Do you believe that Don Siegelman belongs in jail for the next 20 years?

[rudy23]

I've been seeing some Democrats around the web actually coming out on the side of Rove and co. in saying that Siegelman does in fact belong in jail for 20 years for corruption charges. Do you think he deserves to be locked up for 20 years (in addition to the time he's already served)?

[EFerrari]

1. This is the same forum that used to write letters to him every Tuesday

until he was released.

:wtf:

[flyarm]

3. there are some on this forum now that need to learn what being a democrat is!!

and it is not "NEW" democrat..

There is nothing "NEW" about standing strong with democratic values and prinicples..seems some here lately have no clue what values and principles are..and they sure as hell have no clue what being a democrat is all about....orrrrr..they are being paid not to!

[patrice]

6. I suspect it is by far mostly the latter. Just look at all of the boilerplate posts.

When you are busy hopping from forum to forum, first of all you are not encouraged by your bo$$e$ to, and second of all you don't have time to write original analysis and thoughts.

[Soylent Brice]

2. please tell me that yes vote was a troll.

*sigh*

[rudy23]

15. Now up to 4 yes votes!

Isn't that something?

[sandnsea]

4. He sold the CON Board seat. Period.

You can argue that his constitutional rights were violated in getting the conviction. You can't argue that he wasn't guilty. He was. Big Time Guilty.

[EFerrari]

5. Btw, Siegelman being heard by the Supreme Court is exactly what Kagan is blocking.

'Disappointed' Siegelman: Obama Justice Dept. Virtually The Same As Bush DOJ

Justin Elliott | November 25, 2009, 10:42AM

When the Obama Administration argued in a filing earlier this month that the Supreme Court should not consider an appeal by Don Siegelman, the former Alabama governor wasn't surprised, even though the Obama filing maintained the Bush-era stance in Siegelman's controversial corruption case.

"There's really been no substantial change in the heart of the Department of Justice from the Bush-Rove Department of Justice," Siegelman tells TPMmuckraker in an interview.

Siegelman, a Democrat, served roughly nine months in prison after his 2006 bribery conviction. He was ordered released pending appeal in March 2008. The case, which has been dogged by allegations of politicization and prosecutorial misconduct -- including links to Karl Rove -- centers on what the government called a pay-to-play scheme in which Siegelman appointed a large donor to a state regulatory board.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/disappointed_siegelman_obama_doj_virtually_the_sam.php

[spiritual_gunfighter]

8. Obviously Kagan believes he should be in jail

pathetic really.

[Orsino]

12. Oops.

That bit of cognitive dissonance isn't going to play well.

[EFerrari]

14. Few or no one will even notice. I think we're safe. n/t

[QC]

7. The right thing to do in this case depends

on what is best for Obama's career.

[mmonk]

9. No. I disagree with both parties and Elena Kagan and the DOJ on this.

[patrice]

10. No.

Having lived with a Libertarian attorney (my Spouse), I know how devoted to the process attorneys are, even when, to outsiders' eyes, it appears to not be working. The only thing I can think about EK's involvement in the persecution of Don Siegelman is that perhaps she did her job without tilting one way or the other for Siegelman.

I think a NYT editorial mentioned this facet yesterday in projecting hope onto EK's confirmation hearings to have some discussion beyond rhetorical generalities and beyond the nuts and bolts of mechanical (legal process) logic to a specific philosophical orientation on these kinds of situations.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. No. Even if he were guilty of everything they've charged him with

(and I'm not saying I believe he is) 20 years is way excessive. Only violent criminals deserve such sentences, or people whose non-violent crimes have seriously hurt a great many people, like Bernie Madoff.

Run of the mill political corruption deserves less than a decade, with a prohibition on serving in any further public office. A little jail time and an end to his political career are sufficient.

[EFerrari]

13. The witness the Bush DoJ used against him and upon which this case was built

has zero credibility.

Did the DoJ Blackmail Siegelman Witness With Sex Scandal?
July 21, 2009

If you are new to the US Attorney Scandal, start here, here, and here. Then come back and read the latest below.

Well, well, well - Leura Canary has some serious explaining to do:

"The top government witness in the 2006 federal conviction of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman on corruption charges is providing new evidence that prosecutors failed to fulfill their legal obligation to provide the defense with all records documenting witness-coaching.

Former Siegelman aide Nick Bailey swears that prosecutors failed to reveal to the defense details of most of his two dozen prep sessions before he became the Bush Justice Department's key witness that former HealthSouth chief executive Richard Scrushy bribed the former Democratic governor. Scrushy arranged $500,000 in donations to an education non-profit fostered by Siegelman to increase school funding. At trial, Bailey suggested the donations were required by Siegelman to reappoint Scrushy to a state regulatory board. The defendants, bolstered by legal experts and whistleblowers, claim that they were framed to eliminate Siegelman from politics.

Even more explosive than an alleged failure by prosecutors to comply with federal trial procedures is a sworn statement by Bailey's current employer Luther "Stan" Pate, another Alabama businessman.

"Nick was told that the government was working to prevent the publicizing of an alleged sexual relationship between Nick and Don Siegelman," Pate wrote. "Nick also told me that one of the agents working the Siegelman/Scrushy prosecution asked him whether he had ever taken illegal drugs with Governor Siegelman or had a sexual relationship with him. These comments had a dramatic effect on Nick, and, in my observation, added significantly to the pressure he felt to go along with whatever the prosecutors wanted him to say."

http://www.atlargely.com/atlargely/2009/07/did-the-doj-blackmail-siegelman-witness-with-sex-scandal.html


You know, it would be easier to delineate what went right with this trial. They arrested their target. That's about it.