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Karl Rove dirty politics & the case of Alabama Governor Don Siegelman who was falsely prosecuted

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BirminghamExaminer Donating Member (943 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 04:35 PM
Original message
Karl Rove dirty politics & the case of Alabama Governor Don Siegelman who was falsely prosecuted
This is an extremely important article that deals with why BUSH should be prosecuted.


Last year when CBS's 60 Minutes program delved into reports of the US Department of Justice's role in falsely prosecuting former Alabama Governor, Don Siegelman, Alabama wasn't allowed to see the segment on the case. CBS stations in Alabama had "technical difficulties" with the segment of 60 Minutes that concerned the case of Governor Siegelman.

(snip)

Crimes committed by President Nixon during his term as President, breaking into the Watergate complex, pale in comparison to the underhanded and illegal activity undertaken by those who investigated and falsely prosecuted Alabama's former Governor, Don Siegelman.

First there was the 2002 gubernatorial election in Alabama. Many of us in Alabama went to bed on the night of the election thinking that Democratic incumbent Governor Siegelman had been re-elected. Suddenly the next day we learned that there had been a problem with one single voting machine in Baldwin county and that Republican challenger Bob Riley had won the statewide election by some 3000 votes. A Riley campaign worker who later went to work with the Abramoff lobbying firm, bragged on a website (since taken down) "that he had a role in implementing a state of the art ballot security system that was critical to securing Governor-elect Rileys narrow margin of victory (3120 votes)"

The Associated Press had called the election for Siegelman the night before. But a voting machine that was declared to be malfunctioning seemed to magically produce the votes that would give the Republican Bob Riley a slight edge over Siegelman. There would be no recount.

An Auburn University Professor who studied the results said:

Someone is controlling the computer to produce the different results.
Once any computer produces different election results, any results
produced by the same equipment operated by the same people should
be considered too suspect to certify without an independently
supervised recount.

Normally, questions regarding election results changing overnight would result in a recount. But Bush appointed Attorney General Bill Pryor denied a recount. So Alabama had a new governor under at best, questionable circumstances and more likely under criminal circumstances.

Alabama Republican officials with help from Karl Rove and ultimately the Bush Department of Justice went after the former popular Democratic Governor, Don Siegelman. The chief witness against Siegelman accused Siegelman, Attorney General Bill Pryor (R) andSenator Jeff Sessions (R) of corruption. But neither of the two Republican politicians were investigated. Governor Siegelman, a Democrat, was singled out for investigation and prosecution in what can only be described as political manipulation, a skill that Karl Rove is an expert in. One of the Republican attorneys working on the case for Republican governor Bob Riley, came forward and testified that key members of Governor Riley's team discussed talking to Karl Rove about the Siegelman case.

"Not to worry, that he had already gotten it worked out with Karl, and Karl had spoken to the Department of Justice."

To read the rest of the http://www.examiner.com/x-1172-Birmingham-Progressive-Politics-Examiner~y2009m2d12-Alabama-kept-in-the-dark-about-Governor-Don-Siegelman">article, please go here and leave comments. You can also see the 60 Minutes segment that Alabama didn't get to see.
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The Hope Mobile Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 04:48 PM
Response to Original message
1. We need to get this IT guy talking too, cince Collins can't anymore. nt
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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 04:57 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. It seems that anyone involved with these dirty tricks are
dwindling.
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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 05:01 PM
Response to Original message
3. That's why States Secrets privledge should not be use to sheild their crimes.
According to a Gallup poll out today, 62% of Americans favor some type of investigation into the Bush administration's use of torture and 63% believe the use of telephone wiretaps without a warrant should be investigated. 71% of Americans are in favor of investigating the Bush administration for using the Department of Justice for political purposes.
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MasonJar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 07:50 PM
Response to Reply #3
8. Send the results of the poll to Obama. He seems way too comfortable
letting this go. My only assumption is that he thinks GOPers will screw up his agenda. They do that anyway as he has found the hard way. And even if they had not, it would not be a reason to allow criminals to go free.
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ggould1 Donating Member (26 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Feb-13-09 05:16 AM
Response to Reply #8
9. I agree
It's one thing to want to move forward and it's another thing to try to be bipartisan. Bush got away with committing crimes the rest of us would be in jail for. So there is one law for the president and another for everybody else?
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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 05:12 PM
Response to Original message
4. For some reason your info.posted twice.
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BirminghamExaminer Donating Member (943 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 05:23 PM
Response to Reply #4
5. What do you mean?
Can you explain what that means so I can fix it? Thanks.
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Doctor_J Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 05:32 PM
Response to Original message
6. at least as important as Gitmo, IMO
this is not just war crimes, which are under the juridiction of the Hague. Also, in that case, the victims may have been enemy combatants.

This case is actual statutory malfeasance, on which there can be no question of the DoJ's jurisdiction. Furthermore, Don Siegelman is a law-abiding, tax-paying US citizen whose only crime was being a Democrat. This shit needs to be smacked down, hard.
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ggould1 Donating Member (26 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Feb-12-09 06:28 PM
Response to Original message
7. If we let this slide
`then we might as well just let the DOJ and Karl Rove decide every governor in every state and hey, why not let them decide who the president should be...but wait, the Supreme Court already did that in 2000 so that job is taken.
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