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It has been 56 days since the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals orders Fuller – a second time – to show cause for Siegelman’s immediate incarceration. It has been 83 days since Fuller defied the 11th circuit. Saying in response to his order, “ will not
issue a lengthy written opinion on this matter.”
It has been 86* days since District Judge Mark Fuller
was ordered by Appellate court to show cause for denial
of Siegelman appeal bond.
For 189 days Siegelman has been in prison with no
explanation as to why he was denied bond
pending appeal.
It has been 18 months 5 days since Siegelman’s
trial ended and no trial transcript has been produced by
Fuller's court.
(Siegelman can not appeal his conviction without an
official trial transcript.)
Pam Miles
http://www.donsiegelman.org/
....................................................
Karl Rove's Dirty Politics in Alabama
by Lou Dubose | November 1, 2007
Mayberry GOP—The 2002 Alabama gubernatorial election included the plot elements of a bad Southern Gothic: a Klan rally in the backwoods; a political operative stealing the opposition's signs and planting them at the rally; a lawyer stalking and photographing the operative; incriminating photos used to extort a political candidate; and a cabal of lawyers maneuvering a man into the courtroom of a judge who promised to "hang" the defendant. There was even a prosecutor "messing up" the case to see that the defendant made it to the gallows.
What reads like a script written for Fred Thompson sent former Democratic governor Don Siegelman to jail for eighty-eight months, eliminating the politician Alabama Republicans called the "golden child" of state politics. The story pivots on two politicized U.S. Attorneys put in office by President Bush and former White House senior aide Karl Rove, before Rove retired and returned to Texas. Unlike the account of the firing of nine U.S. Attorneys, which exposed former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's partisan zeal and utter incompetence, this story features U.S. Attorneys who remain in office. It also suggests that Rove played a critical and questionable role in Siegelman's prosecution.
The former governor is serving time for appointing former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to a medical licensing board after accepting a $500,000 contribution Scrushy made to a political fund the governor was using in his public campaign to legalize gambling in the state.
The story is laid out in the deposition of Jill Simpson, an Alabama attorney who worked on the campaign of Bob Riley, the Republican who defeated Siegelman in the 2002 governor's race. While working for the Riley campaign, Simpson followed a lawyer supporting Siegelman, who was then the incumbent, to a November 2002 KKK rally and photographed the lawyer planting stolen Bob Riley campaign signs. When Simpson delivered the photos to the Riley campaign, she was told they would be used to force Siegelman to concede the race. What a lawyer for the Riley campaign told Simpson motivated her to file an affidavit with the Alabama Bar Association. In mid-September, Simpson expanded on her affidavit, in a sworn deposition before House Judiciary Committee attorneys.
-snip
http://www.washingtonspectator.com/articles/20071101fyi.cfm
Questions About a Governor’s Fall
Published: June 30, 2007
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.
-snip
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/opinion/30sat2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Chairman Conyers Releases Jill Simpson Transcript on the Prosecution of former Alabama Governor Siegelman
October 10th, 2007 by Jesse Lee
Rove Linked to Alabama Case
Adam Zagorin, Time Magazine - October 10, 2007
A Republican lawyer claims she was told that Karl Rove — while serving as President Bush’s top political advisor — had intervened in the Justice Department’s prosecution of Alabama’s most prominent Democrat. Longtime Alabama GOP activist Dana Jill Simpson first made the allegation in June, but has now provided new details in a lengthy sworn statement to the House Judiciary Committee. The Committee is expected to hold public hearings on the Alabama case next week as part of its investigation of possible political interference by the Bush Administration in the activities of the Department of Justice.
Today, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers released the transcript from the sworn testimony of Dana Jill Simpson, the Alabama attorney who earlier this year executed an affadavit that has stirred renewed interest in the prosecution and subsequent conviction of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. In the affadavit and the closed-door interview with committee staff, she cites conversations that allege Karl Rove’s involvement in the decision to prosecute Siegelman. The issue is expected to be covered during an upcoming joint subcommittee hearing titled, “Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System.”
Read the full transcript (pdf):
http://speaker.house.gov/blog/?p=833
Video: Siegelmania!
By Paul Kiel - October 24, 2007, 12:40PM
Here's video from yesterday's House Judiciary Committee hearing on selective prosecutions, where ex-Gov. Don Siegelman's (D-AL) was the marquee case:
As we reported yesterday, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) made a hard run at Jill Simpson, the Republican lawyer who's testified that Alabama Republicans often chattered about how the Justice Department and local U.S. attorneys would take Siegelman down. Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) rose to her defense, and Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney himself and lawyer for Siegelman, testified that the case took on a new life in 2005 after officials in Washington got involved.
You can see video of former attorney general Dick Thornburgh's testimony here.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/mt35/mt-search.cgi?sort_order=descend&search=don+siegelman&x=12&y=10
56% in Alabama believe it is likely politics motivated Siegelman prosecution
Sunday, December 02, 2007
In a survey of likely Alabama voters 56 percent believe it is somewhat likely or very likely that the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman was politically motivated. The poll was conducted by a respected national polling firm, Rasmussen Reports.
Thirty five percent thought it was not very or not at all likely. Ten percent were not sure. Five hundred likely voters in the state were asked this and other questions. Ten percent said the outcome of the Alabama/Auburn football game was more important that who becomes President. The margin of Sampling Error was +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. The poll was published on Nov. 14.
-snip
http://www.al.com/news/independent/index.ssf?/base/news/1196633703293430.xml&coll=4
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