CHICAGO — The White House is expected to name a new U.S. attorney for Chicago soon from among four finalists. Whoever it is will be an insider compared to the man he or she will replace, Patrick Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald arrived in Chicago from New York in 2001 as the consummate outsider. The thinking was he’d be more willing to go after Illinois politicians because he had no ties to them.
It seemed to work. By the time he resigned to enter private practice, he’d put two governors and a procession of other officials behind bars.
The finalists are Lori Lightfoot, Zachary Fardon, Jonathan Bunge and Gil Soffer. All four are currently partners in big-name Chicago law offices and all spent at least several years of their legal careers in the city.