This morning’s Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a long time ally of State Senator Vince Fumo has been reportedly cooperating with the feds in connection with Fumo’s upcoming trial on a broad array of federal corruption charges. Of course, in typical fashion, the story is vague and almost wholly devoid of any facts. The Inquirer asserts that the Fumo ally, Howard Cain, began cooperating after learning that he himself was under investigation on tax related charges. The paper does not specify, however, the nature of Cain’s alleged wrongdoing, or the extent or substance of whatever assistance he has allegedly provided to prosecutors. And, of course, the Inquirer can’t identify anyone who will actually confirm that Cain is in fact cooperating, or that he is even in fact under investigation. All in all a very, very nice job of reporting by the Inquirer. As I have noted previously, while it is always possible that this time the government has the goods on Fumo, if I had to wager, there is no way I would bet on a conviction.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, dubbed the D.C. Madam by the news media, reportedly committed suicide today. Palfrey was convicted just over two weeks ago on federal money laundering, mail fraud and racketeering charges, all of which arose from her operation of an alleged prostitution ring. As readers of this blog know, I have been harshly critical of the federal government’s prosecution of Palfrey. I simply fail to see how one woman runni9ng an escort service purportedly as a front for prostitution ought to be any business of the federal government (for those who will argue that Palfrey’s activities violated the letter of the federal statutes under which she was charged, save your breath - I am well aware of the borad uses to which federal prosecutors put such statutes. My point is - and has been - that reading those statutes so expansively as to include Palfrey is stupid, and a colossal waste of federal resources). So it turns out, as usual, that the only victim in the whole D.C. Madam affair was Deborah Jean Palfrey. This time, the consequences were tragic. Chalk up another win for the feds. One less madam to worry about tonight.

A federal jury in the District of Columbia yesterday convicted the so-called “D.C. Madam,” Deborah Jeane Palfrey, on “racketeering” charges (read, money laundering) arising out of her operation of an escort service, The Washington Post reported this morning. Palfrey’s defense was, I would agree, not believable: she claimed that she did not know that the women employed as escorts by her business were engaging in sex with clients. Uh huh. The only thing sillier is that this case was prosecuted in the first place. Thank heavens for the federales, keeping the Republic safe. Perhaps now they will focus on protecting us from Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds.,

Well, if they were Nathan’s, I could understand this. Mmmmm, hot dogs.

This week’s edition of Washington’s “Legal Times” contains an article on the D.C. Madam trial, which starts this week. By all accounts, the trial ought to be great entertainment - so long as we forget that this woman is being persecuted prosecuted, and faces jail time, for what is an utterly stupid crime. When will the Feds get back to chasing real criminals, like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Tammie Thomas? Oh, wait, they are. Silly me.

Unless you have somehow managed to avoid any and all news media for the last 3 days you no doubt are aware that Eliot Spitzer resigned his position as Governor of New York today, brought down by revelations that he had engaged the services of a prostitute while traveling on government business in Washington, D.C. Since the story first broke on Monday, additional allegations have surfaced concerning the frequency of Spitzer’s dalliances, the amount of money that he spent on high end call girls, and the span of years over which he has indulged his particular sweet tooth. All of this is rather unseemly, most will stipulate, and I heartily agree that resigning from office was the right thing for Spitzer to do. Engaging in the sort of conduct for which he had prosecuted others in the past reveals Spitzer as a hypocrite who sees himself as above the law, and robbed him of the moral authority to exercise authority and to wield governmental power over the citizens of New York. Unless there is much more to the story than has come to light, however, prosecuting Spitzer would be a colossal waste of governmental resources.

The New York Times has reported that staff members of the Congressional Commitee before which baseball icon Roger Clemens and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee recently testified regarding Clemens alleged use of performance enhancing drugs have drafted a letter asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Clemens committed perjury. The request reportedly relates to both Clemens public testimony and the deposition that he gave to staff lawyers before the hearing. The Times reports that, as of this time, the draft letter does not similarly request that McNamee be investigated. Perhaps once the Congress and Justice Department determine whether Roger Clemens lied about taking steroids, it can get on to really important business. Like figuring out how pervasive the New England Patriots illegal spying program was.

I am glad to see that the Justice Department is now pursuing real criminals, as I have long been suggesting that they ought to do. We should know soon, thanks to our federal government, whether Roger Clemens ever took performance enhancing drugs. Praise God!

The Philadelphia Inquirer, our city’s newspaper of record, evidently is not impressed by what it expects will be Milton Street’s defense against federal tax charges. Guess we might as well skip the trial and proceed to sentencing. He’s guilty of all charges, just like that other tax nut, Wesley Snipes.

Philadelphia Weekly, one of our local indpendent newspapers, this week ran a very interesting profile on local defense attorney Michael Coard. I do not know Mr. Coard personally, but I have had the privilege of seeing him work in court. Based upon what I have read, I don’t think that he and I would see eye to eye on a Holy Host of issues (including the guilt of Mumia Abu Jamal). Nonetheless, Michael is a dogged defender of his client’s rights, and is a passionate advocate. I share his view that the imbalance in power between the government an the accused necessitates vigorous and zealous representation of the accused. I highly recommend that you take a look at the Philly Weekly profile.