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The Long, Strange Case of Don Siegelman

The Center for American Progress, Harper's, and even MSNBC have begun giving more coverage to the strange saga of former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama. Siegelman was an extremely popular Democratic governor in a Republican state who seemingly was targeted for corruption charges because he was just that: A well-liked Democrat in a Republican state. According to the NY Times, "they [the Siegelman defense] have an affidavit from a lawyer who says she heard a top Republican operative in Alabama boast in 2002 that the United States attorneys in Alabama would “take care” of Mr. Siegelman." The story gets long, twisting, and complicated, and even involves Karl Rove and the U.S. Attorney's office in cohoots; Rove had his hand in this, seemingly, from the beginning.

The Harper's writer ends his story by saying "In the end, however, it’s completely clear that the Siegelman case is about corruption. It’s just unclear that Siegelman is the corrupt party. That charge may come better to rest ultimately in the U.S. attorney’s office." Here in New Jersey, where U.S. Attorney Chris Christie faces similar questioning about his political motivations in issuing subpoenas close to election time and for using his non-partisan office for political gain for Republicans (see multiple Blue Jersey articles), we can relate to a U.S. attorney scandal that involves Bush's cronies going after Democrats.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/us/01prosecute.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

posted by Michael Martin @ 5:51 AM