Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex- Alabama Governor [View All]

Source: Time

Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex- Alabama Governor
Friday, Jun. 01, 2007 By ADAM ZAGORIN/WASHINGTON

In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for power is often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Siegelman has long claimed that his prosecution was driven by politically motivated, Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys.

Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy. A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top GOP operative in the state say that Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys.

The allegation was made by Dana Jill Simpson, a lifelong Republican and lawyer who practices in Alabama. She made the charges in a May 21 affidavit, obtained by TIME, in which she describes a conference call on November 18, 2002, which involved a group of senior aides to Bob Reilly, who had just narrowly defeated Siegelman in a bitterly contested election for governor. Though Republican Reilly, a former Congressman, initially found himself behind by several thousand votes, he had pulled ahead at the last minute when disputed ballots were tallied in his favor. After the abrupt vote turnaround, Siegelman sought a recount. The Simpson affidavit says the conference call focused on how the Reilly campaign could get Siegelman to withdraw his challenge.

According to Simpson's statement, William Canary, a senior GOP political operative and Reilly adviser who was on the conference call, said " not to worry about Don Siegelman" because "'his girls' would take care of" the governor. Canary then made clear that " his girls" was a reference to his wife, Leura Canary, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.



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