Press Aug 25 2007

AUGUST 25 2007

Political Prosecution? The House Judiciary Committee is gathering
information about this prosecution and others that Democrats
suspect were pursued for political reasons.
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Political Prosecution? Justice Dept Holds onto
Docs in Case of Jailed Alabama Governor
Siegelman
Democracy Now

But critics say Siegelman is the target of a political witch hunt. The
Justice Department has yet to comply with a request from Congress
to release documents about the case. The House Judiciary
Committee is gathering information about this prosecution and others
that Democrats suspect were pursued for political reasons.

Scott Horton has been closely following this story. He is a Columbia
law professor and a contributor to Harper's magazine.

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Transcript:

SCOTT HORTON

Don Siegelman is the most important

Democratic Party

politician in Alabama in recent years. He was

an electoral

wonder, a figure who was able to command a

good part of the

vote even in the largely Republican south part

of the state. He

was elected to every major office that the state

of Alabama had

to offer. He was viewed essentially as the

nemesis of the

Republicans in Alabama.

AMY GOODMAN

: And what happened?

SCOTT HORTON

: It now looks increasingly like he was a

target

of a political vendetta that reached into and involved the

Department of Justice in a political prosecution. And, in fact,

we had a really astonishing development in this case back in

May, when a Republican lawyer, Jill Simpson, who had been

involved in the electoral campaign of his Republican opponent,

Bob Riley, filed an affidavit, in which she described a

conversation she had participated in with a man named William

Canary. Now, he's a native New Yorker, actually, referred to

frequently by Alabamians as “the carpetbagger,” who is a

prominent Republican kingmaker in Alabama, the head of the

Business Council of Alabama. And he stated in this

conversation that he had talked to Karl, and Karl had spoken

to the Department of Justice, and they didn't have to worry

about Don Siegelman anymore. He was going to be taken care

of. And he went on to say, “My girls are going to take care of

Siegelman.”

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Sponsored by Friends of Don Siegelman 2007
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