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DEL.ICIO.USAlabama governor’s conviction gets Justice Department scrutiny
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The U.S. Justice Department says it is investigating whether former Alabama governor Don Siegelman was the target of a selective, politically motivated prosecution.
Click here to read the letter from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, released this afternoon by House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.).
Most media outlets are focusing on the subpoena issued to Karl Rove, the former Bush advisor, by the House committee. But the Justice Department letter may be more important, an indication that Attorney General Michael Mukasey is taking seriously the allegations surrounding the Siegelman case.
In June 2006, the former Alabama governor, a Democrat, was convicted by a federal jury of taking $500,000 from Richard Scrushy, former chief executive of HealthSouth Corp. The trade-off alleged by prosecutors was an appointment for Scrushy to the Alabama hospital licensing board.
The money was to retire a debt from Siegelman’s campaign for a state lottery to pay for schools. Siegelman’s lawyers have characterized the cash as a routine political contribution, and point out Scrushy had served on the same board under three previous governors.
With his case under appeal, Siegelman was released from prison this spring. The former governor has maintained that Rove played a role in his prosecution, to sabotage Siegelman’s re-election bid and keep the governorship in Republican hands. Rove denies any involvement.
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Comments
By GodHatesTrash
May 22, 2008 5:13 PM | Link to this
Should get interesting first quarter of next year… lots of Bush administration types will be indicted, after Bushie is gone and can’t protect them with pardons…
Scooter screwed it up for everybody else when Bush commuted his sentence. Come February, watch for subpoenas and arrests…
The Bush administration is criminal trash.
By Churchill
May 22, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
I hope the left gets as excited over this as they did with that liar Joe Wilson and his wife. I enjoyed watching their balloons deflate when Fitzfong only “got” Libby on some petty process charge. Anyway, Siegelman is corrupt through and through. Peace.
By blah
May 22, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this
My advice to fellow progressives would be to not waste one ounce of energy trying to fight on behalf of Don Siegleman. Even if there was outside influence, it is undeniable that Siegleman was obscenely compromised in everything from his failed lottery campaign, to his appointments to the boards of trustees for several of Alabama universities. If you filled his pockets, he took care of you. He deserves to be in jail.
By Not a "Community Organizer"
May 22, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this
What’s a “progressive”? Is that anything like a “community organizer”?
By Bush
May 22, 2008 11:54 PM | Link to this
I was a gentleman’s c in college, i used my daddy’s influence to avoid serving my country, my poontang is a born-again blond, Gawd I luv being a stupid neocon republican long live the aristocrats down with the working man
By Republotard Optimus
May 22, 2008 11:57 PM | Link to this
Will Churchill wet his bed tonight. Peace draft-dodgers.
By RJ
May 23, 2008 12:12 AM | Link to this
This new development provokes me to wonder what will eventually happen with the fact laden allegations against Perdue that have been swept under the rug by this Republican Federal Prosecutor. Perhaps we will see when a new Presidential administration takes office in January.
I think all will agree that our justice system should remain free of elective politics. A failure to dispose of the fact laden Perdue allegations in a transparant way has left an adverse mark on the records of all who failed to discharge their duties in this regard.
By Laser Haas
May 23, 2008 1:07 PM | Link to this
The DOJ has been also engaging in Nolle Prosequi of connected parties who have confessed to more than 34 acts of false affidavits and $300 million in fraudulent transfers.
We then discovered the Dealaware US Attorney was a partner with the law firm the DOJ refuses to even mention.
Reporting this to the CA US Attorney resulted in the dismantling of the Public Corruption Unit as the CA US Attorney threatened career prosecutors with retaliations if they revealed the reasons for disbanding the Unit to the Press.
http://fraud-corruption-mnat.blogtownhall.com/
By gen
May 23, 2008 6:53 PM | Link to this
Blah, You chose an appropriate name. No one cares about more opinion, and that’s all you seem to have to offer. American people have been listening for years, under this administration, to unsubstantiated, hatefilled rhetoric that contributes nothing to a meaningful discussion or resolution of any issue. Siegelman is free on appeal, decided by the eleventh circuit court, who know what they are talking about when they decide that there is reasonable cause to think that the verdict could be reversed, or recommendation of a new trial be warranted.
When Rove & others refuse to answer questions before the Judiciary Committee, they either have something to hide, or they feel that they are above the law that governs the rest of the American people. If Rove did not talk with the President about the Seigelman case, why is he claiming executive privilege? It is time to find out what his role was in this case and similar cases. We are talking about people’s lives and the integrity of our legal system not a red hat/blue hat game that hands out “Go directly to jail” or a “Get out of jail free card. Justice is for all—remember that quaint document we call the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
By Farid
May 24, 2008 4:48 AM | Link to this
He may deserve to be in jail, that is up to a judge to decide not public. The bigger question is this, if we allow or government officials i.e. prosecutors to go after our elected officials with politically charged motivations then we might as well rewrite our constitution to please our executive branch or barrow one of the middle eastern countries. Our constitution is the most sacred document that we have and it governs our country and society. No is above it or has the right step on it.
By poaqk ipbz
September 11, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this
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By poaqk ipbz
September 11, 2008 6:29 PM | Link to this
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