Saturday, August 11, 2007

McDevitt should recuse himself

Editor Steve Smith was bold enough to seek an outside review of the S-R's role in the River Park Square story. It's time for U.S. Attorney James McDevitt to do likewise. With allegations made recently on the Fuhrman show, Mr. McDevitt should immediately recuse himself and request another U.S. attorney's office to lead an investigation to determine whether there is sufficient cause to warrant any charges.

To Mr. McDevitt's credit, on the Fuhrman show he said that public corruption cases are his office's top priority. He said a case has not been submitted for review yet. If one arrived he said he would recuse himself. As an economic crimes investigator I know investigators are reluctant to aggressively pursue an investigation in such complicated public conflict-of-interest cases unless there is a "buy-in" early on by the prosecutor.

The U.S. attorney's office is not a passive participant in cases of this magnitude. The RPS case warrants prosecutorial zeal and impaneling of a grand jury to compel testimony from reluctant witnesses. To wait for an investigation to be laid on his desk is a disservice to the people of Spokane who, after all, were left holding the bag.

Ron Wright
Spokane