Alabama GOP/Siegelman for Dummies: Why Rove Should Be Sleepless in Rosemary Beach.

[DemoTex]

[Dhalgren]

1. Nice job! K&R...

[L. Coyote]

2. Excellent collection of TOOLS! Where is ExxonMobil? Where are the BILLIONS $$$$ ?

Gov. Don Siegelman, the Roughly $3.6 Billion, ExxonMobil, and Pissing Off BIG OIL.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3070446

Add White House staff like Michael Scanlan, plus Ralph Reed, DoJ Abramoff case's Noel Hillman, Grover Norquist, Alberto Gonzales, Michael Chertoff, ......

================
Chertoff and the Politics of Prosecution
Team Chertoff and the Art of Political Prosecution
by Scott Horton - 07 Sept. 2007
http://www.pacificfreepress.com/content/view/1640/81


Current and former Justice Department officials I have interviewed have consistently identified Michael Chertoff, his successor Alice Fisher and his protégé Noel Hillman, as figures with a strong interest in political prosecutions. Each apparently took an interest in the Siegelman case for all the wrong reasons, I am told, and each had regular communications with the White House throughout this period.

But the Siegelman case was only one of many cases with political overtones which were closely dogged by loyal Republican Party activists at the top of the criminal process at Justice. Today the Los Angeles Times is offering more evidence linking Chertoff to political vendettas using the prosecutorial resources of the Department of Justice.

David Savage and Tom Hamburger report (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ch... ):

Shortly after President Bush took office in 2001, Michael Chertoff, then head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, met with the conservative group Judicial Watch. It wanted criminal charges brought against Hillary Rodham Clinton ....

The Los Angeles Times report concerning the highly political vendetta prosecution of Rosen greatly strengthens the accusations made by a Michigan attorney, Geoffrey Fieger, in a case with strong parallels and similar political circumstances. It also casts a strong light on the mindset and working relationships within Justice at the time the chase after Alabama Governor Siegelman began.

[DemoTex]

11. Was ExxMob the only energy company pumping bucks in and gas out?

Ever look into Tranco's role (now Williams Energy) .. or Enron's? I know Transco was big in lobbying the Lower Alabama GOP in the late 1980s and 1990s re: Mobile Bay natural gas. Maybe they were in partnership with Exxon, I can't remember. However, if Transco was at the Alabama feed trough, Enron probably was too. Ken Lay cut his teeth at Transco before bailing for Houston Natural Gas and founding Enron.

Given Rove's clout in Alabama in the 1990s, and the Bu$h/Lay/Rove axis in Texas .. I can't help but wonder.

[navarth]

3. it would be nice if they all landed in jail and he went free

wouldn't it?

nice job on the flowchart

[trof]

5. Not just 'nice'. RIGHT!

[trof]

4. Day-yum, Tex!

Did you make that up out of your own head?
That is amazing.
K/R

[DemoTex]

8. Way too many cobwebs in my head for that! It was Raw Story from a few months back.

The SE and SW corners tell the story: Abramoff and Rove.

[starroute]

6. The chart's from Raw Story

Give credit where credit is due ...

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/The_Permanent_Republican_Majority_1125.html

[DemoTex]

7. Thanks Star

I was just going to post that the chart was not of my doing, but I couldn't find where it came from. The person that sent it to me thought that it might be from BartCop. Obviously not. I now remember the story by Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane from Raw Story in November.

[terrell9584]

9. where did you hear that Pryor?

"Began investigating Siegelman in 1999"

The only case Pryor began in 1999 was the case against ExxonMobil for back royalties. His office instituted the case. The stories about alleged corruption did not begin appearing until mid 2001 and they were all the work of a reporter named Curran at the Register.

If anything, the news throughout 2000 and 2001 is that there was probably going to be a challenge to Pryor in the 2002 primary because they felt that he was working a bit too close with the Siegelman administration. In fact, the first few days of the election drama every newsstory in the state consisted of "Republicans place Pryor under pressure, in light of past relations with Siegelman"

Pryor and Siegelman were both Catholics from the same community and they had a lot of the same mutual political supporters for that very reason

I'm not saying that I couldn't be wrong, but, if the AG's office had been investigating his office in 1999, that would have been news in 1999 and Siegelman wouldn't have continued enjoying the approval ratings that he did before he declared proration, which were always in the low to mid 60s. The corruption stories only started coming up a few months after proration was declared.

I'm just wondering where the Pryor stuff is coming from because I live in the state and this is the first I've ever heard of it.

[trof]

10. Can't PM you yet, but where y'at?

I'm in Foley.

[terrell9584]

13. The third place in the world

where large airplanes are built. (I hope)

[trof]

19. Right across the bay.

:hi:

[DemoTex]

12. Raw Story's time-line .. goes back to Big Tobacco.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/timeline_don_siegelman_1126.htm

"A further ally of Rove's and Canary's was Alabama Attorney General William Pryor. Both Rove in Texas and Pryor in Alabama tried to discourage their respective states from actively pursuing the 1996-97 state lawsuits against the tobacco industry, which formed an important aspect of their pro-corporate agenda. However, Alabama's Democratic Lieutanant Governor Don Siegelman was a strong supporter of the tobacco lawsuits.

In November 1998, Siegelman was elected Alabama governor, defeating the Republican incumbent, at the same time that Pryor was re-elected attorney general. Just a few weeks after Siegelman took office, Pryor began an investigation of his administration. It was this investigation that would lead many years later to Siegelman's conviction and imprisonment." From the link above.

[terrell9584]

14. Honestly, I think they may be missing the real story

In this state, when someone is done in, it's never that obvious, and knowing the community as well as I do, I just don't see Pryor being the one who instigated this, and if he had, you would have heard something in the press about him opposing Siegelman's release, because he's currently a judge on the 11th circuit and they're the ones who ordered him out

I do think this began with events that happened in 1999, but I think this could all be related to something else, something that only people here would be familiar with.

[DemoTex]

15. " .. something else, something that only people here would be familiar with .."

Are you alluding to "something" in particular, or "something" in general? And why would only people there (Alabama 1st Cong. District, perhaps) be familiar with it if the press is half-way awake?

BTW: I'm a Mobile native .. long, long ago! And welcome to DU.

[terrell9584]

16. thanks

and one word.....jug. I think you should know what I mean when I say that. It makes no sense at first given what happened in the 02 campaign, but could make a lot of sense in light of well...jug.

[WhiteTara]

17. welcome to DU

you sound as though you live in a state of siege. Take refuge here
:hi:

[Kingofalldems]

18. Jug? Detention in Catholic school was called Jug

*Justice Under God* What is your meaning?

[L. Coyote]

20. ***** Welcome Home Gov. Don Siegelman ***** Official SHOUT OUT Support Thread *****

***** Welcome Home Gov. Don Siegelman ***** Official SHOUT OUT Support Thread *****
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3078585