Democrats Question Prosecution of a Governor:Siegelman

[cal04]

House leaders are beginning an investigation this week of the prosecution of Don Siegelman, the former Democratic governor of Alabama who was imprisoned in June on federal corruption charges. The case could become the centerpiece of a Democratic effort to show that the Justice Department engaged in political prosecutions.

Republicans strongly deny the suggestion, and as Mr. Siegelman enters the fourth month of his 88-month sentence, the case is becoming a bitter flash point between Democratic officials and the Bush administration.

Jill Simpson, an Alabama lawyer who signed an affidavit saying she overheard a Republican political operative connect the prosecution of Mr. Siegelman to Karl Rove, will be questioned under oath this week by investigators for the House Judiciary Committee. The chairman of that committee, Representative John Conyers Jr., Democrat of Michigan, has asked the Justice Department to turn over its documents in the case.

The department has refused his request, saying in a letter last week to the committee that “we want to avoid any perception that the conduct of our criminal investigations and prosecutions is subject to political influence.”

On Monday, Mr. Conyers called the department’s position “unacceptable,” saying of its reasoning, “This concern should lead to precisely the opposite result.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/us/11siegelman.html?hp

[bleever]

1. This story's gonna be big.

:thumbsup:

[L. Coyote]

3. It is HUGE! Since TIME covered it June 1st, it has just mushroomed

Tons of articles and more are out there now. The DoJ is stonewalling. Rove is implicted. Jack Abramoff is involved, and probably talking!!!

TPM Don Siegelman Archive: http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/cats/don_siegelman /

HARPERS 41 Blogs by Scott Horton: http://www.harpers.org/subjects/DonSiegelman/SubjectOf/BlogEntry

==================
DU archives:

Jun-01-07 Abramoff and Kark Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor and Campaign Finances
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1023111

Jul-01-07 GO TO JAIL NOW: Former AL Dem Governor gets 7 years despite ROVE frame-up claim.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1224046

Aug-31-07 Political Prisoner Don Seigelman: Obstruction Of Justice Accusation Unclear = TPM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1704777

Sep-09-07 Political Prisoner Don Seigelman: Republican Lawyer Set To Speak With House Judiciary Under Oath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1770148

This Evening, Scott Horton was on a Canadian radio show:
****** Official Thread Siegelman = "KARL ROVE WAS DEEPLY INVOLVED" *******
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1777924

[bleever]

4. Is there a transcript of the Horton interview?

I remember recently some reporter asked Rove if he remembered the infamous phone call, and he chuckled and said, "I don't recall that," then an aide jumped in and corrected him, saying, "He meant that he has no comment."

[L. Coyote]

6. I e-mailed the station director. Hoping so.

[EFerrari]

2. Good! Finally! n/t

[WillyT]

5. Big K & R !!!

:bounce::kick::bounce:

[LiberalAndProud]

7. What?!?

The department has refused his request, saying in a letter last week to the committee that “we want to avoid any perception that the conduct of our criminal investigations and prosecutions is subject to political influence.”

If the shoe fits ...

Outrageous! (My outrage archives are overloading)

[cal04]

8. DoJ Lawyers Urged "Another Look" at Siegelman Case

(snip)
The New York Times points to some unresolved issues there:

Yet questions about the Siegelman case persist, including about whether Mr. Franklin played the decisive role he says he did, and not just among the former governor’s supporters.

For one thing, the prosecution of a high official like a governor is nearly always undertaken under the watchful eye of Justice Department officials in Washington, former government lawyers say.

One of Mr. Siegelman’s former lawyers, G. Douglas Jones, former United States attorney in Birmingham, says that at a crucial moment in 2004, when the Siegelman investigation seemed to be flagging, he was told by government prosecutors in Montgomery that the “folks in Washington said, ‘Take another look at everything.’ ”

Referring to a unit of the Justice Department, Mr. Jones said, “There is no question but that the Public Integrity Section was intimately involved.”

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004146.php