Governor’s office or any state agencies under the Governor’s control.” Unsurprisingly, Blagojevich’s office blanched at the request, and the two have been locked in a legal tug of war ever since.
“Judicial Watch has been investigating Blagojevich for years. His stonewalling of our document requests was an obvious effort to keep the public from knowing the full truth about his corruption. We look forward to providing any information we can to the Special Investigative Committee,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.
The group is the latest player to join the increasingly colorful, and confusing, Blagojevich saga, which exploded with the revelation that the governor had allegedly conspired to sell President Elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat.
Judicial Watch earned both notoriety and praise during the 1990s and early 2000s by peppering the Clinton and Bush administrations with drawn out but politically effective lawsuits. Its greatest hits include “Filegate,” the case that allowed it to depose several high ranking Clinton aides, and its attempt to force the White House to open the records on Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force.
While U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has stated that Obama is not a target of his investigation, Judicial Watch has tried to link the president-elect with the scandal. As news of the Blagojevich's arrest broke, a Judicial Watch press release declared:
"This is a burgeoning crisis for Obama that should shake his presidency to its core. The criminal complaint filed today indicates that Obama and his team knew about Blagojevich's efforts to sell Obama's Senate seat. ("Tony" Rezko, Obama friend, fundraiser and real estate partner, is once again implicated in the corrupt activities exposed today.)”
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