I don’t know if any of you have been following this story, but with the resignations of Gonzo and Turd Blossom this past week, I’ve got a sense that this man is at the center of why they’re suddenly gone. Don Siegelman was formerly the governor of Alabama, as well as the Attorney General, and a number of other high-level political posts in over 20 years of public service in the state. The election in 2002 was one of those good-ol-boys (win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat) style victories for his opponent, as the night of the election, after polls closed and the election officials had gone home, Republicans busted into one precint and conveniently discovered a “computer glitch” that swung 6000 more votes to their side, thereby securing the election. Siegelman fought it as best he could, but eventually conceded the election.
A little while later, a campaign manager for his opponent mentioned to his staff that “Karl had assured me” Siegelman would be taken down, and that “his girls would take care of him”. One of those girls was his wife, who happened to be a US Attorney. The subsequent arrest, perpwalk, trial, conviction…the whole thing has stunk since day one, and it really exposes what the real issue is here in the US Atty scandal, that it’s not really about those who were fired as much as it’s about who wasn’t fired. I highlighted the exploits of US Atty Steve Biskupic here a couple months ago in his pre-election prosecution of a woman named Georgia Thompson. This Siegelman case is another example of what happened there, only on a much larger scale.
Keep your eyes peeled for news regarding this story right here, because not only is it getting goofier by day, it may just be the “crime” we’ve all been waiting for.
I’m surprised that as many Alabamians are informed as they are. It has been very hard to get the truth in Alabama about anything that involves Democratic politicians. Even the local TV and radio media pretty much parrots what the three largest newspapers in Alabama print. These newspapers are the Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Press-Register which are owned by Communications giant Advance Publications, Inc.
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Toby Roth, Rob Riley, etc. have represented big business clients (Mississippi Casinos, Chevron/Exxon, etc) who have funneled large amounts of money through money laundering organizations, such as the Business Council of Alabama, to campaign funds and to these larger newspapers to endorse GOP politicians in return for political favors.
It is not certain, at this time, whether the corruption is isolated to the three larger Alabama newspapers or to Advance Publications Inc.
My hat goes off to the smaller locally own Alabama newspapers that investigate and print the truth.