The nub of the case is that Siegelman allowed HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to remain on an oversight board on which he had already served, and in return Scrushy gave money to a noble effort to improve education in the state of Alabama, an effort Siegelman approved of. That's literally the reason that Siegelman is in a jail cell right now. This is the kind of thing that, were it actually considered bribery, would put every politician in America in jail. The case hung on evidence that Siegelman walked out of a meeting with Scrushy with the check, a baseless lie spouted by a convicted criminal on Siegelman's staff, and the Justice Department KNEW it was a lie and yet continued the case. 60 Minutes tried to talk with the accuser, a man named Nick Bailey, but the DoJ refused to authorize the interview (he's in a federal prison).There has been no doubt that the Department of Justice was politicized under both Ashcroft and Gonzalez to bring politically-motivated prosecutions against successful Democratic politicians so that the Republican control of government could be increased, but until now the republicans have been successful in concealing the facts from a media that simply hasn't wanted to search for the Truth. That's what makes the firing of U.S. Attorneys for NOT bringing politicized prosecutions has been all about. But cases like firing San Diego U.S. Attorney Carol Lam because of her successful prosecution of Republican Congressman and her indictments of Brent Wilkes, Mitchell Wade and Dusty Foggo for corrupt dealings with Cunningham and others; for the manner in which Los Angeles U.S. Attorney Debra Yang was bribed to halt her investigations of corrupt Congressmen John Doolittle and Jerry Lewis; the removal of Arizona U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton because he was actively investigating corruption by Congressman Rick Renzi (crimes for which Renzi has recently been indicted after the investigation was slow-walked but did not disappear); and on the opposite side, how Milwaukee U.S. Attorney Steve Biscupic was able to hold onto his job by conducting a similar political prosecution of an innocent Wisconsin civil servant, Georgia Thompson, in order to create an issue to use to defeat the Democratic Governor of Wisconsin.
The prosecution of Governor Siegelman is only the most blatant of these efforts to use the U.S. Federal Courts to elect Republicans by falsely indicting and even imprisoning Democrats. In so doing, the Bush administration has turned the Federal Courts into a bad joke. Dday at Hullabaloo presents this:
Here's the state of justice in America.America could get better justice from turning the government over to the Mafia than it has gotten from the Republican Party. At least the Mafia Dons have a reputation for Honor. The Republicans steal more and lack even the pretense of Honor.It has been 20 months since Siegelman’s trial ended and no trial transcript has been produced by Fuller's court. This is in violation of the rules of criminal procedure which require a transcript within 30 days of sentencing. Siegelman can't appeal his conviction with out an official trial transcript.
The Attorney General, by the way, has said he would rather let the case go through the normal appeals process rather than open an investigation.
Kafka would be proud.
