Posted by I found myself unexpectedly off-line for a couple of days… much to catch up on…
Time.com reports that Karl Rove has been implicated in the Siegelman story. Dana Jill Simpson, a lawyer and lifelong Republican, has testified in an affidavit that she heard William Canary (currently President & CEO of Business Council of Alabama) say on a conference call in 2002 that Karl Rove had spoken with the Department of Justice about pursuing Siegelman.
According to Simpson’s statement, William Canary, a senior G.O.P. political operative and Riley adviser who was on the conference call, said “not to worry about Don Siegelman” because “‘his girls’ would take care of” the governor. Canary then made clear that “his girls” was a reference to his wife, Leura Canary, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.
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Canary said “not to worry — that he had already gotten it worked out with Karl and Karl had spoken with the Department of Justice and the Department of Justice was already pursuing Don Siegelman,” the Simpson affidavit says. Both U.S. attorney offices subsequently indicted Siegelman on a variety of charges, although Leura Canary recused herself from dealing with the case in May 2002. A federal judge dismissed the Northern District case before it could be tried, but Siegelman was convicted in the Middle District on bribery and conspiracy charges last June.
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Simpson said she had long been troubled by the conference call conversation, and even consulted an official of the Alabama State Bar Association to determine whether she could disclose it publicly without violating her obligations as a volunteer working for the Riley campaign. She was told, she said, that she was free to speak of the matter.
Simpson said she grew more concerned about the matter after Siegelman’s conviction last June.
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So? Even if Rove asked US Attorneys to investigate, it is apparent that they found something and that a jury agreed. It’s not like evidence was fabricated or charges were trumped up. The dug and they hit paydirt. If Siegelman hadn’t been so corrupt they wouldn’t have found grounds to charge him.
Boy you are overreaching . . . .
CnR, Someone is overreaching? How so? What point was anybody reaching for that was not made?
Susan, I take your point. However, as the article said, “Siegelman has long claimed that his prosecution was driven by politically motivated, Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys” and now it appears that he has a point. If the lawyer’s testimony truly fit in the “so-what” category, I don’t think she would have been so troubled for so long by the conversation, nor do I think that William Canary and Terry Butts would so vehemently deny her account. Canary called “called the allegations ‘outrageous’ and “the desperate act of a desperate politician.’” Butts said “this whole story must have been created by a drunk fiction writer.”
That sort of vehemence is not reserved for stories of the “so what” variety. I would say that Canary and Butts do not agree with you.
DID they hit pay dirt?
101 alleged acts in a 32 count indictment. Found innocent of 96 of those acts and 26 of those counts. And on the guilty verdict – seven emails submitted in motions allegedly showing juror misconduct with the US Attorney’s office not making any effort to even investigate the matter. At a November 14th hearing in which all jurors were placed under oath – seven jurors testified that outside information was brought into the deliberation. The testimony of the seven was disregarded.
Point being that you can’t wish the man guilty. They spent 7 years and over 75 million dollars investigating Siegelman and ended up with the fact that someone who contributed was appointed to a posisiton he had held under the three previous governors and only agreed to serve under Siegelman at the behest of Former Alabama Power CEO Elmer Harris.
No, Riley’s CON Board chief contributed to him AFTER his election, had never served on the CON board before and then the Board approved his own invention that will net him millions. I guess the Feds are convening that Grand Jury as we speak. (Sarcasm mine)
If the argument is that GOP operatives made sure the case got special attention, it’s unlikely that a fair observer could argue that point. However, a fair observer would probably also believe that Siegelman was corrupt and was likely guilty of more than he was convicted of. (I can’t prove that, but I’ve heard enough credible evidence over the year to make me believe that Siegelman and many around him were corrupt.) It seems to me that what we can say is that Siegelman would probably have gotten away with his crimes if it hadn’t suited the purposes of Republicans to make sure those crimes were pursued. Nobody comes off looking good here. The Republicans are having to deny that Siegelman got additional scrutiny because it helped them politically. The Democrats (if they were articulating the obvious objection here) are reduced to saying, “Well, he wouldn’t have been caught if the Republicans hadn’t needed to hurt him politically.”
In my view, it’s just another sad chapter in this state’s long history of being “led” by politicians from two major parties who are corrupt and more corrupt. It’s only a matter of which is more corrupt that changes every now and then. (Of course, you could argue that this is a huge change from the days when all of the corruption was concentrated in just one party in the past.)
I don’t doubt that GOP leaders worked hard to make sure that somebody looked at Siegelman, but I also don’t doubt that Siegelman was a dirty politician who was caught on minor charges compared to what he’s guilty of. Of course, I realize that this opinion doesn’t follow the script followed by most in Alabama politics — the one that calls for everyone to believe that his party (whichever it is) is honest/heroic/true and that the other party is crooked/wicked/dishonest.
Danny, I hope the reason for your being offline for a couple of days wasn’t health related.
There may be some problems with the timeline laid out in the article. Canary, for example, recused herslf early from the case in 2002–well before the alleged conference call.
I can’t get all worked up about the fact that Republicans want Democrats to be prosecuted for their corruption. Isn’t that a little like criticizing a cat for chasing a bird? Or a tiger for eating a rabbit? Does anyone have any doubt that had the same sort of things been going on in a Republican administration, the Democrats would be encouraging investigation? I’d be more worked up if they had trumped up the charges or fabricated the evidence. Unfortunately for Siegelman he gave the US Attorneys plenty to work with and a jury found ground for a guilty verdict on several of those counts.
BTW–I think it is pathetic that the ALADEMS already have this on their blog, yet there is not one single word about their Chairman’s brother pleading guilty to bribery charges. Nor the fact that said dirty dealing were going on while said Chairman was employed by the company and while Daddy was the Dean of the House. So, excuse me if their “outrage” is more than a little laughable.
Yeah, Susan, and I see the GOP blog is highlighting this story. If you’re so obsessed with Joe Turnham’s brother, why don’t you start your own blog?
[...] Danny has also posted on this story at Doc’s Political Parlor. [...]
“I can’t get all worked up about the fact that Republicans want Democrats to be prosecuted for their corruption. Isn’t that a little like criticizing a cat for chasing a bird?”
Susan makes a great point here. Certain realities about politics are distasteful. Before you know it they are going to say it’s a crime to appoint or hire a contributor ! Oh, wait a minute, that’s exactly what they did.
Both sides are clearly corrupt.
The point is: US attorneys of any political party are not supposed to be pawns of the unelected Iago of the president.
It’s happened many times in our history, and it will happen again — but that’s no excuse for the people ignoring it.
There may have been political influence brought to bear on a prosecution. Whats next, the shocking news that ex campaign workers try to get traffic tickets fixed and/or excused from jury duty and use their candidate as a job reference?
Tempests, teapots comes to mind.
Out of curiosity, how many unelected Iago’s have we had and who were their targets?
2002 is when the conversation happened? That is before the prosecution of Siegelman in Birmingham that Martin bungled so badly it had to be dismissed by the Chief Judge in her district.
2002 was after William Canary paid off Martin’s campaign debts. http://alelections.blogspot.com/2006/01/guest-blog-by-siegelman-aide-chip-hill.html It looks like Canary’s girl owed him, even if that meant she had to bring a bogus prosecution to keep Karl Rove happy. (Is that what kept Martin on the “safe” list during the firing of “incompetent” United States’ Attorneys despite the fact that she personally lost the lay down prosecution against Richard Scrushy in Birmingham?)
When Martin flamed out, Canary’s other girl prosecuted Siegelman, but failed to convict him on any counts in the massive indictment except for the few that permitted the Jury to also convict a reviled Alabama figure, Richard Scrushy, the founder of Healthsouth whose prosecution was also bungled by Martin. Siegelman was convicted of bribery in charges that didn’t involve any personal gain to him and that placed Scrushy on a board that previous and unprosecuted Republican Governors had appointed him to. The Government has now asked a Republican Judge to put Siegelman in jail for thirty years, ten more than for Scrushy who sure enough wrote out a gigantic check and paid a bribe. Apparently, Siegelman is big cheese compared to Scooter Libby who only invoked enough prosecutorial wrath to warrant a three year recommended sentence from the Government.
Perhaps the kicker? This story about Martin firing a black prosecutor & being sanctioned just this year for engaging in racial discrimination and retaliation when she fired this lawyer. http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/070107/rehire.shtml U.S. Attorneys’ can only hire a new prosecutor when an existing one leaves.
Let’s get this straight — Did Martin go trump up the firing of a black prosecutor to make way for her to have the space to hire Matt Hartt, an employee of the Alabama Attorney General’s office with a less than stellar resume for ethics and a penchant for going after Democrats?
Law student. I think you better rexamine your “facts.” Canary did not prosecute Siegelman and Scrushy in Montgomery. Siegleman’s bribery charge DID invoce personal gain because he was PERSONALLY liable for the campaign debts that Scrushy’s checks paid off. That means Siegleman did not PERSONALLY have to pay off the campaign debt. That’s a PERSONAL benefit.
The charges against Siegelman fell through when a DEMOCRAT judge, with ties to Siegelman, simply refused to hear evidence. Talk about politics and justice, without a judge in his back pocket, Siegelman would have beenm tried on those charges in Birmingham.
Chip Hill is NOT an objective sourse as far as Siegelman is concerned. His blog entry is about as partisan as they come. He was Siegelman’s spokesperson during the trial.
President Bush has a rare mental disease which is very contagious.. He needs to write Libby name down on the back of his hand before he has another memory loss and forget to pardon him.. Bush, Cheney, Gonzales, Rice, Rove, and Libby all have contracted this disease. It is the U.S.’s first pandemic;; besides spreading throughout the Whitehouse it has spread as far south as Montgomery, Alabama where Governor Bob Riley, his son Rob, U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, her spouse William, and U.S. Attorney Alice Martin of Birmingham all have it.. This disorder is similar to Alzheimer’s Disease except memory loss only occurs when the subjects are asked questions by the FBI, congressional committees or in witness chairs in a Federal Court room.. This brain disorder also causes the subject to lie and make weird facial expressions when questioned.. The carrier is believed to Karl Rove who was the first to display symptoms during the Watergate investigation.. Instead of getting mental help and reporting unlawful activities that bring these conditions on,, they all are resigning and/or going to prison for reasons out of their control..
Karl Rove graduated as a master of mendacious practices in 1972 when he managed to ruse involvement in Watergate. He has since graduated to is a political attack snake who specializes in eliminating or laming his bosses opposition. He was hired by Bush to perpetrate plans of attack on anyone that opposes Bush or the Republicans who support him.
It was revealed last month that the U.S. Attorneys have been concentrating on reducing the Democrats in all branches of government. The ratio of Democrats convictions have been seven to one.
Hardly anyone in Alabama knew who Bob Riley was until President Bush started making fundraising trips to Al. endorsing him. Bush also gave one of his Secret Service Directors to Gov. Riley and fired Mike Copeage who was doing a superb job as Director of the state police and associated functions. I Personally feel that this needs to be investigated. I believe that this was also Karl Rove’s illegal intrigue
There’s no doubt in most Alabamians mines that Karl Rove was on the phone call to Bob Riley assuring him that the U.S. Attorneys was going to eliminate the threat of Don Seigleman winning the governors race. The timing of the court case came in the heat of the election which prevented Seigleman from campaigning and prevented him from being available on election day. I bet they all really had a big laugh over this illegal maneuver.
Bush and his whole Texan staff are all habitual liars. Cabinet members have had several dozen lapses of memory during congressional hearings and they have been caught lying many times. Instead of Bush firing them; he tells the media that they handled themselves very well and that he was proud of them? This is telling me that Bush was behind all of it.
The legacy of the Bush and Cheney administration will definitely be one of shame and corruption. It looks like with only months left in office that they would be trying to clean up their reputations, but they act like they still don’t care.