The May Report: 4/18/2011: What’s an L butt? Well, Barbie Adler of Selective Search seems to be an expert and remember that Mark Tebbe and Katherine Gehl were on her board and now she rates whole columns on her dating biz in TIME Magazine; Tom Bennett on lots of things from how legit (or consistent) Patrick Fitzgerald is to how he sees a parallel between the Judith Miller case and Chase of The Tribune but a big difference in how the two leaks were treated; Previewing tomorrow morning: Sam Yagan, did you bs me about ScholarPro?; Tom Thornton saga continues as one Kansas paper suggests he might be hired back by the KBA as a consultant! — can you believe it?; Thornton’s $1MM life insurance policy with his ex-wife/children as beneficiaries; He convinced the KBA to pay the premiums on the policy for as long as he is employed by the KBA AND he gets to take the policy with him when he leaves

Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com , 773-525-3944.

Assistant editor: Melanie Adcock, iPHONE: 312-259-0610, melanie_adcock@msn.com

If you missed an article, go here: www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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First Annual Entrepreneurial Fair-Pair Hosted at IBM’s Innovation Center

MORE EXHIBITORS!

Join us for an evening of networking at our first ever Entrepreneurial Fair Pair. You’ll enjoy a variety of tasty food and drinks while making connections with other business owners, entrepreneurs, and innovators.
You’ll also have a chance to visit with companies that provide a wide range of services needed by small to medium sizes businesses and start ups.

Plus you can get a chance to win a Kindle — eat some cupcakes — and explore some key services to support your business? At MIT Enterprise Forum Chicago’s first annual Entrepreneur Fair-Pair!

Today’s entrepreneurs don’t have a lot of time to research how other business and services can support them. To help you get a quick peek at organizations that can support your business, MIT Enterprise Forum is hosting our first annual Entrepreneur Fair-Pair.

This event is a one-stop shop featuring 12 companies that support small-to-medium sized businesses. Each business will be paired up with a local food or beverage vendor to provide a tasty sample of their wares while you get a brief presentation from the paired company.

To make it even more interesting, we will rotate groups of people through each station in 10 minute intervals — like speed dating.

REGISTER TODAY

bit.ly/hdvj3j

We have expanded the exhibitor list, which now includes:

* Fee Fighters – Helps small companies find the lowest cost e-commerce merchant provider

* Insperity formerly Administaff – Outsourced HR/Payroll Services

* KnowledgeShift – IVR tool to optimize marketing, training and customer service

* Wells Fargo Bank – SBA Division

* Ungaretti & Harris – Law firm for entrepreneurs offering corporate and intellectual property services

* Funding Feeding Frenzy – Extraordinary Success, LLC

* Frost Rothblatt & Ruttenberg, P.C – CPA firm

* CTCreative – Branding and Marketing Firm

* IBM’s Entrepreneurial Team

* Summit Chicago – Executive meeting and conference space

* Adalyze- technology consulting firm, specializing in working with entrepreneurial and early to mid-stage companies

* Creative Capital – Assists with business planning and loan documents

* USA Voice/Data – A voice over IP and telecom provider

When:
5 pm – 8 pm
Tuesday, April 19

Where:
IBM Innovation Center
71 S. Wacker Drive, 6th Floor, Chicago

Cost:
Free to members.
$35 for pre-registered guests.
$30 for WBE Certified guests.

REGISTER TODAY

bit.ly/hdvj3j

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Scoop section:

– Chicago’s Barbie Adler gets a whole column by Joel Stein in TIME Magazine
– Wednesday, April 20: BNC Tech Pitch
– Groupon’s Keywell joins board of Zell’s Equity Residential
– Tyree’s death put U of C Medicare funds at risk
– Investor’s Business Daily Editorial: Who is U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald?
– Department of Justice Leak: Interview Request
– Marty Nesbitt vs. Reverend Jesse Jackson: The Tom R. Bennett Irony
– Breitbart Interview
– Department of Justice Leak
– Department of Justice Leak: Part II

[Editor's note: May here. To my Jewish friends (and enemies): Good Pesach. Sorry about the lateness of the hour in getting the report out.]
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4th Annual Guys Night Out for the Kids Benefitting the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center

Friday, May 6, 2010 5pm-9pm
Carmichaels Chicago Steak House, 1052 W. Monroe

About Guys Night Out
Don’t miss the chance to hang with “the guys” on Friday, May 6 at Carmichael’s for the 4th Annual Guys Night Out for the Kids. The event kicks-off with an outdoor Happy Hour in the courtyard followed by an indoor barbeque, games, golf pros, hand-rolled cigars and celebrity athlete appearances that last year included Zack Bowman, current Chicago Bear, Jerry Azumah, Kevin Butler, and Jim Thornton all alums of the Chicago Bears, and Ron Kittle and Dan Pasqua, Chicago White Sox alums. There will be a live auction featuring unique items such as a VIP package to a White Sox game including the opportunity to be on the field for batting practice.

All proceeds from the evening benefit the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center (CCAC) for abused children. Founded by Mayor Daley, the CCAC has served over 22,000 abused children and their families since opening its doors in August 2001.

Details
Date: Friday, May 6, 2011
Where: Carmichael’s Steak House, 1052 W. Monroe
Time: 5pm-6pm Outdoor Happy Hour in the Courtyard
6pm-9pm – Party inside!

Tickets: $100

To Purchase Tickets: www.guysnightoutforthekids.org

Current Sponsors:
U.S. Cellular, Northern Trust Corporation, Illinois Medical District Commission, Sidley Austin LLP/Partners of Sidley Austin, Johnson & Krol, LLC, Loop Capital, CDW, Wirtz Beverage Group, Budweiser, Goose Island and Vienna Beef

For More Information: www.chicagocac.org; 312.492.3730 Melissa Siemasz
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Going Mobile – Web Content 2011 Conference – June 6 & 7
Gleacher Executive Conference Center – Chicago

“Smart from the Start” – Content Strategy ½ Day Workshop by Brain Traffic
15 mobile-focused sessions over 2 full days

Early bird registration through 4/29. Save $100

www.webcontent2011.com/

“A power-packed crew of content strategists and technologists ready to talk the future of smart, targeted and user-benefiting mobile content experiences.” – DopeData

“In the world of online content, mobile is the new black! Join national content experts, marketers, strategists, developers and other industry thinkers June 6th and 7th in sunny Chicago at WebContent 2011.” – CMSWire
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The Scoop section:
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Chicago’s Barbie Adler gets a whole column by Joel Stein in TIME Magazine

www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2059625,00.html

Why Some People Will Pay $20,000 For a Date
By Joel Stein Saturday, Mar. 19, 2011
Click here to find out more!

Illustration by Mr. Bingo for TIME

There’s no upside to setting people up. At best, you’re stuck writing a speech for a wedding; at worst, you find out your friends cry during sex. When I found out you could get paid to set people up, however, I got a lot more interested. I asked Barbie Adler, CEO of Selective Search, to let me spend a day setting up men who pay her a minimum of $20,000 a year to set them up on dates with women who want to be set up with men who pay $20,000 a year to be set up on dates. This was the kind of love I could deliver.

I got to Barbie’s office in Chicago, where I was the only man employed. All the women who interview her clients were attractive and had posters and sculptures about love in their office. This was not the tone I was going to set with my clients. I was just going to ask them if they were boob men or butt men and get to work. (See what single men and women want.)

But Barbie is a former executive recruiter, so she and vice president Nicole Wall gave me a 15-page form to fill out for each client that included questions about charity work, health, exercise habits and past relationships. There was another form for me to fill out after each prospective date left, and it included blank lines for items like Rate her face on a scale of 1 to 10, How is her skin?, What size do you estimate she is on top? and What size do you estimate she is on bottom? This system has led to 1,221 marriages and 417 babies; 88% of Barbie’s clients meet their eventual spouse in the first nine months. These are, unbelievably, even better results than ABC’s The Bachelor gets.

Normally, it would take a year of training before I got to set anyone up, and then I would spend many hours interviewing the client before combing through the 140,000 women in the company’s database and reinterviewing some of them with him in mind. But I’m not normal people. In 10 hours, without a break for food, I interviewed eight women and two men. The women don’t pay anything, but they aren’t assured of a date, just like in the real world. To my shock, none of them seemed like gold diggers. They had great jobs, went to impressive colleges and had other priorities – namely, that they would under no circumstance date a man under 6 ft. (180 cm) tall. He could be bald, fat and jobless as long as he was at least one standard deviation above average height. It makes absolutely no sense that we’re the gender that doesn’t wear high heels. (See the top online dating sites.)

Before my interviewees entered or left my office, I had to call the receptionist to run traffic control to make sure that no one else saw them. Barbie said this was done to ensure client privacy, but I think it was just so I could stop women as they went to leave and estimate how big they were on bottom. I, by the way, have no idea what scale is used to measure on bottom. I didn’t know if it was just an S-M-L thing or if there was a number or if I was supposed to use terms I heard in Sir Mix-A-Lot songs. I wound up just trying to draw something.

More shocking than the non-gold-digging women, however, were the men. Who were hot. And socially well adjusted. With M bottoms. Basically, they were older guys, often divorced, who were serious about getting married and having kids and hated dating. Ironically, because of all the gold diggers. A divorced real estate developer told me, “My first reaction was, I’d never pay $20,000 for a date. Then I thought about what I normally spend $20,000 on.” I was falling in love.

People were really honest. The developer said that not only did his marriage become sexless after he and his wife had children, but she refused for more than 10 years to go on vacation without the kids. He also said he liked Brazilian butts. (See the best songs for lovers.)

The next morning, I went back to the office, sure of which woman to set the developer up with. But Barbie and Nicole were positive I was going to suggest this other woman since she and the developer both had kids and she was South American with an L butt. They accused me of being attracted to the woman I was suggesting, which, while true, deeply offended my professionalism after a long day of staring at women as they walked away.

I agreed to go with their professional opinion. But I had trouble sleeping that night, thinking I was cheating two people out of true love and one person out of $20,000. Yes, the woman was missing lots of things on his wish list – like an L butt – but they had similar temperaments, shared a sense of quiet confidence, and seemed as though they would banter and go on adventures and challenge each other. Barbie was so impressed by my dedication that she said she would give my choice a shot. They’ve been on six dates so far. If I have to write a speech for their wedding, I’m going to be pissed.

This article originally appeared in the March 28, 2011 issue of TIME.

Read more: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2059625,00.html#ixzz1JuIPIUat
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Wednesday, April 20: BNC Tech Pitch

Subject: BNC Tech Pitch
Date: 4/18/2011 1:36:45 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: melanie_adcock@msn.com
To: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com

For details, link here: apr2011bnctechpitch.eventbrite.com

BNC “TechPitch”

Two startups pitch to an audience of angel investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, bloggers and other tech enthusiasts.

If you are an early-stage tech company and want to present at “TechPitch”, contact David Carman at: 312-943-6376 or dcarman@BNChicago.com

Presenters: .

Mega Pools (www.mega-pools.com) web-based software enables companies to pay their invoices electronically via the Internet. The software does not require integration with clients’ applications, can be deployed in less than a week as opposed to months, is based on Credit Push methodology and can also handle traditional Debit Pull methodology, and employs open file architecture. In 2009, approximately 7.8 billion B2B checks were issued with a market value of 55.4 billion dollars. Currently, the company is participating in a pilot program and engaged with multiple S&P 500 companies as prospective customers.

eSpark (www.eSparkLearning.com) is an after-school learning program that improves student skills by combining fun with state-of-the-art technology, educational games, and strong ties to the community. 100% of students remain in the club and 80% of the students raised their standardized math and reading scores last summer. Their proprietary software assesses a student’s unique needs and suggests the most appropriate educational game or mobile app to accelerate their learning. The company is in serious negotiations with a major public school system and has raised $600,000.

Interview:

Ira Weiss is a Managing Director of Hyde Park Angels (HPA), one of the premier angel groups in the MIdwest with 80 investors as members. In the past 12 months, HPA has funded 7 early-stage companies (Media Chaperone, Edulender, HoneyApps, FeeFighters, TapMe Games, YCharts, and SonarMed) and typically invests between $250,000 and $750,000. Venture capital funds participated in most of these deals joining the syndicate of co-investors.
In addition, Ira teaches entrepreneurship to MBA students at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He has personally invested in 35 private companies and is a former Managing Director at RK Ventures (www.rkventures.com).

Details:
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Time: 5:30 – 8 p.m.
Location: Perkins Coie, 131 S. Dearborn, Suite 1600
Admission price: $20 online, $30 at the door. (Price includes appetizers & drinks.)
Online registration ends at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, 20ll.
(Online price does not include registration fee.)

Evening Agenda:
5:30 – 6:00 p.m. Registration & Open Networking
6:00 – 6:30 p.m. 2 companies pitch their ideas
6:30 – 7:00 p.m. Interview
7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Open Networking

“TechPitch” is hosted by the law firm of Perkins Coie (www.perkinscoie.com). Perkins Coie represents great companies across a wide range of industries and stages of growth from start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations.

For more information about BNC, visit our website at: www.BNChicago.com

To learn about the BNC Venture Capital Group, go to: www.BNChicago.com/VC

Melanie Adcock
Assistant Editor of The May Report
312-259-0610 melanie_adcock@msn.com
LinkedIn: linkd.in/MelanieAdcock
The May Report Facebook Page: on.fb.me/TheMayReport
Visit The May Report Archives: bit.ly/TheMayReportArchives
Subscribe to The May Report: bit.ly/TheMayReportSubscribe
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Groupon’s Keywell joins board of Zell’s Equity Residential

Groupon’s Keywell joins board of Zell’s Equity Residential

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Melanie Adcock
to me, ronaldmay

show details Apr 15 (3 days ago)

from Melanie Adcock
to ron@themayreport.com,
ronaldmay@aol.com
date Fri, Apr 15, 2011 at 4:37 PM
subject Groupon’s Keywell joins board of Zell’s Equity Residential
mailed-by msn.com

hide details Apr 15 (3 days ago)

Groupon’s Keywell joins board of Zell’s Equity Residential

By: Lynne Marek April 11, 2011 bit.ly/eTlfj8 Crain’s Chicago Business
(Crain’s) – Groupon Inc. co-founder Brad Keywell is lending his business acumen to another Chicago-based company, but this one isn’t another dot-com startup.

Equity Residential Properties Trust, which holds apartment buildings, announced that Mr. Keywell, 41, has joined its board of trustees. He also will be on the slate of members up for re-election when the company – founded by Chicago billionaire Sam Zell, its chairman – holds its annual meeting of shareholders in June, a spokesman said.

“Brad’s success as an entrepreneur makes him a valuable addition to Equity Residential’s Board,” David Neithercut, Equity Residential’s president and CEO, said in a statement Friday, when Mr. Keywell’s appointment was announced. “We will benefit greatly from the social-media experience he will bring to the company as we develop more efficient ways to utilize technology to engage with our current and future residents.”

Equity Residential’s stock has surged over the past several months to a multiyear high as rising demand for apartments has pushed up rental rates in the wake of the housing crisis, which has made it more difficult for people to buy homes. The stock was at $55.53 in midday Monday trading after touching a high of $56.93 on April 1.

Mr. Keywell, who also leads Chicago-based Lightbank with his long-time business partner Eric Lefkofsky, said in an emailed response that he was happy to accept the request to serve on the board and oversee the REIT’s operations because of his long-time tie to Mr. Zell.

“I am a huge Sam Zell fan, and truly respect what he and the team have created in Equity Residential,” Mr. Keywell said.

Mr. Keywell worked for Mr. Zell’s Chicago-based investment group, Equity Group Investments LLC, in 2002 and 2003. He joined the firm shortly after graduating from law school, picking investments across various industries and acting as a liaison to companies in which the firm invested.

He met Mr. Zell in 1988 when the real estate magnate endowed the first class in entrepreneurship at his alma mater, University of Michigan, where Mr. Keywell was a freshman at the time. Both he and Mr. Zell received their undergraduate and law degrees at the school.

With respect to what he will bring to the board, Mr. Keywell said:

“I am an entrepreneur, founder, and investor, and am particularly interested in finding value where others might not see it. I hope my entrepreneurial perspective will be of value to EQR as it continue to explore paths for growth and further market development.”

John C. wrote:
P.S.
Karen ot me thinking. Maybe this is a machiavellian plot that crafty Mr. Zell hatched to keep t his Tribune competition close an hand and distracted? Pretty clever!
4/11/2011 3:48 PM CDT on Chicago Business

John C. wrote:
WOW Karen, well said! Very, very true! How many of these BIG MEN have we seen strutting their stuff around town for a bit and then never to be seen again?
4/11/2011 3:45 PM CDT on Chicago Business

Karen M. wrote:
Mr. Kewell needs to be full time minding his own store. Groupon represents more potential than profits at this point. There are lots of knockoff competitors running around. He is trying to manage an IPO. My suggestion is get your billions in the bank before you start being the big man around town. The best businesses are led by visionary leaders that also have sense enough to stick to their own knitting.
4/11/2011 3:35 PM CDT on Chicago Business

John C. wrote:
Odd, one would think that Mr. Kewell, given his success with new media, would be better suited to be on the management team /board of Mr. Zell’s Tribune Company. Eq
4/11/2011 3:16 PM CDT
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Tyree’s death put U of C Medicare funds at risk

Tyree’s death put U of C Medicare funds at risk
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Reply |Melanie Adcock to me, ronaldmay
show details Apr 15 (1 day ago)

Tyree’s death put U of C Medicare funds at risk
Crain’s Chicago Business bit.ly/gloXzL

April 15, 2011

(AP) – The accidental death of Chicago Sun-Times chairman James Tyree prompted the federal government to threaten to strip Medicare funding from the University of Chicago Medical Center.

The Chicago Tribune reports that following an investigation, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a public notice it determined “deficiencies so serious they constitute an immediate threat to patient health and safety.”

According to the Tribune, the University of Chicago says it received notice Thursday the medical center’s participation in the Medicare program remains intact. Officials say the hospital submitted a plan to correct problems and to remain in compliance with Medicare’s conditions of participation.”

Tyree, the 53-year-old CEO of Mesirow Financial, died last month from an air embolism during removal of a dialysis catheter. He was being treated for pneumonia.

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What do you think?

Chris F. wrote:
What a sad state of affairs that such a great leader and benefactor had to die as a result of such incompetence at U of C
4/15/2011 1:53 PM CDT
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Mary C. wrote:
I’m glad somebody is paying attention, but it shouldn’t require the death of a very prominent and wealthy person to get the attention of the Medicare authorities. These unnecessary deaths happen all the time, largely due to lazy and/or inattentive staff-doctors, nurses, and so on. They are called professionals, but many do not act in a professional manner. Somebody should be fired for this and not just the frontline employee who removed the catheter.

Read more: www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110415/NEWS03/110419914/tyrees-death-put-u-of-c-medicare-funds-at-risk#ixzz1Jd5wvAcR
Stay on top of Chicago business with our free daily e-newsletters
_________________________________
Investor’s Business Daily Editorial: Who is U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald?

Subject: Investor’s Business Daily Editorial: Who is U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald?
Date: 4/18/2011 10:35:14 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron:

Who is U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald?

Pursuant to the below-Investor’s Business Daily Editorial from August 2006, same editorial offers some very “revealing” and “highly germane” perspectives related to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Pursuant to our conversation from earlier this morning, the below-Editorial truly reinforces a central question in the biographic exercise I have been conducting – Why hasn’t Patrick Fitzgerald or The Blagoyevich Defense Team pursued the ‘source’ of the Blagoyevich Wiretap that the Chicago Tribune’s John Chase disclosed in 2008?

Again, same wiretap disclosure via John Chase is a part of official court record from Blagoyevich’s 2010 trial.

Lastly, the refusal of Chicago’s Mainstream Media Machine toward ‘opening-the-door’ to the relevance of the John Chase leak further demonstrates the highly-biased and censured nature of journalism and reporting in Chicago. Simply put, someone in our City must ask U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald why he is not pursuing the John Chase leak the same way he pursued Judith Miller and the late Tim Russert and the late Bob Novak.

I will keep you posted on my biographic efforts as well as my coverage of the pending Blagoyevich Trial, although, I will be highly-surprised if a ‘deal’ is not cut between U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Blagoyevich at the expressed urging and direction of Obama, Eric Holder and Rahm Emanuel.

Obviously, Eric Holder is already in Blagoyevich’s pocket via the $300,000 Blagoyevich gave Eric Holder related to the Rosemont Casino/Chicago Outfit matter.

Michele Malkin: Blago appointed Obama’s AG to probe corruption; probe found no corruption; Holder forgets the whole thing

michellemalkin.com/2008/12/17/blago-appointed-obamas-ag-to-probe-corruption-probe-foundno-corruption/

It’ll be interesting to see how this game of chicken plays out over the next 72-hours.

TRB

Thomas R. Bennett
312.636.3662

—-

Investor’s Business Daily

web.archive.org/web/20060902031249/http://

www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=241744137262638

EDITORIALS

& OPINION

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY

Posted 8/29/2006

Plamegate: Patrick Fitzgerald’s three-year manhunt to track down who blew Valerie Plame’s CIA “cover” has been exposed as a costly sham. He apparently knew all along that his man was not Scooter Libby.

When Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, was assigned the Plame case, he was hailed as a paragon of integrity. He’d helped convict Mafia boss John Gotti, the 1993 World Trade Center bombers and former Illinois Republican Gov. George Ryan, who’ll be sentenced next month on 22 counts of bribery and racketeering.

But it’s hard to see anything but politics as the motivation for Fitzgerald’s handling of the Plame affair. The facts indicate that Fitzgerald knew early on that the original leaker was State Department official Richard Armitage. So why did Fitzgerald let a cloud hang over White House adviser Karl Rove’s head for so long? And why is Fitzgerald continuing to hound Libby, the former vice presidential chief of staff?

The answer seems to be that Armitage, who is charged with nothing and brags that he hasn’t even consulted a lawyer, was former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s right-hand man and a critic of pre-emptive war in Iraq. Libby, on the other hand, was an architect of that war strategy. Do doves get a pass in Fitzgerald’s book, while hawks get an indictment?

The latest revelations raise a question of far more gravity: Did Fitzgerald publicly lie? Let’s look at the facts:

• The indictment of Libby that Fitzgerald extracted from the grand jury states that “on or about June 23, 2003, Libby met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. . . . In discussing the CIA’s handling of Wilson’s trip to Niger, Libby informed her that Wilson’s wife might work at a bureau of the CIA.”

• In the Oct. 28 press conference announcing Libby’s indictment, Fitzgerald claimed that “in fact, Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter when he talked to Judith Miller in June of 2003 about Valerie Wilson.”

• That assertion is apparently false. A soon-to-be-released book, “Hubris,” by Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and The Nation magazine’s David Corn, finds that Armitage revealed Plame’s identity in a meeting with The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward a week before the Libby-Miller meeting in June 2003. In a Newsweek preview of the book, Isikoff cites “three government officials, a lawyer familiar with the case and an Armitage confidant” as sources for when the Armitage-Woodward conversation took place.

• Armitage is also clearly columnist Robert Novak’s primary source for his July 2003 column, which was the first piece to identify Plame. On Sunday’s “Meet the Press,” Novak complained that “the time has way passed for my source to identify himself.”

• Isikoff notes that “Armitage himself was aggressively investigated” by Fitzgerald. So Armitage fessed up at the outset. Fitzgerald long ago knew whom Armitage talked to and when. And he knew it was Armitage, not Libby, who was responsible for outing Plame (whose status as a secret CIA operative was dubious at best).

• Fitzgerald’s contention in October that Libby was “the first official known to have told a reporter . . . about Valerie Wilson” may therefore have been a lie.

Fitzgerald knew in the early days of his politicized witch hunt that no crime was committed. No one intentionally revealed the identity of a truly covert agent. Yet he made a reporter, Miller, spend nearly 90 days in jail for refusing to reveal her source.

Meanwhile, Fitzgerald refused to reveal to the public the true source. From top to bottom, this has been one of the most disgraceful abuses of prosecutorial power in this country’s history. That it’s taking place at a time of war only magnifies its sordidness.

We wouldn’t be surprised if Fitzgerald ran for high elective office in the next few years – likely as a Democrat. The Plame case proves he can bend the truth with the proficiency of the slickest of pols.

—

On August 28, 2006, Christopher Hitchens asserted that Richard Armitage was the primary source of the Valerie Plame leak and that Fitzgerald knew this at the beginning of his investigation. A month later Armitage claimed that Fitzgerald had instructed him not to go public with this information. Fitzgerald has never addressed these allegations.

Investor’s Business Daily ran an editorial, which stated: “From top to bottom, this has been one of the most disgraceful abuses of prosecutorial power in this country’s history… The Plame case proves [Fitzgerald] can bend the truth with the proficiency of the slickest of pols.”
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Department of Justice Leak: Interview Request

Subject: Department of Justice Leak: Interview Request
Date: 4/18/2011 9:54:42 A.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: jchase@tribune.com
CC: ronaldmay@aol.com

Dear Mr. Chase:

My name is Tom Bennett. Aside from being a businessman and real estate developer in Chicago, I contribute investigative reports and relevant Op Ed perspectives to The May Report. In the event you are not familiar with The May Report, The May Report covers the local emerging technology as well as private equity scene in Chicago, and in recent months The May Report has been covering select public policy and corruption issues in Chicago.

In the event you are familiar with The May Report, among other contributions I investigated and reported upon are the circumstances involved with the administering of an $8,000,000 TIF to the developer of 247 South State Street. Same TIF was never paid back to the taxpayers of Chicago, despite the Developer’s repeated failure to comply with the terms and conditions outlined in the corresponding Redevelopment Agreement.

In any event, I’d like to arrange a time to connect for a cup-of-coffee with you or to connect simply by phone as I am in the beginning stages of authoring a book related to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s tenure in Chicago as well as a biography of Mr. Fitzgerald as he’s clearly a controversial and complicated figure in the context of preservation of Constitutional Rights among other matters.

At this time my biography efforts related to Mr. Fitzgerald are clearly unauthorized, however, I do intend to present Mr. Fitzgerald with the opportunity to participate in same biographic exercise in the near future as I have been receiving an abundant amount of excellent participation and perspective from those interviewed to date.

To this end, I am interested in interviewing you (and others at Chicago Tribune) related to the following matters:

1). Pursuant to the below-April 5th Op Ed piece published in The Examiner, I am specifically interested in your side of the infamous ‘leak’ that tipped-off Rod Blagojevich to the fact that our then sitting Governor was being wiretapped by the Federal Government. Obviously, the information related to the wiretaps was ‘under seal’ in Washington D.C., and highly-confidential. While both your name and the nature of your involvement in the disclosure of the confidential wiretap information is a part of court record via the 2010 Blagojevich trial – neither Blagojevich’s Defense Team, nor the Prosecution called upon you as a witness related to your role in the disclosure in same 2010 trial.

Given the zealousness in which U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald pursued the Valerie Plame ‘leak’, I am truly interested in incorporating your relevant perspective and involvement with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald into my biography efforts. As with other sources I have been interviewing, I am receptive to establishing reasonable terms and conditions related to your participation and perspective related to same biographic efforts of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

2). John Thomas (formerly Bernard Barton). I am specifically interested in the Chicago Tribune’s logic in capitulating to U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald’s demands to ‘censure’ the Chicago Tribune’s efforts to expose the identity Federal Informant John Thomas – a central figure in Anton “Tony” Rezko and Blagojevich investigations – among other Federal investigations.

3). The explicit political operative nature of ‘reporting’ in Chicago’s mainstream press. I am specifically interested in gathering your perspective related to the fine line between Journalism and Politics.

While I live and office out of the Beverly neighborhood, I am often downtown related to business development efforts as well as conducting background and performing related diligence for the Patrick Fitzgerald biography.

To this end, please advise how your schedule is shaping-up over the next few days. In fact, I am sure we’ll bump into one another during our respective coverage of the upcoming Blagojevich Trial.

I look forward to meeting you in the near future.

Kindest regards,

Tom Bennett
312.636.3662

———–

Blago’s world is still Patrick Fitzgerald’s dilemma

Barbara F. Hollingworth
By: Barbara Hollingsworth 04/05/11 8:05 PM

Local Opinion Editor

When mobster Al Capone tried to bribe one of his G-Men, Eliot Ness — the pugnacious leader of Chicago’s legendary “Untouchables” — called a press conference to tell reporters that he wanted “Capone and every gangster in the city to realize there were still a few law enforcement agents who couldn’t be swerved from their duty.”

When U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was sent to clean up corruption in the Windy City like Ness had done a century before, he arrived with an impressive record prosecuting blind Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, Mafia leaders John and Joseph Gambino, and Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.

But then he ran into a talkative, mop-haired politician named Rod Blagojevich, and Fitzgerald’s prosecutorial luck ran out. Despite political corruption so egregious that the veteran prosecutor said it “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” Fitzgerald didn’t fire a warning shot at his most memorable press conference on Dec. 9, 2008, as Ness had done. Instead, he prematurely pulled the plug on his own investigation.

Five days earlier, the Chicago Tribune had reported that former Blago Chief of Staff John Wyma was cooperating with Fitzgerald’s office and secretly wiretapping the Illinois governor’s alleged attempts to sell Barack Obama’s old Senate seat to the highest bidder. But Fitzgerald suddenly had Blagojevich arrested before any deal could be finalized.

“The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged ‘crime spree,’ ” the Wall Street Journal noted at the time, questioning the timing of the Blago takedown. “It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.”

What happened? Tribune reporter John Chase told The Washington Examiner that he called Blagojevich’s spokesman the night before the story was published, asking for comment. Chase wouldn’t comment on the confidential source of the Tribune’s bombshell, but if Wyma compromised the investigation and revealed that the feds were secretly recording Blagojevich’s conversations, why wasn’t he punished?

Or did the Justice Department itself spring a leak? It seems odd that a prosecutor with no qualms about jailing New York Times reporter Judith Miller for not revealing her sources in the Plame case did not aggressively pursue another leak that would jeopardize the biggest case of his career.

Without even mounting a defense, Blago was convicted last year of lying to the FBI, just one of the 24 charges Fitzgerald brought against him. “Blagojevich was the most cheerful defendant I have ever chatted with,” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet blogged during his first trial, which doesn’t sound like a man contemplating the prospect of spending the next few decades in federal prison.

On April 20, Fitzgerald will retry Blagojevich on 20 charges, including several tied to the Senate-seat-for-sale allegations. This time, Blago’s legal team has asked the judge to release sealed notes from an interview the FBI conducted with Obama on Dec. 18, 2008, that they claim “may impeach government witnesses”– and perhaps entangle top Chicago Democrats or members of the Obama administration in the pay-to-play scheme.

If Fitzgerald can’t get the charges against Blagojevich to stick this time, his image as the modern-day version of Ness will be over, and questions about his handling of the case will cloud what remains of his once-promising career. After their final showdown in a Chicago courtroom later this month, just one of them will be left standing — and Fitzgerald is still not a sure bet.

Barbara F. Hollingsworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.

washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/04/blagos-world-still-patrick-fitzgeralds-dilemma

______________________________
Subject: Marty Nesbitt vs. Reverend Jesse Jackson: The Tom R. Bennett Irony
Date: 4/17/2011 11:29:11 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
CC: vermontaigne@gmail.com, fcoconate@yahoo.com

Ron:

Pursuant to our conversation from Friday evening, I find it somewhat “ironic” that our local mainstream media – Chicago Tribune, Sun-Times, FoxNewsChicago, WBBM, WMAQ, WLS, WGN and WTTW – all reported upon last week’s sensational accusations from Tommy R. Bennett (AKA – Aruba Tommy) – no relation to me or my father – against the Reverend Jesse Jackson.

According to recent news reports, Aruba Tommy – who is regularly heard on The Tom Joyner Morning Show and is also a member of the Barack Obama LGBT Leadership Council – is alleging that Reverend Jackson discriminated against Aruba Tommy on the basis of Aruba Tommy being a homosexual.

ABC7 Chicago: Rev. Jackson denies allegations of discrimination

abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=8074050

NBC Today Show: Ex-worker: Rev. Jackson’s group is anti-gay

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/42605243#42605243

Here’s what is fascinating regarding the Irony of Jesse Jackson’s accuser sharing the same name as well as middle initial of me and my father…our local mainstream media, and the national mainstream media appear more interested in covering a complaint filed with the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations?

Give me a f______ing break.

If there were even a remote sense of legitimacy or veracity behind Aruba Tommy’s allegations against Reverend Jackson, Aruba Tommy would have filed a Federal Civil Rights Lawsuit at 219 South Dearborn – the Federal Courthouse. Instead, Aruba Tommy is filing a ‘complaint’ with some ineffectual City of Chicago agency called the Commission on Human Relations?

This entire matter related to the ‘political theater’ of Aruba Tommy’s complaint against Jesse Jackson is nothing more than a political stunt directly aimed at muddying-up the Political Watters in Chicago.

Let me put it this way, it’ll be interesting to see how our local and national media reacts to my pending Federal Lawsuit against Obama Victory Fund, Marty Nesbitt and the Chicago Housing Authority for Mr. Nesbitt’s 2007 pay-to-play steering of the former Chicago Housing Authority headquarters.

Again, I’m really looking forward to seeing how our sanctimonious local mainstream media ‘covers’ my pending lawsuit upon it being filed.

BigGovernment: ‘The Fix Was In’: Obama Donor Gets Sweetheart Real Estate Deal in Chicago

biggovernment.com/bgough/2010/01/26/the-fix-was-in-obama-donor-gets-sweetheart-real-estate-deal-in-chicago/

The B-Cast Interview: Obama Donor Gets Sweetheart Real Estate Deal in Chicago

www.breitbart.tv/the-b-cast-interview-obama-donor-gets-sweetheart-real-estate-deal-in-chicago/

Please keep in mind that I had to go outside the Chicago Media Market to establish media coverage of the corruption I’ve been subjected to. In fact, an interview that I gave to Breitbart Media last year is still relevant today regarding the ‘political operative nature’ of our local reporting and the U.S. Attorney’s Office here in Chicago.

The B-Cast B-Side: Blago Connections Raise All Kinds of Concerns

www.breitbart.tv/the-b-cast-b-side-blago-connections-raise-all-kinds-of-concerns/

In closing, let’s see how things shape-up with Carol Marin & Company upon my filing of the lawsuit against Marty Nesbitt & Company as perhaps our local media will force U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to stop playing politics in dispensing Justice.

Absent U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald stepping-up to dispense Justice related to the Chicago Housing Authority/Obama Victory Fund Pay-to-Play matter, and dispense Justice related to the torture and malicious prosecution that I’ve been subjected to by the Village of Evergreen Park Police Department and Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, I will demand that both Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald resign or be fired for lack of diligence and lack of public fiduciary.

I will keep you posted on my progress and journey toward dispensing Justice.

Sincerely,

Thomas R. Bennett
Thomas Bennett Limited
Bennett Real Estate Partners
Mobile Money 360°
312.636.3662
___________________________
Subject: Breitbart Interview
Date: 4/17/2011 10:55:16 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron:

Have you watched my interview re: Chicago Media Blago Coverage, Illinois corruption and lack-of-diligent reporting?

I totally forgot about this interview. Its from last year, but unfortunately its still relevant today.

www.breitbart.tv/the-b-cast-b-side-blago-connections-raise-all-kinds-of-concerns/

TRB 312.636.3662
_____________________________
Subject: Fwd: Department of Justice Leak
Date: 4/7/2011 7:54:50 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

Ron:

FYI.

The Justice Department Leak of the Blago wiretaps that were under seal in Washington D.C…..begs the following question:

Why isn’t U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald going “Judith Miller” on John Chase and The Chicago Tribune?

Seriously….why isn’t Fitzgerald investigating the Blago Leak with the same reckless abandon that Fitz demonstrated in the Valerie Plame/Scooter Libby leak?

Thoughts?

TRB 312.636.3662

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

——————————————————————————–

From: Name withheld although not requested
Date: Fri, 8 Apr 2011 00:41:48 +0000 (UTC)
To: Tom Bennett
Subject: Fwd: Department of Justice Leak

Published on Washington Examiner (http://washingtonexaminer.com)

Home > Blago’s world is still Patrick Fitzgerald’s dilemma

——————————————————————————–

By Barbara Hollingsworth
Created Apr 5 2011 – 8:05pm
Blago’s world is still Patrick Fitzgerald’s dilemma
Comments (0)
When mobster Al Capone tried to bribe one of his G-Men, Eliot Ness — the pugnacious leader of Chicago’s legendary “Untouchables” — called a press conference to tell reporters that he wanted “Capone and every gangster in the city to realize there were still a few law enforcement agents who couldn’t be swerved from their duty.”
When U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was sent to clean up corruption in the Windy City like Ness had done a century before, he arrived with an impressive record prosecuting blind Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, Mafia leaders John and Joseph Gambino, and Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.

But then he ran into a talkative, mop-haired politician named Rod Blagojevich, and Fitzgerald’s prosecutorial luck ran out. Despite political corruption so egregious that the veteran prosecutor said it “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” Fitzgerald didn’t fire a warning shot at his most memorable press conference on Dec. 9, 2008, as Ness had done. Instead, he prematurely pulled the plug on his own investigation.

Five days earlier, the Chicago Tribune had reported that former Blago Chief of Staff John Wyma was cooperating with Fitzgerald’s office and secretly wiretapping the Illinois governor’s alleged attempts to sell Barack Obama’s old Senate seat to the highest bidder. But Fitzgerald suddenly had Blagojevich arrested before any deal could be finalized.

“The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged ‘crime spree,’ ” the Wall Street Journal noted at the time, questioning the timing of the Blago takedown. “It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.”

What happened? Tribune reporter John Chase told The Washington Examiner that he called Blagojevich’s spokesman the night before the story was published, asking for comment. Chase wouldn’t comment on the confidential source of the Tribune’s bombshell, but if Wyma compromised the investigation and revealed that the feds were secretly recording Blagojevich’s conversations, why wasn’t he punished?

Or did the Justice Department itself spring a leak?It seems odd that a prosecutor with no qualms about jailing New York Times reporter Judith Miller for not revealing her sources in the Plame case did not aggressively pursue another leak that would jeopardize the biggest case of his career.

Without even mounting a defense, Blago was convicted last year of lying to the FBI, just one of the 24 charges Fitzgerald brought against him. “Blagojevich was the most cheerful defendant I have ever chatted with,” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet blogged during his first trial, which doesn’t sound like a man contemplating the prospect of spending the next few decades in federal prison.

On April 20, Fitzgerald will retry Blagojevich on 20 charges, including several tied to the Senate-seat-for-sale allegations. This time, Blago’s legal team has asked the judge to release sealed notes from an interview the FBI conducted with Obama on Dec. 18, 2008, that they claim “may impeach government witnesses”– and perhaps entangle top Chicago Democrats or members of the Obama administration in the pay-to-play scheme.

If Fitzgerald can’t get the charges against Blagojevich to stick this time, his image as the modern-day version of Ness will be over, and questions about his handling of the case will cloud what remains of his once-promising career. After their final showdown in a Chicago courtroom later this month, just one of them will be left standing — and Fitzgerald is still not a sure bet.

Barbara F. Hollingsworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.

Columnists Barbara F. Hollingworth NEP

——————————————————————————–

Source URL: washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/04/blagos-world-still-patrick-fitzgeralds-dilemma
____________________________________
Subject: Department of Justice Leak: Part II
Date: 4/7/2011 8:06:50 P.M. Central Daylight Time
From: tomrbennett@yahoo.com
To: ronaldmay@aol.com

FYI

———–

Blago’s world is still Patrick Fitzgerald’s dilemma

Barbara F. Hollingworth
By: Barbara Hollingsworth 04/05/11 8:05 PM

Local Opinion Editor

When mobster Al Capone tried to bribe one of his G-Men, Eliot Ness — the pugnacious leader of Chicago’s legendary “Untouchables” — called a press conference to tell reporters that he wanted “Capone and every gangster in the city to realize there were still a few law enforcement agents who couldn’t be swerved from their duty.”

When U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was sent to clean up corruption in the Windy City like Ness had done a century before, he arrived with an impressive record prosecuting blind Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, Mafia leaders John and Joseph Gambino, and Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff.

But then he ran into a talkative, mop-haired politician named Rod Blagojevich, and Fitzgerald’s prosecutorial luck ran out. Despite political corruption so egregious that the veteran prosecutor said it “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” Fitzgerald didn’t fire a warning shot at his most memorable press conference on Dec. 9, 2008, as Ness had done. Instead, he prematurely pulled the plug on his own investigation.

Five days earlier, the Chicago Tribune had reported that former Blago Chief of Staff John Wyma was cooperating with Fitzgerald’s office and secretly wiretapping the Illinois governor’s alleged attempts to sell Barack Obama’s old Senate seat to the highest bidder. But Fitzgerald suddenly had Blagojevich arrested before any deal could be finalized.

“The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged ‘crime spree,’ ” the Wall Street Journal noted at the time, questioning the timing of the Blago takedown. “It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.”

What happened? Tribune reporter John Chase told The Washington Examiner that he called Blagojevich’s spokesman the night before the story was published, asking for comment. Chase wouldn’t comment on the confidential source of the Tribune’s bombshell, but if Wyma compromised the investigation and revealed that the feds were secretly recording Blagojevich’s conversations, why wasn’t he punished?

Or did the Justice Department itself spring a leak?It seems odd that a prosecutor with no qualms about jailing New York Times reporter Judith Miller for not revealing her sources in the Plame case did not aggressively pursue another leak that would jeopardize the biggest case of his career.

Without even mounting a defense, Blago was convicted last year of lying to the FBI, just one of the 24 charges Fitzgerald brought against him. “Blagojevich was the most cheerful defendant I have ever chatted with,” Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet blogged during his first trial, which doesn’t sound like a man contemplating the prospect of spending the next few decades in federal prison.

On April 20, Fitzgerald will retry Blagojevich on 20 charges, including several tied to the Senate-seat-for-sale allegations. This time, Blago’s legal team has asked the judge to release sealed notes from an interview the FBI conducted with Obama on Dec. 18, 2008, that they claim “may impeach government witnesses”– and perhaps entangle top Chicago Democrats or members of the Obama administration in the pay-to-play scheme.

If Fitzgerald can’t get the charges against Blagojevich to stick this time, his image as the modern-day version of Ness will be over, and questions about his handling of the case will cloud what remains of his once-promising career. After their final showdown in a Chicago courtroom later this month, just one of them will be left standing — and Fitzgerald is still not a sure bet.

Barbara F. Hollingsworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor.

washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/04/blagos-world-still-patrick-fitzgeralds-dilemma

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
_____________________________
END OF REPORT