Anyone following this story? The democratic gov of AL is spending time in jail and it looks like he was set up by the administration? I just saw the Karl Rove utube denial <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fpoz6YerDao&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Fpoz6YerDao&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> via TPM -- Simpson, a Republican lawyer, told 60 Minutes and congressional investigators (under oath) that Rove had asked her to take a picture of Siegelman cheating on his wife -- and that this was just one of many requests that he'd made of her. Simpson also has testified that she was on a conference call where Rove's friend William Canary recalled talking to his buddy Karl about sicking the Justice Department on Siegelman, adding that “my girls would take care of him,” referring to U.S. attorney Leura Canary (his wife) and another U.S. attorney in the state. Rove also took the opportunity to scold 60 Minutes for not interviewing him again after first conducting an off the record interview with him "five months ago." He did not say whether he would have agreed to do an on-camera interview if he'd known precisely what 60 Minutes was going to report. But "60 Minutes is now the National Enquirer of network news," in his estimation. Simpson will be on MSNBC tonight on the Dan Abrams show.
Did Ex-Alabama Governor Get A Raw Deal? 60 Minutes Reports On Bribery Conviction Of Don Siegelman In A Case Criticized by Democrats And Republicans Is Don Siegelman in prison because he’s a criminal or because he belonged to the wrong political party in Alabama? Siegelman is the former governor of Alabama, and he was the most successful Democrat in that Republican state. But while he was governor, the U.S. Justice Department launched multiple investigations that went on year after year until, finally, a jury convicted Siegelman of bribery. Now, many Democrats and Republicans have become suspicious of the Justice Department’s motivations. As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, 52 former state attorneys-general have asked Congress to investigate whether the prosecution of Siegelman was pursued not because of a crime but because of politics. --------------- But, as 60 Minutes found out, the imprisonment of Don Siegelman is not nearly as simple as that. “I haven't seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done,” says Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona. Woods is one of the 52 former state attorneys-general, of both parties, who’ve asked Congress to investigate the Siegelman case. “I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square. This was a Republican state and he was the one Democrat they could never get rid of,” Woods says. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/21/60minutes/main3859830.shtml very interesting story...
I saw that 60 Minutes story and it is a very interesting case. In the story they mentioned that a few cases against him had been thrown out and the Justice Dept. chastised by the judge. The case that finally got him the evidence is now proving very weak with one of the witnesses admitting to being mistaken.
Hooo! BREAKING NEWS: Siegelman to be released from prison Former Gov. Don Siegelman will be released from prison, after the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals granted him an appeal bond, the lead prosecutor in the case said. Acting U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin said he received a courtesy call from the court today. "He's going to be released," Franklin said. He said he was disappointed but added, "The 11th Circuit has the discretion to do that, and I respect that." http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/03/siegelman_to_be_released_from.html
