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Today's Must Read
After spending almost a year in prison, ex-Gov. Don Siegelman (D-AL), released while his appeal to his conviction progresses, appeared on 60 Minutes last night to give his account of the key facts of his case and issue a challenge to Karl Rove. He also admitted, when asked if the prosecution had managed to destroy his political ambitions, "oh, they've accomplished that, I think."
In February, 60 Minutes reported on what has become known as the textbook example of a political prosecution by the Bush administration's Justice Department.
Nick Bailey, the prosecution's star witness in the case, 60 Minutes reported, had been coached to the point where he had to write his carefully recollected testimony over and over again to make sure he got it right. Bailey, a former Siegelman aide, testified at trial that Siegelman had told him that businessman Richard Scrushy had given him a $250,000 contribution to his state lottery campaign, and that all he wanted for it was an appointment on a state health board.
Last night, Siegelman gave his side -- that Scrushy, who had supported Siegelman's opponent, had given the money at Siegelman's request, that there had been no strings attached, and that Scrushy had not even wanted the spot on the board.
Seigelman also challenged Rove to testify to Congress. Rove has given blanket denials to playing any role in the Siegelman case and lately has taken to bashing 60 Minutes for reporting allegations by Dana Jill Simpson, a Republican Alabama lawyer who's testified to being involved in conversations where Rove's role in the prosecution was discussed. In his latest interview with GQ, Rove called CBS "a shoddy operation."
And there was also this memorable quote from the interview, where Siegelman describes watching February's broadcast of the 60 Minutes segment with his fellow inmates:
"Well immediately people were standing up, sayin', 'You got screwed.' And I'd say, 'Well, you know, I think there were a lot of ya'll that got screwed.' And then, one guy stood up and said, 'No, I was guilty. You got screwed.'"
Siegelman will also be appearing on Dan Abrams' show tonight on MSNBC.
Josh
Zachary
"...where Rove's roll in the prosecution..."
Rove did roll Siegelman, and Rove is a portly fellow who probably would roll down a hill, but I think you're referring to his role.
April 7, 2008 10:26 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oooh... Grammur Poliz an' its Special Spelling Section is after Paul Kiel's hoo-ha today.
Rove's rolling role roils 'em royally. Meanwhile, Madame Massage Monger merrily pled dead. She pleaded what she needed to get Mister Vitter bled 'til he's dead.
Nibblin' an' quibblin' but bumpstance for the substance gonna make Paul grumpy. Hope he knows we still loves him.
April 7, 2008 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Rove's own hubris got himin this mess, and before it is over, we may actually see the "boy-genius" have to answer for his arrogance.
This case needs a special prosecutor, and a grand jury with some teeth.
Am I right when I think Rove must have thought he was protected somehow, ad infinitum?
This is kind of like when he had two jobs at the WH. Hubris and delusion both in one person.
April 7, 2008 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Rove's own hubris got him in this mess, and before it is over, we may actually see the "boy-genius" have to answer for his arrogance."
Two words: Bush pardon
April 7, 2008 11:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I sure hope they hold off on the prosecution of Rove et al. until after Bush. I don't think Obama would pardon Rove, but Hillary who knows.
It would be nice to see Hillary and Obama pledge to a 100 day period of constitutional repair starting on day one of their administration. They could clean Justice and they rest of it and begin other serious investigations that have been avoided during the Bush years. It's the legacy he deserves.
April 7, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here is another textbook case of Republican prosecution tactics used to smear an opponent - the 2007 Virginia state senate primary race between Jill Holtzman Vogel and Mark Tate.
Holtzman Vogel and her husband, Alex N. Vogel are both powerful Repubican operatives and they own law firm, Holtzman Vogel. Alex Vogel is a partner in Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti, a DC consulting firm.
Garren Shipley of the Northern Virginian Daily did a remarkable job covering the scandal despite getting a lot of pressure to drop it. Shilpey's timeline of the scandal can be read here.
Last week, Paul wrote about two Republican fronts, American Future Fund and Iowa Future Fund which are masquerading as legit 501(c)(4)s. As it turns out, Holtzman Vogel is behind IFF and AFF which I posted about in the TPM Cafe.
The Vogels along with Mark "Thor" Hearne were behind the American Center For Voting Rights, another Repubican front set up to disenfranshise Democratic voters by promoting voter i.d. laws with phony data.
The Vogels were also behind the Free Enterprise Coalition which suddenly received a $2 million mysterious windfall in 2005 which it used, in part, to promote redistricting schemes.
April 7, 2008 11:02 AM | Reply | Permalink
Mrs. Panstreppon;
for an Iowa girl, you seem to have a handle on a whole lot of other, more worldy issues.
That was you doing similar research for Bleeding Heartland Blog, wasn't it? Maybe I'm assuming too much here, but I have used your references enough times to make a guess.
Thanks for the links, and for the research you put into your comments, you are a fount of pertinent information.
April 7, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Nope, I'm not an Iowan girl but I learned a lot about Iowa politics last week researching Iowa Future Fund and American Future Fundafter I read about them here in the TPM Muckraker.
I wrote to desmoinesdem at Bleeding Heartland about Iowa Future Fund and Eric Peterson, mysterious IFF Future Fund president, secretary and director. desmoinesdem was kind enough to put up a post asking readers for help identifying Peterson.
I am very concerned about what the folks at Holtzman Vogel are up to this year. Trust me, Karl Rove has Alex Vogel on speed dial.
As an aside, up until this a.m., if you googled American Future Fund or Iowa Future Fund, my IFF and AFF TPM Cafe and Daily Kos posts were in the top ten. Now they have disappeared from every search engine.
April 7, 2008 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
WTF man, Why would being an "Iowa Girl" make someone unaware of the outside world. We do have the internet here, and Iowa's educational system is one of the best in the country.
April 7, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope Siegelman's case serves as a warning for the next 50 years of how fragile our system of justice is and how easily it can be twisted into an instrument of political power. Do I think Rove will ever be called to account for this? No, not really. But if we can prevent this kind of abuse from happening again, then Rove loses and the country wins. It's a tragedy that Siegelman had to lose his political life in the process.
April 7, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wish 60 Minutes had also mentioned being blacked out in Alabama. I expect that Bush's Boy Toy FCC Commissioner, Kevin Martin, is doing his best to sweep that one under the rug.
April 7, 2008 12:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
....Do I think Rove will ever be called to account for this? No, not really....
The price we will pay for these crimes going unpunished is that we burden the next leaders with more aggressive crimes by these thugs and their team.
The cost to America of not Impeaching those who committed crimes against this nation is to say to them and their like... what is the limit of our justice system, what other crimes can be committed without consequences.
To think these thugs will retire and the crimes will stop is folly... congress is passing it on to someone else to deal with harsher attacks on our system of justice.
They will have to be stooped now or latter... to think otherwise is delude oneself.
April 7, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mrs. Panstreppon,
You might want to check out the connections between the Vogels and one of their biggest political supporters, David Rensin. Rensin's company Reality Mobile was profiled in an article in Business 2.0 "Turning employees into corporate spies":
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2007/04/01/8403355/index.htm
Of course, Rensin made his millions with intel contracts. What do you know about the Tertium Quids?
April 7, 2008 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had never heard of the Tertium Quids>/a> before today. Definitely right wingers - Federalist Society, Virgnia Institute of Public Policy, Americans For Tax Reform, Schafly's Eagle Forum, etc.
I knew David K. Rensin donated $380k to Jill Holtzman Vogel's campaign which was an enormous amount for a state senate race. All told, Rensin has contributed more than a million dollars to Virginia Republicans, according to VPAP.
Several of the parties involved in the Mark Tate scandal were connected to Jill Holtzman Vogel through the American Center For Voting Rights. I posted a Daily Kos diary about the Vogels, Robin DeJarnette, Jason Torchinsky etc last year.
DeJarnette is the executive director of the Virginia Conservative Action PAC and former executive director of the American Center For Voting Rights.
Whitson Robinson, Warrenton Town Attorney and chairman of the Fauquier County GOP, was an American Center For Voting Rights director.
April 7, 2008 2:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I see that David Rensin is now a Virginia Conservative Action PAC (VCAP) board member.
April 7, 2008 3:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Calling CBS "a shoddy operation," Rove is starting to remind me of "Tail-Gunner" Joe McCarthy, as he lashed out at those who were finally calling him to account. The vice is starting to close on Rove, and he feels it.
April 7, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Mrs Panstreppon,
Can you please link your articles on these topics so we can see them, and also to start getting them relinked into search engines?
Is there any way you can ask the folks behind the major search engines why they have been removed without your permission?
April 7, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I posted about American Future Fund and Iowa Future Fund at the TPM Cafe,/a> and Daily Kos. Bleeding Heartland posted about Eric Peterson, IFF president here.
Last year, I did a series of TPM Cafe posts about the Vogels, Jason Torchinsky, Mark "Thor" Hearne etc which are no longer online but I'm thinking about writing about Holtzman Vogel and other Republican operatives again soon.
The Free Enterprise Coalitian never got as much attention as the American Center For Voting Rights but it should have. Sourcewatch incorporated a lot of research in its FEC entry.
I wouldn't have the vaguest idea about who to contact about my missing IFF-AFF posts. This isn't the first time, however, that my Holtzman Vogel related posts have disappeared from Google. The one about Robin DeJarnette just completely disappeared one day.
April 7, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Where is the astroturfer asdf2, now that Gov. Siegelman has been released and had his say on 60 Minutes?
I am very happy that Gov. Siegelman is out of prison and I look forward to a swift and successful ajudication of his appeal.
May Karl Rove rot in hell. And may his remaining days on earth, long may they be, be a living hell for him as well.
April 7, 2008 3:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
The rule of law no longer exists in the United States. We have seen the Justice Department and US Attorneys turned into nothing more than political hitmen and agents of a dark and evil political movement. We have see the regulatory bureacracy turned into nothing more than lap dogs to the industriesy that they should control. We have seen the end to the most important protections under the Bill of Rights (and indeed, under the Magna Carta.) We have seen the ability of an individual to live as other than an indentured servant limited by a grossly unfair bankruptcy law. We have seen the legal rights of corporations become far greater than the puny individual.
Should the Republicans win this election, then I would suggest that the republic is dead and the social contract that binds its citizens to the country dissolved. It will be time for the people to put an end to the conservatives and the Nazi like country that they are creating.
April 7, 2008 4:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We have seen the end to the most important protections under the Bill of Rights (and indeed, under the Magna Carta.)
"Posted by JMOHR"
"Magna Carter" is not law in the US. The Constitution is the law of the land. And the Constitution includes rights in addition to those in the "Bill of Rights," which latter is not a document separate from, subordinate to, or dominant over the Constitution.
April 7, 2008 7:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
US Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan is at it again. No sooner was the weeks long corruption trial of prominent Democratic coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht declared a mistrial in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania because the jury could not reach a verdict; she scheduled a retrial six weeks hence. Despite charges that this was a politically motivated prosecution by former Republican, US Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, before a recent Congressional committee, Ms. Buchanan, erstwhile member of Alberto Gonzalez's inner circle, was formerly famous for getting Tommy Chong (of the comedy duo "Cheech and Chong") to cop a plea for selling mail-order bongs by threatening to send his wife to prison because she was a signatory on the company checking account. This is the same Justice Department that cannot spare personnel to prosecute rape cases of our young women in Iraq or address pressing issues before congressional committees. She did however drop the charges about using the fax machine too much.
April 8, 2008 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink