A POLITICAL PRISONER IN THE FIRST WORLD: THE STRANGE CASE OF FORMER GOV. DON SIEGELMAN

By Noah

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is not a perfect person. He is a politician after all. I have often felt that most politicians that get to his level have a skeleton of some sort in the closet. It may be a big skeleton or it may be a little skeleton. More often than not, that skeleton gets deliberately overlooked and filed away, but, it's still there if someone wants to go out of their way to use it someday. That day came for Don Siegelman when he decided to run again for Governor of Alabama. Don Siegelman is a way too popular Democrat in George Dubya Bush's America. Don Siegelman is in jail.

If Don Siegelman was a Republican, his skeleton would have been allowed to rest in the closet and Don Siegelman would not only be a free man, he might be the sitting Governor of Alabama. Years of hounding him wouldn't have even happened. A case can be made that the skeleton didn't even exist. What has happened to Don Siegelman is called Selective Prosecution and the ties in the case go all the way to the White House. It was a political hit job designed to take out Alabama's leading Democrat.

How did this come about? First, for background, let's put the whole thing in some perspective. Remember the U. S. Attorneys scandal that made some headlines earlier in the year? The corporate media made a big splash about 7 attorneys who were fired. At the time, it became apparent that Dubya's Political Director, Karl Rove had his grubby, sticky little puppet master hands involved in the firings. The media also focused, a little, on what the fired attorneys did that so incensed Bush's little mini-me political director. For instance, a New Mexico U.S. Attorney, David Iglesias (above), failed to hurry a case against a Democratic State Senator before the 2004 election when a case couldn't be made. Don't let reality stop ya! The Bush White House is never a place where reality or the law of the land is respected, anyway. What the media DID NOT ask is what did the attorneys who did NOT get fired do to keep their jobs, especially in remarkably similar circumstances.

The Siegelman case is a perfect example of what some attorneys were keen to do. It is also a perfect example of how justice has become politicized in Bush's warped America. We no longer have a U.S. Justice Department. We have a Bush Justice Department. Many lifers in the department, of both major parties, have left in frustration and in order to maintain their integrity. The current Justice Department is one one that suits Dubya's inner child wild west fantasies, or his fantasies of being just like a third world or eastern European dictator, able to use attorneys and the courts to eliminate potential opponents, or, hey, maybe even get in power in the first place!

Now, back to Alabama. Alabama is one of our reddest states. Imagine the chagrin among Repugs when Siegelman won the governor's office in 1998 with an impressive 57% of the vote. Note that this was before the vote stealing and vote shifting expertise and Rovian electronic know how had entered the national picture on behalf of Repugs everywhere. This is pre-2000. An honest count was still possible if not always provided. Four years later, in 2002, Governor Siegelman was defeated for re-election by Repug Bob Riley. Siegelman went to bed knowing he had won and he woke up finding he had lost after an incredible 6300 votes for his opponent, still current governor, Bob Riley magically appeared in the wee hours.

It's a miracle!

Just like in the last two Presidential elections, professional statisticians have analyzed the returns and found that the final result could only be laid to nefarious activities conducted on behalf of Riley. Late night "computer glitches" have been alleged. Rove didn't even need to plant one of Dubya's cousins in a local CNN or FOX newsroom to call the election for his guy. Attorney General William Pryor would not OK a recount. Almost sounds like Ohio in 2004, doesn't it? Less than four months later, George W. Bush appointed Pryor to a federal judgeship via recess appointment, not unlike he appointed his 2000 Florida "recount" counsel, Kevin Martin to the head of the FCC. You see, this pattern of machinations weaves like a DNA double helix back through time. Take a look at people like Michael Chertoff and John Bolton and you'll find similar things.

Don Siegelman's big mistake was that he didn't go quietly into the night. He had been charged in a case of attempted bid rigging in 2004, but the case was tossed by an incredulous judge who sited an Assistant U.S. Attorney and an Assistant Alabama Attorney General for contempt along the way. Siegelman didn't take the hint. Instead, he announced he would run for governor again in 2006. He stood a very good chance of winning. It was only then that he was indicted, at the direction of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary (more on her later; no David Iglesias she!). There went Siegelman's chances, and there came the travesty of justice as his case was assigned to Bush federal judgeship appointee Mark Fuller, who refused to recuse himself in spite of years of what many rational folks might call personal animosity against the defendant.

Don Siegelman was convicted of naming an Alabama businessman, Richard Scrushy, who had contributed money to a state lottery campaign fund, to a state hospital board. Siegelman supported the lottery as Governor because it served to raise money for public schools in the state. He campaigned and won on it. Anyone out there think Alabama's educational system, like any state, couldn't use the money? They aren't about to get much from the feds. With all of the tax cuts and the wasted money in Iraq that's gone to companies like Cheney's Halliburton, the money just isn't there, and don't bother asking the rich white folk. They've shifted their tax-cut dollars right out of the country and converted them to euros. How American! Trickle down? Nah!

The bottom line is that Seligman never took any money for himself. Perhaps that meant he couldn't be trusted. Ask yourself, has any President ever handed out an Ambassadorship for the same thing? It was a weak case. All but a very few counts just got laughed at. In fact, the case was so weak that a Republican judge and a Republican senator involved in the case with Siegelman were not prosecuted. Go figure. Like I said, if Siegelman was a Republican... Selective Prosecution, times two! It gets worse. Siegelman was convicted on the word of two dubious witnesses, one of whom changed his story three times! Recollections cut to fit! The same witness also testified against two Repugs, but for some reason--hmmm--that was not followed up on.

Remember who appointed the judge. Remember who helps make up the lists of potential appointees. The Political Director? Emphasis political. Selective Prosecution. times three. Can you spell railroaded? I hope you, the reader, and I, are not losing count here. One more thing, a guy named Jack Abramoff, remember him? The lobby guy? He opposed the whole lottery idea allegedly because Siegelman also wanted to draw money for education from Abramoff's casino clients. Powerful forces were aligned against the Governor. Abramoff had steered millions of dollars into the race against Siegelman.

Where does Karl Rove come in? Well, his ties to fights against Siegelman go way back to several years before Siegelman was even first elected. Once Siegelman was elected, Repug Attorney General Pryor, whose campaign was coincidentally run by Rove, waited about a whole minute before he started investigating and hounding his own newly elected governor in early 1999.

But let's just cut to the chase, and you can dig further on your own if you desire. It seems now that a Republican with a conscience (yes, they do still exist, even if they have endangered species status), Dana Jill Simpson, has come forward and stated in a sworn statement (Republikooks can stop reading now--the reality of a sworn statement is about to smack you upside the head) that she witnessed a longtime Rove protege and associate, Alabama Repug Bill Canary, say that his wife, the aforementioned Leura Canary (above), and Alice Martin, both U. S. Attorneys in Alabama, would "take care" of Siegelman. Rove has worked with Bill Canary since 1994.

Alice Martin's case fell apart when a Federal Judge became skeptical of the charges. Leura Canary, who had conveniently federalized the case in 2001, almost as soon as she was appointed by George W. Bush, then picked up the case and, as mentioned before, had Siegelman indicted just in time for the primary. She eventually recused herself, but that depends on what the word recuse means. With Siegelman out of the way, Bob Riley had clear sailing. Mr. Canary is also reported to have said that Karl Rove was involved. There's your White House connection.

As this bit of intrigue unfolds for the public eye, it may just be one the reasons that Karl Rove is no longer working in the White House, even though he is probably still working for the White House. All of this effort and money, spent to get one guy out of the way. All of this money and effort to put a political opponent in jail. Siegelman isn't even the only current victim of this kind of thing. There are others, but that's for another post some other day. Selective Prosecution. Selective Persecution. Political prisoner. Might as well be Cuba.