Fitzgerald talks shop with students
Top prosecutor speaks on challenges of job
By Angela Rozas
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 8, 2006
U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald fielded questions with a mix of candor and caution Friday after a speech on the merits of public service at the Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb.
Fitzgerald prefaced the exchange by saying he would not take questions about the White House leaks investigation, which he heads, or about the political corruption case his office is prosecuting against former Gov. George Ryan.
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"I had an image of public service as being a whole bunch of Mother Teresas out there. I'm glad they're out there,
let somebody else do it," Fitzgerald said. "The sense was that public service was for me the thing I'm going to do if I came back in the middle of my life with a trust fund."
Fitzgerald said he worked three years in private practice and lived frugally so he could pay off his student loans and take a job in public service.
"The truth is people don't realize how rewarding public service is, in a way that's just not taxable," he said.
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