Breaking news! Alabama blogger fired from job for writing about Don Siegelman

[KelleyKramer]

This is an amazing story.

This guy has been all over the Siegelman story, and also specifically.. corrupt DOJ prosecutor US attorney Alice Martin.

Two stories listed below, one from Rawstory and another one from the original blogger....

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Alabama_bloggers_firing_raises_troubling_questions_0709.html

Alabama US Attorney denies any involvement in university editor's termination

This 'case is definitely about the first amendment,' says Harper's journalist

The abrupt dismissal of a veteran University of Alabama employee who blogged about the firing of seven US Attorneys has added a bizarre new twist to allegations that the state's US Attorneys targeted political opponents for prosecution.

Roger Shuler -- a high-profile blogger and leading critic of Alabama's judicial system -- has written extensively about alleged corruption among U.S. Attorneys for over a year. In particular, Shuler focused on two US Attorneys from his home state: Alice H. Martin of the Northern District and Leura G. Canary of the Middle District.

An editor in the University of Alabama Birmingham publications office for the last 12 years and a university employee for 19, Shuler was placed on administrative leave May 7 and formally fired May 19.
"I had worked there for 19 years and never received anything but positive performance reviews," Schuler wrote RAW STORY in May. "I never received an oral warning about anything. Then I was fired without warning, contrary to university policy and almost certainly in violation of federal law."

- More on the link above

==================================

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2008/07/blog-about-siegelman-lose-your-job.html

Blog About Siegelman, Lose Your Job

Getting elected and running for office as a Democrat in Alabama cost former Governor Don Siegelman his freedom. Writing about the Siegelman story has cost me my job.

The Raw Story Web site, in a major investigative piece by reporter Lindsay Beyerstein, breaks news today about my recent termination at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). I had worked at UAB for 19 years, the last 12 as an editor in the Publications Office, before being fired on May 19. At the time of my termination, I did not have so much as an oral warning in my personnel file about the issues UAB claims led to my firing.

In fact, before my Supervisor, Pam Powell, initiated an age- and gender-based harassment campaign against me in December 2007, I didn't have an oral warning about anything in my file. Only when I began to defend myself against this harassment did UAB initiate an "investigation" of my computer use at work. And when I defended myself against false charges of policy violations, I got a written warning, followed by forced administrative leave, and termination.

All of this is in clear violation of university policy and federal law. As Columbia University law professor Scott Horton states in the Raw Story piece, UAB's actions raise clear First Amendment issues.

-Much more on the link above!

[lonestarnot]

1. He's going to need a good employment lawyer.

[Danger Mouse]

2. I hope he sues these assholes.

[KelleyKramer]

3. Sounds like he would have a pretty good case ....

And a big university like that would have deep pockets, so hopefully he wouldnt have any trouble getting an attorney to take it on.

The key part would be getting it inside a courtroom and getting the UAB people to roll over on the corrupt Doj prosecutors, and possibly even Karl Rove ???

[hootinholler]

4. I think it would open a path to depose turdblossom.

This could get interesting.

-Hoot

[dmr]

5. I thought the same thing, though I don't know why

or how it could. But it did cross my mind.

Why do you think?

[hootinholler]

11. Well, it's a bit thin, but...

The only way to justify the firing is through a libel case. I think it reasonable to depose Rove about his role in the Seigelman case while preparing that defense.

-Hoot

[KelleyKramer]

6. On the Rove part, I would wait until Jan 21, 2009 ...

On second thought, it might be good to wait until Bush cant issue pardons for these criminals.

You cant pardon someone who hasnt been charged with a crime, can you??

[druidity33]

9. huh

isn't that what Ford did with Nixon?

:shrug:

[barbtries]

12. my first thought

i think technically you can't - but as history as shown, republicans aren't too attentive to the law except where they can exploit it to serve their ends.

[hfojvt]

7. is the "age and gender-based harrassment" related to Siegelman?

or are there other things going on?

[KelleyKramer]

8. There is so much here, its incredible ...

They even have the local sheriff harassing him, they tried to repossess his house.

Remember, Karl Rove and the other players in this saga were trained by the Nixon watergate crew ...

Siegelmans house was broken into, ran sacked, files and computers stolen.

Siegelman lawyers office was broken into, ran sacked, files and computers stolen.

The Republican lady who came forward with sworn statements about Rove... her house was broken into.

Then her house was burned down

She was also run off the road and had a car wreck.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

[barbtries]

13. this will all make a great movie

the people are so over the top it defies belief.

[CoffeeCat]

14. ....and these are just the shennanigans taking place...

...in one state.

Do you ever get the feeling that our entire country is run by a large, multi-pronged crime syndicate--that operates behind the
scenes--threatening people, keeping people quiet, attacking people for threatening their operation?

If this nonsense if present in Alabama, how could it not be happening in other areas of the country?

[KelleyKramer]

15. Its not a feeling, it IS being run by criminals...

And its going on all over the country. There was a Dem in Michigan they did this too.

A Dem judge and two lawyers in Miss were put in prison on trumped up charges... same mo.. houses broken into, lawyers office burned down, etc etc

There are a lot more, just hard to keep up with it all.

And any US attorneys who refused to put innocent Dems in prison were fired, such as in MN, New Mex and Calif and elsewhere across the country

Thats why Rove has no intention of ever testifying... this is just the tip of a huge iceberg.

[CoffeeCat]

17. How long do they think that they...

...can get away with this?

It's interesting that we've heard barely a peep about the crimes you mentioned, in MN, NM and CA. We've heard
some about AL, but not nearly enough.

Who keeps the media quiet????

Where is our modern-day Woodstein?

If average citizens can figure out this stuff and make the connections, surely a journalist could.

...make a person paranoid to think this way!

[Festivito]

19. I'd guess a paper reports one story, then hit by phone calls.

These guys are like the Nazi machine. They probably have info on someone at every news source existing.

The right call with the the right threat, and the order comes down hard on top of the writer.

[Rocky2007]

20. ow long do they think that they....can get away with this?

If you have been following other threads along this line of thought -- this may have been going on for some years --

Republicans have held the money and have done things that have benefited themselves. Just look at the current administration and what they have done to further their wealth.

Bush has crossed the line me thinks. Obama is going to come down on them unlike no other wrath from hell.

[KelleyKramer]

21. We have heard some of it, but theres alot more to be told..

The NM and Calif firings were a big part of Gonzalez and a handful of other top people at Doj resigning.

But the real question was--- what were the other US prosecutors who didnt get fired doing?

Well, this is what they were doing

As far as the press, the top three newspapers in Alabama are owned by the same corporation, in BHM, Hsv and Mobile... and they have done everything they can to cover this up. The Montgomery paper is pretty much a rightwing rag too

And the best candidate for your 'Woodstein' would be Scott Horton at Harpers magazine. He still has a ton of stuff up at the Harpers website... will see if I can find you a link.

Also Larisa Androvnova (sp?) has done a lot of good work digging around... as well as the guy in the OP

There is still a lot more to this. The judge was corrupt up to his eyeballs. Governor Riley was involved, ala AG Troy King, and even... you guessed it, Jack Abramoff.

You actually hit the nail on the head in your other post... its like a huge crime syndicate, with tentacles reaching far and wide...

and they are the most corrupt and ruthless bastards you can imagine

Take a look at the top post in my DU journal to see what they did to Siegelman after the trial.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/KelleyKramer

[ray of light]

10. K and r

[lonestarnot]

16. kick

[spin]

18. Sure glad I retired...

Now all I have to worry about is all those little white government cars following me. :)

[McCamy Taylor]

22. Sounds like lawsuit time.

Make them pay in court. It is the only place left where people can get justice.

[desktop]

23. It's Alabama, what do you expect?

end of message

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. Weekly newspaper columnist was also let go for same reason

Monroe Journal, in Monroeville, " Alabama's Literary Capitol"
hometown to Harper Lee and Truman Capote.
replaced the columnist who wrote honestly about the Sieglman story with a right wing columnist.

I love so many thngs about Alabama, except for the Neanderthal thinking.

fortunately, Southerners politely put up with folks who are "different" so they accept me and I accept them, most days.

[DAMANgoldberg]

28. another Monroeville native...

Cynthia Tucker of the editorial Board of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has been silent on this as far as I can tell. I'm so glad I don't live in AL anymore.

[Elwood P Dowd]

29. War Eagle DAMAN.

I miss Jim Fyffe.

[KelleyKramer]

30. I met his daughter in an ATL airport bar one time

About 10 years ago, nice, attractive lady.. but I found out that she married an Alabama guy.. Ha Ha!

I bet ole Jim wasnt too happy about that

Oh well, now that we are past 'the thumb' ... if things keep going we'll have to start taking our shoes off

Touch-doooowwwnnn Aaaaaau- Burn!

[sasquatch]

25. Time to invade Alabama and while we're at it ask ourselves: What would WIlliam Tecumseh Sherman do?

:evilgrin:

[Jeffersons Ghost]

26. K&R

[midnight]

27. The truth is bringing out the worst in these people.

[Syntheto]

31. I hope things work out for him, but...

...he shouldn't have been using the university computer. As with any company, you don't have any right to privacy using their network. All companies use proxy servers... Unless, of course, you bring in your own laptop with dialup and have a dialup account with an ISP. That works pretty well. You can blog at work and it's not flagged because it doesn't go through the company proxy servers. Don't forget to add the 9 or whatever it takes to normally make an oustide call.

What this guy did was akin to writing something overtly political on company stationery with a company logo on it.

You don't need to be 'warned' about anything. It's implicit with broadband.

Funny how in the old days this would be a problem, because everything was all done on 56k modems, and they couldn't regulate things as easily.

[Elwood P Dowd]

32. He wasn't blogging on the UAB computers.

* Some might ask, "Schnauzer, sounds like you were blogging on UAB equipment and time. Isn't that why you were fired?" Nope. At a grievance hearing on my firing, the IT rep who conducted UAB's "investigation" stated that I had not written the first word on my blog using UAB resources. The university claims that I was "researching" my blog on UAB equipment. But part of my job description is to keep up with current events and issues that could become story ideas for university publications. The Siegelman case was the biggest story in Alabama for a two-year period, and Siegelman's codefendant (Richard Scrushy) is without question UAB's most famous alumnus. If I had ignored the Siegelman story, I would have been neglecting my duty. But in Karl Rove's Alabama, you can get fired at a public university for doing your job. I know because it happened to me.