Editor's Note: This national magazine feature is the result of a five month-long investigation, funded by The Nation Institute's Investigative Fund. It began on June 1, 2007, the day the affidavit story broke in the New York Times and Time magazine.

by Glynn Wilson

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, one of the most popular progressive governors in Southern political history, is cleaning toilets in a Louisiana jail today, convicted on bribery charges in what may be one of the worst abuses of the federal courts by the executive branch during President Bush's tenure. Siegelman's case, among others, was taken up October 23 in a House Judiciary Committee hearing on selective prosecutions.

Siegelman was indicted by US Attorney Leura Canary, whose husband is a close friend of Karl Rove, and his seven-year sentence--the second-longest ever given to a politician convicted of bribery in this country--was doled out by Mark Fuller, a Republican judge who owes his lifetime appointment on the federal bench to the President. The bribery charges have nothing to do with personal enrichment but rather with donations Siegelman helped secure for a campaign to pass a lottery bill that would have increased funds for Alabama's ailing public schools.

Yet his case would probably never have been investigated by Congress if it weren't for the sworn statements of a lawyer and Republican Party operative from Alabama--statements, introduced into the public record at Tuesday morning's hearing, that have been the subject of much contentious debate among members of the committee.

The attorney, Dana Jill Simpson, was a longtime Republican player whose sworn affidavit alleges that Siegelman was tried and convicted as part of a conspiracy to keep him from running for political office in the future.

(I would like to thank the Nation Institute for funding this work. To read the entire story, go to The Nation magazine's Website):

The Nation: A Whistleblower's Tale