Another Corrupt Democrat Trying To Get Away With His Crimes
April 7th, 2008 at 05:15am Matt Margolis
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who was convicted of bribery charges, has been released from prison pending an appeal of his conviction. Siegelman contends that the investigation into his illegal actions was politically motivated. When you consider how many Republicans were brought down by the same Justice Department, it’s a rather ridiculous claim for him to make — but not an uncommon ploy of corrupt Democrats to deflect attention away from their own guilt.
What makes his claims even more ironic is the Democrats’ undeniable politically motivated crusade against corruption leading up to the 2006 midterm elections. As Mark and I documented in our book, Caucus of Corruption, Democrats ignored the rampant corruption in their own party while they simultaneously campaigned against a so-called “culture of corruption” in the Republican Party. Truth be told, the Justice Department under President Bush did more to put away corrupt Republicans than the Democratic Party has ever done to rid itself of its own corrupt members in its entire history.
So, really, it’s time for the Democratic Party to cut the crap. We can only clean up corruption if we go after all corrupt politicians, just the ones in your opposing party. No more excuses. Siegelman is guilty, and he should serve his time.
Entry Filed under: Corruption, Democrats
23 Comments
1. Christian Wright | April 7th, 2008 at 7:09 am
The reason why all the White House e-mails were erased and the hard drives destroyed without first backing up the date was because they contained evidence of the conspiracy to politicalize the Justice Department to put innocent Dems in prison on trumped up charges.
If the White House had nothing to hide, why did they destroy evidence?
A Republican-appointed prosecutor has already given testimony that Siegleman was set up. This may be the thing that puts Rove behind bars.
2. Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J. | April 7th, 2008 at 7:13 am
Siegelman did not get a fair trial by any stretch of the imagination under US law. He was tried and convicted for political reasons by a pair of politically corrupt US Attorneys offices. In the coming weeks the truth of these statements will bear out in your media and in subsequent motions that will be brought forth to the bench. The testimony of Karl Rove is sine qua non to proving the tilting of the legal playing field against the former governor. Rove has every right to decline a request but the matter of whether the State Courts of Alabama will subpoena Rove is what should be scrutinized closest.
Now what exactly will it mean if Karl Rove is subpoenaed by a State Appeals Court and he refuses to testify? Well that could mean only two things that Rove knows that he committed a crime or crimes, or, that Rove knows he conspired to commit a crime or crimes.
From the evidence presented I think Siegelman may have taken money illegally, but I also think the manner that the case was brought reeks of the stench of a political witch hunt which would not have been necessary is Siegelman were so obviously corrupt. In this case I think other than a lapse of judgment involving Scrushy this man’s only crime in the eyes of the Alabama GOP political and judiciary machine was that he was a Member of the Democratic Party.
3. Pain | April 7th, 2008 at 7:20 am
CW,
Those missing e mails are the Bush administration’s 18 minute gap. There are 12 journalists working full time at the Washington Post hunting down this story. Dana Priest and Juliet Eilperin are rumored to be at the head of this massive operation that insiders note covers environmental malfeasance, attempted destruction of hard drives and pressure being applied to career members of the Department of Justice in regard to the Abramoff case and the Siegelman case.
We, Ourselves, know the only way the truth will come out will be after the departure of the Bush AG and his appointees and by then the US economy will be such a priority that the political right will call any such investigation a waste of time. Yet no one governor or common citizen should have their due process rights violated for political reasons. One such case is one such case far too many.
Qu’ul cuda praedex nihil!
4. Christian Wright | April 7th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Pain:
Will Bush ever depart?
They know everything will fall apart if the Dems take the White House.
Halliburton has been busy making prisons around the county. Bush just signed an agreement with Canada that allows their military to join with our military in bringing order to US streets in case of massive civil disruptions. Blackwater has had plenty of practice in Iraq and Afghanistan and New Orleans in cracking down on civil disobedience, and they are Bush’s private army.
All Bush has to do is allow another 9/11 to cancel elections and set himself up as president or life.
5. Damright | April 7th, 2008 at 7:49 am
CW
LMAO!!!!!
6. Pain | April 7th, 2008 at 8:00 am
We see no evidence, nor do We suspect any will ever come forward linking the coordinated attacks of 9/11 to anyone other than the hijackers and those who operationally controlled them. Bush did not “allow” 9/11 it was merely an intelligence and security systems failure that is common in open societies like the USA.
However, Bush may the be first president to leave the United States and go into exile in a nation that will not seek extradition. We point to the 1999 US Extradition Treay with Paraguay to say that this would merely be a jumping off point from which a private jet could be anywhere on Terra in 12 to 24 hours considering the 6 000 nautical mile range of the gulfstream V.
7. Some Assembly Required | April 7th, 2008 at 8:11 am
If Don Siegelman is guilty he should be imprisoned. No question about it. However, if his persecution was conducted for political means Rove should be strung up. This does not excuse Siegelman of a crime. Just gives justice where justice is required. You know, practicing what your preaching here with this thread. The law applies to everyone regardless if you have a ‘D’ or and ‘R’ after your name. I have a feeling in the years to come Rove will have a fair bit of explaining to do, and refusing to testify will not help him in the slightest.
Matt, I’m curious as to what you think should happen to Rove if it’s proven that he was complicit in a politically motivated prosecution? Or would that just be a ‘vast left wing conspiracy’ regardless of any facts which maybe presented to you?
CW, Can you cite a reference to the agreement Bush signed with Canada? It’s an interesting point that you make here about another 9/11 allowing Bush to cancel elections. I don’t remember exactly where but I read a theory about an attack coming sometime in July or August to rival 9/11. Mind you it was probably from a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. But if that agreement with Canada is true it could very well pave the way for a North American ‘dictatorship’. Whereas an attack on US soil, followed by Bush canceling the elections. The civil discourse would be ‘massive’ leading to a joint US / Canadian fighting force to police the uprising. Very far fetched sure, but a scary thought non the less.
8. maryjane | April 7th, 2008 at 8:12 am
A blade cuts two ways.http://www.republicanoffenders.com/index.html
9. OhioOrrin | April 7th, 2008 at 8:16 am
this is why I often vote cks n balance…
…cause they rat each other out instead of softselling, doing nada, or covering.
Dem congress = GOP prez & vice versa.
I’m old school - I don’t TRUST any of ‘em.
10. Mouththatroared | April 7th, 2008 at 8:26 am
If Siegelman goes to jail, shouldn’t Belgium Ambassador and Swift Boat financier Fox along with Bush be in prison as well?
Former Reagan Administration Treasury official and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts weighs in: Scrushy gave no money to Siegelman. The money went to a foundation. As a large number of attorneys have pointed out, every US president appoints his ambassadors and cabinet members from people who have donated to his campaign. Under the reasoning applied in the Siegelman case, a large number of living former presidents, cabinet members and ambassadors should be in federal prison not to mention the present incumbents.
11. winnowhead | April 7th, 2008 at 9:20 am
What’s the deal with your weak postings, Matt? All you do is quote some other news source and make a sentence or two of platitudes about how evil the Democrats are, and call it quits.
Is that the best you can do? A bit of original thought would be advantageous now and then, don’t you think?
12. Diana Powe | April 7th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Yes, Matt, by all means, let’s get to the bottom of this which means, in part, having Karl Rove, Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten respond to the Congressional subpoenas which remain outstanding. Let’s fully explore the reasons why seven United States Attorneys were asked for their resignations and why the former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, was forced to come up with such a transparent series of evasive, contradictory and non-responsive answers in hearings before Congress that it led even some Republican members to acknowledge his obvious unwillingness to tell the truth and ask for his resignation. Let’s round out our understanding of why former Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty claimed to Congress that the U. S. Attorneys were asked to resign for “performance-related” issues, which statement Gonzales was forced to walk back in later testimony. Let’s follow up on the implications of former Gonzales aide, Monica Goodling, stating under an agreement to grant her limited immunity from prosecution that she “crossed the line” in considering political affiliations in making employment decisions at the Department of Justice. Let’s investigate why people working at the White House have had such problems with knowing when emails are supposed to be sent using government email addresses and when they may use Republican National Committee addresses. Of course, we have to recover as many of the millions of “missing” emails as we can as a first step. Let’s do all of these things and more as we consider why exactly Don Siegelman was prosecuted and why the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit felt it necessary to override the trial judge and release Siegelman pending an appeal of his conviction. Sounds like a great idea to me.
13. Diane Tomlinson | April 7th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
This post just tells me that Noonan has no idea how politics really works in DC. There’s a reason why they call DC Hollywood for ugly people and that reason is all of the folks that go to Congress have baggage and few of them are pretty enough for most Americans to forget this fact. Tens of thousands of people are engaged in overlapping agreements that no side will nuke the other when it comes to corruption or malfeasance. A government without back door deals, money changing hands and people having sex with anything that stands still long enough is not possible in the US. Yet, the GOP and their theocratic henchmen have transformed the Party of Lincoln into the Party of Dobson in just a short twenty eight years. Before the Reagan Era a scandal was just a scandal. Now when the subject is from the “family values” GOP it’s like a cluster bomb fell on a Sunday church picnic, ugly hard to clean up and not very pleasant smelling.
Of course there are rabidly corrupt Democrats just like there are republicans with their hand out all the time the public trough is likely the greatest temptation this side of the Emperor’s VIP Club and no that doesn’t make it right merely because it’s so. My point is that unless Noonan has a solution [a real one not his standard Biblical rules blather or that if we just had a GOP majority nonsense] it does none of America any good to get bent out of shape about petty vendettas and minor league patronage when 12 billion dollars a month is being funneled in the greatest gravy train since Claudius ordered a field flooded to create Lake Fucinius for a 19 000 man naval battle in 53 AD that was attended by half a million screaming wine soaked Roman citizens.
Here’s an honest question for you Noonan if the Bush White House was involved in some capacity to seek the prosecution of Governor Siegelman and that involvement was found to be criminal what do you think the punishment for that type of corruption should be?
14. kimberly4victory | April 7th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
There are many questions to be answered:
Was Dana Jill Simpson ever employed by or involved with the AL GOP? CBS claimed she was a high-level GOP Operative, but did not provide any evidence of that. The AL GOP chair, Mike Hubbard, stated she had never been employed nor involved with the AL GOP.
Why did Simpson suddenly recall Rove asking her to “photograph Siegelman in a compromising position” when she never mentioned it while testifying under oath to the House Judiciary Committee Staff?
Did Siegleman borrow $500,000 for his lottery campaign and guarantee the loan with his own personal money? Yes. When the loan came due, did he receive $500,000 from Schrushey (disguised as a donation) in exchange for a seat on the Certificate of Needs Board? Yes
15. Diana Powe | April 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Did the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit feel it necessary to override the trial judge and release Siegelman pending an appeal of his conviction? Yes.
16. Sunny | April 7th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Matt, you mention your book written with Mark, “Caucus of Corruption”. How many copies of the book were sold?
17. Gary Ruppert | April 7th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
The fact is, you liberals here are bad at reading comprehension and should read the story. HE IS GUILTY. You are spinning. Stop saying the GOP is corrput when you have far worse offenders of your own. Now use reason and logic or shut up. I am surprised Mark puts up with your bias and hate.
18. Rich | April 7th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Here we go again. Tom delay is considered guilty by every one of you lib posters yet he has not been convicted of anything. This guys has been CONVICTED and you say he is innocent until what? Proven guilty twice? Three times? Give me a break. There also seems to be a lot of off topic posts here.
19. Joe | April 7th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Stop saying the GOP is corrput when you have far worse offenders of your own.
Ahhhh…. Democrats are corrupt, so it is ok if Republicans are too. I get it. Perhaps it is YOU that should “use reason and logic or shut up”.
Have you even read the reports Gary? If he is guilty, then he should absolutely be thrown in jail. However, if this was politcal, then that really needs to be addressed.
From CBS:
So perhaps you need to stop looking at if the person was a Dem or a Repub and start reading and using your OWN mind.
20. jackson | April 7th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Sure Mark, Siegelman’s guilty. Just like Alex Latifi of Axion is guilty. http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/business/1207296967202190.xml&coll=2
Alice Martin, the corrupt US prosecutor who brought bogus charges against Siegelman has done it again. This is the latest in a long string of Bogus politically motivated prosecutions. Her case against Latifi was thrown out after seven days, for complete lack of evidence and bullshit charges. The government has been ordered to pay damages that could be well over half a million, and Alice has desperately tried to make it go away, to no avail. The judge isn’t letting her get away with it this time.
Even more damning, just like in the Siegelman case, (when a ruling was overturned against Alabama legislator Mr. White because of govt. agents pressuring him for false testimony against Siegelman) here’s another bombshell: “The government lost yet another leg of the (Latifi) case last month. That’s when Kary Warren, a Huntsville subcontractor of Latifi’s, had charges dismissed in a related matter. Warren said in a court hearing he pleaded guilty last year to falsifying government contracting documents because of pressure and coercion from government agents who were going after Latifi, agents who wanted him to implicate his business partner.”
How typical. Corrupt Bush prosecutors falsifying evidence and bringing bogus charges. Sure Mark, Siegelman’s guilty. About as guilty as Bush is for accepting huge campaign contributions and then appointing dozens of donors to prominent government/ambassadorial positions.
And by the way, did you know that Donald Trump made a large contribution to help “retire” the campaign debts of Arnold Schwartzenegger? And Trump has current projects in CA… How come no one’s going after them? BECAUSE IT’S NOT A CRIME!!!!!!
You can cover your ears and eyes Mark, but the evidence is there, and you are WRONG no matter how you fervently pray it isn’t so.
21. InDaVa | April 7th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I agree. He should do his time like Scooter Libby did.
22. Diana Powe | April 7th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
Why did the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decide to order Siegelman’s release? They said that he had raised “substantial questions of fact and law”. If those issues don’t resolve in Don Siegelman’s favor, he can always go back inside. In the meantime, let’s turn over ALL the rocks in this case.
23. Gary Ruppert | April 7th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
The fact is, liberals want him to go free like all the criminals they liek, and continue to criminalize politics by trying to say Bush caused 9-11 and Karl Rove is gay and other nonsenes.