Don Siegelman: They Got It Wrong

Via Email:

Dear -,

They got it wrong.

On Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals failed to reverse my flawed, politically-motivated prosecution -- even in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that says, in short, that political contributions in and of themselves aren't bribery.

Well, we're not giving up because we know that the law is on our side -- and, in time, justice will be done.

But I need your help to keep up the fight, back to the appeals court and all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if we have to. Can I count on you?

Please contribute $25 or more to my legal defense fund now -- in the wake of Tuesday's appeals court ruling -- and help me fight to overturn my Karl Rove-inspired political prosecution!

Let me be clear: I was never bribed. I never solicited a bribe. I never broke the law. In fact, I was never accused of taking a single penny. I was the fourth Governor of Alabama to appoint this same man to this same non-paying board, and that's the crux of the prosecution's case!

This was a partisan witch-hunt, pure and simple, cooked up by Karl Rove and the Republican Party to try to put me away for good because they disagree with my politics. They couldn't beat me fair and square, so they targeted me with this politically-motivated, unfounded prosecution.

They abused our system of justice and they abused the public trust. And I'll never stop fighting until the truth wins out. Will you stand with me?

- snip -

91 former state Attorneys General said there is no crime in what I did. The U.S. Supreme Court has said there is no crime in giving or receiving a contribution and then doing something favorable for the contributor if there was no deal, no explicit "quid pro quo."

After all, if any politician who took action in accordance with the wishes of a supportive campaign contributor were prosecuted under the same standard I was, then Presidents Obama, Bush, and Clinton, every Member of Congress, every Governor, every Mayor, and every state legislator would be locked up.

Political supporters who support good schools give to candidates who fund schools. Folks who want to reform health care give to politicians who fix our health care system. That's the basis of free speech in our country, the very foundation of our political system.

It's not illegal, it's not bribery, and the U.S. Supreme Court agrees that it shouldn't be prosecuted.

- snip -

I have spent more than $2 million fighting these charges, leaving my family and me on the verge of bankruptcy.

Now I need your help so we can keep up the fight.

Thank you for all you have done and will do to help me continue to fight for justice in this case and across our country.

Sincerely,
Don Siegelman

This case should be taken on by the DOJ the same way they interfered on behalf of Stevens, Republican Senator from Alaska.

This is a travesty of justice. I thought when democrats were in power, the Karl Rove crimes would be investigated, instead, he thrives while Siegelman, a truly good man and democrat, is still trying to get justice.

It's sad too that he is not getting more support from the left. I remember him speaking about stolen elections and often wondered if that was the reason Rove et al went after him. Not many Democrats, to their shame, dared to speak about that issue, and still don't. He paid a heavy price for having the courage to do so.

:kick: for justice for Siegelman ~ sometimes I lose faith in this country. I don't know how he has the strength to keep fighting.

I am so disappointed that this administration has not supported this man.

where the Obama administration fails to adhere to the constraints of what a Democrat is supposed to be.

These nonsystematic "errors" have become predictable; there must then be an unseen explanatory variable affecting the behavior of the Obama administration.

Can you guess what it is?

Thank you.

It's nuts how their hold on power even when they are out of office contines on!!

Otherwise, Siegelman would be free.

and a lot less of Karl Rove. Hope Mr. Siegelman gets back on Thom Hartmann very soon.

refused to look into the corruption in this case? They were more than happy to do it for Republican Sen. Stevens.

I would love to see Siegelman in office again and/or as a frequent guest talking about Rove's crimes, on Keith's new show. Rove's crimes should be a regular topic of conversation since this administration won't be doing about them. But they should be kept in the public's mind.

is a greater threat to democracy than Osama bin Laden and should be dealt with accordingly.

for prosecution. Probably by turdblossom. I just do not like this argument where he relies on "Citizens United" to "prove" that this was an unfair prosecution. The facts speak for themselves without relying on that POS "ruling" by the SCOTUS.

Thanks for letting us know.

This is such a travesty!

Give them hell, Don!


-90% Jimmy

Will be $25 to the Democrat in the special election in Jack Kemp's old NY district. This district may even be where I went to college over 30 years ago, SUCB Buffalo.

-90% Jimmy

PS - link to aforementioned Congressional Race:

http://www.kathyhochul.com/

What happened to Siegelman could happen to any Democratic public servant.

This case is a threat to every Democrat --

I've been saying that in e-mails to the White House and Democrats for

years now -- but nothing happens!!

Have to keep trying -- this is one of our worst cases of injustice --

:)

He reappointed Bernanke and Gates who were appointed by Bush. He appointed a lot of folks who had been previously appointed. And the links between Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and Obama's and all preceding administrations in recent times is quite parallel to Siegelman's situation. Goldman was Obama's biggest donor in 2008. Just for example.

Wouldn't you think that Obama would see how what happened to Siegelman could happen to him?

and here's "Coyote" in a post below explaining a bit more of this --


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1091531&mesg_id=1096285


:)

-- or I can try to look it up --


:)

Deja DU, Mar-27-08:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3070446

And amazing that Don Siegelman stood up to them --

It becomes ever more obvious that we have such runaway corruption that

it is a threat to any official who wants to do the right thing!!



Thanks!!

in a long time. His story just seemed to have gotten swept under the rug. Keeping his story alive is as important as the money. People slip between the cracks so quickly these days. What a nightmare for him and his family.

case...please do not forget. Sleazy corrupt Rove, free as a bird.

Another Republican Calls Siegelman Case a Travesty

Hubbard, the Birmingham News and the Mobile Press-Register are clearly vexed by the mounting calls from Republicans for Siegelman to be set free. And today they have another setback. Former Reagan Administration Treasury official and Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts weighs in:

Don Siegelman, a popular Democratic governor of Alabama, a Republican state, was framed in a crooked trial, convicted on June 29, 2006, and sent to Federal prison by the corrupt and immoral Bush Administration.

The frame-up of Siegelman and businessman Richard Scrushy is so crystal clear and blatant that 52 former state attorney generals from across America, both Republicans and Democrats, have urged the US Congress to investigate the Bush Administration’s use of the US Department of Justice to rid themselves of a Democratic governor who “they could not beat fair and square,” according to Grant Woods, former Republican Attorney General of Arizona and co-chair of the McCain for President leadership committee. Woods says that he has never seen a case with so “many red flags pointing to injustice.”

Read the extensive dissection of the case presented here. http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/it-does-happen-in-america-the-political-trial-of-don-siegelman-by-paul-craig-roberts/

Mukasey Grilled on Political Prosecutions

One of the tactical decisions of the Alabama G.O.P. and its Advance newspaper defenders is to present the whole Siegelman matter as something distinctive and limited to Alabama. Forget that there’s a storm brewing in Washington over precisely the issues raised here. Forget that two Republican U.S. Attorneys have testified before Congress about the White House’s (read: Karl Rove’s) attempts to manipulate prosecutions for partisan political purposes. And forget the fact that Miers, Rove, Gonzales, McNulty and a host of others have resigned and departed under a cloud as a result of it. Banish all of that from your silly little head. But when we take the full Washington situation into account, the absurdity of Hubbard’s statements and of the editorials and other Koolaid being dispensed daily from the Birmingham News and Mobile Press-Register becomes apparent.

Here’s something else the Advance newspapers never told Alabamans about. Three weeks ago Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, my former law partner, appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to give testimony. Though the media focused its coverage on Mukasey’s confusing and seemingly contradictory statements about torture (this is when he said that waterboarding would be torture if he experienced it — but no, he was not saying it was torture), the strongest showing during the hearing comes in the YouTube segment below. Former prosecutor, now Congressman Artur Davis pressed Mukasey very skillfully on three cases in which witnesses under oath—all of them Republican lawyers—allege efforts by political figures (in two cases, Karl Rove) to manipulate criminal prosecutions for political purposes. Mukasey attempts to evade answering, stating that he would not permit this. But Davis keeps him focused on whether he has done anything to look into these accusations. And the painful truth that emerges is that, though he recognizes the gravity of the wrongdoing involved, Mukasey admits that he has done absolutely nothing.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/02/hbc-90002517

alive. And maybe try to organize to keep bugging Congress about it and the DOJ. Squeaky wheels get the oil and this case keeps falling off the radar screen, which is what Rove and his cabal would like.

What a travesty that still continues..thanks for link Hissy. Will send ASAP