Not random DC-area violence

November 8, 2005

Crime in and around the nation’s capitol is, unfortunately, fairly routine. This kind of crime is not.

The FBI and Capitol Police are investigating the vicious attack of a top Senate staffer at her home last week amid concerns that the assault might be related to her work on the Finance Committee.

Emilia DiSanto, chief investigator for committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), arrived at her suburban Virginia home after work Wednesday about 6:30 p.m. As she was unloading belongings from her car, a 6-foot-1-inch white man dressed in black struck her repeatedly with an unidentified object believed to be a baseball bat.

After she screamed to her family inside the house, the assailant fled. DiSanto was transported to Inova Fair Oaks Hospital, where she was treated for significant upper-body injuries. Nine staples were needed to close her head wound.

Violent crime in DiSanto’s community is unusual. This also wasn’t some kind of robbery-gone-awry; The Hill’s article said the assailant “did not make any demands before attacking the 49-year-old staffer.”

If DiSanto was attacked for her work as a Senate investigator for Sen. Grassley, what’s the area of interest that might have prompted this assault?

Over the past year, [Grassley] has scrutinized healthcare fraud, organ-donation procedures used by hospitals, drug-safety matters and the use of nonprofit groups related to former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The FBI is investigating and local police are treating the attack as an attempted homicide.

And not incidentally, DiSanto has reported back to work.

This exemplifies the true fanaticism and barbarism of the administration’s base. I can’t believe real Repubs aren’t demanding reform w/i their party. Their silence condones these brutal acts of intimidation – therefore they are just as guilty. Acts like this are not unlike the suicide bombers in the Middle East – a last desperate attempt to hold their movement’s ground because they know theirs is shaky at best. And to think that the ‘pro-life’ party of ‘family values’ could stoop so low as to use tire irons in the night… yes I can believe it.

  • Also, quite recently, Grassley essentially forced Joseph Schmidt to resign as Inspector General of The Defense Department. Scmidt now works for Blackwater Security and is currently under investigation for soft pedalling investigations of administration officials. I wonder who is running that investigation. Oh right, probably the chief investigator for the committee. I’m sure its all a big coincidence. Blackwater Security wouldn’t get involved with hired goons.

  • Any bets some wingnut will accuse Democrats of being behind the assault?

    But I am curious. If, as Sen. Reid said last week, the Senate has essentially abandoned it’s oversight responsibilities, why assault a Senate staffer over an investigation? No matter what they find, Republican Senators could be counted to cover the administration, right?

  • If this wasn’t a totally insane act of random violence, my guess would be that it had to do with a personal matter rather than an official one. I mean, sure, she’s an important staffer to a U.S. senator, but only one out of hundreds out there and not even the most important. What good would it do to single her out?

    If someone wanted her dead for any substantial reason, the assassin would have used a gun or a knife, not such an inefficient weapon as a baseball bat. And if the purpose was intimidation, the question still remains, why her? Why not someone in Pat Fitzgerald’s office, or Howard Dean’s, or anyone with a higher national profile than Grassley? Who is, after all, a Republican, for crying out loud.

    Maybe some lunatic with a general grudge against the entire administration picked her out because he knew who she was and was the only person he could get close enough to to get his ‘revenge’. Regardless, whoever it was should be locked up for a very, very long time, and soon. I give her my sincere condolences. This heinous act must be swiftly and severely punished.

  • You can’t stop people who believe in Law and Order to stop investigating crime and corruption, even if they are Repugs. Some people have pride in their work, and that extends beyond their political affiliation or ideology.

    Remember, Pat Fitzgerald is an (R).

    Good for DiSanto. I hope FBI can find out who did this, and trace who paid him to do it.

    Follow the money.

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