Don Siegelman?


http://www.harpers.org/subjects/DonSiegelman/SubjectOf/BlogEntry


42 posts there about it. Anyone up on it who can sum it up? Or know of a link that sums it up?

From Raw Story (http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Report_Rove_wanted_dirt_on_Alabama__02212008.html) :



Report: Rove wanted dirt on Alabama gov.

Ex-Republican Operative Says Bush Adviser Karl Rove Pushed for Dirt on Alabama's Governor

BEN EVANS
AP News

Feb 21, 2008 21:15 EST

A former Republican campaign worker claims that President Bush's former top political adviser, Karl Rove, asked her to find evidence that the Democratic governor of Alabama at the time was cheating on his wife, according to an upcoming broadcast of "60 Minutes."

Jill Simpson, who has long alleged that Rove may have influenced the corruption prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman, makes the claim against Rove in a broadcast scheduled to be aired Sunday, according to a statement from CBS.

Simpson testified to congressional investigators last year that she overheard conversations among Republicans in 2002 indicating that Rove was involved in the Justice Department's prosecution of Siegelman. She has never before said that Rove pressed her for evidence of marital infidelity in spite of testifying to congressional lawyers last year, submitting a sworn affidavit and speaking extensively with reporters.

Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, denied the allegation.

"Mr. Rove never made such a request to her or anyone else," Luskin said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Had '60 Minutes' taken the trouble to contact Mr. Rove before circulating this falsehood, he would have told them the same thing."

In its statement, CBS said Rove declined to speak with "60 Minutes."

The statement says Rove approached Simpson at a 2001 meeting, when Siegelman was still governor.

"Karl Rove asked you to take pictures of Siegelman?" reporter Scott Pelley asks.

"Yes," Simpson replies.

"In a compromising sexual position with one of his aides," Pelley says.

"Yes, if I could," she responds.

Simpson said she is speaking out because Siegelman's seven-year sentence on corruption charges bothers her, the release said. She said she found no evidence of an affair.

Siegelman, who was elected in 1998 and narrowly lost re-election in 2002, was convicted last year on federal bribery and corruption charges. The prosecution stemmed from his appointment of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to an influential hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging contributions to Siegelman's campaign for a state lottery.

The Justice Department — as well as the career prosecutors who handled the case — have insisted that politics played no role in the case, emphasizing that Siegelman was convicted by a jury.

Democrats on Capitol Hill, however, have been looking into the case as part of a broader investigation into political meddling by the White House at the Justice Department. Also, more than 40 former attorneys general have asked for a congressional investigation into the case.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/22/122547/094/794/461951

Sorry if someone else posted this....

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/22/122547/094/794/461951

Sorry if someone else posted this....

Didn't post that, but I asked a question and posted a link.

I merged the 2 threads btw.

Full chronology of the whole thing can be found here (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/cats/don_siegelman/)

Full chronology of the whole thing can be found here (http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/cats/don_siegelman/)


Thanks! That did the trick.

Hard to keep track of all these scandals.

Hard to keep track of all these scandals.

It is.
These story's keep coming up, as Styderman posted a topic,
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=122451
but missed the real story. Spyderman mentioned the McCain connection, but didn't mention Republican Congressman was targeted by the Democrats as being involved in that group of Democrat US Attorney firings that lead to Alberto Gonzalez's resignation.
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/u/united_states_attorneys/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier
Sorry to throw more links at you, but they're an advantage the public didn't have the back during Watergate.
I'm trying to find a word to describe all these guys.
"Closely connected" is just stating the obvious. They're "Influential", to say the least. Calling them "Well organized" is certainly giving them due credit. :thumbsup:

It is.
These story's keep coming up,.....

Very nice contextualization.

I really was looking for a single page to scan for the details. Still, to not just fire, but to act as they did in this specific case to CONVICT a guy. Employment vs. Criminal law is a serious jump to make.

Very nice contextualization.

I really was looking for a single page to scan for the details. Still, to not just fire, but to act as they did in this specific case to CONVICT a guy. Employment vs. Criminal law is a serious jump to make.

Republican and Democratic attorneys general joined in the outrage. Looks like Siegelman's cause crossed party lines.

Republican and Democratic attorneys general joined in the outrage. Looks like Siegelman's cause crossed party lines.

ofhow insidious and prevalent their politicization of everything to try to create a one party America was. Nothing was toserve the nation, twas allto serve themselves and preserve/condense their power. Honestly they should all be shot for treason

Here are the facts. A jury convicted him. Are they part of the conspiracy too?

Wiki:
On October 26 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_26), 2005 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005), Siegelman was indicted on new charges of bribery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribery) and mail fraud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_fraud) in connection with Richard M. Scrushy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Scrushy), founder and former CEO of HealthSouth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HealthSouth). Two former Siegelman aides were charged in the indictment as well.
In short, Siegelman was accused of trading government favors for campaign donations when he was governor from 1999 to 2003 and lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1999, and Scrushy was accused of arranging $500,000 in donations to Siegelman's campaign for a state lottery in exchange for a seat on a state hospital regulatory board.
On June 29 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_29), 2006 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006), a federal jury found both Siegelman and Scrushy guilty. Siegelman was convicted on "one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_%28crime%29) to commit honest services mail fraud (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail_fraud), four counts of honest services mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstruction_of_justice)", according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. <sup id="_ref-DOJ2006_1" class="reference">[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman#_note-DOJ2006)</sup>
He was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison and a $50,000 fine.<sup id="_ref-LAT0829_1" class="reference">[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman#_note-LAT0829)</sup>

Here are the facts. A jury convicted him. Are they part of the conspiracy too?

Wiki:

60 Minutes.....

OK I have read al of the links to this stating how Bush and Cheney somehow pressured the DOJ for this. However I have not read a single thing that points to why this guy is not guilty as charged and as a jury found him to be. I guess I'll have to watch 60 Minutes?

Apparently this segment (and this segment only) was blocked in parts of Alabama. The blackout was reported to be a result of "technical difficulties" by CBS affiliate WHNT.

Off the Air in Alabama
I am now hearing from readers all across Northern Alabama—from Decatur to Huntsville and considerably on down—that a mysterious “service interruption” blocked the broadcast of only the Siegelman segment of 60 Minutes this evening. The broadcaster is Channel 19 WHNT, which serves Northern Alabama and Southern Tennessee. This station was noteworthy for its hostility to Siegelman and support for his Republican adversary. The station ran a trailer stating “We apologize that you missed the first segment of 60 Minutes tonight featuring ‘The Prosecution of Don Siegelman.’ It was a techincal problem with CBS out of New York.” I contacted CBS News in New York and was told that “There were no transmission difficulties. The problems were peculiar to Channel 19, which had the signal and had functioning transmitters.” Channel 19 is owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners, who can be contacted through Rhonda Barnat, 212-371-5999 or rb@abmac.com. Oak Hill Partners represents interests of the Bass family, which contribute heavily to the Republican Party. Viewers displeased about the channel’s decision to censor the broadcast should express their views directly to the station management or to the owners.

From http://harpers.org/archive/2008/02/hbc-90002487