Siegelman Saga Continues ....

[flashl]

Hundreds of pages denied to lawyer

After initially denying requested documents existed, Justice Department allows attorney who has worked with former governor to see only two of 516 pages

The Justice Department is withholding 514 pages of documents related to the recusal of U.S. Middle District Attorney Leura Canary from her office's criminal investigation of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, according to correspondence between the department and an Alabaster attorney.

The Department of Justice initially told John Aaron, the Alabaster attorney who worked on Siegelman's 2006 gubernatorial campaign and requested the documents under the Freedom of Information Act, that it had no documents related to the recusal.

After Aaron appealed, the Justice Department's Executive Office for United States' Attorneys said it had 516 pages related to the case but would only release two -- Canary's 2002 news release announcing her recusal for personnel and privacy issues.

FOIA gamesmanship will make you weep.

[Bitwit1234]

1. Can't they walk in with a search warrent and just demand the papers

after all they got the approval from the Freedom of Information Act.

[flashl]

2. No. The government gets deference using FOIA to decide

whether you can access information about yourself.