Alabama Politics in
Doc’s Political Parlor
& Home of Lawn Mower Repair

Associated Press this week:

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel last year shut down a previously undisclosed investigation into the federal prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, according to an internal memo made public Wednesday.

The investigation was being conducted by a task force formed at the agency a year ago to pursue high-profile political investigations in Washington, most notably whether the White House played politics in firing U.S. attorneys. It began gathering information on the Siegelman case in September and was planning to request documents from the Justice Department in October before Special Counsel Scott Bloch ordered the case closed, according to the Jan. 18 draft memo, made public by the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.

This is all the more interesting given that Bloch, the agency chief, is being investigated for claims of both dismissing cases without adequate examination and obstruction of justice. Related to that investigation, federal agents seized computer files and documents from his Bloch and his staff this week.

Wall Street Journal this week:

Mr. Bloch, who was appointed by President Bush, has been under investigation since 2005 by the Office of Personnel Management for employee claims that he abused his agency’s authority, retaliated against its staff and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination. Mr. Bloch couldn’t be reached to comment.

The Justice Department joined the case as the inquiry was widened last year to include possible obstruction of justice, which is a criminal offense. The Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 28 that in the midst of the inquiry Mr. Bloch used an agency credit card to hire a commercial firm, Geeks on Call, to erase data from his computer and those of former staff.

Bloch said that Geeks on Call removed a computer virus. The WSJ looked pretty firm on its take. On that particular incident, enough people are involved that you would think the truth can be established.

It’s bad enough that one of our foundational institutions, the Department of Justice, is off-track enough to merit the attention of the independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency that is the Office of Special Counsel. But that Office is not looking so independent.

Now our watch dogs need watch dogs.

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The Fix on the Washington Post site looks at the race for the Democratic nomination and has a memorable quote from Alabama’s John Anzalone:

“I believe there is no path to victory,” said one Clinton strategist granted anonymity to speak candidly about the future of the campaign. “I also believe she wants to see a Democrat win in November and she will do the right thing.”

Nor are there many among unaffiliated Democratic consultants who believe she is ready to bail out. “She is the Japanese soldier in the Pacific island that hasn’t been told the war is over,” said Democratic pollster John Anzalone. “Occasionally she picks off a few islanders and considers it a victory. Well, yesterday she found out the war was over.”

And for whatever it’s worth… The Fix had a concern this week about comments there similar to the one here this week.

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Republican candidate Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie is on the air in CD-05.

Associated Press has noted that using Obama as a “Democratic albatross” for Democratic candidates is becoming something of a trend with Republicans. The strategy was not ultimately successful in Lousiana this weekend as a Democrat won a special election in a Republican stronghold for a seat that the GOP held for over 30 years. Bush had received 59% of the vote there in 2004.

The NRCC said that the strategy was indeed effective in Louisiana because Democrat Don Cazayoux had a much wider lead over Republican Woody Jenkins before the ads ran that linked Cazayoux to Obama. So perhaps the above ad will be effective for Cheryl Baswell-Guthrie.

But in the Republican primary?

Republican Wayne Parker is also on the air in CD-5.

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Update: A reader has posted in comments below the text of a response from Dan Abrams which can also be found on the interwebs here.

Karl Rove wrote a letter last week to Dan Abrams of MSNBC that raised questions related to Abrams’ broadcasts on the subject of Rove’s alleged involvement in the prosecution of former Governor Don Siegelman. Brett Blackledge referred to the letter today in the Birmingham News.

If the version I received in email Friday is correct, here is the text of the letter:

(more…)

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The House Judiciary Committee today has sent letters (available here in a .pdf file) to the DoJ Inspector General and to the DoJ Office of Professional Responsibility “to request that your offices conduct a thorough investigation and report on the troubling allegations of selective, politically-motivated prosecution in recent years by the Department of Justice.” The letters accompanied a 34-page report (available here in a .pdf file) issued today by the House Judiciary Committee’s majority staff entitled, “Allegations of Selective Prosecution in Our Federal Criminal Justice System.”

A point to be made here is that the Committee is not calling for an investigation into the specifics of Don Siegelman’s case, but into the issue of “selective, politically-motivated prosecution.”

Committee Chair John Conyers is unhappy that the Committee is not getting access to information it should have and sources close to the situation have told the Parlor that he will keep pushing on this issue.

For example, the Committee also sent a letter today (available here in a .pdf file) to former White House adviser Karl Rove telling him the committee is “seeking your appearance before the House Judiciary Committee to testify concerning the troubling issue of the politicization of the Department of Justice during this Administration, including allegations regarding the prosecution of former Governor of Alabama Don Siegelman.” While Rove has ignored a subpoena to testify before Congress in its investigation of the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, the Committee notes “recent reports that your attorney has stated your willingness to testify before the Committee” on this matter.

And the Committee today tells U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey in a letter (available here in a .pdf file) sent today that it is not going away on these issues:

There are few issues which have proved so corrosive to the [Justice] Department’s reputation as the persistent concerns that political considerations may have influenced the exercise of prosecutorial power during this Administration.

… Chairman [John] Conyers has today asked the Department’s Offices of the Inspector General and Professional Responsibility to conduct a thorough review of these issues as one of several needed steps in the restoration of the Department’s reputation for fairness and impartiality. The Committee’s work on this matter also continues and in this regard we are renewing the Committee’s prior request for relevant documents on the Siegelman and Wecht prosecutions discussed in prior correspondence.

Prior correspondence … make clear that the Department’s blanket refusal to provide information or documents about “open” cases is legally unsupportable…

Conyers looks determined to see this story through.

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Sunday’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune has an interesting piece on the Blue Dog Democrats.

The group coalesced after voters handed power to Republicans in the House [in 1994] for the first time since 1952. Calling themselves Blue Dogs because they thought their views on deficit-free spending had been choked blue by their party, they adopted their mascot from the Blue Dog paintings of Louisiana artist George Rodrigue.

The Blue Dogs’ recent rise began when 12 of the 13 freshman members of the group — so-called Blue Pups — won congressional seats previously held by Republicans, including Rep. Nick Lampson, who replaced Tom DeLay in Texas; Rep. Tim Mahoney, who replaced Mark Foley in Florida’s District 16 (which contains part of Charlotte County); and Rep. Heath Shuler, who replaced Charles Taylor in western North Carolina.

“We didn’t get this Democratic majority by replacing liberal Democrats with liberal Democrats,” said Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, one of four Blue Dog leaders. “We did it by replacing Republicans with conservative Democrats.”

Those wins swelled the Blue Dog roster to 47, greater than the 35-seat margin Democrats hold over Republicans in the House.

“Our pulse is taken pretty regularly by leadership,” said Rep. Robert E. “Bud” Cramer of Alabama, one of the founding members.

There is much more, and I easily learned more than I expected about the group. Interesting article, especially as Alabamians in the 5th Congressional District prepare to choose Cramer’s successor.

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Alabama’s elected officials are going to bat for the home team to rebut those who are criticizing the Air Force’s decision to choose Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) over Boeing in a recently awarded contract to make refueling tankers. The contract is expected to create 2000 jobs in Mobile.

Associated Press last weekend:

In a letter sent to the nation’s other lieutenant governors Friday, [Alabama Lt. Gov.] Folsom wrote: “The announcement by the Speaker of the House that Congress would be investigating the award of the contract has created a whirlwind of media coverage. As a result, a vast amount of misinformation has been reported distorting the facts surrounding the award, and making any impartial evaluation of this situation problematic.”

[…]

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, members of the state’s congressional delegation, and the Legislature, through a resolution, have defended the selection process, which is supposed to result in a tanker assembly plant in Mobile and the creation of 2,000 jobs.

Mary Orndorff of the Birmingham News reported in her Washington blog, Sweet Home Potomac on Friday:

There are signs that the Alabama delegation, once content to patiently stick to the high road as the appeal of the Air Force tanker contract played out in official channels, is now engaging in the parallel, bare-knuckled political spat.

Sens. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby fired off a “dear colleague” letter to their 98 colleagues last night to counter “misinformation” about the dispute between Northrop Grumman/EADS and Boeing, and ask that cooler heads prevail until the GAO releases its report, probably in June.

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The Washington Post yesterday calls Alabama’s John Anzalone “the best pollster you’ve never heard of,” saying his Democratic survey research firm is “among the hottest in the nation.” Readers here have heard of him; the Parlor recently named him on our list of most influential, non-elected Alabamians.

The occasion for the mention in the Post is that his outfit, Anzalone Liszt Research, is opening a Washington office.

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The Huntsville Times Breaking News site reports this afternoon that former Gov. Don Siegelman will be on 60 Minutes this Sunday:

Kevin Tedesco, a CBS spokesman, said “60 Minutes” will report on it further Sunday with an interview with Siegelman, who was recently released from prison while his corruption conviction is on appeal. Tedesco said Siegelman would challenge Rove to testify under oath.

Though the interview is not listed on the 60 Minutes website among the topics for Sunday’s show, sources close to the former Governor tell the Parlor that 60 Minutes will air a short interview Sunday night and have a longer interview on its website.

The sources add that Siegelman is also slated to appear on MSNBC Monday night with Dan Abrams.

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• Siegelman Released on Appeal
• 60 Minutes: Siegelman, Simpson and Rove

Former Gov. Don Siegelman is to be released on an appeal bond.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals said the governor had shown he was not a flight risk; that he was not appealing for the purposes of delay and that his conviction “raised substantial questions of law or fact.”

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Thinking about Alabama’s two congressional races this year (in the 2nd and 5th districts), and how dynamics nationally affect (and don’t affect) the candidates here…

CQPolitics this week reports on the widening disparity between the cash raised and available to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC).

And the February figures show that the imbalance between the two parties, in terms of money that each House campaign committee had left to spend on races across the nation at the end of last month, grew to its widest yet. The DCCC began March with $38 million left to spend and had $763,000 in debts, compared to $5.1 million for the NRCC, which reported $1.9 million in debts.

In addition, the accounting scandal at the NRCC that “cost House Republicans nearly $1 million” will likely cost them at least some more by some potential donors’ unwillingness to contribute to the mismanaged fund.

Surely the relatively cash-strapped RNCC would like to have back the large sum they put into a “particularly painful” loss in Illinois where the seat held for two decades by former GOP Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was won by Democrat physicist Dennis Foster in a special election a week and a half ago.

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain (Ariz.) helped [GOP candidate Jim] Oberweis raise money, and the NRCC pumped more than $1.2 million into the district — using more than 20 percent of its cash on hand — to no avail.

There is more at work than the issue of the two campaign committees’ cash on hand.

“It’s no mystery,” said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.). “You have a very unhappy electorate, which is no surprise, with oil at $108 a barrel, stocks down a few thousand points, a war in Iraq with no end in sight and a president who is still very, very unpopular. He’s just killed the Republican brand.”

Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan analyst of congressional politics, said: “The math is against them. The environment is against them. The money is against them. This is one of those cycles that if you’re a Republican strategist, you just want to go into the bomb shelter.”

The real story here in Alabama may be the relative insularity of the state GOP from the troubles affecting the national GOP. Bush may have “just killed the Republican brand,” but not so much in Alabama. For example, while Bush’s approval rating nationally is 30% in a recent Fox poll and 29% in a recent CBS poll, his approval rating in Alabama is a relatively remarkable 44%. Our Republican senators Sessions and Shelby garner 60% and 59% job approval ratings, and Republican Governor Bob Riley polls a most impressive 69% approval rating. In Alabama, it is the Democratic Party that is taking hits for its connection to the two-year college scandal, though it remains to be seen to what degree this will affect any election.

Whereas voters in Illinois and elsewhere may be taking out their dissatisfaction on GOP candidates, plenty of Alabama Republicans are glad that is not so much the case in Alabama - to the point that a Democrat (Tom Butler) interested in a seat held by a retiring Democrat (U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer) would rather switch and run as a Republican. Even the Democrats in Alabama who are running for Congress as Democrats are not particularly embracing the Democrat label.

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The Huffington Post yesterday offers how attorney Rob Riley profited handsomely “as local counsel to the New Mexico State Investment Council” in a civil suit against HealthSouth and its CEO Richard Scrushy. The Post zeroes in on the idea that Rob Riley would have benefitted from insight that Don Siegelman (not yet indicted) would be facing legal woes and that Scrushy would be ensnared.

According to the article, Riley did not have much experience in securities litigation, and the thrust of the article may be summed in what a reader said in email, “If you have a case that could bring your pension fund millions who do you go get? Perhaps leaders in this type of litigation? Or in this case, someone who had foreknowledge of damaging information about Healthsouth’s CEO?”

And while Siegelman & Company are not winning legal battles, they appear to be making strides in the public arena. For example, when Joe Conason of the New York Observer in a column yesterday wanted an aside (in an article otherwise about Eliot Spitzer) to illustrate that “the Justice Department’s record under the Bush regime inevitably raises suspicions now,” of all possible example he might have used, he flatly asserts that Siegelman “was sent to prison on transparently inflated charges, using flawed evidence.”

But between winning in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion, he’s not winning where it counts for him.

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Roll Call has an article (subscription) yesterday considering that the next president may tap trusted allies in Congress for Cabinet positions.

But any inclination to do so faces a set of political realities that could make it difficult for a President-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.) or John McCain (R-Ariz.) to install a well-respected colleague in their Cabinet. That’s because any of the three would risk reducing their numbers in a narrowly divided Senate and in a highly partisan House, where they would need strength in numbers to pass an agenda of change in their first year at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Alabama’s Artur Davis is mentioned as a possibility for the Attorney General spot if Obama is the next president.

Politically speaking, the House might be more fertile ground for Democratic administration picks, since the party now holds a majority of 231 seats to the GOP’s198. Yet House Members often are chosen for the less prominent jobs such as Labor, Housing and Urban Development, or Transportation.

Among the possible House Members are Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) as secretary of Homeland Security under Clinton, or the possible Obama selections of Democratic Reps. Chet Edwards (Texas) at Veterans Affairs, Xavier Becerra (Calif.) at Labor or Housing and Urban Development, or Artur Davis (Ala.) at Justice. House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) could be a possible Agriculture secretary for either president-elect.

Artur’s House seat (AL-07) would remain Democratic so such an appointment would not affect the partisan #’s in the House.

Many observers have noted that Davis is considering a run for governor in 2010. But a gubernatorial or senate run could come later; the guess here is that if the U.S. Attorney General spot were a possibility, he would be unable to turn down the high profile position. Of course, there is a lot of ground to cover before that could happen.

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• New Alabama Line
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Governor Bob Riley endorsed John McCain’s presidential candidacy yesterday. Not a huge surprise in that McCain had campaigned for Riley and attended Riley’s 2006 inauguration. McCain had come to Alabama so many times and was believed to be close to Riley to the degree that some even speculated that Riley might be a potential running mate for McCain.

So why so long to endorse him? One piece of the story heard here is that there was a general expectation that Riley would speak at McCain’s appearance in Birmingham last month and announce his endorsement there. There was apparently a …ummm… conflict of expectations between Riley and AG Troy King. In the end, Riley did not attend, and the endorsement was put off. So the story went.

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Media outlets outside Alabama are noting the black eye that WHNT-TV in Huntsville gave itself when it did not show the majority of the 60 Minutes segment on Don Siegelman in its regular Sunday night time slot. The New York Times (here and here, and first here on its blog The Lede), Reuters, and Associated Press are among those who have taken notice.

The state Democratic Party is not only calling for a special prosecutor for the allegations of political prosecution of Don Siegelman, but state party chair Joe Turnham is also calling for an FCC inquiry into the Sunday evening blackout.

Lee Roop in the Huntsville Times:

Why do people believe conspiracy stories? We know. Conservatives don’t trust the “liberal drive-by media” and liberals don’t trust the “Republican spin machine.” No one trusts big media owners, and not many trust the Justice Department.

People also like to believe things don’t just happen. In a weird way, they’d rather believe evil forces control the agenda than believe machines just fail at the worst possible time.

WHNT aired the full report Sunday evening during its 10 o’clock news and again during the Monday night 6 o’clock news. The segment may also be viewed online.

No doubt that the 60 Minutes segment has gotten more attention than it would have had WHNT aired it in its normal time.

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• Seeing 60 Minutes, Or Not
• 60 Minutes: Siegelman, Simpson and Rove
• More Media Attention on Siegelman