HAS THE US ATTORNEY SCANDAL HIT HOME IN ALABAMA?

Author Unknown

As reported in the April 14, 2007 New York Times, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions has been implicated in the current US Attorney/Department of Justice Scandal. Sessions’ actions, apparently on behalf of the White House, may not be the first time that Alabama has been called upon to be a player in Department of Justice matters. According to public documents, it appears that high ranking Republican political operatives may have been involved with state and federal investigations in Alabama.

The cast of characters in the Alabama case is mind boggling: Karl Rove, Bill Canary, The Attorney General of the United States, Two US Attorneys, Four Federal Judges, A US Senator, A Governor, and a Fortune 500 CEO.
United States Senator Jeff Session’s assistant while he was Alabama Attorney General was William Pryor – now a federal judge - who was appointed Alabama Attorney General in 1996 upon Sessions election to the Senate. In 1998, Pryor hired Karl Rove and high-ranking GOP operative Bill Canary to manage his successful campaign for Alabama Attorney General. Also elected in 1998 was Democratic Governor Don Siegelman.

In March of 1999 Don Siegelman is the first Governor in the nation to endorse Al Gore and accompanies Gore on a campaign swing into Florida.

Gore’s opponent, George W. Bush’s campaign was directed by Karl Rove.

In late March, a mere twelve weeks into Siegelman’s term, Rove’s Alabama client, Bill Pryor began an investigation into the newly elected Governor’s administration.

After Pryor’s investigation of Siegelman begins in 1999, it is elevated to a joint state-federal investigation directed by U.S. Attorney Leura Canary who was appointed in 2001 by George Bush. U.S. Attorney Canary is the wife of Bill Canary who mentored Rove in Alabama after they lost the 1992 Bush re-election campaign and partnered with Rove in Alabama Republican state Supreme Court races beginning in 1994 and on Pryor’s campaign in 1998.
Before partnering with Rove on Pryor’s campaign, Bill Canary compiled an impressive GOP resume. He served as chief of staff for the RNC, Chief of Staff to former Bush Chief of Staff, Andy Card, and National Field Director for the Bush Quayle campaign in 1992. It was in 1994, when Canary and Rove directed the races for GOP candidates in Alabama court races. In a 1995 article, Michael Kramer at TIME called Bill Canary a “legend in republican circles” and RNC Chairman Rich Bond described Bill Canary as an “expert political paratrooper” and “someone you dropped into a state where something needed fixing and it got fixed.”

It was not clear whether, in 1999, Karl Rove or Bill Canary directed Pryor to begin an investigation of Siegelman in an effort to damage him for the 2002 Governor’s race. But Pryor, just twelve weeks into his and Siegelman’s terms of office, did in fact begin an investigation of Siegelman and, Bill Canary’s wife - the U.S. Attorney- continued the investigation through the 2002 election cycle and beyond.

In 2001, Bill Canary again signed on as Pryor’s campaign consultant and also became the political consultant for Alabama Lt. Governor Steve Windom – an announced opponent of Siegelman’s in the 2006 Governor’s race. On the campaign trail, Windom blasted Siegelman daily about the investigation into his administration - an investigation being run by his consultant’s other client Pryor and Leura Canary, the wife of Bill Canary, his campaign consultant. After Windom’s loss in the Republican primary, Canary joined the campaign of GOP nominee Congressman Bob Riley.
The 2002 Alabama Governor’s race was the closest in the state’s history. Initial results showed Democrat Don Siegelman winning re-election but a 6000 vote shift, attributed to computer glitch, in Republican-controlled Baldwin County, with an Abramoff employee in charge of “ Ballot Security” –– shifted the win to Bob Riley.

Of the 28 races on the ballot in Baldwin County, “the glitch” only affected the votes cast in the Governor’s race. Not one vote in any other race changed.

A statewide recount effort was mounted by Siegelman’s team, but was shut down by Attorney General Bill Pryor. After intervening and halting a recount, Pryor –contrary to state law- allowed the results to be certified by the Secretary of State.

After intervening in the recount to the benefit of Republican Bob Riley in December 2002, Pryor was nominated by Bush in April 2003 for a seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Criminal Appeals. In a 2004 interview, U.S. Sentator Jeff Sessions told the Birmingham News that “we would have nominated Bill for his federal judgeship sooner” but waited for a Republican Governor to name his replacement as Attorney General.”

In 2002 Siegelman’s attorney – citing her husband’s ties to Siegelman’s political opponents - demanded that Leura Canary recuse herself from the Siegelman case. Canary told the Birmingham News in April 2002 that she had sought an opinion on the matter from the Department of Justice and in May released a statement saying that Washington has assured her that no conflicts existed, but she was “voluntarily” recusing herself from the Siegelman case. Her subordinates and investigators remained on the case.

In 2006 a FOIA request was submitted to and later approved by the Department of Justice seeking all documentation relating to Canary’s recusal. At this writing, the FOIA request has not been complied with.

In November, 2003 a Mobile Alabama newspaper published a poll showing Don Siegelman defeating Bob Riley in a rematch of the 2002 election. Four Months later, the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Alabama – Alice Martin - indicted Siegelman on charges of Medicaid fraud on the last day of a five(5) year statute of limitations.

Those charges were brought before Chief Senior Presiding Federal Judge U.W. Clemon who calls for a prima facie hearing on the case. After failing to show good cause for the conspiracy charge, the U.S Attorney moves to dismiss all charges against Siegelman with prejudice.

Following the Northern District case in 2005, Siegelman’s attorneys filed ethics complaints with the Department of Justice against two investigators working out of Martin’s office. Both men continued working on the Siegelman investigation. In February 2007, the Department of Justice finally responded in writing to the complaints; dismissing them out of hand.

After the failed case against Siegelman, Martin brought HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to Trial on a 36 count indictment. That trial, which garnered national attention, ended with the acquittal of Scrushy on all counts. While editorials in the State began to speak of the imminent dismissal of Martin as US Attorney due to the Siegelman and Scrushy losses –and as we now know plans were being made by the Department of Justice to oust competent U.S. Attorneys - the Attorney General of the United States Alberto Gonzalez held a press conference in Birmingham to show public support for Martin.

In June 2004, at the direction of Noel Hillman, head of the Public Integrity Division of the Department of Justice, the Middle District U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, reanimated a Grand Jury that had been dormant for 14 months. Siegelman was indicted by Canary’s office and brought to trial in May 2006, one month before the Democratic Primary for Governor.

Noel Hillman was nominated for a federal judgeship in January 2006 and confirmed as a United States Federal Judge in June 2006, making him the second prosecutor involved in the six year investigation of Don Siegelman to be named as a federal judge.

Yet, in the face of all of this, the conviction of Siegelman and Scrushy remains the stumbling block for many and stands as an obstacle to observers when they begin to entertain the thought that this travesty actually occurred in Alabama. To that end, we must understand that in the post-verdict period, no less than seven emails were presented to the judge in motions, indicating that jurors may have negotiated for a guilty verdict before the case concluded. Also, a November 14th hearing produced testimony under oath from 7 jurors that outside information was brought into juror deliberations by the Jury Foreman and one other juror. The trial judge – George W. Bush appointee - Mark Fuller has refused to investigate the origin of the emails and in his ruling on the November 14th hearing, disregarded the sworn testimony of seven jurors who said juror misconduct occurred.

In his order, Judge Fuller said “that while it is indeed apparent that juror misconduct occurred” it did not rise to the standard required for a new trial.

Now we know that Karl Rove has been directly linked to this prosecution by the affidavit of Republican political operative, Jill Simpson, a Bob Riley fan, who did negative research on Siegelman in 2002 for Bill Canary who was running Riley’s campaign. As Congress begins its investigation of Rove’s involvement in the DOJ/White House Political Scandal, we must all brace ourselves for the proverbial walls to come tumbling down on what may well have been one of the most egregious misuses of the justice system for political purposes ever to have occurred in this country.

This case may well be the “Watergate” of 2008.