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 Donald Eugene "Don" Siegelman (born February 24, 1946) is an American Democratic politician. He was the governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003. Don Siegelman is the only person in the history of Alabama to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide elected offices: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. He served in Alabama politics for 26 years, winning his first election for the governorship with 57% of the vote, including over 90% of the African-American electorate. snip In 2006, a Federal jury convicted Siegelman on corruption charges, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He is currently in the satellite camp of The Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, LA. <1> snip Rove controversy In June 2007, a Republican lawyer, Dana Jill Simpson of Rainsville, Alabama, signed a sworn statement that she had heard five years ago that Karl Rove was preparing to politically neutralize Siegelman with an investigation headed by the U.S. Department of Justice.<10> Simpson later backed away from her claim, telling The Birmingham News that "Karl" could be interpreted in one of two ways. She also stated in the same interview that she had written her affidavit herself, contradicting her Congressional testimony where she had admitted to having help from a Siegelman supporter.<11> According to Simpson's statement, she was on a Republican campaign conference call in 2002 when she heard Bill Canary tell other campaign workers not to worry about Siegelman because Canary's "girls" and "Karl" would make sure the Justice Department pursued the Democrat so he was not a political threat in the future.<10> "Canary's girls" supposedly included his wife, Leura Canary, who is United States Attorney for United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.<10> Leura Canary did not submit voluntary recusal paperwork until two months after Siegelman Attorney David Cromwell Johnson's press conference in March of 2002.
In September 2007, Simpson gave sworn testimony to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary regarding this issue (see below under Congressional Reaction).
Reporters Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane reported on the news site Raw Story that Karl Rove met with Riley campaign higher-ups and advised Bill Canary on managing Republican Bob Riley's campaign against Siegelman: "Two Republican lawyers who have asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation allege that Canary and Rove also worked together on the 2002 Alabama governor's race. One of the lawyers is close to the Republican National Committee in Alabama." <12>
Public reaction
Siegelman's supporters and interested academics established a website, donsiegelman.org, explaining their points of view.<13>
Another website, thetruthaboutdon.com, catalogues the numerous stories by state media investigating corruption during Siegelman's tenure as Governor and before. <14>
Siegelman defenders point out that over 100 charges were thrown out by three different judges, and the investigating U.S. Attorney was the wife of Siegelman's political opponent's campaign manager.<10>
Siegelman defenders argue that the sentence and fine are unusual and excessive because, for example, former Alabama Governor Guy Hunt, a Republican, was found guilty in state court of personally pocketing $200,000, and state prosecutors sought probation, not jail time, in the Hunt case.<10>
Congressional reaction
On July 17, 2007, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Reps. Linda Sánchez (CA-39), Artur Davis (AL-07), and Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asking him to provide documents and information about former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman’s recent conviction, among others, that may have been part of a pattern of selective political prosecutions by a number of U.S. Attorneys across the country.
The deadline for providing the information was July 27, 2007. The documents had not been produced by August 28, 2007, the date that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he would resign. <15> In an editorial that day, the New York Times said that despite Gonzales' departure, "Many questions remain to be answered. High on the list: what role politics played in dubious prosecutions, like those of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, and Georgia Thompson, a Wisconsin civil servant."<16>
Recent press reports have indicated that perhaps US Attorney Leura Canary of the Middle District of Alabama did not follow proper DOJ procedures in recusing herself from the Siegelman matter, since there were no filings to that effect made in court and Justice refused to disclose her 502 recusal form under FOIA.<17>
On October 10, 2007 the House Judiciary Committee released testimony in which Simpson alleged Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys and that Rob Riley had named the judge who would eventually be assigned to the case. She also claimed Rob Riley told her the judge would "hang Don Siegelman."<18> <19>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman
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