[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 98 (Thursday, June 15, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                 FEARLESS JACK'S WAR ON ``NON-CRIMES''

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                        HON. ANDREW JACOBS, JR.

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 14, 1995
  Mr. JACOBS. Mr. Speaker, the following Mike Royko column appeared in 
the Indianapolis News on June 8, 1995.
  Apparently we should still seek the distinction between headlines and 
substance.
               [From the Indianapolis News, June 8, 1995]

                 Fearless Jack's War on ``Non-Crimes''

                            (By Mike Royko)

       If any criminal mastermind in Chicago has been planning a 
     big-time caper, this might be an excellent time to get it 
     going.
       I've never given advice to a criminal before, but why 
     shouldn't a newspaper try to be of service to all of its 
     readers?
       There is good reason to believe that the time is right. It 
     can be found in a list of cops, prosecutors and investigators 
     who are said to be working on the case of U.S. Rep. Mel 
     Reynolds, D-Ill.
       This list was provided to defense lawyers, as the law 
     requires, by the office of Cook County State's Attorney Jack 
     ``Fearless Jack'' O'Malley.
       It is an impressive list. It appears to be almost as long 
     as a college football roster.
       On it are 10 Chicago police detectives and their 
     supervisors.
       There are 24 detectives from the state's attorney's 
     investigative office.
       And 10 assistant state's attorneys are listed as helping 
     the two lead prosecutors assigned to the case.
       We shouldn't forget the O'Malley publicity specialists, who 
     show up in court for every Reynolds hearing and whisper 
     advice to TV reporters on how to best extract a thrilling 
     sound bite from that day's proceedings.
       All of this manpower is devoted to proving beyond a 
     reasonable doubt that U.S. Rep. Reynolds did indeed have a go 
     at a woman, now 19, who says that she willingly hopped in the 
     sack with him when she was 16.
       The woman since has recanted her charge, but that hasn't 
     discouraged Fearless Jack O'Malley. He's determined to prove 
     that Reynolds did the dirty deed and
      persuaded the woman to change her story.
       And that's why this army of investigators and prosecutors 
     is scrambling for any information that could be used to nail 
     Reynolds--or at least generate TV footage that makes him 
     appear to be the most dangerous fiend since Vlad the Impaler, 
     which he very well might be.
       Only last week, O'Malley's office trotted out Reynolds' 
     disgruntled former secretary, who screamed at the TV cameras 
     that Reynolds beat his wife.
       The wife since has indignantly denied being beaten and says 
     the ex-secretary is a nasty, politically motivated liar. But 
     what does a mere wife know about such matters?
       Of course, this is a noble pursuit of justice. I can't 
     think of anything that could make the streets of Chicago and 
     its suburbs safer than a successful proof that Reynolds 
     frolicked with a consenting young bimbo. We finally could 
     return to the good old days, when we didn't have to lock our 
     doors at night.
       It is comforting to know that investigators are out there 
     knocking on doors and asking every female to whom Reynolds 
     ever has said ``howdy-do'' if he ever leered, pinched, 
     nibbled, oggled, drolled or breathed heavily in her presence.
       And Fearless Jack is to be commended for his devotion to 
     duty. Not only commended, but touted for higher office, which 
     is the highest praise a Republican prosecutor can get for 
     skinning a Democratic congressman.
       But it is obvious that if you have limited manpower and 
     payroll and you assign a dozen fulltime prosecutors, two 
     dozen investigators, your publicity experts and political sex 
     scandal--as earth-shaking as it might be--they can't find 
     time to be gathering clues in Chicago's many cases of murder 
     and mayhem.
       Not that I believe for one minute that murder and mayhem 
     and heavy dope dealing are as terrible a threat to the 
     delicate fabric of our society as Reynolds allegedly having a 
     tryst with a consenting tart who now says she doesn't give a 
     hoot.
       But as humdrum as murder, mayhem and other crimes can be, 
     they still have to be dealt with. Even if the killers, 
     maulers and dope profiteers beat the raps, as many of them 
     seem to do, O'Malley still has to go through the motions. We 
     can't have judges sitting around in empty courtrooms telling 
     each other doctor jokes.
       And who knows, some of the accused killers, maulers, dope 
     profiteers and other lesser-known felons might have even more 
     serious skeletons rattling around in their closets.
       It's very possible that when you investigate a gangbanger 
     for blowing away a rival, you also might discover that the 
     nasty fellow has been doing you-know-what with a 16-year-old 
     gun moll.
       Ah, then you are really on to something.
       So the Reynolds case might only be the beginning of 
     something really big.
       Today Reynolds.
       Tomorrow jaywalkers.
       Go get them, Fearless Jack.
       

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