Editorials

Don Siegelman's contention that his prosecution was politically motivated is not universally believed.

As he did when in elected office, Don Siegelman has his detractors. No big surprise.

Every time this editorial page weighs in on his case, we hear from the skeptics, folks who for one reason or another are invested in seeing Siegelman behind bars. Again, no big surprise. Most recently, these defenders of the system were troubled when a federal court freed Siegelman from prison while awaiting his appeal on corruption charges.

Despite displaying a rather naïve view of U.S. politics and the Bush administration's track record, the defenders of Siegelman's prosecution are worth hearing.

A jury of Siegelman's peers weighed the evidence and the defense and agreed to convict, the defenders say.

Throughout his term as governor, they add, Siegelman kept company with some questionable characters. Besides, he quite possibly cut some ethical corners in governing Alabama.

And, the anti-Siegelman faction concludes, a Republican plot organized by Bush Justice Department appointees to legally pursue an out-of-office Alabama Democrat is too much to swallow. You'd have to don a tin-foil hat and worry over how fluoride is sapping our vital bodily fluids to be willing to raise doubts over how the ex-governor was sent to the federal prison.

Serious doubts arose over that last contention recently.

Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine's report last week found the department employed "political or ideological" litmus tests in hiring career lawyers and interns.

It was, according to Fine, all about the associations.

Planned Parenthood, Greenpeace, Nature Conservancy, the ACLU and the Council on American-Islamic Relations were career killers.

Membership in the Federalist Society was a bonus, as was other "Republican affiliated" outfits such as the Alliance Defense Fund, the Heritage Foundation, the Christian Legal Society and the Family Research Council.

It seems to get a job at the Justice Department, one needed to satisfy a conservative checklist.

That is wrong, and possibly even criminal.

It's also a chink in the armor of those who scoff at the possibility that elements within the Bush Justice Department carried out a partisan pursuit of Don Siegelman.

The inspector general's report tosses cold water on Siegelman's critics. If an affiliation with the American Civil Liberties Union blackballs an otherwise competent candidate, imagine what can happen to a Democrat who proves that he can win elections in a Republican-friendly state.