The attorney of resigned San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew, Stuart Hanlon, has asked for a March 21 evidentiary hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston to determine whether the feds “may have engaged in misconduct” and violated Jew’s Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. Implication? Dismissing mail fraud, bribery and extortion charges against Jew. …
“The government knew that Mr. Jew was being represented by the exact person who started the criminal investigation against him” and “turned a blind eye” to the conflict of interest, wrote Hanlon in papers filed in court, alluding to Jew’s former attorney, Steven Gruel. On May 2 of last year, before signing on as Jew’s attorney on May 20, Gruel reported Jew’s alleged extortion scheme to the FBI on behalf of state Sen. Leland Yee (Gruel ceased representing Jew last December, claiming “irreconcilable differences” over strategy).
Gruel contends that he disclosed his “limited involvement in the initial FBI investigation” and that Jew signed a waiver of “any potential conflict,” according to a statement from Gruel’s attorney Richard Zitrin.
Hanlon said Jew is “not alleging that the government did, in fact, engage in misconduct. Rather, the known facts raise serious issues and suspicion” — like U.S. Attorney Michael Wang’s repeated requests to Gruel for documents related to the waiver. After more than a month, Gruel finally furnished “redacted pages” of the waiver, and did not believe a “conflict” existed between him and Jew. He wrote that he obtained the waiver from Jew “merely in an abundance of caution.” …
MAK NOT CALLED: Hanlon claims it was a “calculated attack” by Jew’s “political opponents” — Yee, Jaynry Mak and Quickly’s “alleged victims” in the Jew shakedown. Yee endorsed Mak for supervisor, but she lost to Jew in 2006. Yet Yee had endorsed Jew in his 2002 loss to Fiona Ma for supervisor. … While Yee has taken heat in community press for reporting Jew to the FBI, it was Mak who, after being contacted by a Quickly franchise owner, “contacted Leland Yee with the information,” according to FBI Special Agent Bruce Whitten’s phone conversation with Gruel on May 2. Interestingly, Mak, a licensed attorney, did not go to authorities, but went first to Yee about the alleged money extortion scheme. Despite Mak’s involvement, Hanlon will call as witnesses Gruel, Yee, Wang, Whitten, Jew and his former aide Barbara Meskunas, an acquaintance of Yee’s who suggested Jew hire Gruel. …
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS: Presidential politics could determine how far the Jew case goes. Obama, Clinton or McCain will select the next U.S. attorney general, who may or may not fire U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello, who oversees Michael Wang and just started a four-year term on Jan. 4. A new U.S. attorney could choose to prosecute, settle or drop the Jew case. But the next pick could depend on fallout from last year’s controversy over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ firing of eight U.S. attorneys, including Carol Lam of the Southern District of California and Kevin Ryan, whose Northern District oversaw San Francisco. … Speaking of Hillary Clinton, Wang worked on Bill Clinton’s impeachment defense after clerking for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg. …
DIVA AFTER POLITICS: Former Jew aide Hazel Lee shouldn’t have a problem finding new work — she’s quite a singer, pitching a few bars from the Italian operatic pop song “Con Te Partiro (Time to Say Goodbye)” inside Chinese for Affirmative Action’s community room a few weeks ago. …
Reach Samson Wong at (415) 321-5886 or swong@asianweek.com.