Sweet Home Alabama

by digby

The US Attorney scandal is still percolating even though Alberto Gonzales has wandered off into the sunset, and one of the most intriguing cases is one of the more obscure: the apparent railroading of the Democratic Governor of Alabama at the direction of Karl Rove:

Siegelman’s case has become something of a major cause among those who charge that he was targeted by a highly partisan Department of Justice so he would be no threat to Republican Gov. Bob Riley in his bid for reelection to the post he wrested from Siegelman in 2002.

Congressional hearings into that alleged DOJ politicization are currently gaining steam and there will be much testimony about the Siegelman case in the coming days and weeks.

But even though he did not want to be interviewed while in prison (and I can’t say I blame him), he did send me a nice, hand-written letter that arrived in the office while I was on vacation.

While I don’t think it would be appropriate to report the four-page letter verbatim, I don’t think Siegelman would mind if I repeat his assertion that if congress digs deep they will find a major scandal and miscarriage of justice in his case.

“I know that if Congress looks deep enough, the Alabama case will be like the Watergate scandal that led to President Nixon’s impeachment and his resignation,” the former governor wrote from his federal jail cell. “All the ingredients are mixed into this case.”

It does seem as if Siegelman’s case encompasses a whole bunch of very interesting Rovian elements. Here’s how a NY Times editorial put it:

June 30, 2007
Editorial
Questions About a Governor’s Fall

It is extremely disturbing that Don Siegelman, the former governor of Alabama, was hauled off to jail this week. There is reason to believe his prosecution may have been a political hit, intended to take out the state’s most prominent Democrat, a serious charge that has not been adequately investigated. The appeals court that hears his case should demand answers, as should Congress.

The United States attorneys scandal has made clear that partisan politics is a driving force in the Bush Justice Department. Top prosecutors were fired for refusing to prosecute Democrats or for not bringing baseless vote-fraud cases to help Republicans. Lawyers were improperly hired based on party affiliation.

If the Justice Department was looking to help Republicans in Alabama, putting away Mr. Siegelman would be a shrewd move. In a state short on popular Democrats, he was elected governor in 1998. He was defeated for re-election in 2002 by just a few thousand votes, in an election marred by suspicious vote tabulations.

The charges Mr. Siegelman was convicted of suggest that he may have been a victim of selective prosecution. He was found to have named a prominent Alabama businessman to a state board in exchange for a contribution to a campaign fund for a state lottery, something Mr. Siegelman supported to raise money for his state’s woefully inadequate public schools. He was not found to have taken any money for himself and many elected officials name people who have given directly to their own campaigns to important positions. The jury dismissed 25 of the original 32 counts against Mr. Siegelman.

The most arresting evidence that Mr. Siegelman may have been railroaded is a sworn statement by a Republican lawyer, Dana Jill Simpson. Ms. Simpson said she was on a conference call in which Bill Canary, the husband of the United States attorney whose office handled the case, insisted that “his girls” would “take care of” Mr. Siegelman. According to Ms. Simpson, he identified his “girls” as his wife, Leura Canary, and another top Alabama prosecutor. Mr. Canary, who has longstanding ties to Karl Rove, also said, according to Ms. Simpson, that he had worked it out with “Karl.”

The idea of federal prosecutors putting someone in jail for partisan gain is shocking. But the United States attorneys scandal has made clear that the Bush Justice Department acts in shocking ways. We hope that the appeals court that hears Mr. Siegelman’s case will give it the same hard look that another appeals court recently gave the case of Georgia Thompson. Ms. Thompson, a low-level employee in a Democratic administration in Wisconsin, was found to have been wrongly convicted of corruption by another United States attorney.

Congress, though, should not wait. It should insist that Mr. Canary and everyone on the 2002 call, as well as Mrs. Canary and Mr. Rove, testify about the Siegelman prosecution.

The US Attorney scandal wasn’t just some abstract exercise in executive power. It affected real people, using the most powerful tools in the government’s toolbag. This man was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.

This is one to keep an eye on. Too bad his name isn’t Scooter.

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