Don Siegelman is a political prisoner in one of the most backward countries in the world.

[HomerRamone]

I’M ONLY GONNA SHOUT THIS at the top of my lungs so listen above the din. Don Siegelman is a political prisoner in one of the most backward countries in the world. THAT’S RIGHT I SAID IT. He was jailed after threatening the scheme of bastard Jack Abramoff with Indian casinos and whatnot. Governor Siegelman stood up against outright election thievery. He was stymied by election rules; errr he couldn’t contest 18,000 votes that appeared AFTER he had won re-election. ALL THIS after being returned by the good voters. Errr except for those durn Karl Rove’s operatives.

<...>

Representative Bob Riley defeated Siegelman’s November 2002 reelection bid by the narrowest margin in Alabama history: approximately 3,000 votes. The result was controversial, as on the night of the election, Siegelman was initially declared the winner by the Associated Press and all sources. Later, Republican electioneers were employed to betray our greater purpose. A voting machine malfunction in a single county, Baldwin County, was claimed to have produced the votes needed to give Siegelman the election. When the malfunction was corrected, Riley emerged the winner. Democratic Party officials objected, stating that the recount had been performed by local Republican election officials after Democratic observers had left the site of the vote counting, thus rendering verification of the recount results impossible. However, the state’s Attorney General, Republican Bill Pryor, affirmed the recounted vote totals, securing Riley’s election.

<...>

The lack of media coverage of both sides of this story is appalled, alarming even. The fact that Barack Obama hasn’t intervened in this but to buttress the original government prosecution once again proves the corporate machine rules all, and the elites, on both sides of the aisle despise us and all the Siegelman-like qualities we exhibit. Fer example, still thinking we live in the kind of country our forebears handed us. We should be ashamed collectively.

WHAT CONCERNS ME MOST is he was popular enough to be elected Governor twice, although the second was stolen, and therefore ALL THOSE ALABAMANS have been duped or shuttered into submission. Those not convinced by all this nonsense that this is anything but a political assassination have learned to shut their f*cking mouths. Move along. Stay behind the yellow line.

MORE: http://abbysbigcity.com/crimson-alabama-bleeds-yellow-defend-don-siegelman

[think]

1. kick and rec

[patrice]

2. KICK! Has DOJ been "captured"?

[Octafish]

3. DU Tries

Know your BFEE: Bush and His Crooks with Badges Sent an Innocent Man to Jail

Thank you for keeping on, HomerRamone.

[rhett o rick]

4. What could possibly be the justification for the DoJ not to

right this wrong?

[lordsummerisle]

5. k&r n/t

[L. Coyote]

6. Gov. Don Siegelman, the Roughly $3.6 Billion, ExxonMobil, and Pissing Off BIG OIL.

Gov. Don Siegelman, the Roughly $3.6 Billion, ExxonMobil, and Pissing Off BIG OIL.
Mar-27-08 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3070446

Can Governor Don Siegelman stay out of jail?
Jan-18-11 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x222852

[Freddie Stubbs]

7. So, the DOJ went after Siegelman to protect Jack Abramoff?

Who was it then that prosecuted Jack Abramoff?

[JDPriestly]

24. Jack Abramoff wrote a so-called confessional autobiography

but refuses to tell the truth about the railroading of Siegelman.

This is a huge scandal, and unfortunately, the Obama administration has, out of weakness, allowed itself to be tainted by it.

The truth will come out. The charges were ridiculous.

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. The charges were enough to convince a jury to vote unanimously to convict him

[JDPriestly]

39. A witness lied.

It is perfectly normal to appoint a donor to one of your pet projects to a commission. It is done all the time. That is why so many state attorney generals supported Siegelman. The entire trial was a miscarriage of justice.

[Hissyspit]

41. The charges convinced them?

Interesting choice of words.


http://archive.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/061115/witness.shtml

Witnesses in Siegelman trial sentenced to prison
By Bob Johnson

Associated Press Writer

MONTGOMERY — Two key witnesses in the case that led to the conviction of former Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy were sentenced to federal prison terms Tuesday.

Lobbyist and landfill developer Lanny Young was sentenced to two years in prison for bribery-related charges, fined $25,000 and ordered to serve three years of supervised probation after his release from prison.

Former longtime Siegelman aide Nick Bailey was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of supervised probation on bribery-related charges, but he was not fined.


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

The Court did strike down two of the seven charges on which Siegelman was convicted, and it ordered a new sentencing hearing. That means Siegelman's seven-year sentence could be reduced.

Partiality of the jury

Documents indicated that prosecutors interviewed two jurors while the court was reviewing charges of juror misconduct, in violation of the judge's instruction that no contact with jurors should occur without his permission.

- snip -

Alleged Misconduct by Attorney General

In November 2008, new documents revealed alleged misconduct by the Bush-appointed U.S. attorney and other prosecutors in the case. Extensive and unusual contact between the prosecution and the jury were alleged to have occurred.[22]

- snip -

Testimony of the star witness

Witness Nick Bailey, who provided the cornerstone testimony upon which the conviction was based, was subsequently convicted of extortion; upon being given 10 years in prison Bailey cooperated with prosecutors to lighten his own sentence. Although he engaged in over 70 interviews with the prosecution against Siegelman, none of the notes detailing these interviews were shared with the defense. In addition, after the case was tried it was confirmed that the check he testified he saw Scrushy write for Siegelman was actually written days later, when he was not actually present.[20][21]

[socialist_n_TN]

8. Yet people STILL have faith in the electoral system...........

Call it what it is. Faith based voting.

[patrice]

15. We DO call it that. The questions are about how to create critical mass to overturn corruption.

Kansas is run by churches and we matter to ourselves, if not to more radical states.

[99Forever]

9. Eric Holder will get right on it...

.. right after he finishes busting all of those criminal pot smokers. Really.

Hold your breath and see.

[Canuckistanian]

14. I honestly thought Holder's first action as AG would be to rectify Siegelman's injustices

When he didn't, I knew something was up.

[99Forever]

18. Holder is a spineless wimp.

The best he can do, is go for the low-hanging fruit. He should have been fired 3 years ago.

[librechik]

22. yup--that was the beginning of my realization that Obama

despite some successes in other areas has not even tried to approach the DOJ which urgently needs reform. He has stayed alive with a strategy of only proposing reforms which Repubs have voted for in the past. It must have surprised him when they nakedly refused to even support those!

But the DOJ is too deeply, grotesquely burrowed-in and corrupted by ten years of Bush (and most of Clinton's terms also) not to mention the preceding historic Republican domination. They have had a non-liberal hiring policy for decades! How can Obama change them? Maybe in the next admin, but they will eventually take it over again. It's a lost cause, IMO, and Holder is just a stooge with very little actual power. at least that is what he acts like.

The DOJ is out of control. And that's not good, particularly with the powers they have post 9/11.

[samsingh]

10. President Obama should pardon Siegelman

and put an end to the repug farce of prosecuting this poor man.

let's start a grassroots movement on this.

[Stuart G]

11. I agree completely..nt

[phleshdef]

20. A pardon implies Siegelman actually did something wrong.

[PoliticAverse]

36. A pardons doesn't imply you did anything wrong. n/t

[phleshdef]

37. Yes. It does. I'd advise you to look up what pardon means.

[PoliticAverse]

38. I know what the words 'pardon' and 'imply' mean and I stand by my statement. n/t

[samsingh]

46. i just want him to be able to get on with his life

a pardon will free him from Rove's bullshit

[OnyxCollie]

12. K&R. nt

[The Wizard]

13. There will be no justice

until Karl Rove is handed a cigarette and blindfold.

[Blue Owl]

16. K&R

:kick:

[libodem]

17. Thank you

For keeping this alive.

[annabanana]

19. k&r . . . .n/t

[roody]

21. Is Siegelman incarcerated right now?

Forgive my ignorance.

[JDPriestly]

25. Siegelman is to be resentenced. No hearing date yet, apparently.

A lawyer for Siegelman said the case now goes back to a federal court in Montgomery, Ala., where U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller has ordered a new sentencing hearing for Siegelman. The attorney, Sam Heldman of Washington, declined comment on what length of sentence the defense might request.

. . . .

Fuller has yet to set a date for Siegelman's resentencing. The judge previously shaved a year off of Scrushy's term.

. . . .

Originally sentenced by Fuller to more than seven years in prison, Siegelman was freed on bond after serving nine months while appealing the conviction. Former Vice President Al Gore recently allowed his name to be used in a quest to raise money for Siegelman's appeal to the Supreme Court.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9V6FUDG2.htm

Alabama is one big cesspool. Always was. That's my opinion. I know a lot about Alabama. None of it very good.

[freshwest]

29. Meanwhile, Tom Delay is free and could be Dancing With The Stars. What a country.

Tom DeLay Sentenced To Three Years In Prison With Himself by Jack Stuef

Texas judge Pat Priest sentenced DeLay to three years on a conspiracy charge and also sentenced him to five years in prison for money laundering. Priest, however, allowed DeLay to accept 10 years probation on the money laundering charge, assuming he meets certain conditions set by the court.

DeLay could have received up to life in prison on the money laundering and conspiracy charges...

http://wonkette.com/434783/tom-delay-sentenced-to-three-years-in-prison-with-himself

The story left the media soon after then, with no date for being remanded into custody at that time. He was free to do as he pleased. AFAIK he never served a day. When you seek a picture link of him as he smiled for his mug shot, a click will take you to a series of anti-liberal pages.

His conviction has been scrubbed from his Wikipedia page, if it was ever there in the first place:

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

And the famous DWTS video:

Note the canned (perhaps) applause to tell all the viewers that this man is just so popular and an all around great guy. It's a standard propaganda technique.

Just imagine people who know nothing about this vicious man, who sent his congressional aides to provide media cover for the coup of 2000, seeing this on youtube and television, like Sarah's adventures in Alaska. See, everyone just loves him! He couldn't have done anything wrong, could he?

M$M.

[solarman350]

44. Just So You Know...tom delay is not in the system yet & may never be.

When I emailed the Texas Department of Criminal Justice ("TDCJ&quot , I asked if they had tom delay in one of their prisons. They emailed me back and said they did not. They also said they have no record of him in their system. Maybe someone else can take a crack at it and post the response you get:

http://offender.tdcj.state.tx.us/POSdb2/index.jsp

Looks to me like tom delay escaped "southern justice" altogether....for now.

[freshwest]

45. Thanks for taking the time to email; I suspected as much. There were a few stories in the papers,

the Austin Statesman was one of the ones that covered it best, but since Scroogle closed down, search results rather suck. Those I talked to online who were gloating, I warned it wasn't a done deal. Too much GOP power in Texas and they do stick together. He also had Dick DeGuerin, I think working with his defense team. Ah, no, most of their crimes go unpunished. Their followers regard the effects of the corruption as proof of righteousness...

[midnight]

23. HR I Agree with you except, I believe that Riley via Rove stole Siegelman's win.....

[Pauline89]

26. Spam deleted by NRaleighLiberal (MIR Team)

[Uncle Joe]

27. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, HomerRamone.

[sabrina 1]

30. I think getting justice for Don Siegelman is going to require a movement. I remember him

Last edited Wed Jun 13, 2012, 12:47 AM - Edit history (1)

being one of the few Dems who spoke out about the theft of the 2000 election and I'm sure he was a real threat to the Crime Organization that was running the country at that time. Someone willing to tell the truth. They are always in danger.

This story is such a tragedy. The criminals go free, and an innocent man is persecuted, it truly is shameful.

The DOJ otoh, DID interfere in the case of Republican Sen. Stevens of Alaska who actually was corrupt but it's that his trial was corrupted so it was the right thing to do. However, Siegelman's trial is filled with irregularities, so why did it not get the same treatment?

[FiveGoodMen]

31. Why did Siegelman not get the same treatment as Stevens?

Because Stevens is a republican.

And IOKIYAR.

Even under THIS admin.

[EFerrari]

32. Stevens was corrupt as hell. It wouldn't be suprising to find out at some point

that he was blackmailing or threatening to blackmail someone in government.

[sabrina 1]

33. Good question, yet to be answered.

[WillyT]

34. HUGE K & R !!!

[pacalo]

35. K&R!

[sabrina 1]

40. Tweeted this OP for more exposure. I wonder if Avaaz or one of the activist sites with a large

membership would take on this case. He at least should know that people have not forgotten him. This is a total disgrace to this country and to think that Karl Rove still roams free.

[midnight]

42. Thank you...

[Iwillnevergiveup]

43. K&R

I too appreciate the continuation of the Don Siegelman travesty of justice. He's made his case several times on Thom Hartmann.

Watching the Dancing With the Stars video made me even madder. At myself for watching it.

[woo me with science]

47. K&R