By Allan Lengel and Jon Perkins
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — As expected, Chicago’s U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald will stay on the job even though he’s a Bush appointee.
NBC’s Pete Williams reported that Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) recommended that the newly minted Atty. Gen. Eric Holder keep Fitzgerald.
NBC reported that the suggestion was “positively received”, according to Durbin’s office and the Justice Department.
In the past, presidents have replaced all 93 U.S. Attorneys. But President Obama has indicated that some Republican-appointed U.S. Attorneys might stay on.
In the halls of the Justice Department, there had long been speculation that Fitzgerald would either stay on as U.S. Attorney in Chicago or get a high-ranking job at the Justice Department.
Fitzgerald, 48,  has prosecuted a number of high profile cases. As a special prosecutor temporarily on assignment in Washington, he convicted Scooter Libby. More recently, he filed public corruption charges against the now ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Around the country, the native New Yorker is regarded as a “prosecutor’s prosecutor” among his peers.  Bush appointed him U.S. Attorney in 2001.