Spokane journalist Larry Shook hammers President Obama for nominating Spokane lawyer Mike Ormsby to a U.S. Attorney post.
In a fresh commentary on the Camas Magazine website , veteran Spokane journalist Larry Shook looks anew at attorney Mike Ormsby’s role in the River Park Square garage fiasco and finds that the Obama Administration is perpetuating a “culture of corruption” by nominating Ormsby to succeed James McDevitt as the U.S. Attorney for Eastern Washington.
Ormsby was nominated March 4th by President Obama to fill the post. If the Senate confirms his nomination Ormsby will succeed his former law partner, McDevitt, as eastern Washington’s top federal law enforcement official. Both attorneys have been widely criticized for their involvement in the public garage transaction that was at the center of Spokane’s River Park Square scandal. At the time, the two lawyers both worked for Preston Gates, the law firm that had primary duties for signing off on the ill-fated tax-exempt bonds sold in 1998 to finance the $26 million garage purchase. The IRS later concluded that the bond sale violated federal rules, and, ultimately, garage bond purchasers successfully sued the City of Spokane, Preston Gates, and several other parties involved in the transaction.
Shook includes new interviews with former Pend Oreille County Sheriff Tony Bamonte, former bond lawyer Gary Ceriani, and retired California economic crimes detective Ron Wright. The commentary was published earlier today.
“I can’t believe the President has allowed this to happen,” Bamonte tells Shook. “It’s a slap in the face to the citizens of Spokane who have been so badly harmed by Ormsby. I think it’s going to leave a permanent stain on Obama’s legacy.”
Shook, for his part, sees it this way: “If the Obama Administration does make Ormsby a U.S. Attorney, it will implicate itself in the sordid history of a ‘public-private partnership’ that represents nothing less than a subversion of government. Unlike the debates over health care, managing the economy, and waging foreign wars, the Ormsby nomination does not turn on philosophical differences. It’s about proven violations of the law showing how seriously America is afflicted by a ‘culture of corruption’ that the President and his party promised to end.”
Shook describes Ceriani, the lead attorney for Vanguard, Nuveen and other successfully suing institutional bondholders, as incredulous about Ormsby’s nomination.
“I’m going to look forward to his confirmation hearing,” Ceriani told Shook.
Shook is a national award winning reporter and author and former Center for Justice client. He is the former publisher of Spokane Magazine and, along with his spouse Judy Laddon, has published the Camas Magazine website for the ten years. The Center has represented Shook, Camas and former Camas senior editor Tim Connor in past public records cases. Connor is now the Center’s Communications Director.