Editorials

Allegations of Republican operatives engaging in prosecutorial hanky-panky in Don Siegelman’s prosecution cannot be waved away.

With stories pouring forth of how the White House cheapened the Justice Department by obscenely interjecting Republican politics, a new allegation involving Siegelman, his federal prosecution and Republican operatives pulling strings deserves a closer look.

The Justice Department, as we’ve recently learned from congressional testimony, was used as a plaything for Republicans more interested in politics than justice. Veterans of the Civil Rights Division were tossed aside for rightwing ideologues. Getting hired, according to recent testimony, meant proving one’s Republican credentials. Failure to pursue political enemies meant a pink slip. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can’t get his story straight about any of this.

On Friday, Time magazine revealed details of the allegations involving Alabamians. “Now Karl Rove, the president’s top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy,” the magazine wrote. “A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top GOP operative in the state say that Rove ‘had spoken with the Department of Justice’ about ‘pursuing’ Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama’s U.S. attorneys.”

According to Time, Dana Jill Simpson, who is described as “a lifelong Republican” and an attorney from Rainsville, made the charges in an affidavit dated May 21.

Simpson says she was involved in a 2002 conference call among aides to Bob Riley, who had recently defeated Siegelmen in the governor’s race. Simpson alleges that Bill Canary, Business Council of Alabama president and spouse of Montgomery-based U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, was involved in the conference call along with Rob Riley, the governor’s son, and Terry Butts, former justice on the state Supreme Court.

Bill Canary, according to Simpson’s affidavit, told the group “not to worry about Don Siegelman” because “‘his girls’ would take care of” Siegelman. As the AP report it, “Canary then made clear that ‘his girls’ was a reference to his wife, Leura Canary, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama.”

Whether accurate or not, one thing is certain: Don Siegelman has been put throw the ringer by federal prosecutors since 2004. He was indicted by the Birmingham feds in 2004. Those charges were dropped like a hot potato that October when the prosecution’s case fell apart on the second day of the trial.

Siegelman was indicted 12 months later by Montgomery-based prosecutors. He was convicted last June on bribery and fraud charges.

With his June sentencing date approaching federal prosecutors are seeking to lock up the former governor for 30 years.

At the heart of the case is $500,000 in contributions to Siegelman’s lottery campaign chest. By way of comparison, a corrupt congressman from California, Randy “Duke” Cunningham got eight years for accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

Contacted by the AP on Friday, Rob Riley, Bill Canary and Butts denied involvement in a plot against the former governor.

Those denials ordinarily ought to be enough, however, skeptics can be allowed to take their imaginations out for a stroll. The story is bigger than one alleged conference call in Alabama. Put aside Simpson’s specific allegation. Focus instead on what we’re learning about the operation of Alberto Gonzales’ Justice Department.

If politics did not play a part in prosecutors’ pursuit of Siegelman, it would be the exception. Bush-appointed prosecutors from Minnesota to New Mexico to California and beyond landed in hot water and out of a job because they would not play the sort of political hardball that made Karl Rove famous.

Hard to believe an Alabama Democrat who had proven he could win a statewide election here in the reddest of red states would not be an attractive target to take down.

Maybe Alabama is the exception. Maybe in an administration where partisan politics rules Alabama is an afterthought, not worth the trouble. Maybe it’s merely a coincidence that after one federal prosecution failed a second was raised 13 months before the 2006 governor’s race. Maybe Rove wrote off the state where in the 1990s he honed his nasty tricks, including, according to a 2004 Atlantic Monthly article, launching a false whispering campaign that his client’s rival was a pedophile.

Maybe.

Given that each revelation about the operation of the Justice Department aids Siegelman’s claim that he’s the victim of a partisan witch hunt, this space will side with the skeptics for now.