The Siegelman Saga: Alabama G.O.P. Wrestles with Retraction (!!)

[annabanana]

http://pacificfreepress.com/opinion/2339-the-siegelman-saga-alabama-gop-wrestles-with-retraction.html

One of the most interesting sideshows coming out of the transmission of the 60 Minutes segment dealing with former Alabama Governor Don E. Siegelman has been the conduct of the Alabama G.O.P. The CBS piece features direct charges leveled at Karl Rove and at Bush Administration prosecutors. But to listen to Michael Hubbard, the chair of the Alabama Republicans, you'd think it was a grudge match between 60 Minutes and his party.

Another Republican Calls Siegelman Case a Travesty
Hubbard, the Birmingham News and the Mobile Press-Register are clearly vexed by the mounting calls from Republicans for Siegelman to be set free. And today they have another setback. Former Reagan Administration Treasury official and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts weighs in:

"Don Siegelman, a popular Democratic governor of Alabama, a Republican state, was framed in a crooked trial, convicted on June 29, 2006, and sent to Federal prison by the corrupt and immoral Bush Administration.

"The frame-up of Siegelman and businessman Richard Scrushy is so crystal clear and blatant that 52 former state attorney generals from across America, both Republicans and Democrats, have urged the US Congress to investigate the Bush Administration's use of the US Department of Justice to rid themselves of a Democratic governor who they could not beat fair and square, according to Grant Woods, former Republican Attorney General of Arizona and co-chair of the McCain for President leadership committee. Woods says that he has never seen a case with so many red flags pointing to injustice.

I would LOVE to see some more attention to this outrageous injustice.

[patrice]

1. K&R & Bookmarking & Are you posting over at DAILY KOS? where a person can subscribe to a feed? nt

[annabanana]

11. I have a google alert on Don. . .n/t

[Graybeard]

2. Can Pres. Obama pardon him?

If yes I would ask why that hasn't been done already.

[shireen]

7. i think pardoning would imply guilt

Siegelman is innocent. I realize it's hard on him and the family, but they may have already considered it and ruled it out.

Does anyone know for sure?

[rhett o rick]

8. Either way it beats being in prison. nm

[BobbyBoring]

27. roger That

especially in Alabama.

[former9thward]

46. A pardon does not imply guilt.

A commutation of a sentence does. If Obama gave him either one I am sure Siegelman would love it. I am disappointed he did not give him one for Christmas since the election is now over.

[shireen]

60. thanks for the clarification

And i am also disappointed. Siegelman's ordeal is unbelievable!

[rhett o rick]

10. I believe he could commute his sentence as Bush did with Scooter, or outright pardon him like Ford

did for Nixon.

I was hopping the President would do it for Christmas.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

15. Yes. The sole authority for granting pardons is given to the President in Art II, Sec. 2,

of the Constitution.

After taking office, President Obama gave de facto immunity to openly-admitted war criminals. Including Dick Cheney who went on television and smirked while answering questions about his role in particpating in the approval of water torture known as water-boarding.

President Obama also gave de facto immunity to all the banksters who engaged in mortgage fraud, including those who participated in causing fraudulent robo-signed documents to be filed with the Federal courts.

He could grant a pardon to Siegelman if he wanted to.

[OnyxCollie]

73. Let's see...

Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Elena Kagan, advocated for an even longer sentence for Don Siegelman while she was Solicitor General.

Does that answer your question?

[KT2000]

3. K&R n/t

[riverbendviewgal]

4. This must be kept upfront - such injustice should not be allowed to happen

k & r

[jody]

5. Related "Hindsight is 20/20 for Mike Hubbard: Don't mix business and politics" Montgomery Advertiser

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20121225/OPINION/312250007/Guest-editorial-Hindsight-20-20-Mike-Hubbard-Don-t-mix-business-politics

The Opelika-Auburn News first reported that several Republicans campaigning for Alabama legislative seats in 2010 were using Craftmaster Printers of Auburn for literature, and that then-state GOP Chairman Mike Hubbard was a partial owner of the business.

We did not say whether this practice was ethical or not ethical.

Monday, financial records from the Alabama Republican Party revealed that more than $800,000 of GOP money was paid to Craftmaster for its service. Does this mean the party chair directed the business to his business for profit? We don’t know that.

[shireen]

6. and when all charges are dropped,

i hope he sues those freaks for every penny they have!

[Coyotl]

62. Too late for that. The trial is over and he is in jail.

[Kingofalldems]

9. When was the 60 Minutes piece aired?

[freshwest]

13. I'm googling it. First results dated February 11, 2009...

Last edited Tue Dec 25, 2012, 06:11 PM - Edit history (1)

Did Ex-Alabama Governor Get A Raw Deal?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-3859830.html

Take a read, very interesting stuff there. A witness says he did take a bribe, but the entire thing stinks. He was targeted and it appears both the sentence and treatment of him was way out of line.

He should be pardoned or have his sentence at the very least commuted as the petition I posted here for those interested in signing it says.

[freshwest]

19. Okay, there was piece updated from Harper's, same as the OP.

Says from last night, Christmas Eve, I guess. It shows the irregularities here:

http://harpers.org/blog/2008/02/siegelman-updates-3/

Generally, I don't care for Paul Craig Roberts, unrepentant Father of Reaganomics and revered guest on the Alex Jones Show, which is a slickly produced anti-Obama, birther, black helicopter > drone, Agenda 21, etc. full blown CT network.

But this article got him out of the dog house for a while with me, so you might want to give it a try. I found his analysis on several things to be both refreshingly honest and depressing.

http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/04/the-republicans-cross-the-rubicon-paul-craig-roberts/

Give it a read, it's about Siegelman and the co-option of NPR, etc.

[subterranean]

22. It wasn't a bribe.

Richard Scrushy made a big donation to the education lottery that Siegelman was supporting. Then Siegelman reappointed him to a board that he (Scrushy) had served on under three previous governors. Is that bribery? No, it's politics as usual. There is no evidence that Scrushy gave any money to Siegelman himself. Siegelman did not benefit personally from the donation, and therefore, no bribery took place.

Also, the testimony from the main witness was highly suspect, as he had met with prosecutors more than 70 times, and they made him rewrite his statement over and over until they were satisfied with it. That information was illegally withheld from the defense.

[freshwest]

25. Not a bribe in the worst sense, and most likely Scrushy didn't have the bad rep he does now.

But some states would see it as improper to mix the funds. I don't mean to imply that Bailey was telling the truth, or defend this kangaroo style, Ken Starr Chamber of Horrors here. I'll edit, but the testimony has not cost the witness jail time. And that's what the guy said.

[JDPriestly]

59. "But some states would see it as improper to mix the funds."

I don't know what you meant.

But I will say that the whole matter was related to casinos. Remember the Abramov scandal?

Republicans were opposed to the state lottery in Alabama.

And Siegelman might have been a successful candidate for the presidency in his time.

He is a good man. The people who conspired against him? In my humble opinion, petty and cruel. How could they do what they did to someone who did them no harm and was outstanding in every way?

Governors appoint people to commissions all the time, people who have done them favors, people recommended by donors, and people who have donated to their pet projects or even their campaigns.

There is no credible evidence that Siegelman personally benefited from the donations that Scrushy gave. None whatsoever. Many state attorneys general wrote letters to support Siegelman's defense. The trial was kangaroo-style and shameful. It makes the entire state of Alabama look like a bunch of crooks. Sad affair.

"Improper to mix the funds." What do you mean specifically?

[Coyotl]

63. Don't forget the Big Oil vendetta = ExxonMobil’s Alabama Paydirt

Gov. Don Siegelman, the Roughly $3.6 Billion, ExxonMobil, and Pissing Off BIG OIL.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3070446

ExxonMobil’s Alabama Paydirt
Scott Horton - November 4, 2007 - http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001584

Back in 1904, Ida Tarbell published what ultimately was to be seen as the seminal work of the muckrakers, The History of Standard Oil. It appeared first in nineteen installments in McClure’s Magazine, a rather less successful competitor of Harper’s, and shortly after the last installment appeared, Tarbell published the work in book form as well. In her work, Tarbell exposed the dark underside of corporate deal-making, the series of interlocking directorates and manipulations which had allowed John D. Rockefeller to build the oil leviathan and dominate the American market. Tarbell demonstrated that Rockefeller’s success came not so much from business acumen (though she never contested that he had plenty of that) as through a thorough understanding of how to game the system. John D. Rockefeller was a power unto himself. Politicians around the country were made and broken to suit him.

But Tarbell’s disclosures fueled the drive for antitrust legislation and a fairer and more competitive business environment—a drive which was, in its time, championed by progressive politicians of both parties, but particularly by Theodore Roosevelt. By 1911, Standard Oil was broken into thirty companies.

But over time, like the liquid-metal monster in the “Terminator” series, Standard Oil pulled itself back together again. It was aided in this process by a change in attitudes across the political spectrum, but most particularly it was aided by America’s campaign finance system in which politicians standing for election require increasingly larger sums of money to pursue their campaigns, and support from the corporate till is essential. The final act of rebirth occurred when the two principal surviving pieces of the company, Exxon and Mobil, merged at the close of 1999. The resulting behemoth, ExxonMobil, is the largest publicly traded integrated petroleum and natural gas company in the world. It is also the world’s largest petroleum and natural gas company by revenue, with revenues of $377.6 billion in fiscal year 2006.

The State of Alabama believes that it was victimized by ExxonMobil. According to the state’s complaint launched by the Administration of Governor Don Siegelman, ExxonMobil committed fraud and underpaid the state in a contract dispute over natural gas pumped from Mobile Bay. Alabama won that litigation, and a jury awarded the state a judgment against ExxonMobil of roughly $3.6 billion. Not chump change ............

[Festivito]

47. TV, that night, in AL, went blank, for 20 minutes, BY COINCIDENCE, just that story, on 60 Minutes.

By coincidence my blue butt cheek.

[Kingofalldems]

49. Ah, now I remember.

[socialist_n_TN]

51. Did that REALLY happen guys????????

Not real subtle are they? Of course, I grew up in Alabama so this wouldn't surprise me in the least.

[Kingofalldems]

53. Yes and DU was all over it.

Poster(s) from Alabama broke the news as I recall.

[Lasher]

58. Yup, I remember that.

I remember looking up the coverage area for the Cable TV company that pulled the plug.

[Festivito]

54. Some googles...

google.com

60 Minutes goes blank in alabama don siegelman


Feb 24, 2008 ... During the 60 Minutes broadcast and ONLY during the Don Siegelman portion --
the screen went black for Huntsville residents and Mobile
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.../parts-of-60-minutes-broad_b_88218.html

went dark
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman

http://littlecountrylost.blogspot.com/.../blackout-of-siegelman-60-minutes.html
Feb 24, 2008 ... According to Larisa Alexandrovna, "during the 60 Minutes broadcast and ONLY
during the Don Siegelman portion -- the screen went black


http://donsiegelman.org/media_home.html
The Story of the Don Siegelman Prosecution · Archive of ... 07/08/09. Siegelman
Whistleblower Is Fired in Alabama .... FCC official wants probe of "60 Minutes"
black-out. Reuters


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2917888
TEASER: "This is Don Siegelman, formerly the governor of Alabama." Hissyspit
..... HUGE NEWS + A CBS affiliate "went black" for 12 minutes. It weas Comcast!

[freshwest]

69. No coincidence. Saw that when PBS was going to play 'Death of a Princess' in Houston.

It had been announced, but we were among the places it was blacked out, since it was and still is a big oil town and the international players were there. There were complaints of censorship over the 'movie' not being shown, but it did no good.

Death of a Princess
Apr. 19, 2005
120 minutes

Twenty-five years after the initial broadcast of perhaps the most controversial program in the history of public television FRONTLINE re-issues "Death of a Princess." The 1980 docudrama recounting the public execution of a young Saudi Arabian princess and her lover for adultery triggered vehement protests from the Saudi government and an international uproar when it was first broadcast in the U.S. and Britain. The film which re-creates journalist Antony Thomas's journey through the Arab world to investigate the executions is a portrait of the constricted lives of Arab women and a Rashomon-like exploration of the elusiveness of journalistic truth. This special presentation will feature new interviews with the filmmakers an inside view of the controversies surrounding the film and an analysis of how the lives of Arab women have and have not changed.

Producer(s): Antony Thomas

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/programs/info/2312.html

Death of a Princess is a British 1980 drama-documentary, produced by ATV, produced in cooperation with WGBH in the United States. The drama is based on the true story of Princess Masha'il, a young Saudi Arabian princess and her lover who had been publicly executed for adultery. The documentary's depiction of the customs of Saudi Arabia led many governments to oppose its broadcast, under threat of damaging trade ramifications....

After some stalling, it was eventually broadcast by the PBS programme World in most of the US on May 12, 1980, although many PBS stations did not do so. For example, in South Carolina, the PBS affiliate cancelled broadcast of the film, a decision influenced by fact that the then US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, John C. West, had formerly been the state's Governor.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Princess

Now it's on youtube:

Whether it's of any educational value or not, it was seen in some markets and at this time it doesn't matter as nothing is going to change the minds of some people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoning#Saudi_Arabia.2C_Sudan

I wonder how differently the crucifixion of Siegelman would have played out had it been aired as I'm sure many people there watch CBS. We might have seen fair minded people take the lead there and stop it.

[Festivito]

75. Problem number one in America: OUR MEDIA.

Including PBS, NPR, APR, ...

We need to find these filtching filterers and HANG THEM. With due process of course, which is more than they would give us.

[Overseas]

12. K&R.

[caseymoz]

14. K&R: Bravo! Finally.

As a bonus, it's further indication the Republican party is fracturing.

[DFW]

16. LONG overdue

I hope Rove and the corrupt Alabama Republican prosecutors spend at least as much time behind bars as Siegelman did.

[Whovian]

17. From this post to God's ear.

[Unknown Beatle]

18. KKKarl Rove and his henchmen

have a blatant disregard of the law. They're criminals thumbing their noses at the justice system of the US. They need to be convicted and sent to prison.

Damn! I can't stand Eric Holder, Mr. Pot Buster extraordinaire.

[cecilfirefox]

20. Can someone give me the detailed skinny on what happened here? I'm at a loss to this situation. nt

[Hissyspit]

31. I posted this a day or two ago

Where it pretty much got ignored. I have more links for you and will post in a while when I have more time.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101788445

Published on Dec 23, 2012

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman deserves a presidential pardon. Please share this video widely!

[shireen]

38. Thank you, I missed it. Excellent video!

I posted it on FB, hope others do the same.

[octoberlib]

36. This explains the gist of the case

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mimi-kennedy/don-siegelman_b_1851909.html

Don Siegelman should be a star in the Democratic Party. Instead, he's a former elected official sentenced to prison by a right-wing judge in Alabama.

Siegelman had the temerity to be a popular Alabama Democrat who'd won every statewide office by 1998, when he first became governor. With Jewish and Catholic roots, and empathic appeal to minorities, he threatened the GOP "southern strategy" for a dominant one-party Republican nation. To the GOP, Siegelman was potentially Another Clinton -- as repellent to them as Another Cuba.

U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, a friend of Karl Rove's, incited Siegelman's prosecution for bribery, destroying his political career and hurting his family. Read this letter signed by 113 former attorneys general and other national leaders, both Democrat and Republican. They assert that the prosecuted "bribe" wasn't one, and that, if this conviction stands, it threatens every public official and contributor at every level of government. Such routine transactions, if prosecuted, would choke our courts.

[Coyotl]

68. One way to control politics is to take out the threats

Don Siegelman was talked about as a V-P choice, one that would alter the results of elections in the South. He was a significant threat to a variety of interests. And he pissed off Big Oil by making them pay.

[Coyotl]

76. See #64 below.

[freshwest]

21. I really want to see this man released. Here is some more about working on his pardon:

Former governor Don Siegelman lobbies for presidential pardon at DNC

Wednesday, 5 September 2012

http://www.onenewspage.co.uk/n/World/74rfhcdga/Former-governor-Don-Siegelman-lobbies-for-presidential-pardon.htm

There is a video there. He was given permission by a federal judge to attend in Charlotte. He says he did not want to meet with Obama personally as the election was more important, and did even expect a pardon by Christmas. But he is hopeful that the online petition (I'll post it in a rely to this below for greater visiblity) will create momentum for a pardon or a commutation of his sentence.

[freshwest]

24. The online petition is here, please add to the signatures:

Petitioning The President of the United States

This petition will be delivered to:

The President of the United States of America

President Obama: Please restore justice and pardon my dad!

Petition by Dana Siegelman, Birmingham, AL

Dear Friends,

Five years ago, my dad, former Democratic Governor of Alabama Don Siegelman, was taken away in handcuffs and shackles. Most who learned of his case saw it as a travesty of justice, including several prominent Republicans (see 60 Minutes).

Though released pending appeal for four years and despite unprecedented support, my father was returned to prison on September 11th to complete a nearly 7 year term because the Supreme Court refused to hear his case.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, Fox Business News, MSNBC, CBS, Harper's, Time Magazine, The American Trial Lawyers, Huffington Post, The Guardian, 113 former state Attorneys General, top Constitutional Law Professors, and many others say this case is erroneous and Don Siegelman never commited a crime.

He was convicted of an implied quid pro quo, that is an inferred bribe, or a bribe without explicit proof of agreement or self-enrichment scheme. He was never accused of benefiting, at all.

I need your help to free my father. Please sign this petition to President Obama asking him to restore justice and pardon Don Siegelman!

Why Sign?

Gov. Don Siegelman was the 51st Governor of Alabama, serving from 1999 to 2003. He served in Alabama in public office for 26 years and is the only person in the history of the state to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide elected positions: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. He was essentially the longest running Democrat in the Southeast.

My dad was wrongfully convicted in 2007 in a case that Pace Law Professor Bennett Gershman called "one of the most egregiously bad faith prosecutions by the Justice Department ever.” Numerous public servants such as Al Gore, John Kerry, and Wesley Clark believe my father was wrongly prosecuted and wrongly convicted.

The American Trial Lawyer Magazine has called Dad America's "Political Prisoner #1." The New York Times said my dad was charged with something that has never even been considered a crime in America, and CBS’ 60 Minutes reported that the prosecution team coached key witness Nick Bailey more than 70 times and offered him a deal to testify against my father.

Conservative columnist George Will expressed in The Washington Post, “Everyone who cares about the rule of law should hope the Supreme Court agrees to hear Don Siegelman’s appeal….today’s confusion and the resulting prosecutorial discretion kill the exercise of Constitutional right, of political participation and can imprison people unjustly.”

More than 100 state Attorney Generals, both Republican and Democrat, many law professors, and thousands of people like you, have tried to help, garnering the attention of the media, organizing letter campaigns, and writing excellent articles, but ultimately the case was left to the courts. Even Fox Business News sympathized with Dad!

113 current and former state Attorney Generals from across the U.S. signed a brief to the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court saying, “There is reason to believe that the case brought against Governor Siegelman may have had sufficient irregularities as to call into question the basic fairness that is the linchpin of our system of justice.”

Fred Gray, attorney to Rosa Parks, and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, both close companions to the late Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., came to court to hold my mom's hand the day of sentencing in 2007. They wrote letters to the Department of Justice, to Congress, and to the President to convey that Don Siegelman is the “target of the Bush Justice Department, which has now endangered the style of government we fought so hard for.”

However, this is not about Democrats versus Republicans, far from it. It is simply about what's right and wrong, what is fair and what is not. As Thomas Jefferson said, "A prosecutor who alleges enough wrong doing will always get a conviction." Former U.S. Attorney General Robert H. Jackson said, "If the prosecutor is obliged to choose his cases, it follows that he can choose his defendants. Therein is the most dangerous power..."

This petition is much more than just one man's freedom. It is about American freedom. If this can happen to my dad, as governor, it can happen to anyone. The law is so unclear, all it takes is a prosecutor with a vendetta against you. As Dad explained when the surprise verdict came in 2007; “This is dangerous to our democracy and it is wrong. If this ruling stands, rogue prosecutors or a rogue Justice Department can prosecute contributors and elected officials they simply do not like.”

Please join me in asking President Obama to pardon my dad and let this issue stand before Congress and the Supreme Court.

Al Gore appealed, "Don Siegelman isn't just fighting for his freedom - he's fighting for the integrity of our democracy... As Americans, we have a responsibility to protect our democracy from those who would take advantage of it and abuse their power.”

Please sign and share my petition asking President Obama to grant Don Siegelman clemency!

The Supreme Court has denied my dad’s appeal, and he has been re-sentenced to more than five years in prison. At this point, my dad’s only hope is a commutation of sentence or pardon. Our hope for truth lies in holding our elected officials accountable. Our hope for justice is a great public outcry. Please join me in asking the President of the United States for clemency in my dad’s case by signing the petition on Change.org and sharing this message publicly however you can. By doing so we may one day clarify the law and keep our democracy and freedom intact.

Thank you so much for considering the facts and helping me free my dad!

With the greatest appreciation,

Dana Siegelman

http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-please-restore-justice-and-pardon-my-dad

[alfredo]

23. Obama needs to pardon Don.

[bvar22]

26. This is especially infuriating, because...

... the VERY, FIRST item on Holder's agenda after being appointed Attorney General by President Obama was to give corrupt REPUBLICAN Senator Ted Stevens an Out-of-Jail-for-Free card.

Eric Holder was officially installed as Attorney General of the United States on
March 29, 2009.

On April1, 2009, AG Holder announced that he had ordered the dismissal of the indictment against former Senator Ted Stevens on corruption charges.
Literally his very first act as Attorney General.

...but Democratic Governor Don Siegelman?
?
?
?
?
?
Don WHO?
...never heard of him!



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]

[shireen]

40. why has the WH ignored him?

Does anyone know the underlying political reasons?

[former9thward]

48. Holder did it with Stevens because the corruption of his prosecutors in that case had been exposed.

By the courts. That being said I certainly hope Siegelman gets a pardon. I am not optimistic about that because Obama's Supreme Court appointee, Justice Kagan, fought Siegelman's appeal when it was going through the courts.

[StevePaulson]

28. I Have Been Sending Don Money For Years

I know Don was screwed by our CORRUPT - C - O - R - R - U - P - T Republican ran government. It is obvious that he won his election, unprosecuted election fraud kept him from being governor, and being sent to prison is his punishment for complaining about the election fraud.

In 30 minutes worth of investigating the FBI could prove all of these points, and begin prosecutions. But they won't.

52 former Attorney Generals all say it need investigated.

(Crickets Chirping)

This case is one of the most in your face statements of how power matters far more than justice in our lootocrisy.

Justice (barf)

Republicans Are A Disease

http://www.RepublicansAreADisease.com

This is just one more slimy thing the Bush Administration left behind in their pile of malfeasance.

[kelliekat44]

29. There is a place o White House.gov for petitions.... commute sentence for the New Year!!! nt

[caseymoz]

30. Here's a sign Carl Rove's status had fallen.

He came up so empty in this last elections, Republicans who had qualms about him before are now turning on him.

[99th_Monkey]

32. Every DAY that passes, that Obama doesn't pardon Siegelman, is a nasty stain on his record

not to mention his Karma.

[DallasNE]

41. A Pardon Should Not Be Necessary

To reverse a case of judicial misconduct and corruption. Obviously the corruption still exists or Siegleman would not still be in jail. The judicial system is corrupt, broken and in need of immediate repair. Lifetime appointment for Judges has not freed them to be impartial so a starting point might be a 10-year term limit.

[99th_Monkey]

43. Screw the legal technicalities.

a pardon would render Mr. Siegleman a free man, instantly, which
is years too late already.

[Smilo]

33. Obama could have done something about this travesty

a while back - why is he refusing to do anything?

I have signed a couple of petitions to the President and we have heard nothing.

[WillyT]

34. HUGE K & R !!!

[gussmith]

35. I Agree

I read enough to feel that Mr. Siegelman got a bum rap but I don't have the facts. How can a governor have so little legal support that he wound up in jail?

[Ian62]

37. Why isn't Karl Rove in jail over this and other election frauds?

Don Siegelman speaks out about Karl Rove

http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/11/former_alabama_gov_don_siegelman_speaks

[DallasNE]

39. So Why Has This Case Not Already Been Reversed

Does that not point to an existing problem with the criminal justice system that it cannot right a wrong and indeed represents an ongoing issue of corruption? And what does this say for the average person that someone as powerful as a Governor cannot receive justice in our courts today -- do they have a chance?

[Ken Burch]

42. Is there any chance that the growing cries for Siegelman's release

could actually lead to Alabama switching, finally, from red to blue? Could finally lead to white Alabamans ceasing to base their votes almost entirely on their unjust resentment about the end of Jim Crow?

Just wondering(to use an Alaskan metaphor)if this will actually cause the political icefield of Alabama to begin calving off and creating clear water for change?

[Festivito]

55. They'd understand good information. They just don't get good information.

Get them good information, they switch.

[Berlum]

44. "...the corrupt and immoral Bush Administration." - Wall Street Journal

d'oh - where was the Wall Street Journal from 2000-2008 when the corrupt and immoral Republicans were trashing America wholesale and lying their degenerate asses off? About time they woke up and smelled the spew...

[malaise]

45. This is a frightening situation

If this can happen to a governor, who is safe?

[socialist_n_TN]

52. No one..........

No one is safe.

[Doctor_J]

50. Another shame on Obama

[zentrum]

56. Rove, Rove, Rove and Rove n/t

[underthematrix]

57. PBO is very tight lipped and

may have already asked to review the gov's situation. So I would not rule out a presidential pardon.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

61. K&R nt

[Coyotl]

64. Political Prisoner Don Siegelman = Some History = Past DU Siegelman Threads

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3070446

FROM THE TOP .... The story broke in early June 2007, popping up on my daily news search for "Karl Rove." .....

[annabanana]

70. Thank you for linking to the archives..

DU never forgets.

[Coyotl]

72. Many new DU posters forget to search DU before posting on old issues

I often notice the new users have no insight into what is on DU.

There is better coverage and more insightful coverage of Don Siegelman's saga on DU that anywhere else except perhaps the original material on Harpers by Scott Horton (which is fully mentioned and/or linked on DU too, of course).

[Uncle Joe]

65. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, annabanana.

[WashingtonConsensus]

66. "Ruining people is considered a sport" to these types

I believe HRC said that.

[Coyotl]

67. They have a Politics is a Crusade attitude, a form of warfare

with no holds barred because they are on the "good" side with their Lord. The usual means justifies the end shit.

[Auntie Bush]

71. Chalk this up as more reasons to hate Rove-Bush and his honchos and throw them all in jail.

They are all a bunch of slimy, moldy, decaying heap of trash. Good for nothing except compost.

[midnight]

74. K&R