Obama Backed Fitzgerald, Despite GOP Claims

Republican officials are working overtime, it seems, to draw the first political blood from President-elect Obama by connecting him to the arrest of his home-state governor, Rod Blagojevich. Much of this effort is driven by Obama's own refusal to weigh in on the matter (specifically, the extent of his own staff's contacts with Blagojevich) -- a stance he is perfectly entitled to take, but one that lets GOP officials bemoan a lack of transparency.
Some of the criticisms, however are truly devoid of sincerity, including one being pushed by Illinois State GOP Chair Andy McKenna. In an interview with Politico, the Illinois Republican questioned whether Obama would keep U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at his post -- the implication being that, since Fitzgerald was now looking into Democratic corruption, Obama would want to get him out of the way.
A basic Lexis Nexis search, as pointed out by Talking Points Memo's Greg Sargent, would have answered McKenna's question: Obama has said that he wants Fitzgerald to continue on the job.
There is, however, even more public information available that McKenna and others could have accessed. Here is a transcript from the Chicago Tribune in December 2006.
LinkHere