tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35995239537414930812024-02-19T04:23:23.317-06:00Goat Hill ChroniclesOn some days, nothing, on others, my two cents worth on matters related to Alabama politics or anything that captures my attention. Some days I will discuss the Siegelman/Scrushy legal situation, or provide records used in my reporting.Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.comBlogger66125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-51915179640449515802012-06-21T01:45:00.000-05:002012-06-21T12:10:43.400-05:00Give Hizzoner a Break!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img height="300" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/images/TVSnip.PNG" style="background-color: white; font-size: 21px; text-align: left;" width="400" /></div>
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<a href="http://www.local15tv.com/news/local/story/Local-Blogger-Mayor-Jones-Being-Unfairly/i4vBYDsn50KClP_F-SiznA.cspx"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Go Here</b></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For Curran Interview</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">With WPMI on</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Campaign Spending</span></div>
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Put Your Mouse</div>
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<span style="font-size: 24px;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/TheSamJonesProbe.htm">HERE </a></span></div>
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FOR <span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">THE SCOOP ON THE</span></div>
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<span class="style539" style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 37px;">Sam Jones</span></div>
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<span class="style539" style="font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 37px;">Probe</span></div>
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And there You Shall Find</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: red; font-family: GungsuhChe; font-size: 24px; text-align: left;"> Commentary,</span></div>
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Reports and</div>
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ALARMING VIDEO,</div>
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Even, Dare We Say,</div>
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SATIRE</div>
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On Case Against</div>
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Mobile's Mayor</div>
</div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-11897580364859557692012-06-14T15:20:00.003-05:002012-06-16T01:02:16.205-05:00Roger Bedford parties with campaign bucks<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tIh6lfttPmU/T9pHNRa_ctI/AAAAAAAAALc/H3ziCeyS82Y/s1600/BedfordCampaignPic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tIh6lfttPmU/T9pHNRa_ctI/AAAAAAAAALc/H3ziCeyS82Y/s320/BedfordCampaignPic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The immense amount of scrutiny into Mobile Mayor Sam Jones campaign expenditures prompted me to present some perspective, which is to say, to show that Jones expenditures stand out only when examined alone. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Links to two, uh, unusual but I think effective videos and a story that focuses on spending by State Sen. Roger Bedford can be found here: <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/TheSamJonesProbe.htm">http://www.eddiecurran.com/TheSamJonesProbe.htm</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> If you are only interested in the story about Bedford, go here: <a href="http://modmobilian.com/2012/06/08/eddie-curran-on-the-campaign-trail-with-roger-bedford/">http://modmobilian.com/2012/06/08/eddie-curran-on-the-campaign-trail-with-roger-bedford/</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> If Bedford's spending form his campaign funds is legal, then there really is no such thing as illegal spending of campaign funds. If that sounds like a strong statement, then read the story. </span><br />
<br /></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-8209171152659336002012-05-31T02:08:00.002-05:002012-05-31T02:08:35.876-05:00Open Letter to Mobile DA Ashley Rich<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="style1" style="color: red; font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 37px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"There was only one package of bread purchased by the campaign in 2011."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 24px; text-align: left;"><em><br /></em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 24px; text-align: left;"><em> -- From, "Mayor's Spending Habits Appear Hard to Break," by Rob Holbert, in Lagniappe. His reporting </em></span><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 24px; text-align: left;"><em>ignited the</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><em>campaign</em></span> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><em>finance scandal</em></span> <span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><em>involving Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, and spawned an apparent criminal investigation of the mayor.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><em>.</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 37px;"><strong>An Open Letter to Mobile District Attorney Ashley Rich</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><strong>Subject</strong>: Request for Clarification of Your Campaign Expense Reports To Bring Them in Compliance With the Alabama Fair</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span class="style31">Campaign Practices Act; </span>and Request for Supporting Documentation of Your Campaign Expenditures</span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nwVQAk-y5tg/T8cYlmOAVOI/AAAAAAAAAKk/SHp7N2i77x8/s1600/Ashley+Rich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nwVQAk-y5tg/T8cYlmOAVOI/AAAAAAAAAKk/SHp7N2i77x8/s320/Ashley+Rich.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Go to <a href="http://eddiecurran.com/">EddieCurran.Com</a> to Read Letter.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br /></span></div>
</div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-83238095263081200442012-05-22T01:21:00.003-05:002012-05-22T03:14:26.464-05:00Riley Way Late in Reporting Income<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><i> </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Considering various efforts by Riley the Governor for </i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i>at least some of </i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><i>these </i></span><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"> lobbying </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">clients, it naturally </span></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">would be interesting to see how much </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"> if anything </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"> </span></i><i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;">they</i></span></div>
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<i style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> paid him so soon after he left the governor's office."</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-56wbX1gjHoc/T7r_w3PF2DI/AAAAAAAAAKY/K6hKFNRstUY/s1600/RileyAtGulf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-56wbX1gjHoc/T7r_w3PF2DI/AAAAAAAAAKY/K6hKFNRstUY/s1600/RileyAtGulf.jpg" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">If former Alabama Governor Bob Riley ever gets around to</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"> filing his past-due ethics forms, his reports will likely include </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;">payments from an Orange Beach condo developer.</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> </b>A suggested question for reporters who cover politics
in Alabama:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Why hasn't former
Gov. Bob Riley filed his annual financial disclosure with the Alabama Ethics
Commission for either 2010 or 2011?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Some months ago I
requested his form for 2010 from the Ethics Commission and was told he had not
filed it, which I found surprising. Recently, the commission went
"on-line" with a searchable database of ethics filings. The database includes
annual reports for 2011, which came due on April 30. Riley's reports for 2008
and 2009 are there, but still no 2010, nor anything for 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> For
those not familiar with the process, each year, in late spring,
local and state elected officials, non-federal public employees with salaries
above $50,000 and members of certain boards must report their outside income
from the previous year by completing a, “Statement of Economic Interest.” Among
other requirements, officials must list sources of income and monetary ranges
from those sources, starting at, “Less than $1,000,” and climbing to "more
than $250,000."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> To make sure there
wasn't an error, I called the Ethics Commission Monday and was told that if Riley
had filed reports for 2010 and 2011, then the reports would be on-line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Here are some justifications for a story on Riley's apparent failure to
file his annual reports.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> </b>1. The law requires it. Riley was an elected public
official for the entirety of 2010 and for the first few weeks of 2011, when his
successor, Robert Bentley, took office. As such, the law requires that he file reports.
The deadline for Riley's 2011 report is three weeks past. The deadline for the
2010 report was more than a year ago.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As a comparison, in
spring 2003, former Gov. Don Siegelman filed his annual report for 2002 (his
last full year in office). The following spring, Siegelman filed his annual
report for 2003, when he was governor for only the first few weeks of the year, until Riley's inauguration. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> For another
comparison, I checked on former Attorney General Troy King. Like the governor,
the outgoing attorney general serves the first few weeks of the year when his
successor takes over. Last spring King filed for 2010, and recently filed his report for
2011, the year when he served but a few weeks.</span><br />
<b style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </b><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">2. Riley, to his credit, called a special session at the
end of 2010 and, as a result, the Legislature passed laws that strengthened the
ethics law and brought more transparency to state campaign laws. It is, then,
surprising that Riley has not filed his annual reports. Doing so is a basic to
say nothing of widely known requirement of the ethics law that existed long
before the 2010 upgrade.</span></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 3. Some six or
seven months after leaving office, Riley raised eyebrows by registering as a
lobbyist for the following clients: Mobile's Austal USA,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3599523953741493081" name="ORIGHIT_3"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=3599523953741493081" name="HIT_3"></a><span class="hit">EADS</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>North America, VT Systems Inc.; Gulf
Coast Asphalt Co. and Brett/Robinson Real Estate Development Co.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> As governor, Riley
was heavily involved with some of those companies on economic development matters
and perhaps other issues as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The most startling
client on the list was Brett/Robinson. In November 2010 -- near the end of
Riley's tenure as governor -- news reports announced that BP had agreed to pay
Brett/Robinson a whopping $37 million. This was to satisfy the company's claims
of lost sales at its Phoenix West condominium development because of the oil
spill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> A story reporting the $37 million deal quoted Jim
Thompson, a lawyer for Brett/Robinson, saying the settlement was pushed along
by elected officials, including <span class="hit">Riley</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and U.S.
Sen. Jeff Sessions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ''They stepped up
to the plate and swung heavy bats,'' Thompson said of Riley and Sessions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Considering various
efforts by Riley the Governor for at least some of these lobbying clients, it
naturally would be interesting to see how much if anything they paid him
so soon after he left the governor's office.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Once that
information is in hand -- as I have to assume it will be, since the law demands it -- it won't be unreasonable for the media to ask Riley what he's
done for the companies in his role as lobbyist. He won't be compelled to
answer, but certainly the questions aren't unfair. He sort of asked for the
questions by seeking the business from these companies or agreeing to their
requests that he lobby for them -- however the partnerships came about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It's understandable that
someone who only served for a few weeks in 2011 could forget, some 16 months
later, of his or her requirement to file his report. Still, they must file. And
there is zero excuse for Riley's failure to file for 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> If Riley intentionally did not
file, for 2010 or 2011 or both, well, I suppose there could be repurcussions
for that. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The suggestion at the beginning that the Alabama media
should ask about this is not a criticism of the media. In fact, the <i>Birmingham News</i> has done an excellent
job of "watch-dogging" Riley's fledgling lobbying career, with
regular stories about his client situation on the state and federal level. In
that first story, in August 2011, Riley told the <i>News</i> that he set up his lobbying firm, called Bob Riley and
Associates, to "<span style="background-color: white;">be a partner with, or help
when I can, this administration, the governor, and the Legislature"
especially in economic development and education reform.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> He
made it sound like a charitable undertaking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"> </span>I will confess that I was quite disappointed upon reading
that story and the subsequent reports. Riley truly did, with his ethics and
campaign reform legislation -- and before that, strong bid requirements and
public reporting of state spending -- do much to clean up Alabama politics. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="loose" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 5.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> I also was a fan of
his courageous efforts against Milton McGregor's blatantly illegal "electronic
bingo" operations and the sleaze cloud that enveloped Alabama as long as McGregor
was allowed to operate.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Riley, though, knowingly put his
reputation in peril by becoming a lobbyist and signing up, as clients,
companies that he had helped while governor. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It seems as if more than his
reputation could be in peril if he doesn't move quickly to file his ethics
reports for 2010 and 2011 and convince anyone who might ask that it was an
oversight, and not an intentional effort to bypass the law.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b> (Note: This occasional blogger, when he blogs, does it for free, as in, as a charitable undertaking. However, you can help him feed his children by going <span id="goog_1300652479"></span><a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/buying_the_book.html">Here<span id="goog_1300652480"></span> </a>or <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/AbouttheBonusChapters.html">Over Here.)</a></b></span><br />
<br /></div>
</div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-28586494410376798002012-02-13T12:57:00.005-06:002012-03-01T09:56:51.243-06:00Take this Quiz, Mr. Will!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;">A Letter to George Will</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_I-392cF5XHjFsSZMXhnM3v7McYxxzeg_lNXFlLb_tO6n1vAVsUxNlC5SGab2UdiFzGg45xWLz5HxZMO5LPRQ_08Y2UmqtAoHLJGwDK6J4VCwEunQDwUTKp_I68xYhOz3sGdJ2femtZI/s400/GeorgeWill.png" /> </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>George Will</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"> </span> </b><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Yesterday the Washington Post published a column about the Siegelman case from, of all people, George Will. He is widely syndicated, and the column was assuredly in papers throughout the country. Here is a link to the column: </span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-it-bribery-or-just-politics/2012/02/09/gIQA4hy34Q_story.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/is-it-bribery-or-just-politics/2012/02/09/gIQA4hy34Q_story.html</a><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="color: #606420; font-family: Arial;"> <span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: #606420; font-weight: bold;"> </span> It began:</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22px; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"> All elected officials, and those who help finance elections in the expectation that certain promises will be kept — and everyone who cares about the rule of law — should hope the Supreme Court agrees to hear Don Siegelman’s appeal of his conviction. Until the court clarifies what constitutes quid pro quo political corruption, Americans engage in politics at their peril because prosecutors have dangerous discretion to criminalize politics.</span></i></span></b></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><b> </b></span><b style="color: red;"> </b> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Upon completion, I immediately summoned Sancho for another frontal assault on the national media windmill that, to date, has survived intact, wholly unharmed from my offensives.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> The following letter was hastily written and sent to the e-mail address provided at the end of Will's column. First, though, allow me to make note of Will's early use of the phrase, </span><span style="font-size: large;">"Rule of Law." That one never fails to set my bullshit detector pulsating bright red. What it really means is, "The Rule of Law, as I see it, and as it supports my particular ideology, is...."</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> But that's tangential. Here's the letter George Will is unlikely to see, much less read:</span><br />
<i style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></i><b style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;"><o:p> </o:p></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">From : Eddie Curran<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Mobile, AL<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Phone: 251-454-1911<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Author: “The Governor of Goat Hill: Don Siegelman, the Reporter Who Exposed His Crimes, and the Hoax that Suckered Some of the Top Names in Journalism.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">E-mail: <a href="mailto:eddcurran@aol.com"><span style="color: blue;">eddcurran@aol.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Web-site for book: <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/home.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.eddiecurran.com/home.html</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Dear Mr. Will,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> As a former reporter – in fact, the one who did the stories on the Siegelman/Scrushy donations – I realize there are times when someone approaches a journalist with a set of facts that support a storyline, and makes a sale, so to speak. I suspect that happened here. I don’t believe there is any way that you could both have a grasp of the bizarre nature of the $500,000 “campaign contributions” in this part of the Siegelman case and then characterize the case as you did.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> My guess is that you did not even trouble yourself to read the 11th Circuit’s opinion upholding the bribery elements of the Siegelman case.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> If you are unable to answer the following questions, it means that you are too unfamiliar with the case to be qualified to offer the opinion you offered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 1. Were the two $250,000 “campaign contributions” publicly disclosed in a timely fashion, as is required of campaign contributions? If not, when were they disclosed, and why?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 2. Were the “contributions” disclosed on the “Lottery Foundation’s” public tax returns, called 990s? If not in a timely fashion, why not? (For that matter, did the Foundation file and make available its 990s?)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 3. Was there testimony at trial that made the case for an explicit deal between Siegelman and Scrushy?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 4. Can you characterize any of that testimony?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 5. Can you identify the name on the check – the donor -- of the first $250,000, or provide any of the circumstances surrounding that check? For example, are you familiar with the pivotal role played in getting that money to HealthSouth, and from there to Siegelman, by New York-based investment bankers with UBS Warburg?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 6. Can you identify the person who testified: “He said that, you, meaning me, was ‘going to be fucked’ if I don’t figure out a way to make the donation?” Do you know who the person is who said that (to the person who gave the testimony), and can you describe the context in which it was said?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 7. Are you aware that a Maryland healthcare company gave the first $250,000? Do you know why?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 8. Do you believe, as apparently does the <i>NY Times</i> and “60 Minutes,” that Karl Rove in some fashion directed the Justice Department to prosecute Siegelman?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 9. Was Siegelman a former attorney general, and a member of the group of former attorneys generals who lobbied heavily for support of that group? How many were Republicans? Do you think this was part of a public relations effort? How many of those signees do you think could answer any of the questions in the quiz above, which is only scratching the surface.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 10. Did Siegelman or Scrushy testify at trial?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> 11. Do you believe it should be legal for a public official to link public action on his part to financial acts by another party, whether as outright gifts of money, campaign contributions, or such as the matter in this case (an animal all its own, really, that being one reason why this case hardly seems a good fit for the Supreme Court to address the matter.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Siegelman, incidentally, also has another charge outstanding against him that has nothing to do with the Scrushy matter. Many of the worst things he did were not included in the prosecution, but that’s another matter. I feel sure you know some people involved in Republican politics in Alabama. You might ask them what they think of Siegelman, and not, was he liberal or conservative, but corrupt, to say nothing of someone who routinely threatened donors with retribution should they not give.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> I doubt you have seen any of this, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Eddie Curran</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-75430181647959961012012-01-24T01:03:00.006-06:002012-01-26T00:28:44.376-06:00Scrushy's re-sentencing may forecast Siegelman's fate<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Former Alabama governor will surely be paying close</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> attention </span><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> to Scrushy's re-sentencing by Judge Mark Fuller</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="scrushy1.jpg - 112825 Bytes" src="http://archive.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060827/scrushy1.jpg" /> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> </span><b>S</b></span><b>crushy, right, in a picture taken, at the earliest, AFTER discovering that the feds were investigating his role in the gargantuan accounting fraud that resulted in losses counted in the billions of dollars by HealthSouth investors. Some believe Scrushy's very public move to evangelical Christianity, and his focus on black congregations, was a ploy to win over jurors in the criminal trial in Birmingham. Thoughts such as these are characteristic of a type of person known as a "cynic."</b><br />
<b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><br />
</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"> Though it's Richard Scrushy who is to be re-sentenced Wednesday (Jan. 24), the defendant with the most at stake may well be former Alabama governor Don Siegelman.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Barring the unexpected, at some point, probably this summer, Siegelman, too, will appear before federal judge Mark Fuller for re-sentencing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> A decision by Fuller Wednesday to reduce Scrushy's sentence would provide hope to Siegelman that the judge would, when the time comes, also reduce Siegelman's sentence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> But the opposite is true as well. If Fuller doesn't trim Scrushy's sentence, it's hard to see how he would then reduce Siegelman's.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> And Siegelman's worst-case scenario is considerably worse, at this point, than Scrushy's.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> If Fuller doesn't shave any time off Scrushy's sentence, there would be no change in his presently scheduled release in June 2013 (with the final seven months at a halfway house, if I'm getting my facts straight). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> But for Siegelman, who is almost 66, no change would mean a return to prison for more than six years of a seven-plus year sentence he began, as did Scrushy, in July 2007.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> If a recent ruling by Fuller is any indication, Scrushy -- and, by extension, Siegelman -- has little cause to expect good news Wednesday.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Before explaining, some necessary background for those who haven't been keeping up with the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> In early 2008, after serving nine months, Siegelman was released when a panel of the 11th Circuit deemed he and Scrushy had a reasonable chance on appeal of having their convictions overturned. Scrushy, due to misadventures while awaiting sentencing, and lying to his probation officers, was deemed a flight risk, and was not released. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Fast forward to the present: As a result of the appeals by Siegelman and Scrushy, each had two counts removed from their ledger of guilty counts. On the day in July 2007 when they were sentenced, Scrushy had six guilty counts, and Siegelman seven.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> The number of counts is a key factor in the sentencing guidelines used by judges when issuing sentences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Had all the counts been removed, well, Scrushy would be out of prison, and Siegelman wouldn't have to worry about returning. Though that best-case scenario hasn't panned out, the removal of counts still mandates that they be re-sentenced.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Thus, Scrushy is back in Alabama, and for the second time since being taken away by U.S. Marshalls back in July 2007 (his first time back was for the civil trial that resulted in a massive judgment against him and on behalf of HealthSouth stockholders.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Only Fuller knows what he will do Wednesday, and, for that matter, the judge may not have yet made up his mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> But on Nov. 1, he issued an order rejecting a request by Scrushy to be allowed out on bond pending the still outstanding appeal that is or will soon be filed by him and Siegelman with the U.S. Supreme Court. (For more on that, <a href="http://eddiecurran.blogspot.com/2011/12/11th-circuit-rejects-siegelman-but-will.html"><u>go here</u>.</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Among other things, Scrushy's lawyers argued that he should be released on bond because he had a reasonable chance to have the charges overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court; and because a reduction in his sentence was probable due to the removal of the two counts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> In his order, Fuller disagreed with both assertions. He wrote: <b>"The court concludes that a reversal or a reduced sentence less than the total of the time already served is not likely."<o:p></o:p></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> When Fuller wrote that, he was in a pretty good position to know. He, after all, is the judge making the decision on the reduced sentence.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> There are two reasons I don't believe Fuller will reduce Scrushy's sentence, or Siegelman's; or, if he does, it won't be by much. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> The first reason is that, well, Fuller doesn't have to. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Each man was sentenced to roughly seven years (Scrushy slightly under, Siegelman slightly above). For both, that was in the low to mid-range of the sentencing guidelines for the charges to which they were found guilty. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Wrote Fuller in his November ruling: "Factoring in the reversals (on the two counts), Mr. Scrushy's Guidelines range at resentencing may be 78-97 months. Mr. Scrushy's 82 month initial sentence falls squarely within, and even edges toward the bottom of that Guidelines range."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> In other words, in terms of sentencing or, in this case, re-sentencing, the removal of two counts for Scrushy means little in terms of the range in the guidelines. The same is true for Siegelman (assuming failure of his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> The second reason I don't expect Fuller to decrease the sentence for Scrushy (or Siegelman), is the behavior of both men, as well as, in some cases, their lawyers, ever since jurors found the pair guilty.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> The two defendants have, in court filings, in the media, in all manner of ways, not merely attacked but leveled serious charges of misconduct against the prosecutors, as well as Fuller, the jurors, all manner of people in the Justice Department, and too many others to name, including, laughably, Karl Rove.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Rove's naughty-boy reputation made him a perfect villain. Alas, he's innocent as a babe on this one, as, I feel sure, Siegelman and Scrushy well know. But gosh did they sell it well!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I probably won't make it to Montgomery for Wednesday's hearing. I confess to being almost as eager to hear what Fuller says as how he rules.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Will the judge -- silent throughout this charade put on by the defendants, their lawyers and toadies -- address the tsunami of nonsense that has swamped this case since the <i>New York Times</i> and Time magazines introduced the world, to say nothing of the Alabama political establishment, to Rainsville lawyer Dana Jill Simpson.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> It was she, with her fantastical imagination, who introduced the now famous claim that the White House, through Rove, ordered the Justice Department to prosecute Siegelman and others. I don't know of anyone who is sane and has any grasp of the facts that actually believes this, but goodness, did it take flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> Really and truly a sad chapter in reportage for people at the <i>New York Times</i>, Time, "60 Minutes," the once proud but now decrepit Harper's magazine and many others in the national media. As bottomless pit awful as was their reporting, the greater sin is that they've never acknowledged it, as in, admitted their mistakes, even issued apologies.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> They demand such things of politicians, just not themselves. (And I am a paying online subscriber to the </span><i style="font-size: x-large;">Times</i><span style="font-size: large;">, the greatest newspaper in the world, English speaking anyway, and by miles the most informative.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"> If you wish to know the full story, I heartily recommend that you go to <u><a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/buying_the_book.html">this link.</a></u></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> <b>Update</b>: I need to stop predicting what will happen next in this case. Today, Fuller cut a year off Scrushy's sentence. Whether this indicates he will cut Siegelman's sentence is anyone's guess, but certainly Fuller's decision Wednesday is far better news for Siegelman than if the judge hadn't reduced Scrushy's sentence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> According to one report, Scrushy apologized for attacks by his legal team on Fuller. Leslie Scrushy was in attendance. She has, one supposes to her and his credit, stood by her man in the 4-1/2 years since he's been in prison.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> Here are links to three stories on the hearing, from the <a href="http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20120125/NEWS/120125014/Scrushy-My-life-has-changed-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage">Montgomery Advertiser</a>, the <a href="http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2012/01/richard_scrushy.html">Birmingham News</a>, and <a href="http://www.myfoxal.com/story/16598890/scrushys-sentence-reduced-by-12-months">the local FOX TV station</a>.</span><br />
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</div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-41238998766341360462012-01-20T14:23:00.006-06:002012-01-23T23:39:23.312-06:00Judge snuffs fourth and long ploy by Scrushy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;">Ruling also setback for Siegelman</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><br />
</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hL_u2mHB8W8/TxjmgLY8hrI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/Cx4_ARleMqE/s1600/Coody+Conclusion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hL_u2mHB8W8/TxjmgLY8hrI/AAAAAAAAAKQ/Cx4_ARleMqE/s400/Coody+Conclusion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b> <span style="color: red;"> The above is from the final page of the order issued Wednesday </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"><b>by Montgomery-based U.S. Magistrate Charles Coody</b></span><br />
<span style="color: red;"><b><br />
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">If one story-line has developed in the seemingly endless post-trial life of the Siegelman/Scrushy saga, it's this: When the rubber hits the road, the pair<b> </b>lose.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The former Alabama governor and disgraced ex-HealthSouth CEO sucked in the national media with their multifarious conspiracies and tales of woe. They've set a standard for selling nonsense (See Simpson, Jill) to presumably intelligent, responsible reporters (See, among others, many at the New <i>York Times</i> and CBS/"60 Minutes.") But when they and their lawyers have tried to spin the same wild tales before a court, the storyline changes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> A careful review of the claims by judges, then rejection.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The latest example: A ruling issued Wednesday by Montgomery-based U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Coody on Scrushy's demand for an evidentiary hearing. This, his lawyers argued, was necessary, so they could prove one or more of four claims of wrongdoing which they contended would compel the court to order a new trial for Scrushy and Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Barring a most unlikely intervention by the U.S. Supreme Court, Scrushy/Siegelman II is not going to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody arguably went too far in agreeing to Scrushy's request that he review reams of trial evidence and other materials. (Mark Fuller, not Coody, was the trial judge in the case.). He ordered the Justice Department to conduct various searches, such as for old e-mails; and compelled the former lawyer for chief witness Nick Bailey to produce a pre-trial notebook kept by Bailey.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody, as he wrote in his order, went through it all <i>in camera -- </i>which is to say, he personally reviewed the documents produced by the Justice Department as well as substantial portions of the trial transcripts to determine if any of documents and e-mails supported the allegations made by Team Scrushy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> About his efforts and findings, he wrote, among other things:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> "<i>The court has carefully and thoroughly reviewed all material provided by the United States. The material does not further the defendant's claims, does not contain exculpatory material, and contains nothing justifying an evidentiary hearing."<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody's decision, though on a request by Scrushy, arguably hits Siegelman harder. The "new trial effort" was one of Siegelman's final chances of avoiding a return to prison for what could be in the neighborhood of six years. The worst case scenario for Scrushy is that his estimated June 2013 release date remains unchanged. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span> <span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Scrushy, as followers of this saga know, has been in prison since the summer of 2007. Siegelman was released on bond nine months after going to prison at the same time as Scrushy.)</span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Unlike Scrushy, Siegelman wasn't released on appeal in 2008, so he has, at most, another year in prison.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> As best as I can tell, the only remaining avenue for Siegelman is for the U.S. Supreme Court to agree to consider his appeal of the 11th Circuit's latest ruling upholding his conviction. Chances for that appear dim. (For more about that, see the blog entry below this one.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I like going into detail, so for those who want the detail, keep reading. For those who don't, thanks for spending time with, "Goat Hill Chronicles."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Scrushy and his lawyers made four distinct arguments for a new trial, or, lacking that, an evidentiary hearing to help them win a new trial. The four issues:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> 1. That Scrushy (and Siegelman) were selectively prosecuted in violation of their Fifth Amendment Rights.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> 2. That trial judge Mark Fuller engaged in "judicial misconduct" by having ex parte communications (communications with one party in a case, but not the others) with the government.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> 3. That then U.S. Attorney Leura Canary "deprived (Scrushy) of a disinterested prosecutor" by failing to honor her decision to remove herself from the case.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> 4. That the Justice Department and U.S. Attorneys who tried the case committed "prosecutorial misconduct" by withholding "exculpatory and impeaching information" from the defendants. That's to say, evidence that would have helped the defendants at trial -- specifically, alleged FBI interview reports of interviews with chief witness Nick Bailey showing Bailey saying something helpful to the defense, and which were not turned over to the defense prior to trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody addressed each of those, and so will we here. But first, something to keep in mind. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> As Coody noted throughout his order, defendants must clear all manner of hurdles to prove they deserve a new trial. If that wasn't so, every defendant found guilty at trial could seek a second shot, which would overburden the court system. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> As Coody put it:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <i>"Motions for new trial based on newly discovered evidence are highly disfavored in the (11th) Circuit and 'should be granted only with great caution.'....It is the defendant's burden to justify a new trial."<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Judging from Coody's findings, Scrushy did not come close to meeting that burden with either of his four arguments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Here goes:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <b>1. The Selective Prosecution Argument:</b><span style="color: red;"> </span>From the word go, years before he was even indicted, Siegelman has presented himself as the victim of a Republican-backed effort to destroy his political career. Scrushy's claim here is, essentially, that the Repubs tossed him into the mix to increase their chances of getting Siegelman. Thus, he was the victim of selective prosecution.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> If Coody is correct on the law, and I assume he is, then Scrushy's lawyers took the wrong direction in making the case for selective prosecution. To succeed on such a claim, a defendant -- and here, Coody cites legal precedent -- must make "a credible showing of what constitutes 'similarly situated persons."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The "demanding burden" facing Scrushy's lawyers: They had to "establish that the government could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone else had engaged in the same type of conduct, committing the same crime in ... substantially the same manner."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> In their brief, Scrushy's lawyers asserted that Scrushy was prosecuted for making campaign donations (the jury, and appellate courts, have determined that the convoluted and concealed $500,000 transfer at the heart of the Scrushy portion of the Siegelman case was anything but a simple campaign contribution.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Scrushy argues that Siegelman's successor, Bob Riley, and Riley's Republican backers, did essentially the same as Scrushy and Siegelman, but were not prosecuted. Coody stated that Scrushy failed to prove that Riley was bribed, and noted that a jury determined that Scrushy had bribed Siegelman, following solicitation of the bribe from Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Scrushy's lawyers -- and in this one sees the utter desparation of their effort -- wheeled out the bizarre tale by Rainsville lawyer Jill Simpson that Karl Rove in some manner ordered the prosecution. They also trumpeted the prosecutions of several people who became part of a laughable "selective prosecution" scandal. These included Georgia Thompson, a state employee in Wisconsin; Paul Minor, a Mississippi trial lawyer prosecuted for bribing a judge; and Cyril Wecht, a coroner in Pennsylvania.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> If I may, a quote from my book, "The Governor of Goat Hill": <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <i>For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Thompson, Wecht and Minor are </i></span><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">all shining examples of rectitude and were nailed without cause by overzealous </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">federal prosecutors. The fact remains that John Conyers and his committee </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">assembled this national scandal with cases brought against a defeated washed-up </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">former governor, a civil servant in Wisconsin, a Mississippi trial lawyer, and the </span></i><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">coroner of a county in Pennsylvania.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody sharply criticized this argument on several grounds, among them, that the examples didn't support the argument since Thompson, etc., <i>were</i> prosecuted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> He wrote: "Scrushy fails to identify anyone who committed bribery but was not prosecuted. Scrushy has failed to meet the rigorous standard justifying discovery in aid of his selective prosecution claim."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> For that and other reasons, Coody denied the selective prosecution argument.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <b>2. The Judicial Misconduct Argument</b>: As with everything here, there is a story behind the story. Rather than reinvent the wheel, here is a presentation of the "judicial misconduct" allegation from my book. This tells about an investigation, well after the trial's conclusion, by U.S. Postal Inspectors, regarding a series of apparently bogus e-mails sent anonymously to lawyers for Siegelman and Scrushy, and purportedly written by jurors during the trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Almost two years later, in July 2008, the Justice Department notified the defense lawyers that there had been an investigation into the e-mails.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> It was disclosed that the last two e-mails were also sent to Langer’s supervisor and four of Hendrix’s co-workers. The co-workers reported receipt of the e-mails to Langer and Hendrix, who, separate of each another, contacted the U.S. Marshals to complain. The marshals passed it on to (lead Siegelman prosecutor) Louis Franklin, who turned the matter over to postal inspectors.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> The postal inspectors interviewed Langer, Hendrix and their co-workers, as well as a fellow employee of Hendrix’s who monitored his e-mail during the two month trial to make sure Hendrix didn’t miss anything. The co-worker said he never saw any e-mails from the Katie Langer address. The inspectors also printed out test e-mails to and from Langer’s e-mail account and compared them to the anonymously sent e-mails.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> The postal inspectors concluded that the e-mails were frauds. They submitted the envelopes and e-mail sheets to forensic testing, and described the results as inconclusive. The investigation was closed in September 2007, without a determination as to who had sent them.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> Midway through the probe the U.S. Marshal's Office informed (trial judge Mark) Fuller about the matter, and the determination, already made by then, that the e-mails were fakes.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> In July 2008, the Justice Department wrote the defense lawyers to apprise them of the results of the postal inspectors report, and gave them the report.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> Incredibly, the news stories reporting the postal inspectors’ findings and the incredibly spiteful act against the two jurors focused, not on the victims or the determination that the e-mails were frauds, but on the squeaky wheels. Team Siegelman, with Artur Davis playing point man, did a brilliant job of turning lemons into lemonade. The Alabama congressman handed the media copies of the Justice Department letter to the defendants and accused Fuller and Franklin of misconduct in failing to disclose the probe to Siegelman, Scrushy, and their attorneys.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> Franklin responded that the postal inspectors were investigating complaints of juror harassment and that neither he nor Fuller had any oversight over the probe, and that the e-mail investigation was done as a matter of court security, not as part of the case.</span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> And, here, I turn to a blog I wrote in August, reporting the findings by Robert Hinkle, a federal judge in Florida appointed to consider allegations by Siegelman and Scrushy against Fuller, including the allegations of <i>ex parte </i>communications.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 15px;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: #FEFDFA; mso-line-height-alt: 9.05pt;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><b><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></i></b><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">Siegelman and Scrushy, through their lawyers, demanded that Fuller recuse himself because he failed to inform the defense teams of the investigation when it started and for some time after it was completed. They also argued that they would need to question Fuller about an April 2007 meeting when the U.S. Marshals told him that postal inspectors were investigating the e-mails because they were sent to co-workers of the jurors.</span></i></div><i></i><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> For the lawyers to question Fuller, he would first have to remove himself from the case.</span></i></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i style="background-color: #fefdfa;"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> "Chief Judge Fuller is a material witness in this proceeding, and has personal knowledge of evidentiary facts placed in dispute. Therefore he must disqualify himself," stated a motion by Scrushy's lawyers.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> They'd already managed to turn the jurors into witnesses and now they wanted the judge, too.</span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> Because the defendants made much of the e-mails, Hinkle addressed them along with the outlandish attempt to compel testimony from the judge.</span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> Hinkle left no doubt that he believed the e-mails fake -- as in, not to and from jurors, but manufactured by someone so sleazy that he, she or they would falsely tarnish jurors if it could win a new trial for Scrushy and Siegelman.</span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> There is, for example, the quote atop this piece, with Hinkle saying they "seemed more likely amateurish fakes than authentic." Elsewhere, Hinkle noted that Fuller doubted the authenticity of the e-mails and said he did too -- "for reasons having nothing to do with the Postal Inspection Service’s investigation or the report to Chief Judge Fuller."</span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;">"My doubt springs from my review of the e-mails and my commonsense analysis of the circumstances," he wrote.</span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: #fefdfa; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; text-align: left;"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 11pt;"> If anything, Hinkle seemed even less inclined than Fuller to permit lawyers for Siegelman and Scrushy to subpoena the computer and cell phone records of the jurors -- a truly amazing request, if you think about it. No shortage of, uh, balls. Not on the part of these defendants and their lawyers.</span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> In rejecting this demand, Coody pointed to Hinkle's findings on the claims against Fuller, as well as those of the 11th Circuit. He wrote that he "should not and will not revisit this issue."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> And: "The problem with this argument, however, is that Scrushy does not identify any prejudice that he has allegedly suffered (as a result of Fuller's minimal communication on the e-mail investigation.)"</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <b>3. The Canary's Failure to Remove Herself Argument</b>: Ever since he learned of an investigation, in 2002, and while still governor, Siegelman's been very publicly accusing U.S. Attorney Leura Canary of targeting him for political reasons. Her alleged motive is that her husband is head of the Business Council of Alabama, is a friend of Bob Riley's, and that he used her to harm Siegelman and, thus, help Riley</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> One problem here, as Coody notes, is that the investigation started before Canary was appointed U.S. Attorney. After Siegelman made his accusations, Canary asked the Justice Department to determine if she had a conflict that would require her removal from the case. The department concluded that she did not, but she removed herself anyway.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The allegations at the heart of this claim are that Canary remained involved in the case. Scrushy's lawyers cited four e-mails from Canary. One of the e-mails involved the re-assignment of a clerk working on the team that was prosecuting the Siegelman case; another referred to a contract employee who was working on that case and others; and the third regarded funding for the case. It was a big case, and expensive, and Canary sought extra funding from the Justice Department.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody found that, with these e-mails, Canary was simply serving in her role as the top administrator of the U.S. Attorney's Office, as opposed to becoming involved in the case. He also remarked that, elsewhere in their brief, Scrushy's lawyers contended (based on Jill Simpson's gibberish) that the decision to prosecute Siegelman was based high up in the federal government, which is to say, well above Canary's head. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The judge seemed to be saying, "You can't have it both ways, guys."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The fourth e-mail, unlike the others, was sent to members of the prosecution team. Canary had received one of Siegelman's many mass e-mails decrying the prosecution. She passed it on the prosecutors, along with a suggestion that they consider seeking a gag order on Siegelman's public comments.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> As Coody noted, the prosecutors did not seek a gag order. As such, Scrushy suffered no prejudice from Canary's e-mail. It would be better if she hadn't sent it, but it had no impact on the case, he determined. He found that Scrushy's lawyers provided the court with "no credible evidence that (Canary) directed, managed, influenced or controlled any aspect of the prosecution of the case."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The harshest comments in Coody's ruling came in response to the assertion by Scrushy's lawyers that it was "reasonable to infer that other e-mails written or received by U.S. Attorney Canary which would prove her continued involvement in the case, and demonstrate further false statements by the Government intended to cover up this continued involvement (by Canary."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Wrote Coody:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> "</span><i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT, serif; font-size: 11pt;">The problem with this contention is that it is rank speculation, and simply wrong </span></i><i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT, serif; font-size: 11pt;">speculation at that... In addition, the court has laboriously reviewed the documents provided to it by the government related to this issue</span></i><i><span style="font-family: 'TimesNewRomanPSMT,Italic', serif; font-size: 11pt;">. </span></i><i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT, serif; font-size: 11pt;">This is not a case in which there is any conflicting evidence. In this case, there is </span></i><i><span style="font-family: 'TimesNewRomanPSMT,Italic', serif; font-size: 11pt;">no </span></i><i><span style="font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT, serif; font-size: 11pt;">evidence to support the defendant’s supposition that “other emails exist.” There is nothing in the material provided to the court that is contrary to the evidence already in Scrushy’s possession. This is not a matter of withholding any documents; there are no other documents. Accordingly, the defendant’s motion for discovery on this issue will be denied."</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <b>4. Prosecutorial Misconduct Argument: </b>The basis of this final effort is an assertion that one of the prosecutions main witnesses -- longtime Siegelman aide Nick Bailey -- was coached by prosecutors to alter his testimony, and that the FBI unlawfully failed to produced all its reports of interviews with Bailey (these reports are called FBI 302s.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> In response to Scrushy's request, Coody ordered the Justice Department -- including the FBI -- to turn over every iota of information it had regarding Bailey. Coody reviewed it all, and found nothing to support Scrushy's claims.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Bailey provided the defendants with a statement, and this was provided to Coody. He wrote that nowhere in the statement does Bailey recant the testimony he gave at trial and "does not claim that government agents or prosecutors threatened or pressured him, and he does not contend that he changed his accounts of event in any manner previously undisclosed to the defense."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> The notebook maintained by Bailey's former lawyer, George Beck, also failed to provide information supporting Scrushy's claims, Coody wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody remarked that, "with no help" from Bailey, Scrushy's lawyers had to rely on affidavits by several people who know Bailey, including his long-time employer and Siegelman friend, Stan Pate. That name alone should indicate the weakness of Scrushy's argument here.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Coody wrote that the declarations of Pate and others were "replete with inadmissible hearsay and not based on personal knowledge.."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> He stated that his review showed that the only documents not provided to the defendants before trial consisted of "internal prosecution memos related to the investigation or prosecution of this case and internal correspondence concerning relationships among and between prosecutors. These documents do not contain exculpatory information."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> For that and other reasons, Coody denied the "prosecutorial misconduct" element of the appeal, leaving Scrushy 0 for 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Do you get the feeling that Scrushy, and Siegelman as well, have taxed the patience of the federal bench in Montgomery? Considering that they both face re-sentencing, is that such a good idea?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> I will argue as much in a blog I plan to post prior to next Wednesday, when Scrushy will appear before Fuller for re-sentencing. Fuller's actions regarding Scrushy -- which he signaled in a recent order to be discussed in the blog -- could very well signal what he will do with Siegelman when, as now appears likely, Siegelman faces the judge for his re-sentencing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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</b></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;"> </span></div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-84101859193642671822011-12-02T23:56:00.004-06:002011-12-05T17:10:54.192-06:0011th Circuit rejects Siegelman, but will it issue a feared "mandate" that could expedite Siegelman's return to prison?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="On the left, Bobby Lowder. On the right, former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. (AP photo)" src="http://blogs.ajc.com/mark-bradley-blog/files/2011/05/SEC-GOVERNOR-LOWDER.J_1085650.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">Then-governor Siegelman watches an Auburn basketball game with </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">longtime </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> backer, </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> Bobby </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> Lowder, in better times for both men.</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 9pt;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> One of Don Siegelman's ever-diminishing avenues of avoiding a return to prison has been closed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On Nov. 9, the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the former Alabama governor's request for a "Rehearing En Banc" -- the legal term for a litigant's request that an entire appeals court consider an adverse ruling by a panel of the court.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Though he still has several balls in the air, a decision likely to come soon from the same court could lead to Siegelman's going back to prison before conclusion of his seemingly endless appeals process.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> This represents my best effort to explain some of the various challenges facing Siegelman. First, let me disclose that I am not an expert on appellate law or anything close to it. For example, until the other day, I wasn't familiar with the word mandate, or rather, was unfamiliar with it in the context of appellate law. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I have to believe that, right now, "mandate" is much on Siegelman's mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Here's why, necessary background first.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On May 5, a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit denied an appeal by Siegelman and his co-defendant, former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. They were asking the court to overturn findings of guilt against the pair by the jury that considered their 2006 trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In most cases, appeals are considered, not by the entire court, but by three-judge panels, but when you lose before a panel, you have the right to seek the above-described "Rehearing En Banc." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> It was a given that Siegelman would do so. His lawyers filed this request three weeks after the panel's decision. Such requests are rarely granted. But considering the history of this case -- we are now more than five years past the trial -- there was a sense that anything could happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Scrushy did not seek a Rehearing En Banc. His decision not to do so marked a diversion of sorts, since the pair's appeals have closely paralleled each other. Scrushy chose not to seek a rehearing because it's in his interest for the appeals process to move swiftly, whereas delay is fine with Siegelman. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Scrushy, as followers of this saga know, has been in prison since the summer of 2007. Siegelman was released on bond nine months after going to prison at the same time as Scrushy. For an appeal to do Scrushy any good, in terms of limiting his time behind bars, it must be completed, and in his favor, sooner than later. (He is presently due to be released in January 2013.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> This is where "mandate" comes in.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> For assistance, Wikipedia:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">After an appeal is heard, the</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span></i></b></span><b><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">mandate</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">is a formal notice of a decision by a court of appeal; this notice is transmitted to the trial court and, when filed by the clerk of the trial court, constitutes the final judgment on the case...<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Once the clerk of the Middle District Court in Montgomery receives that mandate, the wheels begin turning for Siegelman's return to prison. For obvious reasons, he doesn't want that.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Now, more of that pesky background: In 2009, the same panel of the 11th Circuit removed two counts against Siegelman, and, in its May ruling, it removed two related counts against Scrushy. That's important because it means that both must be re-sentenced, since both have two fewer charges on their slate then when they were sentenced -- Scrushy to just less than seven years, Siegelman to some months north of seven years.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On June 10 -- exactly one month after the panel's ruling -- the 11th Circuit issued its mandate for Scrushy. As a result, the process of re-sentencing Scrushy has begun. He is to be released from prison, if temporarily, in January, to return to Alabama for his re-sentencing hearing. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> He hopes to be ordered released on time served or, lacking that, to have a chunk of time removed from his sentence and thus be allowed to return to freedom before January 2013.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Among the effects if not the true purpose of Siegelman's request for a hearing before the full-court was that it postponed the the possibility of a mandate for him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On Nov. 9, the 11th Circuit announced that not one of the judges on the court favored giving Siegelman a hearing before the full court. The next act was issuance of a mandate for Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Siegelman's lawyers moved fast. Six days later, they filed a Motion to Stay Mandate. They surprised no one by announcing their intention to appeal the 11th Circuit's decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. To "stay mandates," appellants must convince an appeals court that there is a reasonable chance that the Supreme Court will consider their appeal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Each year, the Supreme Court receives thousands of appeals, called a Petition for Writ of Certiorari. Of those, it agrees to consider about 1 percent. It generally selects cases involving laws that, in the eyes of the court, require clarification.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><b style="font-size: x-large;"> </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Purely on the law of averages, Siegelman's chances are remote</span><b style="font-size: x-large;">. </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But the same odds applied in 2009. That year, the 11th Circuit did stay his mandate. Had it not, Siegelman would have been sent back to Montgomery for re-sentencing and he'd almost certainly be watching his appeal play out from a prison cell.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b> </b>Sam Heldman, Siegelman's D.C.-based appellate lawyer, stressed the court's 2009 stay in his Nov. 15 motion. He argued that now, as then, the Supreme Court has an interest in reviewing cases involving the "honest services" statute, which weighs heavily in Siegelman's case. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In fact, Siegelman's 2009 appeal to the Supreme Court was not rejected, though neither was it granted Writ of Certiorari. Rather, it was sent back to the 11th Circuit with orders that the appeals court reconsider the case in light of a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court on the honest services statute, and arising out of on an appeal by former Enron executive Jeff Skilling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The 11th Circuit did reconsider it's prior decision, but as the ruling in May testified, that did Siegelman no good. Scrushy, though, did see his two charges removed, and because of the Skilling ruling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Litigants who lose at the federal appeals court level -- as Siegelman now has -- have 90 days to file their appeal to the Supreme Court. Heldman noted that Siegelman's certiorari petition is due in early February; and that, in all likelihood, the Supreme Court will decide by June -- the end of its 2011-2012 term -- whether or not to consider Siegelman's petition.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> "So, an order withholding the mandate will not cause any undue, extreme, or indefinite delay," wrote Heldman. "For the foregoing reasons, the Court should withhold the mandate, and should allow Governor Siegelman to remain in his current release status, pending the filing and disposition of a certiorari petition."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> He noted that "if the mandate were to issue, the District Court could move forward to a resentencing" -- that being the doomsday scenario for Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In its reply, filed Nov. 23, the government noted that Siegelman has been out on bond for more than three and a half-years. It argued that the 11th Circuit's ruling reconsidered the Siegelman case in light of the Skilling ruling, as instructed by the Supreme Court, and still upheld the remaining charges against Siegelman. As such, there is little reason to believe the Supreme Court will agree to hear Siegelman's appeal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The government stated that there "is no reason to stay the mandate and delay resentencing any further."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> If the court refuses to stay the mandate and Siegelman's re-sentencing moves forward, that would not impact his appeal to the Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> My sense is that the 11th Circuit will "stay the mandate." I believe the court will take the view that, though unlikely, it is not inconceivable that the Supreme Court will consider Siegelman's appeal. I also believe that the Supreme Court will decline to consider Siegelman's case, and once that happens -- such as in late spring or early summer -- that will, or so it's my understanding, shortly thereafter trigger the mandate.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In my next blog -- coming soon! -- I will examine a Nov. 1 order by trial judge Mark Fuller regarding Scrushy's re-sentencing situation, and explain why it bodes ill for Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <b>NOTE</b>: On Monday (Dec. 5), the 11th Circuit web-site posted notice of a ruling made Thursday by one of its judges, James C. Hill, to Stay the Mandate. The upshot is that the process of re-sentencing Siegelman will not proceed until resolution of Siegelman's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. That appeal, as noted above, has not been filed. It is due in early February.</span><br />
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</span></div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-54720604317256981432011-10-28T00:30:00.005-05:002011-10-28T02:50:51.235-05:00On the death of my editor, Paul Cloos<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kilemHMhkEU/TqoxwnwZM3I/AAAAAAAAAKI/2SFLtshLgww/s1600/Cloos_Mugshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kilemHMhkEU/TqoxwnwZM3I/AAAAAAAAAKI/2SFLtshLgww/s400/Cloos_Mugshot.jpg" width="247" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Paul Cloos</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: x-large;"> </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In 1994, when I moved from writing sports at the Mobile Register (now Press-Register) to news, my editor was Paul Cloos. There were other editors, and I worked with them as well, but the way it worked there, you generally worked under one editor. Paul was still my editor when I left, in 2007.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Today, he died, due to complications from a motorcycle accident two weeks ago. For some foolish reason, Paul started some years ago to ride a motorcycle -- more like a scooter, really -- to work and back, and he lived in Baldwin County. It was while on his way to work, on the Causeway, that he was hit by a car. He suffered broken bones and serious internal injuries, but was expected to make a full recovery, if months in the making.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> However, he had a major setback late last week. Over the weekend, Paul's condition improved, but on Wednesday, he took a turn for the worse. He died today (Thursday, Oct. 27.)</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Looking at the picture above, which was in my book, is like looking in his eyes, and it's hard to believe he's gone.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> What follows are several of the many passages in my book, "The Governor of Goat Hill," in which Paul appears. The first is from the acknowledgments and the second contains my most in-depth description of Paul in the book. There are brief introductions to the other two passages.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> This from the Acknowledgements:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Paul Cloos, my editor since I became a news reporter in 1994, is due a special debt of gratitude for his patience, sense of fairness, and the long hours and weekends he worked improving my stories.</i></span></div><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">This is form an early chapter:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <i> </i><i>My primary editor on probably 95 percent of my Siegelman stories was Paul </i><i>Cloos. I’d been assigned to Paul in 1994 when I moved from sports to news. Paul is from New York and a graduate of Boston College. He’s a light-skinned redhead, </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>slightly younger than I, and I owe much to him. He is extraordinarily fair and vigilant for any hint of editorializing or evidence of bias within news stories.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> My name was on the Siegelman stories, but he was my silent partner. For Paul, that often meant working well into the night and on Saturdays, though he usually did that anyway.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> I soon learned that in news, and especially with investigative pieces, I had to attribute everything. In those early years Paul and I butted heads almost daily. I would be doing the loud talking with him sitting in his chair, looking up at me </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>with a calmness I wanted to wipe away. I knew I was scoring if he reddened. But moving him from a position? That was another thing.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> “If the sun is shining I have to attribute it to someone else!” I’d complain, to no effect. If a subject of a story was 500 pounds, then “heavyset” was as far as I could go in describing him to a reader.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> It soon became apparent that I needed public records to support almost everything I reported. As a result I became a student of public records and the accepted expert on them within in the newsroom. I developed a near obsession with public records.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> A </i><i>reporter could turn out three stories a day if all it required was quoting one or more people saying so-and-so is a crook, liar or idiot. I prefer spending more time on a story and laying out what that someone did and why. </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Quotes help, but if they’re not </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>supported by evidence they’re just hot air transposed to print.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The point, as I hope is clear, is that Paul -- through his insistence on fairness and, with investigative stories, documentation through public records -- forced me to become a much better reporter than I was when I began working for him and than I would have been had I not worked for him.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The following tells about a call I received from the FBI the day after our (and by that I guess I mean Paul and I's) first major story on the "Goat Hill Construction" scandal, a story that started what became the Siegelman investigation. Paul comes in at the end.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <i> "</i><i>I slept in Monday and was awakened mid-morning by a call from Tim Fuhrman, then the number two man at the FBI’s Mobile office. Fuhrman said that some Montgomery-based agents and Jack Brennan, a much-respected former FBI agent then with the attorney general’s office, wanted to talk to me. Soon. As </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>in that afternoon.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> He said it was clear from Sunday’s story that I’d gathered all manner of records.</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> </i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> The FBI wanted to move fast and it would save them a bunch of time if they could talk to me and copy those records. If it was okay with me, he would tell them to get in the car and come on.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> I knew Tim, if not well, and liked and trusted him. But I’d never had a request like that, and it came with me in bed, groggy with sleep.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Pluses: The chance to meet with FBI agents, get a first-hand taste of how they operate, and, what the heck, get my ego stroked by a bunch of pros wanting my stuff . Also, did I have an obligation as a citizen to provide investigators with evidence of a crime if I possessed it?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Minuses: I wasn’t supposed to actively participate in the prosecution of someone I was writing about.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> But: Reporters can and should try to develop a rapport with prosecutors and investigators. There’s almost no such thing as a national political scandal story that doesn’t cite un-named, "Justice Department sources,” and such relationships inevitably involve some give and take.Was I on the verge of developing such sources for what promised to become a criminal investigation into the Siegelman administration? And if so, wouldn’t this benefit our readers by availing me of information and insights?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Tell them to come on, I said. I’d meet with them.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> And started having second thoughts after coffee and a shower. I arrived at work and knew I had one option. Tell Paul Cloos, my editor. I suspected he would scotch the meeting on the grounds cited above. If not, and the meeting went ahead, I’d at least have covered my ass.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Paul was against it and I made no attempt to change his mind. I called Fuhrman, apologized, and said I couldn’t meet. He tried to change my mind, and I sought refuge in the reporter’s trick known as “blame the editor,” the most common variant being, “I hate to have to ask this next question, but my editor says I have to.”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p> This last one addresses one of Paul's specialties -- that being, to summarize, high in the story, in one "nut" graph, why readers should be interested in the story and keep on reading. This begins with a comment from Redding Pitt, then the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, and regarding the embarrassing disclosure by the party that it had not maintained records relating to a secret, $700,000-plus loan from the Party to the Siegelman-controlled Alabama Lottery Foundation.</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><o:p> Repayment of that loan largely came by way of two undisclosed $250,000 donations given to Siegelman by then HealthSouth Corp. chairman Richard Scrushy. These donations were at the heart of the "Scrushy" part of the prosecution of Siegelman and Scrushy as well.</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “<i>We keep loan records, it’s just that this particular one, we have no records of,” said Redding, in a quote that didn’t engender confidence in the party’s financial practices.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> The next day’s story quoted Pitt’s promise to locate all pertinent records and file an amended disclosure with the secretary of state. It included the following “nut graphs,” those one or two paragraphs we newspaper people use to summarize the gist of a story and/or convey to a reader why the issue being reported is </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>important, or in any event, why we think so.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <i> </i><i>These graphs, probably fashioned by Paul Cloos, our nut-graph specialist, proved prophetic:</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> "<i>Given the amount of money involved and the questions that remain unanswered about </i><i>the Democratic Party’s role, there may be numerous lottery-related donations by lawyers, </i><i>political action committees, businesses and individuals that remain undisclosed.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> </i><i>In the past 18 months or so, news stories in the Register and other papers have </i><i>reported that some of the companies that have received lucrative state contracts, often </i><i>without facing competition, donated to the governor’s campaign or the lottery effort."</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b> </b> Paul and I had not talked in awhile. I planned to go see him after giving him a week or so to get better. Then he had his setback, from which he did not recover.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> We pissed each other off a lot, but we laughed a lot too. Never in my life have I had a working relationship anywhere near as close or as productive as the one I had with Paul Cloos.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> If Paul were here, he would say this story is getting too long, so put an end to it. We would argue, but this time, I'll let him win.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Thanks for everything Paul. I miss you and trust I always will.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Eddie</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-42311903134410956642011-08-02T18:51:00.000-05:002011-08-02T18:51:52.492-05:00Florida judge to Siegelman and Scrushy: "End of Story"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EZ5iz6DgJJs/TjdI2exIeTI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/pjtJLFrb_xs/s1600/RobertHinkle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EZ5iz6DgJJs/TjdI2exIeTI/AAAAAAAAAJ8/pjtJLFrb_xs/s200/RobertHinkle.jpg" width="145" /></a> <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iRA7aL0R5Z8/Ti5GJlLo7DI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/UTzobrP8IQg/s1600/Mark+Fuller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-iRA7aL0R5Z8/Ti5GJlLo7DI/AAAAAAAAAJ4/UTzobrP8IQg/s200/Mark+Fuller.jpg" width="140" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large; font-style: italic;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b> Judge Mark Fuller Judge <span class="Apple-style-span">Robert Hinkle</span></b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"The e-mails, on their face, seemed more likely amateurish fakes than authentic. Thus, for example, one purported to be a screen shot from an email page with a link allowing the receiving party to 'Report As Seem' rather than to 'Report as Spam.' "</span></i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> -- Tallahassee, Fla., based federal judge Robert Hinkle, in his June 29<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>ruling rejecting requests by former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and ex-HealthSouth chairman Richard Scrushy that he assume responsibility for their re-sentencing from trial judge Mark Fuller.</i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></o:p></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i></i><i></i><i></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "A theme that runs through the defendants’ motion to recuse is that the court handled the issue improperly—that it should have granted a new trial or at least conducted or authorized a broader investigation. I disagree. And more importantly, the Eleventh Circuit has now disagreed. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized: the Eleventh Circuit has squarely rejected the defendants’ position that the district court should have granted a new trial or at least conducted or authorized a broader investigation."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- Hinkle, an appointee of Democratic president Bill Clinton, in the same ruling.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Once again, irresponsible allegations against participants in the Siegelman-Scrushy case have been rejected for the bizarre, tortured, paranoid gibberish they always were.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> On June 29, Florida federal judge Robert Hinkle not merely dismissed but disparaged the charges by the defendants and their lawyers against jurors, trial judge Mark Fuller and others who, like them, have had to suffer in silence as a result of the scorched-earth legal and public relations campaign pursued by Siegelman and Scrushy since the 2006 guilty verdicts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Understandably, Hinkle's order received little media play. With the bingo trial daily pumping out details on the sordid state of Alabama's political affairs, this significant development in the Siegelman/Scrushy case passed by all but un-noticed. The<b> </b>Associated Press wire ran a four-paragraph brief reporting Hinkle's decision, but it was devoid of details.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> So, here I am. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I got all kinds of space here on, "Goat Hill Chronicles." Unlimited, really. And so I'm going to include some passages from Hinkle's order. If a case is interesting, and this one certainly is, the court filings -- by both sides, the judge, etc. -- make good reading. In any event, I think so. And in providing his words, filters are removed. You get to see for yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The procedural impact of the ruling is that Fuller will almost surely see the pair one last time in his Montgomery courtroom. My guess is that the dramatic final act in this seemingly endless case will occur in late fall. Be mindful, though, that my prior predictions on the time-frame for re-sentencing have all been wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It's unlikely that the U.S. Supreme Court will consider the expected appeals by Siegelman and Scrushy of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision, in May, to uphold all but two counts against each man. This refusal will presumably be announced in late August or early September, when the court convenes following its summer break. That's when the court decides which of the relative handful of the thousands of appeals it will consider. The rest are losers. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Once that happens, Fuller can schedule the re-sentencing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> (Re-sentencing is necessary because the 11th Circuit dismissed two counts against each defendant. The original sentences were based on criteria that included the since-removed charges. Scrushy has been in prison since July 2007 and is due out in 2013. Siegelman was released on bond after serving about nine months. Both were sentenced to about seven years. Because he served such a small portion of his sentence, Siegelman has a lot more hinging on re-sentencing than Scrushy.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Hinkle's order was precipitated by a series of post-trial filings demanding that Fuller remove himself from the case. These demands put Fuller in the uncomfortable position of having to decide issues in which he was the focal point.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In May 2010, he asked the 11th Circuit to determine if he should be disqualified from presiding over future matters regarding the case. The 11th Circuit assigned Hinkle to decide.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Hinkle is a Democratic appointee, whereas Fuller was appointed by President George W. Bush. Siegelman, with all his howling about Karl Rove, has done a fine job of convincing many sensible people that Rove and a cabal of top Alabama Republicans targeted him for political reasons. If a Republican judge ruled against Siegelman and Scrushy here, one supposes there would be more such howling. But if a Democrat appointee made the same ruling, well, that wouldn't serve the conspiracy. I won't pretend to suggest that I have the first clue why the 11th Circuit tapped Hinkle, such as if his Democratic pedigree factored in. In any event, having a Democratic appointee's signature on the order adds some muscle to the positions stated within.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Interestingly, Hinkle revealed in his order that he was initially inclined to hold oral arguments. (For those unfamiliar with the appeals process, that's when an appeals court or judge holds a hearing in which the party's lawyers make their cases in court and respond to questions from the judge/judges.) <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Then he reviewed the briefs from the defendants and prosecutors, the applicable portions of the court record, and the rulings by the 11th Circuit. After doing so, Hinkle "determined ... that oral argument would serve no purpose."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "The recusal motions fail on their merits," he wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Translation: Siegelman and Scrushy swung for the fences, popped out to first.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In the past four years, lawyers for the pair have taken a two-prong appeal strategy. The main prong entailed pursuing appeals based on the law and facts of the guilty counts, and was of course expected.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The second prong involved attacks on the judge and jurors. Two separate, unconnected reasons were presented in support of the demand that Fuller remove himself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Initially, in 2007, Scrushy's lawyers asked that Fuller not merely remove himself from the case, but that he order a new trial because he failed to remove himself prior to the 2006 trial. The basis of this ludicrous demand was Fuller's ownership of a substantial portion of an Enterprise-based company that has contracts to sell fuel and provide pilot training to the Air Force.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Fuller's father had been the lawyer for the company, called Doss Aviation. In the late 1980s, when its owners decided to sell, Fuller, his father and others bought it. This occurred ages before he became a federal judge; his income from the company has always been reported on his publicly available financial disclosures; there is of course no ban on federal judges earning outside income, such as from stocks; and his shares in Doss were not an issue when the U.S. Senate confirmed him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Among the problems with the Doss demand was that it was made too late. If Scrushy and his lawyers had a problem with it, they should have raised it before the trial, not after.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The 11th Circuit has shot it down twice, in 2009, and again, in May. The court wrote that Scrushy's post-trial demand had "all the earmarks of an eleventh-hour ploy based upon his dissatisfaction with the jury’s verdict and the judge's post-trial rulings.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Hinkle spent little time on the "Doss" issue because, as he wrote, the 11th Circuit "squarely rejected the defendants’ assertions on this issue." Hinkle agreed with the higher court, declaring that Fuller's part-ownership in the company "has nothing to do with the judiciary or this case." <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He expended considerable more time with his discussion of the second reason given by Siegelman and Scrushy for Fuller to step aside from their case. This second argument pertained to the assuredly bogus "juror e-mails" mailed in batches to lawyers for Siegelman and Scrushy in the months after the jury's verdict. They arrived without return addresses and the sender neglected to identify him or herself. The e-mails were purportedly between three jurors, and during the trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Fuller was to convene two hearings on the juror e-mails and another, equally specious juror issue raised by the defendants. At both, jurors were summoned back to court to testify. In his rulings denying a new trial, Fuller stated that he believed the e-mails were fake. However, he also considered, for sake of argument, that they were real. His conclusion: Even if they were authentic, the statements made in the e-mails did not rise to a level that would require a new trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> All of the e-mails were to or from jurors Katie Langer and foreman Sam Hendrix (one involved a third juror). After Fuller's ruling that the e-mails failed to warrant a new trial even if they were real, another batch was sent. These were harsher, and seemed tailored to cure the defects in the others.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b> </b>Rather than re-invent the wheel, I'll appropriate my description of the situation from my book, <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/buying_the_book.html">"The Governor of Goat Hill":</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b> </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Almost two years later, in July 2008, the Justice Department notified the defense lawyers that there had been an investigation into the e-mails.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It was disclosed that the last two e-mails were also sent to Langer’s supervisor and four of Hendrix’s co-workers. The co-workers reported receipt of the e-mails to Langer and Hendrix, who, separate of each another, contacted the U.S. Marshals to complain. The marshals passed it on to (lead Siegelman prosecutor) Louis Franklin, who turned the matter over to postal inspectors.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The postal inspectors interviewed Langer, Hendrix and their co-workers, as well as a fellow employee of Hendrix’s who monitored his e-mail during the two month trial to make sure Hendrix didn’t miss anything. The co-worker said he never saw any e-mails from the Katie Langer address. The inspectors also printed out test e-mails to and from Langer’s e-mail account and compared them to the </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">anonymously sent e-mails.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The postal inspectors concluded that the e-mails were frauds. They submitted the envelopes and e-mail sheets to forensic testing, and described the results as inconclusive. The investigation was closed in September 2007, without a determination as to who had sent them.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Midway through the probe the U.S. Marshal's Office informed Fuller about the matter, and the determination, already made by then, that the e-mails were fakes.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In July 2008, the Justice Department wrote the defense lawyers to apprise them of the results of the postal inspectors report, and gave them the report.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Incredibly, the news stories reporting the postal inspectors’ findings and the incredibly spiteful act against the two jurors focused, not on the victims or the determination that the e-mails were frauds, but on the squeaky wheels. Team Siegelman, with Artur Davis playing point man, did a brilliant job of turning lemons into lemonade. The Alabama congressman handed the media copies of the Justice </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Department letter to the defendants and accused Fuller and Franklin of misconduct in failing to disclose the probe to Siegelman, Scrushy, and their attorneys.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Franklin responded that the postal inspectors were investigating complaints of juror harassment and that neither he nor Fuller had any oversight over the probe, and that the e-mail investigation was done as a matter of court security, not as part of the case.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>Siegelman and Scrushy, through their lawyers, demanded that Fuller recuse himself because he failed to inform the defense teams of the investigation when it started and for some time after it was completed. They also argued that they would need to question Fuller about an April 2007 meeting when the U.S. Marshals told him that postal inspectors were investigating the e-mails because they were sent to co-workers of the jurors.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> For the lawyers to question Fuller, he would first have to remove himself from the case.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "Chief Judge Fuller is a material witness in this proceeding, and has personal knowledge of evidentiary facts placed in dispute. Therefore he must disqualify himself," stated a motion by Scrushy's lawyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> They'd already managed to turn the jurors into witnesses and now they wanted the judge, too.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Because the defendants made much of the e-mails, Hinkle addressed them along with the outlandish attempt to compel testimony from the judge.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Hinkle left no doubt that he believed the e-mails fake -- as in, not to and from jurors, but manufactured by someone so sleazy that he, she or they would falsely tarnish jurors if it could win a new trial for Scrushy and Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> There is, for example, the quote atop this piece, with Hinkle saying they "seemed more likely amateurish fakes than authentic." Elsewhere, Hinkle noted that Fuller doubted the authenticity of the e-mails and said he did too -- "for reasons having nothing to do with the Postal Inspection Service’s investigation or the report to Chief Judge Fuller."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "My doubt springs from my review of the e-mails and my commonsense analysis of the circumstances," he wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> If anything, Hinkle seemed even less inclined than Fuller to permit lawyers for Siegelman and Scrushy to subpoena the computer and cell phone records of the jurors -- a truly amazing request, if you think about it. No shortage of, uh, balls. Not on the part of these defendants and their lawyers.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Like Fuller, Hinkle expressed concern about the impact of the defendants' proposed course of action on the willingness of future jurors to serve.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He wrote:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In this case the jurors served for nearly two months. They incurred a substantial burden. The defendants now propose an intrusive investigation including subpoenas to their cellular and internet service providers and a review of their text messages and e-mails. The defendants propose seizing the jurors’ computers for a forensic examination.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> This kind of treatment sometimes befalls a person accused of a crime or even someone involved in substantial civil litigation. To visit it upon a juror, based on nothing more than anonymously provided e-mails that bear no indicia of authenticity and that conveniently showed up just after the court issued a comprehensive opinion explaining why earlier e-mails were insufficient to warrant relief, would inflict an indefensible additional burden on these jurors. Treating jurors this way would make future jurors understandably reluctant to serve. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> We ask much of jurors. But not this much.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Like Fuller before him, the Florida judge gave Siegelman and Scrushy the benefit of the doubt by considering the impact on the juror's behavior if one assumed the e-mails real. And, like Fuller, he concluded that the statements in the e-mails weren't damning enough to compromise the verdict. He made an observation about one of the e-mails that I'd never seen before and, well, didn't considered when writing a chapter in my book about the alleged juror misconduct.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He cited an e-mail that read in part, "penalty 2 severe." (See e-mail below)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s5XPav6LO9c/Tjh1XJqFieI/AAAAAAAAAKA/krmv06hmw0k/s1600/JurorEmail4Blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="472" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s5XPav6LO9c/Tjh1XJqFieI/AAAAAAAAAKA/krmv06hmw0k/s640/JurorEmail4Blog.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><b><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">This is the purported juror e-mail containing the portion discussed above, with the line, "penalty 2 severe." At the top of the e-mail is the "Report as Seem" mentioned in Hinkle's order and in the quote atop this blog. It should say, "Report as Spam." </span></span></b></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Jurors are not supposed to consider sentencing when deciding criminal counts. But, if one took the e-mail at face value, a juror knew and was possibly factoring the sentencing in is thinking. Hinkle noted that jurors sometimes are aware of sentences -- especially in capital cases -- and belittled the impact of a juror knowing the sentencing ranges on these charges.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b> </b>Hinkle wrote that if the juror had "somehow learned the maximum sentence, that does not </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">undermine confidence in the verdict." And then (parts in bold are mine):</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">"For one thing, any prejudice would have cut against the government;</b> the email, if authentic, indicated that a juror thought the possible penalties were too severe. A juror who thinks a penalty is too severe might ignore the point—as the juror should—and thus be equally likely to convict. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Or the juror might be less likely to convict because the juror does not wish to subject the defendant to a too-harsh penalty. But the juror plainly would not be more likely to convict."<o:p></o:p></b></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>The remaining issue was the innocuous decision by the Marshals to inform Fuller of the postal inspectors investigation into the e-mails.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Hinkle acknowledged that it would have been best if the Marshals hadn't told Fuller about the investigation and that Fuller perhaps should have blocked further communications about the investigation from the Marshals and Postal Service. Hinkle, though, said it "should could come as no shock" that judges come across outside information regarding cases they are presiding over.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "If someone prepared a phony email and sent it through the United States Postal Service to a party, attorney, or someone else, in the expectation that it would reach the court for consideration in connection with a motion for a new trial, it was a crime, or so a reasonable person might conclude....<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>Similarly, if someone sent a phony email to a juror’s coworker in an effort to harass or intimidate the juror, a reasonable person might conclude it was a crime," wrote the Florida judge.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The U.S. Attorney's Office had "every right to refer these purported e-mails to the Marshals service ... or the Postal Inspection Service," Hinkle wrote, adding that those agencies had "every right to investigate."</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> And then:</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"They had the right to investigate not for the purpose of supporting the government in the </i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman and Scrushy case but for the purpose of determining whether a new crime had been committed and, if so, who committed it. The defendants’ suggestion that there was something wrong with this is plainly incorrect.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It was prudent, and perhaps even required, for the acting United States Attorney to assign the new investigation to an assistant not involved in the Siegelman and Scrushy prosecution. And it was prudent for the Marshals Service to let the Postal Inspection Service spearhead the investigation. None of this casts doubt on the propriety of the investigation that the Postal Inspection Service </span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">conducted."</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Here's what Hinkle had to say about Fuller's meeting in April 2007 with the Marshals, and, from there, to the demands by Siegelman and Scrushy that Fuller step aside from the case:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> "The answer is this. In light of the Eleventh Circuit’s decision on appeal and the analysis set out above, what was said in the April 2007 meeting does not matter; it is not a disputed issue. The judge properly decided all issues presented after the meeting, and will properly decide all further issues, without considering what was said in the April 2007 meeting in any way. End of story."<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> You read right.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He wrote: End of story.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> From Hinkle's perspective, yes. But I don't think it should be the end of the story.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I believe that when this issue arose -- when the bogus e-mails were sent, and in the period after -- Siegelman had stage-managed the coverage of this case by the national media and with John Conyers and others on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee. I think the U.S. Attorney's Office -- at the time, inundated with all manner of accusations of favoritism and political prosecution -- was intimidated, that the prosecutors there were scared that an investigation into the e-mails would only generate more attacks. And given the abundance, nature and sources of the attacks -- the House Judiciary Committee and its chairman, for example -- their reluctance was understandable.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The statute of limitations may have run, but if not, I think George Beck -- the new U.S. Attorney in Montgomery, and an Obama appointee -- should assign the FBI to investigate the source of the e-mails. This was a crime against jurors who gave two months of their lives to this case. Every attempt should be made to determine the culprit and bring him, her or them to justice.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> If they were to call, I'd be glad to give them some ideas about where to start. I think I know how or, in any event, from whom the e-mail addresses of the jurors were procured. As for who procured them, and where the ladder would lead, I can only guess.</span><o:p></o:p></div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-24970895888708324392011-07-27T14:40:00.000-05:002011-07-27T14:40:58.963-05:00McGregor would have ranked 4th in CEO payment for 2009<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><img height="273" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtBwGk7KTM8/TbOSOhot-7I/AAAAAAAAAI8/Wy-YcrlDv7w/s320/8542466-large.jpg" width="320" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">$$Milton McGregor$$</span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b> </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Alabama should be proud.</span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Our very own </span></span><span style="color: black;">Milton McGregor was one of the best paid corporate chieftains in the country in 2009, and, for all we know, many years preceding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Mr. Big Hair's eye-popping $28.3 million in income in 2009 -- a precious nugget reported yesterday from the bingo trial -- <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>would have placed him fourth among the country's highest-paid CEO's that year. According to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">CNN/Money, </i>Oracle's Larry Ellison took the top spot ($84.5 million) in 2009; followed by Ray Elliott of Boston Scientific ($33.4 million); Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum ($34.1 million); and Mark Hurd of Hewlett-Packard ($24.2 million).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Hurd would have been bumped a spot if the Alabama dog track/electronic bingo magnate's gaming company were public. Hard to believe, isn't it, that there was that much left over from his "electronic bingo" operations after all those payments to charity. (WINK! WINK!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Among those trailing the chief defendant in the ongoing electronic bingo corruption trial was media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who's also swimming in hot water these days. Murdoch ranked 17th in 2009, with $18 million. He fell $10.8 million short of Alabama's pride.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If McGregor's $28.3 million take in 2009 isn't the result of a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich then there's no such thing. I continue to be befuddled by the intense and broad support McGregor and his gaming operations receive from state Democrats and Alabama's blacks, especially black leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And not just befuddled. Disgusted as well. (Probably his money has something to do with it, you think?)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Here's a quote from my book, "The Governor of Goat Hill":</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>"</span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;">McGregor is a major supporter of Democratic politicians, because in Alabama, taxing the poor through gambling is not only consistent with Democratic principles, but is among the state party’s only objectives."<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></i><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;">Certainly this trial has done nothing to alter that opinion.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>None of which means McGregor will be found guilty. From the start, one of the most dangerous charges, from McGregor's perspective, seemed to involve the $72,000 in payments to Ray Crosby, an attorney for the legislature whose job involved drafting legislation. According to a report on Al.Com, on Wednesday morning, trial judge Myron Thompson indicated he wasn't sure the prosecution had proved a crime on those counts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thompson's comments were of course made out of earshot of the jurors, as were responses to his questions about the Crosby counts and other issues.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don't think anyone ever expected McGregor to testify, but an answer by one of his lawyers to one of Thompson's questions would appear to settle the matter for good.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>This, from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Press-Register</i> reporter Brendan Kirby's story:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: AGaramondPro-Regular;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thompson had tough questions for lawyers on both sides today. While he grilled prosecutors over the intricacies of bribery law, he demanded to know why McGregor was paying $3,000 a month to Ray Crosby, who at the time worked for a government agency that was in charge of drafting legislation for lawmakers.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I don’t know,”(McGregor lawyer Sam) Heldman said.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Thompson asked if a jury could not infer the worst, given the lack of explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Heldman said that the burden is on prosecutors to prove a corrupt intent. He acknowledged that Crosby worked with McGregor on gambling legislation but pointed out that state law authorized that as long as the bill’s sponsor approved it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“Merely paying him is not a crime, not a federal crime,” he said. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></i>If McGregor's own lawyer doesn't know why McGregor paid Crosby, and at this late stage of the proceedings, it's fair to infer that he's not going to let his client get in the witness chair and let a prosecutor ask the question.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It would also seem unlikely that Crosby will testify, since, if he were to, he's sure to be asked why McGregor paid him; why he failed to report the payments on his ethics disclosures; and much else as well.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>What many people don't realize is that prosecutors face a substantial burden in proving a bribery charge, or a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">quid pro quo</i>. It's not enough to show money going from one person to another, and the other using his public position to help his benefactor. They must also prove that the payments and the public acts were part of an illegal agreement. If neither Crosby nor McGregor testify, the prosecution may come up short on these charges even if guilt seems obvious, as it does to me, on the Crosby counts.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Heldman may believe his client guilty as well. That he doesn't know why McGregor paid Crosby suggests that he didn't ask his client and that his client never took it upon himself to explain. Heldman's failure to ask his client about this important matter suggests that he suspects the worst and, by not asking, can truthfully answer to the court that he doesn't know why the monthly $3,000 payments were made.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><img height="218" src="http://dailybail.com/storage/monkey.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1248048151100" width="320" /></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Milton McGregor's Lawyers</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">I'm not entirely sure of the relevance to the charges to yesterday's revelation of McGregor's 2009 income, but I trust that the lawyers on both sides and the judge worked that out. In any event, I'm glad to know. One of the great benefits of public corruption trials (Siegelman/Scrushy comes to mind) is that all manner of scrupulously concealed facts, figures and relationships finally see the light of the day.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>One example among many: That McGregor paid $300,000 to a company owned by the chairman of the Christian Coalition of Alabama. Randy Brinson, the Christian payee, had in recent years given media quotes supportive of McGregor's efforts in the legislature. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>If you're reading this, those payments probably don't come as news to you. And I don't have anything to add to what you know. But it is amazing, isn't it?<b> </b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="randybio" height="320" src="http://www.redeemthevote.com/randybio.jpg" width="256" /><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Randy Brinson, Milton McGregor's "$300,000 Man"</span></b><br />
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</div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-11829002334703787202011-07-25T17:19:00.001-05:002011-07-27T17:10:24.493-05:00The Lowdown on "Honest Services"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wnlYNpk3ePs/Tie7dx9aGcI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/xp3FL6c-q-g/s1600/Perrine_web_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wnlYNpk3ePs/Tie7dx9aGcI/AAAAAAAAAJ0/xp3FL6c-q-g/s200/Perrine_web_2.jpg" width="169" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><br />
</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>J.B. Perrine</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Anyone who's been paying attention to the bouncing ball that the Siegelman/Scrushy appeal has become has heard about the "honest services" statute. The statute, which is also being used by prosecutors in the bingo trial, has in the past several years come under appellate review, primarily by the U.S. Supreme Court. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Recently, J. B. Perrine, one of the prosecutors on the Siegelman/Scrushy team, co-authored an informative piece on the recent travails of the statute and an analysis of its future as a tool for prosecutors bringing cases against white collar defendants in the private and public sector.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: black;"> The article, called, "Navigating the Honest Services Fraud Statute: After Skilling v. United States," is in the July issue of, "The Alabama Lawyer," the magazine of the Alabama Bar Association. (To read the piece, download the issue by going here -- www</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;"><a href="http://www.alabar.org/publications/al-lawyer-full/july2011/index.html">.alabar.org/publications/al-lawyer-full/july2011/index.html</a></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">)<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> It's written for lawyers and, as such, is technical in some places. However, laymen who've followed the case shouldn't have any difficulty.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Some quotes from the piece:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"Despite reports that the Supreme Court 'gutted and eviscerated one of the federal prosecutors' favorite weapons,' </i>Skilling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">does not provide either public or private officials with carte blanche to dishonestly conduct their affairs."<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> "Despite the availability of criminal offenses other than honest services fraud, the Supreme Court in </span></i><span style="color: black;">Skilling <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">may have insulated certain conduct from prosecution by federal authorities. An area of particular interest is a public official's receipt of a campaign contribution that is temporally followed by his appointment of the donor to a public position."<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> "The exact contours of the honest services fraud statute are presently unknown, but the federal offense certainly encompasses a smaller scope of conduct that it did before the Supreme Court's decision in Skilling..."<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Perrine handled much of the brief writing chores for the Siegelman prosecution team. Last fall, he left the U.S. Attorney's Office in Montgomery for private practice. He opened a Montgomery office for a mid-sized, multi-state law firm called, Bailey & Glasser. Perrine is specializing in white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></div></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-33162629080024823162011-06-07T21:05:00.002-05:002011-06-08T17:12:45.956-05:00McGregor's Fox in the Henhouse<div align="center" class="style245" style="font-weight: bold;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>I wrote, "McGregor's Fox in the Henhouse" for my web-page, EddieCurran.Com, shortly after the bingo indictments came down in October. The column, reprinted here, is an analysis of the government's case against Joseph Crosby, a lawyer for the state legislature who is accused of accepting bribes from dogtrack owner Milton McGregor. Back in October, I cited the apparent strength of the case against Crosby in all but predicting that he would enter into a plea agreement and testify against McGregor. Though I suppose that option remains open to Crosby, it appears that prognostication missed the mark.</b></span></span></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px;"><br />
</span></span></div></div></div><div align="left" class="style245" style="font-size: 34px; font-weight: bold;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img height="400" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/images/8941777-small.jpg" width="344" /></div></div><div class="style254" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"><div style="text-align: center;">JOSEPH CROSBY (<em>Birmingham News </em>photo)</div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 21px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Government employees are forever belittled as bureaucrats, a word ripe with stereotype that I don't care for. In my experience "bureaucrats" often act as a bulwark against public corruption, far more likely to serve as sources reporting malfeasance than participating in it. Most government employees I've met are friendly, bright, honest and hard-working.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> An exception -- at least as regards the honesty part -- would seem to be Joseph Crosby. He is a 61-year-old lawyer and upper-level employee of the Legislative Reference Service. That's the non-partisan research and bill-drafting arm of the state legislature. When a senator or representative wants to propose a bill, he or she goes to the Legislative Reference Service. Someone like Crosby essentially translates the legislator's wishes into bill form, with all the required legalese.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The Crosby charge is different from the other counts against McGregor in that it alleges bribery of a state employee, not a politician, and involves, not campaign contributions, but payments to the employee. In return, or so the government alleges, Crosby helped McGregor manipulate the drafting of legislation that would govern the operations of gaming in Alabama.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The indictment presents all manner of threats to McGregor, but for two reasons, the Crosby charge appears the most dangerous in the government's arsenal against the Bingo Magnate.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The first is that it alleges payments to a public official, not a candidate's campaign. The bribery laws make little distinction between the two, but people -- jurors, for example -- generally take a harsher view of payments, cash or otherwise, than to campaign contributions.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The second reason for McGregor to fear: Crosby would be a fool not to seek a plea deal. Unless he can justify accepting secret payments from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">McGregor -- and it's hard to imagine how -- then prosecutors have him dead to rights. If Crosby rolls the dice, goes to trial and loses, he could easily receive a sentence in the five-year range.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> However, considering his value to the government as a cooperating witness -- a potential silver bullet in the government's case against </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">McGregor -- a cooperating Crosby could expect a sentence of about a year, give or take six months in either direction.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> With Crosby, McGregor had a fox in the henhouse.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> On one occasion, Crosby contradicted the specific directives of an anti-gaming state senator whose proposals could have harmed</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">McGregor's business. The legislation had been assigned to another staffer but Crosby, using his seniority, took over the drafting of the bill.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> When the senator noticed Crosby had failed to follow his wishes, he ordered the state employee to re-do it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> According to the indictment, from May 2008 to April 2010, McGregor "caused to be issued monthly checks in the amount of</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">$3,000, totaling $72,000, made payable to CROSBY....who was prohibited from receiving income in addition to his State of Alabama salary </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for his official assistance."</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The checks -- don't ask me why, I suppose because they were exercising some combination of brazenness and stupidity -- were written on Macon </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">County Greyhound Park checks, made payable to Crosby, and sent to his home.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The indictment presents numerous examples showing Crosby serving McGregor, not the taxpayers funding his $160,000 salary. It describes </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Crosby sending McGregor and the lawyer drafts of legislation, and making changes dictated to him, not by the legislators he served, but by McGregor.</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> What follows are several interesting examples from the indictment, presented verbatim (thus allowing me to be lazy by not summarizing/condensing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">them, but also to give readers a feel for how federal corruption indictments read). Words in black are mine:</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span class="style252" style="color: red;"> 168. On or about March 4, 2010, MCGREGOR, through his lawyer, gave specific instructions for CROSBY to make changes to SB380 <span class="style253" style="color: black;">(the bingo legislation, called, "The Sweet Home Alabama" bill.)</span><br />
169. On or about March 7, 2010, CROSBY told MCGREGOR his work on SB380 had been “pretty exhausting.” </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In response, MCGREGOR stated, “I wanted to thank you for staying on top of everything and, and, uh, responding to working with us.”</span></div><div class="style249" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="style252" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 170. On or about March 8, 9, and 10, 2010, CROSBY directed an employee of the Legislative Reference Service to transmit updated </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">drafts of SB380 to MCGREGOR. </span></div><div class="style251" style="color: red; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 171. "On or about March 10, 2010, CROSBY promised MCGREGOR that he would make changes to SB380 and get the agreement </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of the bill’s Senate sponsor. During the conversation, MCGREGOR told CROSBY, “I appreciate your efforts, big man,” before asking him </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to “jog [his] memory” regarding proposed changes to the bill.</span></div><div class="style251" style="color: red; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 172. On or about March 11, 2010, MCGREGOR told <span class="style253" style="color: black;">(Montgomery lobbyist and McGregor co-defendant Tom</span>) COKER that CROSBY, along </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">with MCGREGOR’s lawyer and the sponsor of the legislation (the sponsor was State Sen. Roger Bedford), “fixed” some language </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in SB380 that would affect MCGREGOR’s tax liability.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> That last bit -- about McGregor's tax liability -- is interesting and, probably for the prosecution, important. The gambling folks -- McGregor his minions, legislators included -- were forever telling the public and the media that one of the chief benefits of the "Sweet Home Alabama" legislation was to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">generate huge sums of taxes for Alabama. It appears, from the above, that not only McGregor, but Roger Bedford (unindicted, at least for now) and a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">state employee being paid by McGregor were working to limit the taxes to be paid by the Bingo Magnate's operations.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Bedford's use of his position to limit McGregor's tax liability should be shocking, but it's not. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">(This suggests a blog idea: A simple categorization of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Roger Bedford's dubious acts over the past 20 or so years...it would be VERY long blog.)</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Back to the indictment:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span class="style254" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"> </span><span class="style254" style="color: red;">173. On March 11, 2010, MCGREGOR asked SB380’s sponsor to talk to MCGREGOR’s lawyer, who “knows more about my finances </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">than I do,” in an effort to amend the bill in a way that would reduce MCGREGOR’s tax liability under the legislation."</span></div><div class="style252" style="color: red; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 174. On or about March 11, 2010, and March 12, 2010, CROSBY directed an employee of the Legislative Reference Service to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">transmit updated drafts of SB380 to MCGREGOR.</span></div><div class="style252" style="color: red; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 175. On or about March 12, 2010, in a telephone call with CROSBY, MCGREGOR provided specific provisions that were to be included </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in a revised SB380 and urged CROSBY to speed up the drafting process so that his legislation would advance before bills proposed by other legislators.</span></div><div class="style252" style="color: red; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 176. Later that same day, on or about March 12, 2010, referencing a proposed tax provision in SB380, MCGREGOR assured COKER that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“we ain’t gonna pay no higher tax.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> 177. On or about March 14, 2010, MASSEY told GILLEY <span class="style253" style="color: black;">(Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley, who has pleaded guilty and will testify at trial) </span>that any proposed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pro-gambling legislation would go through CROSBY, and that CROSBY could be expected to report any such legislative developments to MCGREGOR.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Two unfortunate fact issues would seem to encourage Crosby to fold rather than fight.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He was paid a salary of $160,000 -- a sum that would seem to make the secret McGregor bonuses all the more inexcusable. Even more problematic </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was Crosby's failure to report the McGregor stipends on his annual financial disclosures with the Alabama Ethic Commission.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In July, the feds issued a subpoena to the Legislative Reference Service, seeking all manner of records, such as drafts of the bingo legislation. Soon </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">after, Crosby amended his past reports to include the McGregor money. Reporting the receipt of illegal funds doesn't magically render them legal, but not </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reporting them, and getting caught, makes it all the more illegal, if you know what I mean.</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Crosby and his lawyers will certainly weigh those matters when making the momentous decision to plea and testify against King Bingo or risk going before a jury.</span><br />
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</span></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-59915282256085594292011-06-06T17:41:00.000-05:002011-06-06T17:41:05.273-05:00Bingo Trial: The Geddie Charge<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b>The following is something I wrote for my web-page not long after the bingo indictments came down. It's an analysis of the "obstruction of justice" charge against lobbyist Bob Geddie. As far as I can tell, nothing has occurred on this part of the case to significantly alter what I wrote back in October. In all, Geddie faces, in addition to the obstruction charge, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">one count of conspiracy, one count of federal program bribery, and 11 counts of honest services mail and wire fraud. </span></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Also, Geddie took a leave from Fine & Geddie not long after being indicted.</span></b></span><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><img src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/images/geddie001.jpg" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold;">Bob Geddie</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 26px; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 16px;"><span class="style238" style="font-size: 21px;"> In my few encounters with Bob Geddie I've found him a friendly, easygoing man -- a tall, tanned, nice looking and nattily-dressed guy </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 21px;">who seems to have it all. He and his partner, Joe Fine, head the state's most successful lobbying firm. Ethics disclosures show that Fine </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 21px;">Geddie & Associates represents almost 50 clients before the legislature. That list includes political powerhouses like the Alabama Nursing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 21px;">Home Association, Alabama Power, Alfa Insurance, and AT&T. Those are just some of A's. Get into the B's and you've got Blue Cross, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 21px;">so on and so on.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Fine & Geddie also represents Milton McGregor's dog-tracks.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> First, the background to the charge, as laid out in the indictment:</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> In mid-February (2010), McGregor called a member of the state house of representatives identified in the indictment as, "Legislator 3."</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">McGregor hadn't spoken to #3 in two years, and the lawmaker was of the belief that McGregor had backed his opponent in a previous election.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> #3 -- reportedly Republican Barry Mask of Wetumpka -- returned McGregor' call. During the conversation, the latter offered "significant</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">campaign contributions (to Mask) in return for a favorable vote (by Mask) on bingo legislation."</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> If that's an accurate description of McGregor's offer, it was an illegal one -- with McGregor directly connecting contributions with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">official action. That's called a "quid pro quo" -- Latin for, "something for something." Doesn't matter if he's offering cash stuffed in a brown bag </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">or political donations. It's against the law either way.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><strong style="font-weight: normal;"> </strong> McGregor noted that it wouldn't be in the Republican's political interest for it to be known that he accepted campaign contributions from</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">the gaming industry. This was a problem easily solved, McGregor said.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> "I can get you significant help in your campaign not from me, from people that I have a great working relationship with, business </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">type people. That some of them that you could never get by yourself.”</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="color: #7030a0;"> </span>Mask asked if the contributions would be in the apparently wimpy “500 or a couple of thousand” dollars range.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> "Oh no," answered McGregor. "I said significant help. . . . I can and will get you significant help from people that fall in this category. That’s</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">the commitment I’ll make to you right now and it’s as good as, as, as, as any commitment you will ever get. I will do it, and I will prove it to you.”</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> The presentation of McGregor's verbiage in the indictment -- especially the awkward, "as good as, as, as, as any commitment" bit -- suggests</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">that Mask, apparently suspicious of any call from McGregor, taped the call himself, on his own and prior to contacting the FBI and wearing a wire</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">as part of the investigation. That's speculation, but seems likely given the situation as described in the indictment.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><span style="color: #7030a0;"> </span>During the call, Mask presented McGregor with an opportunity to get started on the promise. He told McGregor that he was holding a</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">fund-raiser that very evening.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Soon after hanging up with Mask, McGregor telephoned Geddie. He told the lobbyist about Mask's fundraiser and asked him to attend. Geddie</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">showed up that evening bearing two checks, both for $2,500, and both from political action committees (PACs) operated by Fine & Geddie.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> The next day, McGregor called Mask to apologize for missing the fundraiser, but made sure the lawmaker knew that Geddie had attended on</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">his behalf and that he was the source of the PAC money.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> That's the backdrop for the meat of the obstruction/cover-up charge against Geddie.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Soon after the Mask fundraiser, Geddie -- as described in the indictment -- directed an employee of his firm to "record the two checks he </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">delivered to Legislator 3 as attributable to MCGREGOR in a contribution ledger maintained by GEDDIE’s lobbying business."</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> From this, we can infer that the FBI questioned the unidentified employee and, one supposes reluctantly, the employee revealed that directive</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">and another from Geddie.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> A point to keep in mind: Lying to the FBI/federal prosecutors and/or providing false records in response to a subpoena can land you in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">jail even if you had nothing to hide and wouldn't otherwise have faced charges.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Fast forward to April 1 (2010). That's the day it became publicly known that the Justice Department was investigating the use of potentially illegal</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">tactics by the gaming industry to win passage of the bingo legislation. After that day -- and this is made clear in the indictment -- many of the future</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">defendants, Geddie included, feared that their phones were being tapped and that some legislators might be wearing wires.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> Geddie subsequently directed his employee to alter the contribution ledger to reflect that two other donors were the actual sources of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">contributions to Mask, not McGregor.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> According to the indictment, neither of the donors identified on the altered ledger authorized or were aware of the donations to Mask.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> When the feds issued a grand jury subpoena for Fine & Geddie's contribution records Geddie -- according to the indictment -- "caused</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';">to be produced to law enforcement officials the altered contribution ledgers."</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> The decision to question Geddie's employee and the donors listed ledgers as having provided the two $2,500 contributions to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">Mask reflects considerable creativity and attention to detail by the agents/prosecutors working the case.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> The lobbyist obviously did not expect that to happen.</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"> As a result of that work, the career of Bob Geddie -- a true legend in Montgomery -- could end with a prison sentence </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';">for "obstructing justice."</span></div><div class="style238" style="font-size: 21px; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman';"><br />
</span></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-76540760890752345662011-06-02T20:43:00.001-05:002011-06-02T20:44:35.675-05:00Landfill Lanny's Toxic Tax Cut<div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">The following is a chapter from, "The Governor of Goat Hill"</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “We hear talk of kickbacks at the Capital.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> -- Secretary of State Don Siegelman, during 1984 press conference in which he </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">cited “hints and rumors of corruption and kickbacks” involving the operations at </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Emelle, the huge hazardous waste landfills owned by Waste Management.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “He (Siegelman) said, ‘We’ll get that revenue ruling you want but those bastards </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">are going to pay for it.”</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> -- Testimony of Lanny Young, who was paid $500,000 by Waste Management after </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the Department of Revenue issued a secret ruling slashing the taxes paid at Emelle.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> When old-timers talk about the member of George Wallace’s family who </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">tried hardest to cash in on Wallace’s power, it’s always brother Gerald. Though </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">colorful Gerald gets the attention, two quieter kin -- Wallace’s daughter Bobbie Jo </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and her husband James Parsons – made the loudest noise at the bank. The Parsons </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">almost certainly made more money from what my father calls “relative ability” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">than any gubernatorial relatives in Alabama history.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The Parsons owe their bounty to hazardous waste.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In 1974, the Environmental Protection Agency identified the area around </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the tiny Sumter County town of Emelle as among the most suitable sites in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">country for a hazardous waste landfills. Emelle, with a population of maybe 100, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">is in central Alabama, near the Mississippi border. The EPA was drawn to the area </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">for geological reasons. A chalky layer hundreds of feet thick provides what is said </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to be an impermeable barrier protecting groundwater from waste seepage.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Clients for hazardous waste landfills include plastics manufacturers, paint </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">makers, chemical companies and other industries that generate waste too toxic for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">ordinary landfills. As might be expected, such waste poses a graver threat to the</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">environment, is more heavily regulated, and disposal costs are substantially greater.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Three years after the EPA report a group of Tennessee businessmen decided </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to make a go at Emelle. Among their first moves: Recruiting some home-grown </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">relative ability.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The men invited James Parsons to become a partner and awarded Alabama’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">First Son-In-Law a 28-percent share -- more than anyone else in the company. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The group incorporated Resource Industries of Alabama, bought a 300-acre tract </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">near Emelle, and applied for the various permits needed before they could build</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">such a facility.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Agencies like the Alabama Department of Public Health parted like the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Red Sea, delivering the permits for the state’s first and still only hazardous </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">waste landfills. The company never built a landfills. Instead, it sold the land and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">permits to Chemical Waste Management. The company, a subsidiary of Waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management (for clarity’s sake that’s how the company will be identified) agreed</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to pay Resource Industries 12 percent of the landfill's revenues for 20 years, then </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">one percent a year until the landfill's closure. The Houston-based garbage giant </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">bought an additional 2,400 acres and built the site.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Emelle generated more money than anyone could have imagined. In its </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">heyday it accepted waste trucked in from more than 40 states, and was the most </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">profitable hazardous waste landfills in the country.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The value of Parsons’ relative ability was revealed in the 1990s when he </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and his partners sued Waste Management for fraud. From 1981 through 1995, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Emelle generated some $1 billion in revenues. Of that, Waste Management paid </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Resource Industries $87 million. Based on his 28 percent share, Parsons banked </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">about $24.3 million.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In the early 1990s, Parsons and his partners discovered that Waste Management </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">had devised a scheme to hide revenues for the purpose of limiting the royalty </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">payments. In 1996, a federal judge ordered the company to pay Resource </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Industries $91 million. Naturally, this further enriched George Wallace’s daughter</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and son-in-law, by another $20 million plus.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> To slightly restate a previously expressed truism, garbage isn’t garbage, it’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">money, and the more toxic, the better.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In the 1980s, Alabama’s secretary of state sought to boost his name recognition </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and advance his reputation as an ass-kicking man of the people by blasting </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">away at Emelle. It didn’t seem to matter that as the state’s top elections officer, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Siegelman had no role whatsoever in the regulation of landfills. He accused Waste</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management of violating environmental laws and bribing lawmakers. Typically, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">he declined to identify the culprits, allowing him to appear to be going out on a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">limb without actually doing so.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> During his 1986 campaign for attorney general he upped the ante.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“The first thing I will do is close that landfills,” he pledged.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Siegelman was elected, Emelle stayed open.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Meanwhile, Gov. Guy Hunt developed an antipathy to the landfills he believed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">was taking too much toxic waste from other states. In 1992 the legislature passed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a Hunt-backed bill that dramatically increased the per-ton taxes for such waste, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">up to $103 per ton for the most toxic substances.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In 1996 and 1997 Waste Management made a push to lower the taxes. In a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">series of letters, Montgomery lawyer Tom DeBray argued that since waste brought to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the site was treated and rendered less toxic, it should be taxed at the post-treatment </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">toxicity levels. The company wanted the state to slash the levy on the most common </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">classification from $41.60 a ton to $11.60, the rate for its post-treatment toxicity.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> DeBray made his case to Wade Hope, a Revenue Department lawyer </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">responsible for overseeing the hazardous waste tax. In a letter, Hope told DeBray </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the department didn’t have the authority to make the change. The legislature had </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">passed the law defining the tax classifications, and “only the Legislature can alter</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the rate through a change in the statute,” he wrote.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The company, despite donating generously to lawmakers and employing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">top lobbyist Johnny Crawford, hadn’t been able to get it done in the legislature.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">After Siegelman’s inauguration, Waste Management dropped Crawford. He was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">replaced by Austin-Young, the Lanny pairing with Claire Austin. Out as well was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">DeBray, the company’s long-time Alabama lawyer. He was replaced by the ever-present </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Ellis Brazeal, attorney for Lanny and Paul Hamrick’s brother-in-law.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Could the new team, with its near familial bonds with the Siegelman </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">administration, accomplish what the old could not?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> During my Lanny studies the previous spring I talked to an old source in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">garbage business who I will call – because it’s what he laughingly named himself – </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Deep Dump. He knew the industry upside down and backwards. He’d given me </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">tips in the past and helped me understand the business.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Deep Dump didn’t care for Lanny. Among other things, he said he had it </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">from impeccable sources that Waste Management paid Lanny some extraordinary </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">sum to win a huge tax break at Emelle. The company had been seeking the tax cut </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">for years, with no luck. It hired Lanny and, boom, the Siegelman administration</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">made it happen. Crooked as hell, he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Criminal or not, the deal satisfied the criteria for a story, but first I had to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">prove it.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> One of Lanny’s UCC loan records had seemed to confirm the tip. It showed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">that Waste Management had loaned Lanny $1 million in May 2000. The loan </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">was collateralized by proceeds from what the loan record called a “consultant </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">arrangement with Chemical Waste Management Inc.”</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Chemical Waste’s only business in Alabama was at Emelle.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I’d reported the ChemWaste UCC in my June feature on Lanny. The story </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">noted that the UCC didn’t identify the purpose or financial terms of Young’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">consulting agreement; and that Waste Management refused to clarify. A </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">spokesman acknowledged Young’s services as a business development consultant</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">for the company, but beyond that, nothing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I called the Revenue Department and was handed off to the agency’s lawyer, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Susan Kennedy. I knew nothing of Kennedy at the time. In the coming year I was to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">learn considerably more about the politically connected attorney who prosecutors </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">later designated an “unindicted co-conspirator” for her part in the tax change.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Kennedy confirmed that Waste Management won changes in state regulations </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">affecting the Emelle landfills. The department, though, never heard from Young, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">she said. Lanny, who surprisingly took my call, told readers his work for Waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management didn’t involve hazardous waste issues. He said he’d had nothing to</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">do with the tax cut.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> After the feature on Lanny I asked the Revenue Department to let me review the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">“complete file with regard to regulatory changes made in the summer of 1999 that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">affected the Emelle landfills.” I sought all correspondence pertaining to the change; “any </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">financial impact analysis performed in relation to the changes (and) any indication </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">that the governor’s office was or was not consulted in relation to the changes.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Taxpayer records, whether for individuals or corporations, are, with few </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">exceptions, private. My position was that the tax cut represented a change in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">methods used by the state to tax hazardous waste, whether it applied to one company </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">or 50. Such was the basis for my argument that the records should be public.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The department did not agree.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Several factors -- Deep Dump’s reliability, the UCC connecting Lanny to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Emelle and the fact that there had been a tax cut -- convinced me there was a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">story. But I’d hit a bunch of dead ends, was busy on other fronts, and, at least for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the time being, closed the Emelle file.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> By late December 2001, I’d been covering the administration for almost a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">year, not full-time but overtime. There was the amount and complexity of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">stories, the competition from the <i>News, </i>and the emotionally draining battle </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">following my verbal bombardment of Rip. I was whipped, with no strong stories </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">in the hopper. Such was my frame of mind when I decided to make one final push </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">on the Emelle story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I hoped to determine Lanny’s fee, but short of that, to confirm that Waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management had hired him for the tax change. If I couldn’t do that there was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">no story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In late December and early January I traded phone calls and e-mails with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Sarah Voss, the company’s Houston-based spokesperson. She didn’t take my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">questions as a personal affront – there was no, “How can you even ask such a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">thing of a company/politician as fine as (fill in the blank)?” The both of us realized </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">that information decisions were made above her level. It was agreed that I would </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">e-mail my questions, she would pass them up the ladder, then deliver the responses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The Lanny-Chemical Waste UCC cited a role in the transaction by Ellis </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Brazeal’s law firm, which confused me. Voss said Waste Management had retained </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Walston Wells to work on the tax change and that the firm, with the company’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">blessing, had engaged Lanny as “an outside consultant.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> With that, I had a story. The piece, which ran in early January, began:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <i>In June 1999, a law firm for the company that operates Alabama’s only hazardous </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">waste landfills hired a friend and major supporter of Gov. Don Siegelman to help win </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a significant change in the way the state taxes such waste.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> A Mobile Register review shows the change that Clayton L. “Lanny” Young was hired </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to help bring about has saved the company about $1 million in less than two years.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “It was for consulting on getting tax relief for this site, and it was contingent upon </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the success of the issue they had hired him to help with,” Sarah Voss, a spokeswoman for </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Houston-based Waste Management Inc., said of the arrangement involving Young…</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Voss said Young received one payment from the law firm “that was based on his </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">achievement of the goals set when he was retained.”</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Readers were told that Waste Management declined to provide “copies of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">contracts involving the company, the law firm and Young; identify the amount of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the payment to him; or say whether Young had been due further payments.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">By this stage Lanny was radioactive, and the relationship was not one Waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management was keen on discussing.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The piece summarized previous reporting on Lanny, and reported two relevant </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">contributions in 1999 to the lottery foundation – $10,000 from Brazeal’s firm </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and the other, for $50,000, from Waste Management. That latter was to figure</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">years later in the case against Siegelman.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Lanny wasn’t to be found, but I had his old statement denying involvement </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">in the tax change, and used it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Siegelman’s old friend Jim Hayes was Revenue Commissioner when the change </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">was made and had signed off on it. Hayes, who had since departed the administration, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">provided a second level of confirmation of Lanny’s efforts on the tax change.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> He said he had never heard of Lanny Young until Nick Bailey called to see if </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">he had met with Young. Brazeal joined Young and did most of the talking, Hayes </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">recalled.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “They laid out a case that the fees at Emelle were so high that the taxes for the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">state were dropping precipitously,” said Hayes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Brazeal and Young said that if the taxes were lowered, the site would do more </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">business and that would generate increased collections for the state. Hayes agreed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to consider the matter, and assigned a department lawyer to the situation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Over the next couple of weeks Hayes received periodic calls from Young. He </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">said he had no idea that Lanny was being paid on a contingency basis to get the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">change made, and was embarrassed and not a little disgusted to learn so when I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">told him.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> If anything our story presented Waste Management’s request -- that waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">brought to Emelle should be taxed at post-treatment toxicity levels – as reasonable. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But there’s no shortage of companies, industries and interest groups with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">compelling arguments for new or altered laws, including tax changes. Generally</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">they must present their case to the legislature, as difficult, unwieldy and polluted </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a process as that may be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I wanted to show readers that it was different – and worse – for lobbyists </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to ply their trade at the Revenue Department, as opposed, say, to the highway </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">department. Taxpayers, individual and corporate, often hire lawyers to engage the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">department in tax disputes, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But lobbyists?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I called Jim Sizemore, a respected former revenue commissioner, who told </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">readers that during his five years at the agency, lawyers routinely represented </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">clients with tax disputes, accountants did as well, but never once could he recall</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a lobbyist doing so.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Subsequent records dispelled one of the primary justifications for the change: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the prediction that lower taxes would make Emelle more competitive, generate </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">more business, and produce greater revenues for the state. In the first four years</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">after the change, the state took in more than $1 million less in revenues from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Emelle than from the prior period.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Six months after the story, in late July 2002, the Dansby lawsuit – one of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">two Lowndes County cases against Lanny and Waste Management brought by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Susan Copeland and Doyle Fuller -- produced public records gold. Copeland, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">God bless her, had filed a portion of a transcript from a court hearing during </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">which Lanny’s fee for the Emelle change was divulged.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> It was $500,000.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> How many years, dear reader, did it or will it take you to make $500,000?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> How many hours might you put in before hitting the half-million dollar mark?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The fee was grotesquely excessive and decidedly story-worthy. The money </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">originated in Houston, at Waste Management; was transferred to Walston Wells’ </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">account in Birmingham; and from there to Goat Hill, Ala., and into Lanny </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Young’s bank account.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Walston Wells, while not a large firm, is prominent, very Republican </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">respectable. The firm, it seemed clear, had acted as accessory, as launderer of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Waste Management’s dirty money. I suppose the firm looked the other way so it </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">wouldn’t have to see it that way. I felt this was serious enough to go above Brazeal </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to one of the name partners, Vernon Wells. He said I needed to talk to Ellis, since </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Waste Management was his client. I called Brazeal. He was polite but nervous. He </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">declined comment, citing attorney-client concerns.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I called his client, or rather, Sarah Voss. I told her what I’d learned, and that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I expected to shortly be in possession of the 1997 correspondence between Tom </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">DeBray and the Revenue Department back in 1997. I e-mailed questions. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">main parts are as follows:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <i>That (1997) letter, I’m told, will state that the department determined that only the Legislature could make the change being sought by Chemical Waste. It appears that </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>Chemical Waste then hired Ellis Brazeal and, along with him, Lanny Young, and they</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>succeeded where DeBray had failed.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> My questions:<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> To the ordinary reader, $500,000 will obviously seem like a very considerable </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>sum. Could the company provide, with some degree of specificity, an explanation of </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>what Lanny Young did to assist in this matter?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Were Young’s personal and political connections with Gov. Don Siegelman and </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>members of his administration, including former Chief of Staff Paul Hamrick, a factor </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>in the decision to hire him?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Were administration officials involved in the decision, or was it handled completely </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>within the Revenue Department?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Did anyone recommend to the company that it should hire Young and/or Ellis </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>Brazeal?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> How much has the company saved as a result of the change?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> This story may or may not contain information from a transcript of a separate </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>hearing in the Dansby case, in which it’s stated that Young would have been paid $2 </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>million by Waste Management if he succeeded in negotiating a lower tipping fee at the </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>proposed Lowndes County landfills.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> It may be, though, that this arrangement will be reported in a later story. In the </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>event I include it in this story, I want to go ahead and ask my questions:</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Does Waste Management regularly use consultants and/or companies to handle </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>the permitting and political processes required for new landfills in a way that hides the </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>company’s role in such plans?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Does Waste Management consider it ethical to off er sums as high as $1 million or </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>$2 million to such companies/consultants in return for their success in lowering tipping </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>fees that Waste Management will later pay to host governments?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Has Waste Management or its subsidiaries been contacted by law enforcement </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>authorities in connection with the investigation into Lanny Young and members or </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>former members of the Siegelman administration? Has the company been served with </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>subpoenas relating to this investigation?</i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> Sarah, I guess I’m not giving away any secrets when I say I ask questions that I don’t </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>necessarily expect will be answered. However, as a general practice, I do like to let our </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i>readers know that we have asked questions, even when we have not received responses.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i> </i>The company declined comment, beyond what it provided back in January. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">The story reported Lanny’s fee, Waste Management’s failed 1997 attempt to win </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the change, and summarized the salient points from the first story.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The AP picked it up and the <i>Birmingham News </i>published an editorial </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">declaring that the “way the change came about, greased by Young’s half-million dollar </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">efforts, smells as bad as any landfills.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> I’d taken it as far as I could. I couldn’t compel people to talk to me or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">produce records, but was proud of my efforts and hopeful that, in time, more </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">would come out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> That time came in 2006, at Siegelman’s trial.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Claire Austin testified that in spring 1999, Young rented a private room at the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Vintage Year, an upscale Montgomery restaurant. The purpose was for Lanny and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Claire to introduce their Waste Management clients to Alabama’s new governor. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Company officials Chuck Campagna and Tom Herrington came to Montgomery </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to dine with Siegelman, Hamrick and Bailey.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “In our business, it’s all about who you know and what access you have. That’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a pretty impressive dinner, when you have the governor come by for dinner,” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Austin told jurors.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Hardly a shocking revelation, but it’s through such details that the curtain </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">gets pulled back for ordinary folk.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Young testified that Waste Management first broached Emelle with him in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">late 1998 or early 1999, after which he discussed the matter with Bailey, Hamrick </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and Siegelman. Then, in late June 1999, the company put all its eggs in one basket</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and went for it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On June 24, Brazeal filed a petition with the Revenue Department. He </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">demanded a refund of more than $4 million in taxes he claimed his client should </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">not have been compelled to pay. His client would sue if the state didn’t return the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">money; or, a second option, cut the taxes on the most common classification of</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">waste from $41.60 per ton to $11.60. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">I believe the petition was filed to alarm Hayes, the commissioner, who was not </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a tax professional; and to provide political cover to the administration should this</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">drastic cut in hazardous waste taxes be discovered. The administration could claim </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">–as it subsequently did -- that Waste Management had the state against a wall.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Maybe the company would have sued, but there’s a big difference between </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">filing a lawsuit and winning one. If the case was so strong, the company should </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">have sued for the refund and the tax cut.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Four days after threatening to sue, Waste Management entered into its secret </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">arrangement with Lanny.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Trial exhibits and Young’s testimony cleared up a few things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> For example: It hadn’t made sense for a paid up contract to serve as collateral </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">for the $1 million loan identified by the UCC. It only made sense if Lanny was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">due more money. And he was. He was to receive as much as $1.5 million more – </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">or $2 million total – with the sum depending on the amount Waste Management</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">saved as a result of the tax change.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Most interesting was another condition of the contract: From the day of its </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">signing, Lanny had 30 days to get the tax reduced. If he couldn’t deliver in a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">month, he didn’t get paid.</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Before our first story, Waste Management said it hired Walston Wells to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">seek the tax change; that the firm hired Lanny; and the company blessed it. The </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">actual contract, dated June 29, 1999, showed otherwise, that the arrangement was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">between the company and Lanny, though, “all payments to Young shall be made</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">through the trust account of Walston, Wells, Anderson & Bains.” The firm was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">just the conduit for paying Lanny.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> With 30 days to get the job done, Lanny moved fast.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The day after signing the contract he asked Bailey to set up the meeting with </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Jim Hayes, and Nick did as asked.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> There was, however, a problem. Wade Hope, the department attorney who </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">oversaw hazardous waste taxes, wasn’t budging from his long-held position that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">only the legislature could alter the tax, and he said as much to Hayes. “I told him,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">‘Commissioner, this is the same thing that’s come up before. We can’t do that,’” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Hope testified at trial.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> The administration solved the Hope problem on July 5. That day Siegelman </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">appointed Susan Kennedy, a friend of Hamrick’s and Lanny’s, as the department’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">new general counsel. She thus became the first political appointee to serve as the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">tax agency’s top lawyer in state history. Longtime general counsel Ron Bowden,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">who supported Hope on the Emelle matter, was demoted.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> (After the first Emelle story I wrote several pieces on the circumstances of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Kennedy’s departure from the Revenue Department. Prior to leaving in June </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">2001 she arranged millions of dollars in legal contracts for a law school friend, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Pam Slate. While still with the department Kennedy formed a two-person law</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">firm with Slate. The day after she left the tax agency she began billing on the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">contracts she’d helped direct to Slate. The firm Slate Kennedy LLC was paid $4.6 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">million by the Revenue Department from those contracts.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> In mid-July 1999, Hope, the department lawyer, was summoned to the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">commissioner’s office for a meeting with Hayes and Kennedy. He restated </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">his position on Emelle. Kennedy told Hope the matter was no longer his to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">decide. The ruling was going to be made at the commissioner’s office level. She </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">subsequently directed Hope to draft a cover letter to Brazeal informing him that</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the department had agreed to cut the taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> At trial, Bailey testified that Siegelman called Hayes and told him that the tax </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">change was important to the administration. The day before the ruling, Lanny </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">met Siegelman at the governor’s office.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “He said we’ll get that revenue ruling you want but those bastards are going </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to pay for it,” Lanny testified at trial.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On that day the lottery vote was less than three months away. Siegelman </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">was obsessed with its passage and was hitting up donors as never before. He told </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Lanny to tell the folks at Waste Management that he expected the company to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">donate $50,000 to the lottery foundation.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Soon after the meeting with Hope and Kennedy, Hayes, the Revenue chief, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">authorized the tax cut at Emelle.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Eleven days later, Waste Management wired $500,000 from Houston to the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Walston Wells firm in Birmingham. That same day, Ellis Brazeal signed a Walston </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Wells check made out to Lanny Young for $500,000.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Three days later, Young gave some of it back, paying $50,000 to the firm. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">At trial, prosecutor Steve Feaga asked Young why “Paul Hamrick’s brother-in-law’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">law firm” paid him, and not the company.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> “That is the method that Waste Management chose to use to get the money </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">to me,” Lanny answered.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> Shortly after the tax change, Miller Matthews, an Atlanta-based Waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management executive, asked Young to get him a copy of Siegelman’s resume. M</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">atthews wanted to familiarize himself with Siegelman before calling the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">governor. Lanny procured a resume from Siegelman and faxed it to Matthews.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On Sept. 7, Lanny escorted Chuck Campagna and another Waste Management </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">official to the lottery foundation headquarters, a home near the mansion that was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">co-owned by Nick Bailey.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> One of the Waste Management guys handed Siegelman a $50,000 check </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">made out to the foundation. The politician who had years before railed at Waste </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Management for Emelle-related kickbacks accepted it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">----------------<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> On July 15, 1999, Siegelman presented Young with a framed picture of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">himself. On it was a handwritten note. The picture was introduced into evidence </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">at trial. Lanny was asked to read the note to the jury, and did so.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> It read: “Lanny, You are something. I really appreciate your friendship and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">look forward to us spending more time together. You are special, Don.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> One supposes that Siegelman routinely gave friends and supporters autographed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">pictures of himself with nice notes. What made this keepsake an effective piece </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">of evidence is that July 15 was the same day the Revenue Department issued the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">ruling slashing the taxes at Emelle.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-autospace: none;"> <o:p></o:p></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-14652087123320656402011-05-24T13:38:00.004-05:002011-05-24T22:33:54.787-05:00Major award to Villian of "Governor of Goat Hill"<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0EMESkwZw4M/Tdvc7aO8sLI/AAAAAAAAAJw/HZxZTZTE0Mo/s1600/scott+horton+high-res.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0EMESkwZw4M/Tdvc7aO8sLI/AAAAAAAAAJw/HZxZTZTE0Mo/s200/scott+horton+high-res.jpg" width="141" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Scott Horton, of Harper's</b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> If there is a villain in my book, "The Governor of Goat Hill," it's not Don Siegelman. The former Alabama governor is, among other things, too nice in person to suit that word. Corrupt, can't answer a question with the truth, and it's his second nature to blame others for acts that were his doing. Still, not a villain. As I embarked upon the final section of the book, called, "The Hoax That Suckered Some of the Top Names in Journalism" -- a truly awful person came to the fore. Scott Horton is as mean-spirited, egregiously insulting and fact retardant as any of the far-right's talking heads. I chose to open that final section with an introductory chapter about him, called, "The Dishonest Broker." <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/DishonestBrokerScottHortonChapter.html">(Go here if you wish to read that.)</a></span></span></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In another chapter, "Creative Perjury," I believe I make an air-tight case in support of my opinion that he, well, coached Jill Simpson prior to her testimony before lawyers with the U.S. House of Representatives. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/CreativePerjury.htm">(For that chapter, go here.) </a></span>And<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> <a href="http://eddiecurran.blogspot.com/2010/11/ooopswe-caught-wrong-bass.html">here</a> </span>for a rather comical passage from a chapter on the "60 Minutes," report on the Siegelman case. It shows Horton leading the <i>New York Times </i>by the nose and into a reporting disaster that was to require the paper to issue not one but two corrections.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Two weeks ago, the American Society of Magazine editors gave Horton and Harper's the National Magazine Award for Reporting for a controversial and dubiously reported story by Horton asserting that three prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were murdered by their American captors. Until now, Horton's story was probably best known for the scrutiny it had received. His report, a major piece if true, had been effectively debunked.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> Yesterday (May 23), Alex Koppelman, a former reporter for Salon, and now news editor for AdWeek, published a story called, "A Tall Tale Gets the Prize." <a href="http://www.adweek.com/news/press/national-magazine-award-and-guant-namo-tall-tale-gets-prize-131768?page=1">Koppelman's piece</a> is a most entertaining read as well as a strongly presented indictment of Horton, <i>Harper's</i>, and the judges who chose Horton's story over more celebrated pieces in, among others, the <i>New Yorker</i> and <i>Rolling Stone</i>. </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> The following is a rather long chapter in my book explaining how I first became aware of Horton, and our most unusual battle in the pages of a publication called, <i>The Montgomery Independent.</i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> It's long, but I've removed some portions. I think the read pays off and proves, not merely that Horton is a serial fabricator, but that his editors at Harper's know it.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Me v. Horton</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><br />
</span></div> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> “If just two percent of what Horton reports is true, he qualifi es as one of the </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">greatest investigative reporters of this or any other age, Gilded included. I intend to </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">argue that two percent is at least twice Horton’s average, and that, furthermore, his </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">editors at Harper’s know it.”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- Me, in February 2008 story in the Montgomery Independent.</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> “Just imagine. I have written 160,000 words about the Siegelman case. I am </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">fairly certain there are some serious mistakes in there. But Eddie writes 7,000 words </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and finds zip, nadda. Quite a show.”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- One of Horton’s comments inserted into that article by Independent publisher </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob Martin.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i> </i>Throughout this book I’ve presented what occurred chronologically, not as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">it happened, but as I discovered it. Not so with this last section on the Free </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman movement. The research didn’t commence until February 2008, well </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">after Simpson’s affidavit, her testimony, and so much of the reporting and opining </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">by Horton, Time, the <i>New York Times</i> and others.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I wasn’t unfamiliar with the subject, just hadn’t dug into it. Was trying to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">finish the book, after which I intended to bone up on the Simpson nonsense and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">give it maybe a chapter. This plan changed after the mailman delivered, in late </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">January, that week’s <i>Montgomery Independent</i>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Within was a column by Scott Horton that accused Mark Fuller of issuing </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">rulings against Siegelman in return for the Air Force’s award of a 10 year contract </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">worth up to $18.1 million a year to a Colorado-based company called Doss </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Aviation. This was the company researched a year before by Jill Simpson, and cited</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">by Scrushy in his failed, belated motion seeking Fuller’s removal from the case.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton’s column, originally published on Harper’s web-site, described what if </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">true would rank as one of the more unusual criminal quid pro quos in American </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">political history. Participants in this enormous scam included a federal judge, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Alabama’s governor, officials high and low in the U.S. Air Force, and by necessity,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the White House.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The Independent is a weekly published by Bob Martin, at the time one of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">my oldest friends in Montgomery. Bob had despised Siegelman, and routinely </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pulled my stories off the web and ran them in the <i>Independent</i>. This was fine </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">with me, as it meant more people read them. In return, he gave me a free </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">subscription.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">After Siegelman conceded the 2002 election, Martin wrote the following in his </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">weekly column: “Bob Riley didn’t win the governor’s race. Don Siegelman lost it, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">he lost it primarily because of a newspaper reporter named Eddie Curran of <i>The Mobile </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Register</i>. Curran ferreted out the obnoxious greed of the Siegelman administration. He </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">didn’t get all of it, but he got enough to cost the governor re-election…”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Accurate assessment or not, it reflected both Bob’s admiration for my work </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and his feelings toward Siegelman.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The Independent is well-read in Montgomery in part because of its coverage </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and commentary on state politics, and I knew that Bob’s decision to publish </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton’s column had to cause Fuller great discomfort.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob later accused me of using him to attack Horton in his pages, and he </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was right. Bob had published vile garbage about honest people. That needed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">correcting, and if it required using him, so be it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">A few months before, Bob had begun re-printing some of Horton’s pieces </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on the Siegelman case and writing columns that mirrored Horton’s positions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">He was trumpeting Jill Simpson’s fantasies in prose as self-righteous as Horton’s, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">gobbledygook about core American values being trampled upon and such.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob had long ago allowed the<i> Independent </i>to become a forum for his close friend, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">dog-track owner Milton McGregor. Anyone – judge, governor or lesser politician – </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">who dared take a public act deemed detrimental to McGregor’s gambling interests got</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">it between the eyes in Bob’s columns. McGregor is a major supporter of Democratic </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">politicians, because in Alabama, taxing the poor through gambling is not only </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">consistent with Democratic principles, but is among the state party’s only objectives. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> (<i>McGregor, of course, has since been indicted on a host of federal charges alleging bribery of public officials and is set for trial in June.</i>)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob Riley opposes gambling. Therefore, Milton McGregor detests Bob Riley. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Consequently, so does Martin and his paper....</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The story that lifted me out of my seat was published in the <i>Independent </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on Jan. 21, 2008. Martin presented it under the double headlines: “Siegelman’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">judge’s firm got $18 million contract;” and, sub-head, “The same day he denied </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman’s appeal bond.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton’s column began:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“The story out of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse in Montgomery </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">never seems to change. It is a chronicle of abusive conduct by a federal judge who </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">treats his judicial duties with the same level of contempt he retains for the concept of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">justice itself.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "His name is Mark Everett Fuller, and according to the sworn account of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a Republican operative (Simpson) testifying before Congress, he was handpicked to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">manage a courtroom drama to destroy Governor Don Siegelman, and to send him off </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to prison, post-haste. And that’s exactly what he did.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The Judiciary Committee’s back-door man (Horton, for reasons explained elsewhere in the book) told his readers that Fuller “sits in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a shadow which has grown progressively more sinister as time passes.” He derided </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a Fuller-authored motion as “farcical, the sort of thing that any judge would be </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ashamed to allow see the light of day.” As if that wasn’t enough, Horton piled on </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">some more, saying Fuller’s brief refl ected the work of, “a third-rate legal mind.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton and Martin knew Fuller couldn’t defend himself. He was a federal </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">judge and the case remained active. He’d presided over the trial with distinction </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and fairness. If someone wished to question or criticize his rulings, that was one </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">thing. But accusing him of selling rulings for Air Force contracts?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton was operating without boundaries or scruples, and my old friend Bob </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Martin had lost his. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Somebody had to throw himself in front of this runaway bullshit train. I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">knew the best man for the job, and it was me.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I had to approach Bob gingerly, to express my opinion of what he and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton had written without off ending. I told him in an e-mail that I thought </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the <i>Independent’s </i>treatment of Fuller “most unfair,” and asked if he would permit </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">me to write, without pay, an article addressing the accusations against Fuller. “I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">anticipate that the <i>Independent</i> will continue publishing Horton and probably</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">opining against Fuller. I simply would like to present your readers with one article </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">providing another perspective.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob answered right back, said he’d love to have it.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Typically, the story took me far longer than I’d anticipated, and was much </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">longer as well, requiring two installments, both long as hell. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It’s the rare Horton paragraph that doesn’t contain multiple errors and lies in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">support of his malicious attacks. These paragraphs required deconstructing, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that, among other things, took time.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I was already somewhat familiar with Horton, and had read a few of his </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">columns, but not until my self-assigned work for the <i>Independent</i> did I carefully </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">read the stories by Time, the <i>New York Times</i>, and others; Simpson’s affidavit </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and her congressional testimony; and, by far the most time consuming, Horton’s</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">output on the Siegelman case.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I was blown away by what to my mind was and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">remains, an alarming case of multi-level journalistic fraud. And this was before the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“60 Minutes” report and the Judiciary Committee’s April 2008, Horton-flavored </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">report on “selective prosecution.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It was while doing that research that I realized my already over-long book on </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman was going to get longer.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The most enjoyable part of the <i>Independent </i>assignment was the writing. Gone </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">were the constraints that prohibited me from tossing off one-liners, from having fun </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">with the writing. I could work at the <i>Mobile Register</i> for 60 years and never get to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">write: “Of criticisms of Horton’s writing, a deficiency of confidence is not among </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">them. He makes his cases like a good poker player with a bad hand. He bluffs.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">And a favorite, for its linkage to a man Horton assuredly hates: “Like the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">obviously embittered, multi-divorced radio host Rush Limbaugh, Horton crosses </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">all lines of civil discourse in his personal attacks. In Horton’s case, that group </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">includes anyone he associates with the imprisonment of Don Siegelman -- or as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton calls him, America’s number one political prisoner.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The first installment was published on Feb. 21, 2008. In it, I disclosed that I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was on an unpaid sabbatical from the <i>Register </i>to write a book about the Siegelman </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">scandals. “If anyone should declare I have a conflict in writing this piece, let </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">them. I contacted Bob and asked that I be able to write this, for free, because I</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">am disturbed and disappointed to see that the Independent had begun running </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton’s columns. However, I applaud Bob for allowing me an opportunity to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">correct the record, if even only a fraction of it.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I wrote that the purpose of the two-part series was to present a rebuttal of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton column accusing Mark Fuller of trading rulings for Air Force contracts.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> This, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">from that first installment:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">(Horton’s) article is laden with factual error, innuendo and a level of sourcing that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">would not be permitted in the lowest rank of newspapers. That it was published under </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the Internet masthead of Harper’s -- the second oldest magazine in the country -- can</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>only be seen as an indictment of that publication…</i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It is among my hopes that upon finishing this article you will see a different Mark </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Fuller than has been presented in Horton’s pieces, including those published in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Independent. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Perhaps most importantly, I hope that you hold Scott Horton in contempt for the</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>bully, liar, phony and pompous ass that he is.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I had to support such bold statements, and did.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">There was no way to address all of Horton’s fabrications, but I plucked out </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a few good ones. A particularly illustrative example of the Horton methodology </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">involved two different accounts he gave for a trip Bob Riley made to Washington </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the previous June.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">As it happened, Riley’s trip coincided with Siegelman’s sentencing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton’s first account of Riley’s trip was published on the afternoon of July </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">28, just hours after Fuller sentenced Siegelman and sent him straight to prison. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The headline on Harper’s web-page was, “Siegelman sentenced; Riley Rushes to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Washington.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">The thrust of the column was, as Horton put it, “the plot involving Karl Rove </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to ‘take care’ of Siegelman.” He wrote that “sources in the Cullman County GOP” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">told him that Riley had been “summoned urgently to Washington.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Followed by:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> Riley told disappointed organizers of the Cullman function that he will meet with </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Bush Administration officials to discuss damage control relating to the Siegelman case.</i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“The sentence will come down today, and they’re very concerned about all the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">questions about the role Karl Rove played in this prosecution,” the source said.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If Horton was telling the truth, then:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">• He had at least two secret sources within the GOP organization of a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">small rural north Alabama county, which is pretty amazing for a New </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">York liberal.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> • Fuller told Karl Rove and Bob Riley ahead of time that he planned to sentence Siegelman straight to prison.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> • Riley blabbed this stunning news to the spy-infested Cullman County Republican leadership.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Either all of the above are true or, Jill Simpson-like, Horton made the whole thing up.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> That </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was Version One of Riley’s trip to Washington.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Version Two appeared in the column written (for Harper's) seven months later and published </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in the <i>Independent</i>. This time, no mention was made of the emergency summons </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">from Rove to prepare for the feared Siegelman sentencing fall-out. Instead, Riley’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">trip was used in service of Horton’s quid pro quo assertion that Fuller ordered </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman straight to prison in return for the decision by the United States Air </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Force to award the big contract to Doss Aviation. Wrote Horton:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Now let’s recall that the day after sentencing of Siegelman, Governor Bob Riley </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">suddenly canceled his plans to speak to fellow Republicans in Cullman County, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">rushed off to Washington.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“(Riley) said he was meeting with the Air Force in order to promote the interests </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of some Alabama companies seeking contracts. True enough. And of the Alabama </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">companies then pushing aggressively for an extremely lucrative multimillion dollar Air </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Force contract was named Doss Aviation.”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> During the weeks I worked on the story I sent several e-mails to Horton and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his editors at Harper’s. In one I noted the two separate purposes for the trip as </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reported by Horton; and asked “what evidence does Horton proffer to support </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his allegation that Riley, while in Washington or at any time in his life, lobbied </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for Doss?”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">As with most conspiracy theories, there was one kernel of truth. Riley had </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">indeed gone to Washington and he did meet with Air Force officials. His trip – </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and its purpose – was reported at the time in the Alabama press.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Then, and still, Alabama was engaged in a nationally-publicized battle over one </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of the largest Air Force contracts ever, worth up to $35 billion. A partnership of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Northrop Grumman and France-based EADS was competing against Boeing and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">would, if it won the contract, build the giant mid-air refueling planes in Mobile.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Doss Aviation, again, is in Colorado. It was Horton’s story that Riley canceled </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the Cullman County function to race to Washington to lobby for Doss Aviation; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and that Alabama’s governor did so to reward Fuller for nailing Siegelman. No </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">mention was made of Riley’s real purpose – to urge Air Force decision-makers to</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pick the Northrop Grumman-EADS team </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I used a portion of one of my e-mails to Horton and his editors in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Independent</i>, and do so again here:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Now, I realize that according to Harper’s, Bob Riley is the devil incarnate and a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pathological liar. Nevertheless, I felt it would be worthwhile to say nothing of fair to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">contact the governor’s press office to seek clarifi cation on this matter.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Of the ‘sources in the Cullman County GOP’ (who told Horton that Riley told </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">them he was summoned by Rove to Washington), Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson said, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Whoever said that, if anyone indeed did, totally made it up.”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Riley did not meet with Karl Rove to discuss anything, much less damage control,” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Emerson said. He also provided me with Riley’s schedule on that trip which I will be </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">glad to forward it to you should you request it.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Emerson also said the following: “Governor Riley said that until Doss Aviation </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was mentioned in connection with the Siegelman trial, he had never even heard of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Doss Aviation.”</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Neither Harper’s nor Horton responded when asked to explain either one of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the writer’s two different explanations for Riley’s Washington trip.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In the column run by the <i>Independent</i>, Horton wrote:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> "</i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">And shortly after that sentencing (of Siegelman) came down and Governor </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Riley made his push for fellow Alabamians seeking Air Force contracts, the Bush </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Administration took an important decision. On October 4, this story appeared on the</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>HT Media wire:</i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas, Oct. 4 — The U.S. Air Force has </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">awarded an $18.1 million contract to Doss Aviation Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo., for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">flight screening for USAF pilot candidates."</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In fact, the contract – the result of a highly competitive bidding process </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that lasted three years -- was awarded almost two years before. It was simply </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">finalized in October 2007. Horton knew this.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He’d written about the pilot </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">training contract in a column published two months before that press release </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in an August 2007 attack piece called, “The Pork Barrel World of Mark Fuller.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In that column he quoted from Scrushy’s recusal motion, the one for which </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Jill Simpson provided research. That motion, and Horton’s column, gave the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">amount of the contract and when it was awarded – in February 2006, or 20 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">months before Fuller sentenced Siegelman.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton knowingly misrepresented Bob Riley’s trip to Washington. He then </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">misrepresented the timing of the award of the contract to Doss. Then he connected </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the two lies to make his ferociously declared quid pro quo accusation against </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Mark Fuller, Bob Riley, Karl Rove, Air Force contracting officials and everyone</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">else who by necessity would have to be in on such a deal. All were smeared in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">service of burnishing the Siegelman as victim storyline.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When I called the president of Doss Aviation, he told me that “60 Minutes” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">had also called. One can only wonder where the CBS news-hounds got the hot </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Doss tip. I like to think they wasted a lot of time chasing down that and other </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">sham leads sold them by Horton and Team Siegelman.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">For the first time ever I called Mark Fuller. He was polite and acknowledged </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that he’d read the articles about him by Horton, but said he couldn’t discuss them </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">or anything related to the case. However, he suggested I contact his former law </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">partner, Joe Cassady, which I did.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Cassady said he’d practiced law with Fuller’s father for more than 30 years.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When Mark Fuller graduated from law school he joined their small Enterprise </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">firm. Fullers’ father had represented Doss for years and when Mark Fuller joined </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the firm, Doss became a client of his as well.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">He explained that some time ago Doss split into two companies. One, based </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in Dothan, makes fire-retardant clothing for emergency personnel. The other, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Doss Aviation, provides pilot training, fueling and other aviation-related services.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Their only connection is some common ownership.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In 1989, Doss’s owners decided to sell. Mark Fuller encouraged Cassady and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">others to join him in buying a substantial share of the company. They did so, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the investment turned out well. Upon being appointed to the federal bench Fuller </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">resigned from Doss’s board. He sold shares to decrease his ownership, and ceased</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">having anything to do with its operations, Cassady and others said.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">As required of federal judges, Fuller has publicly disclosed his outside income, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">including hundreds of thousands of dollars a year from the Doss companies. His </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">position as a shareholder was no secret during his confi rmation process before </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the U.S. Senate. Neither Democrats nor Republicans made an issue of his part ownership </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in this small, uncontroversial company.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Until federal judges are prohibited from having investments and receiving </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">outside income -- be it from real estate, private companies, mutual funds or what </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">have you – there is nothing remotely unethical about Fuller retaining shares in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Doss. Nor, for that matter, did it present any conflict that would have required</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">him to remove himself from the Siegelman trial.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">While I was working on the story, Harper’s – not its web-site, but the magazine </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">-- published an article by Horton called, “Vote Machine: How Republicans hacked </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the Justice Department.” It was promoted on the magazine’s cover, and on the flap </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that Harper’s has historically used to tout the major pieces within.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I scanned it until I came across Horton’s presentation of the Siegelman case. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It was immediately apparent that he and Harper’s didn't limit their fact-retardant </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ways to the web-site.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In one four-sentence stretch, Horton listed what he called “several problems” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">with the prosecution’s case. First, he told readers that Richard Scrushy had backed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob Riley, not Siegelman, in the 1998 election. Problem: Bob Riley wasn’t a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">candidate for governor in 1998. Fob James was Siegelman’s Republican opponent.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Two sentences later, Horton wrote: “And finally, according to his own </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">uncontradicted testimony, Scrushy didn’t even want the appointment.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In an e-mail I informed Horton and his editors that Richard Scrushy didn’t </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">testify at trial, so he “didn’t give uncontradicted testimony about anything.” I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">also told them that there was testimony that it was very important to Scrushy for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">HealthSouth to have representation on the CON board.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">That’s just a sampling of the errors. There were plenty of others, and that’s just </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on the Siegelman portion of the piece.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Blogs are usually one-person operations, and as such, are notoriously error-laden.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">However, I’d supposed that Horton’s work for Harper’s – whether called </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a blog or on-line column -- would have higher standards, or in any event, some </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">standards. This seems a fair assumption, especially if, as we are told, that the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Internet is the future. Will once-heralded publications like Harper’s routinely</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">publish error-laden columns and as a defense, say, “It’s just the Internet?”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I addressed the issue in one of my e-mails to Horton and his editors:</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I can say that my story, while not yet complete, will address Horton’s (and by </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">extension, Harper’s) almost complete failure to identify sources cited for making some </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">very amazing statements.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Prior to becoming familiar with Mr. Horton’s work, I would have assumed that a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">magazine of Harper’s reputation and historical significance would not allow anyone, be </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">it in the magazine or under its masthead on a web-page, to publish serious allegations </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that are neither sourced nor corroborated by public record. Failing to adequately source </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">does have the benefit of making it difficult to refute statements made by people who, I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">suspect in some cases, don’t even exist…</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I would like to be able to provide readers the answer to a few general questions, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">including:</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Does Harper’s have different standards for fact-checking and editing for stories in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">its magazine that it does for stories and under its masthead on the Internet page?</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If so, why?</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Does Harper’s even edit Horton’s copy?</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton responded with a short e-mail saying that there were different </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">standards for on-line columns than the magazine. Other major magazines operated </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in similar fashion, he said.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">One can only hope that these other magazines keep a tighter rein on their </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Scott Hortons.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Well before I turned in the first piece, Bob realized that I was going to be critical </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of Horton. He suggested that I not write about Horton, whose columns, Bob said, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">were, after all, just “speculation mixed with fact.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I responded that it was not possible </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to address Horton’s accusations against Fuller without writing about Horton.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I sent the first installment, waited for questions from him, received none. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When it came out, I saw that Bob had added a most unusual editor’s note. He </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">wrote that his own research had “corroborated” much of Horton’s reporting. I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">held my tongue. I still had the second installment to sneak in there. And all in all,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I couldn’t complain. He’d given me tons of space and hadn’t changed a word – in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">this way, my dream editor.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Thanks </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to the Internet the first installment won some notoriety in the loony left </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">blogosphere. On her, “Raw Story” blog, the deliciously melodramatic Larisa </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Alexandrovna breathlessly reported an advance warning that she and Horton were </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to be “swift-boated” by the “corrupt politicians of Alabama and their paid shills</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in the Alabama press.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Scott Horton, it seems, will be the first victim. I just got word from folks </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">in Alabama that the article on him just went out in the print version of the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>Montgomery Independent</i> and authored by Eddie Curran (who it is suggested has </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">an interesting relationship with Jeff Sessions).”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I hesitate to even speculate as to what she meant by, “an interesting </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">relationship with Jeff Sessions,” other than to deny it to my last breath and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">demand strict proof thereof.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton, said this hilarious woman, “will need your backing.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“I can only assume I am next in line,” she wrote wishfully.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">If you’re among those who believe everything written in a “congressional </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">report,” consider this: One of Alexandrovna’s “Raw Story” blog posts was footnoted </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">as evidence in the Judiciary Committee’s April 2008 selective prosecution report.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> That's </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a true fact.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I shot Bob the second installment the following Tuesday morning, and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">waited. Nervously. And there’s nothing unusual in that. It’s part of being a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reporter, especially for long, complicated pieces. You file a story, and wait. I’ve </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">been through it a million times. But this time it was different. Bob had caught hell</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">from certain circles for publishing part one. Part two ended with something that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I almost didn’t include for fear that Bob would kill the whole thing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Shortly after embarking on the Horton project I began, like others in Alabama, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to wonder what the deal was with this New York writer for Harper’s and Don </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman. There was a rumor, widely circulated but unconfirmed, that Horton </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was related to a Birmingham lawyer, William Horton, who had two connections</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to the Siegelman case.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">William Horton was the former long-time general counsel at HealthSouth. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">He’d been the rare HealthSouth official to serve as a defense witness in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">accounting fraud trial in Birmingham. Upon leaving HealthSouth, William </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton went to work for the Haskell Slaughter firm which, through Tommy </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Gallion, had assumed some murky role in the representation of Jill Simpson.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">No one, myself included, seemed able to confirm a relationship between the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">two Hortons. I finally took the direct approach, as described here. I gave this final </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">part the subhead, “A Horton conflct?”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">First I noted the above connections, and then:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Scott Horton didn’t reply (to my questions) so I e-mailed William Horton to ask if </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">he was related to Scott Horton. He replied that Scott is his second cousin.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“At the risk of telling you more than you want to know, we are not in close or </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">frequent contact (Christmas cards are about it), and indeed, I wasn’t aware of his </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">activity for Harper’s until this past fall and had assumed he was still practicing law.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Shows you what I know, I guess,” he wrote.</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I take William Horton at his word. But I note the relation, as I did in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">following portion of an e-mail to Horton and his editors, for this reason: “I wonder </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">how Scott Horton would treat such a coincidence were it to be found in relation to the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">prosecution of Don Siegelman?”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I imagined Bob apoplectic. Here I was, not just exposing Saint Scott for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the fraud he was, but noting, even if only in passing, that Horton’s cousin was a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">partner of (Martin's) much beloved Tommy Gallion.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">This was an especially long piece. Did Bob have questions? Could he shoot </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">me the story so I could give it a final proof, with any changes? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I e-mailed, called, left messages. Nothing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Late Wednesday, which for the <i>Independent </i>was past the last minute, Bob sent </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">an e-mail.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Eddie, why do I get this feeling in my gut that I’m being used?” he asked.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">He informed me that the piece was so critical of Horton that he’d sent it to him </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for a rebuttal.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I had, as Bob knew, gone overboard in seeking comment from Horton and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Harper’s. Horton had every opportunity to respond and for the most part elected not </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to. I asked why he was giving Horton this opportunity when he’d never done so </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for “Horton’s victims -- people attacked like vermin.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bob said he’d send me the story prior to publication. He did not. When I saw </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">it in print, I knew why. He’d inserted Horton’s quotes within the story, and in all </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">caps. Bob also stuck in small editor’s notes throughout. As a result, readers went </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">back and forth from three different writers: Me, Bob and Horton. It was bizarre.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton’s responses were sarcastic as ever but absent his signature arrogance </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and flair. After the part reporting his relationship with William Horton, readers </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">saw this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“I REALLY HAVE TO THANK EDDIE FOR TRACKING DOWN MY </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">LONG LOST SECOND COUSIN, WHO I HAVEN’T SEEN OR SPOKEN </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">WITH IN A DECADE OR MORE … BUT SINCE EDDIE HAS WORKED </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">OUT MY ENTIRE GENEOLOGICAL CHART, I’D LOVE TO KNOW ALL </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">THE OTHER RELATIVES I HAVE IN ALABAMA I LOST TRACK OF. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">MAYBE WE CAN HAVE A BBQ.”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Elsewhere he explained that web-logs (blogs) such as his were “spontaneous </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and usually unedited.” </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Particularly revealing were his comments regarding those prized Cullman </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">County GOP sources. He touted himself as being the, “FIRST SOURCE </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ANYWHERE TO NOTE THAT RILEY HAD SUDDENLY CANCELLED </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">HIS LONG-SCHEDULED SPEECH TO CULLMAN REPUBLICANS IN </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ORDER TO TRAVEL TO WASHINGTON.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Not just the first to report it, but the last. Who cared? Had the sorry Alabama </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">media fallen down again in failing to report that a chat by the governor to a </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">county GOP organization was cancelled?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton wrote that he came upon the scoop while interviewing a source </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">who “TOLD ME THE EVENT HAD BEEN CANCELLED BECAUSE </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">SOMETHING URGENT HAD COME UP THAT RILEY WAS GOING TO </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">WASHINGTON.”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i> </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>“THE UN-NAMED SOURCE QUOTED WAS AN UNHAPPY</i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ORGANIZER WHO RELAYED THE INFORMATION TO ME. FRANKLY </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">I NEVER THOUGHT THIS WAS MUCH MORE THAN SPECULATION.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">WHO WOULD THINK HE WOULD HAVE ACTUAL INSIDE</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">KNOWLEDGE? AT BEST THIS WAS SCUTTLEBUT. BUT IT SURE DOES </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">SEEM TO HAVE EDDIE RILED UP.”</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">When he wrote the columns, Horton didn’t represent the information from </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his multiple GOP sources in Cullman County as “speculation” or “scuttlebutt.” </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Assuming he was telling the truth this time – and my money says he didn’t have </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">one much less two Cullman County sources – Horton was admitting to using</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">speculative scuttlebutt from an “unhappy organizer” to accuse a federal judge, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Alabama’s governor and so many others of engaging in this convoluted criminal </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">conspiracy.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton cloaked his twisted fantasies in journalism and sullied good people.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Worse, Harper’s let him. When I showed the magazine’s brain trust what he’d done </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">– not just in his “blogs” but in the magazine – they neither stopped him nor made </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">any effort to correct the record.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Then the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee let Horton either ghostwrite </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">or dictate the focus of their “selective prosecution” report, and for evidence, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">used 15 columns of his spontaneously written scuttlebutt.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Horton has since authored two cover stories for the magazine, and now </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">holds the title, Contributing Editor. Bob Martin continues to republish Horton’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">columns in the Independent.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> (End of chapter)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-49398150040723435232011-05-21T15:34:00.002-05:002011-05-21T15:38:05.210-05:00Watch your back, Eddie<div class="style39" style="color: red; text-align: left;"><b> </b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Note: The following is from, "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 5px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 5px; color: black;"><span class="style476" style="color: red;">Notes on Journalism/Detritus," in the new bonus chapters I've recently published on my web-site. The "G.H. stories" mentioned in the first sentence is a reference to stories on G.H. (for, Goat Hill) Construction.</span></span></span></div><div class="style39" style="color: red; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 5px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 5px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Here is a link to my web-site, which contains a description of and link to the bonus chapters:</span></span></div><div class="style39" style="color: red; font-weight: bold; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black; font-size: large; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/home.html">http://www.eddiecurran.com/home.html</a></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> After the G.H. stories (and even still), I frequently received melodramatic warnings from friends and well-wishers urging me to “watch my back,” stay out of dark alleys, that kind of thing.</span></span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I appreciated the sentiment, but not for one second was I worried for my safety, nor did I have cause to be. Not in my most paranoid moment did I believe that Siegelman or anyone associated with him would physically harm me or engage someone to do so.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Lie about me and spread rumors? No question.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Lay a finger on me? No.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Journalists in America, even those reporting on white supremacists, drug gangs and the mafia, face almost zero risk of death or injury from reprisal.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Carpal tunnel syndrome? Stress-related heart diseases? Yes and often.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> A bullet to the head, a car exploding with the turn of the key, or a plain old ass beating – in movies, yes, in real life, no.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> This isn’t to say that I minded people crediting me with actual physical courage. Feel free to stick a cape on me. I knew, though, that the only part of me at risk was my reputation. Sticks and stones, no, words, yes.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> ( I will note that Eddie Smith, a subject of a series of stories I wrote, placed me on a list of those he wished to have killed and which he gave to a fellow jail inmate. I seriously doubt, though, that Smith could have pulled off any of the "hits," which included a federal judge and prosecutor. In fact, he couldn't, was caught, and prosecuted.)</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> You can count on one hand the American journalists killed on American soil and for reasons directly attributable to their reporting.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> By far the best known case is that of Don Bolles, a reporter with the<em>Arizona Republic</em> at the time of his death, in 1976. As described on the web-site of the Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE), Bolles "was called to a meeting in a downtown Phoenix hotel by a source promising him information about land fraud involving organized crime."</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "The source didn't show up. Bolles left the hotel, got into his car parked outside and turned the key. A powerful bomb ripped through the car, leaving Bolles mortally injured."</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Bolles died ten days later, despite attempts to save him that including amputating both his legs and an arm.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div align="left" class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><img height="213" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/images/DonBolles.jpg" width="163" /> <span class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><img height="211" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/images/ChauncyBailey.jpg" width="151" /></span></span></span></div><div align="left" class="style24" style="color: red; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <strong>Don Bolles Chauncey Bailey</strong></span></div><div class="style26" style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It would be more than 30 years before another reporter was killed in this country because of his or her work. In August 2007, Chauncey Bailey, a black journalist who primarily reported on African-American issues, was shot to death in Oakland. Chauncey, the editor of the <em>Oakland Post</em>, had written critically about activities of a group of radical Muslims who operated, "Your Black Muslim Bakery."</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> His shooter had connections to the group.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In the early 1970s, a <em>Mobile Press-Register</em> reporter, Arch McKay, was murdered in his car, across the street from the paper. Though the so-called "Dixie Mafia" has often been accused of the murder, the truth is, no one knows who killed McKay; and there's little evidence he was working on anything that would have prompted someone to kill him.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Obviously, many American journalists -- reporters and photographers -- have been killed, injured, and, in one recent case, even raped, while covering wars.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> To my mind, the most courageous journalists are those who live in countries -- Mexico, Columbia, Algeria, Russia, to name but a few -- and who report on government corruption, drug dealers and other criminal organizations. They put not just themselves but their families in peril. For them, there really is no escape. They can't ship out and return to a home country.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In war, death and injury seems to come by chance. I believe that, were I to cover a war, I would follow other reporters, soldiers, etc., to dangerous areas. If nothing else, my reporting instincts would draw me to the action. Then again, maybe not, or if so, perhaps not for a second time. But having never been there, it's impossible to know.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I cannot say the same about living in a country like Columbia and writing hard-hitting stories identifying drug kingpins and politicians, police and military leaders in their service. I think I'd opt for covering sports, or writing movie reviews.</span></div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Those people -- reporters who write the truth in such countries -- have every ounce of my respect.</span></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-41089916300568688682011-05-15T15:13:00.005-05:002011-05-20T01:19:39.170-05:00Siegelman doing best to give Rove the last laugh<div align="center" style="line-height: 19px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"> </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <span style="color: red;">"This was a partisan witch-hunt, pure and simple, cooked up by Karl Rove and the Republican Party to try to put me away for good because they disagree with my politics. They couldn't beat me fair and square, so they targeted me with this politically-motivated, unfounded prosecution.</span></span></i></b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i><b> They abused our system of justice and they abused the public trust. And I'll never stop fighting until the truth wins out. Will you stand with me?<o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red;"> </span><a href="http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/a09499b576de134c94b7ebb3642aed48?pa=3624150767" target="_blank"><span style="color: red; text-decoration: none;">Please contribute $25 or more to my legal defense fund now -- in the wake of Tuesday's appeals court ruling -- and help me fight to overturn my Karl Rove-inspired political prosecution!</span></a></b><span style="color: red;"><b> "</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i> </i></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i> -- From the latest of Siegelman's countless mass e-mails seeking donations to his legal fund. This one, called, "Now What," was sent out last week, after the 11th Circuit ruling.</i><i style="font-weight: bold;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333;"><b> </b> </span> When those convicted of crimes discover their fates at sentencing, among the criteria considered by judges is whether the defendant has shown remorse and accepted responsibility for his acts.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Tell Steve Nodine about it. Last month, <span class="apple-style-span">U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade sentenced the former Mobile County Commissioner to 15 months in prison and ordered him straight to jail. Many felt the charges -- violations of a federal law that prohibits unlawful drug users of being in possession of firearms -- would never have been brought had Nodine not been involved, in some shape or form, with the death of his mistress, Angel Downs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> At sentencing, Granade agreed with federal prosecutors that Nodine had by his words and actions failed to accept responsibility for his crime. That, as much as anything, is why she brought the hammer down on, "The Hammer."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Compared to Siegelman, Nodine has displayed great contrition. Weepy with regret, he is, compared to Alabama's former governor. Nodine, for example, has never claimed that Alabama's governor, the senior advisor to president of the United States and an army of others preyed on him for purely political reasons.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Last Wednesday, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling that would seem to guarantee Siegelman's return to prison. (Siegelman still has two appellate avenues, but neither seems likely to provide relief. For more about his legal situation, see the blog entry below.)</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The real question now seems: For how long will Siegelman be sentenced?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Don Siegelman is not only a lawyer, he is the former top prosecutor, as in attorney general, of the state of Alabama. He also is surrounded by highly qualified attorneys. He knows, they know, about the value of accepting responsibility at sentencing.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Or so we must assume. You just would not know it by the way Siegelman's been going around these past four years, telling any fool who will listen that Karl Rove did him in. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> How Rove's name even became inserted into this drama is the damndest story in all this mess. I don't know who deserves more scorn -- mythic Republican lawyer Jill Simpson, or the doofuses at the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Tim</i>es and Time magazine who first gave her nutty story credence. But credence was indeed bestowed.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Siegelman has been blasting Rove ever since, in too many radio, television, newspaper and internet media interviews to possibly keep count of. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> When (and if) Siegelman is re-sentenced (he was sentenced before, but that too is another story), it can be assumed that prosecutors will enter court prepared to make a case that Siegelman hasn't accepted responsibility for his actions. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> But Siegelman has taken "not accepting responsibility" to a new level. He has, after all, been appealing his case. Under those circumstances it's not entirely unreasonable for him to deny having broken the law. Siegelman's problem is that he's done far more than deny the charges and disclaim responsibility for his actions.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> He's been the central player in promoting the tall tale that Karl Rove, Bob Riley and too many others to name conspired to have him prosecuted. The supposed motive -- or in any event, one of them -- is that Riley and his fellow Republicans were quaking at the prospect of facing the scandal-plagued, defeated one-term-governor in the 2006 governor's race.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Rove, of course, entered the story after Simpson's May 2007 affidavit. I'm not aware of any sane person with even a passing knowledge of the facts who actually believes Simpson's affidavit, or that Rove had anything to do with the Siegelman case. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Siegelman recognizes that without Rove, there is no national angle, thus no reason for anyone outside of Alabama to have any more than a passing interest in his case. Thus, he pounds ceaselessly on his Rove drum.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It is worth noting that Siegelman's lawyers have never raised the claims of a Karl Rove-inspired political conspiracy in any of their many voluminous appeals briefs.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> And that brings us to Siegelman's sentencing. One has to believe that prosecutors will enter court that day loaded with examples of Siegelman's Rove-bashing and blaming. The sentencing judge, presumably, Mark Fuller, who presided over the trial, will be asked by prosecutors to consider that evidence.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> What, one wonders, will Siegelman and his lawyers do then?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Try to make a case that Rove did direct the Justice Department to prosecute Siegelman when their lone evidence of such are the ever-changing stories told by ... Jill Simpson?</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Siegelman's hyperactive blaming of Rove is powerful evidence to support the prosecution's anticipated argument that Siegelman doesn't deserve a break from the court because of his failure to accept responsibility for his crimes.</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In this way, Karl Rove -- assuming he cares less -- may get the last laugh. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="color: #333333; text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Below is a collection of Siegelman comments, many included in my book, and all previously posted on this blog, that I call, "Rappin' on Rove." First, here's a portion of one of Siegelman's e-mails to supporters, and sent May 3. In it, he raises the specter of ... <b>Murder</b>.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #0d0c0c; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: large; line-height: 18px;"><b>As you know, political prosecution is a clean and sophisticated means of modern day assasination. This form of assasination murders real people, real lives and real careers as effectively as a firing squad. But the most profound victim is democracy; and that means that "we the people" are the victim. Please consider contributing to my <a href="http://go.madmimi.com/redirects/71fc60c19faf439e31e1bd5fac29dcb2?pa=3540782839" style="color: #597bb7; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Legal Defense Fund!</a> Together we will fight this attack on our American Democracy.</b></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
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<div style="color: #333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>“Karl Rove had his hand on the gun that shot me.”</strong></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><strong></strong></span><span style="color: red;"><strong>-- Don Siegelman</strong></span></span></div></div><div align="center" style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
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<strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">RAPPIN' ON ROVE</span></strong></div><div align="left" style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b> </b> From early 2002 through June 2007, Don Siegelman relentlessly blamed Republican leaders including Alabama Gov. Bob Riley for the criminal investigation into him and his administration. Not once during that period did Siegelman so much as mention the name Karl Rove.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> That changed after Rainsville lawyer Jill Simpson claimed in an affidavit that she participated in a conference call during which it was revealed that Rove in some manner directed the U.S. Justice Department to prosecute Siegelman for political reasons.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> My position, and certainly that of, "The Governor of Goat Hill," is that Simpson's story has no more basis in fact than "Alice's Wonderland," and what's more, that Siegelman knows it.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> However, reality hasn't stopped Siegelman from directing his vitriol and imagination at former President George W. Bush's controversial long-time advisor.</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "Rappin' on Rove" -- also a name of a chapter in the book -- is a sampling of the former Alabama governor's comments to the media about Rove made since Simpson's affidavit. Most are in the book.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <strong><span style="color: red;"> The first group of quotes reflect a tendency towards forensics imagery. One might even call this part of the collection, "CSI Siegelman."</span></strong></span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Here goes:</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;">“Karl Rove’s fingerprints are all over this case. And you know, if you ask me, do we have the knife with his fingerprints on it? No, but we’ve got the glove and the glove fits.” </span>-- To <span style="color: black;">MSNBC's Dan Abrams, d</span>uring the segment of his show called, "Bush League Justice."</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “We don’t have the knife with Karl Rove’s fingerprints all over it, but we’ve got the glove, and the glove fits.”</span>-- T<span style="color: black;">o the Washington Post.</span></span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “(Rove was) at the scene of the crime, plotting for my political destruction.</span>”-- To the Associated Press.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “There’s no question that Karl Rove’s fingerprints are all over this case, from the inception.”</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">-- To the New York Times.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"> “His fingerprints are smeared all over the case.”</span> -- Also to the New York Times.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “All of the roads lead to Rove. All of the dots, and when you connect the dots, they lead to Karl Rove. This case could be the MapQuest that sets Congress on a journey that will take them to Karl Rove if they will start to look at it.”</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">-- to MSNBC's Abrams.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> "(I) suspected from the circumstantial evidence that Karl Rove was deeply involved in my prosecution. I mean, it was just so obvious that it was easy for me to put two and two together and connect those dots.</span>”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">-- To “Ring of Fire” radio host Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after Kennedy asked Siegelman why he'd never mentioned Rove's role until after Jill Simpson's affidavit.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In this second section, Siegelman raps Rove for refusing to testify about his role (or non-role) in the Siegelman prosecution. Rove ultimately did testify, and denied having anything to do with the case. There is some hypocrisy relevance here because Siegelman backed out of a pledge to testify before Congress on the Rove situation and elected not to testify at his criminal trial. He has never testified about the charges against him or about anything else related to his case.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;">“What we need is Karl Rove to get himself over to the Judiciary Committee and put his hand on a Bible and take an oath and give testimony. And he can either tell the truth or take the Fifth. Either one will satisfy me.”</span> -- To Scott Pelley, on “60 Minutes.”</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “Karl Rove has learned how to talk to talk. He hasn`t learned how to walk the walk. You know, he talks about testifying. And then, when it comes time to walk the walk, you know, he skates. And I think congress needs to, you know, call him on the carpet, get him before the committee. And again, he can either lie under oath or take the fifth. Either one will be fine. But they have to - I believe and of course I respect the judgment of the committee and John Conyers. But in order to seek the truth, we`ve got to have Karl Rove before that committee.”</span> -- to Abrams.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> "Well, then, let's don't waist waste any time. I think the House and Senate Judiciary Committee should subpoena Karl Rove and bring him before those committees. Let him put his hand on the Bible and either tell the truth or lie under oath .... Any of those scenarios will be fine with me."</span> -- To Abrams.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “Karl Rove and his right-wing political cronies targeted me through a malicious, unfounded, politically motivated prosecution. And now, Karl Rove refuses to testify before Congress about his role in this whole nefarious scheme."</span>-- In one of his many e-mail letters to supporters.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <strong> This section reflects another of Siegelman's themes: That his efforts to get his conviction overturned is but a battle in a larger war to return justice to America, or something like that.</strong></span><br />
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</span></strong></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;">“Together, we can fight to get the full truth from Karl Rove and restore integrity to our system of justice. America deserves nothing less."</span> -- To MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who replaced Abrams.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “Karl Rove is like a double-headed rattlesnake. You’re going to have to back him into a corner before you get anything out of him, and, just like an infected wound, the wound that has been created in this country by the subversion of our Constitutional rights, the abuse of power, the use of the Department of Justice as a political weapon, this wound also has to be cleaned before the American people can feel safe about their democracy again.”-</span>- Also to Maddow.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “The only reason that my case is different, that I’ve gotten any attention, is because of a lifelong Republican named Dana Jill Simpson, who couldn’t sleep at night and came forward to place Rove at the scene of the crime. When I got out of prison, I happened to be at a public meeting that she was also at. I just shook her hand and thanked her. I told her that she was an American hero.”</span>-- To GQ magazine.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <em><strong> <span style="color: red;">"Our democracy has been threatened and it is now up to us to secure its future.</span></strong></em><span style="color: red;"> We, the people, must continue to struggle, to fight, to push for the truth in order to restore justice and preserve our democracy. Congress must act. The Judiciary Committees and Oversight Committees must investigate.Please email, write, and call the new Congress asking them to investigate until we know the truth of Karl Rove's involvement in my prosecution and the extent of his role in the firing of US Attorneys because they would not prosecute political cases....<em>I need your help. Our country's. Our country's future depends on it."</em></span><em> -- From letter on portion of Siegelman's web-site called "Contempt for Rove."</em></span><br />
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</span></em></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> "(I) am encouraged by the Congressional inquiry and upcoming investigation which should prove the political involvement and establish this Alabama case as the ‘Watergate of 2008.’”</span> -- In letter to the Associated Press.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “Saying that Karl Rove is not involved in my prosecution is like saying George Bush is not involved in the war in Iraq.”</span>-- to Abrams.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> "You know, if God had a purpose for me going through this, I think part of it is to try to fix some of those things that are wrong with our system and ensure that these kind of things don't happen to people in the future. And I want to get back to one thing. We have got to seek out the truth. And I want to, again, commend you and Bush League Justice for pushing this issue forward. This case and these circumstances will make Watergate look like child`s play if Congress will dig into these things."</span>-- to Abrams, and another of the many times the former Alabama governor has compared his prosecution to the removal of an American president.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> "I had endorsed Al Gore in 2000 -- the first governor to do so -- and it wasn't long after that that they started the investigation. I had made plans after my 2002 re-election -- which I ultimately lost because of the bad press generated by these investigations -- to hit the primary states. I had been secretary of state for eight years, attorney general for four years, lieutenant governor for four years, and governor for four years -- I had all these friends around the country -- so I thought I could gin up a campaign not for me but against George W. Bush, against his war, against his economic policies, and against his education policies…."</span>-- Giving new motives for Rove to go after him. Among them: That Rove was afraid the scandal-plagued former Alabama governor would run for president and defeat Bush. Siegelman appears to assume, and to just expect others to do the same, that all he had to do was drop his name in the hat to win the Democratic nomination for president. <strong>This quote is from, "Karl Rove Destroyed My Life," a story from Tina Brown's on-line magazine, "The Daily Beast."</strong></span><br />
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</span></strong></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> "(I was) the only viable Democrat in the state of Alabama" (and was thinking about) entering national politics in 2003, going into the 2004 elections."</span> -- The same theme, in an interview with CNN's John Sanchez.</span><br />
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</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red;"> “Since I wrote you last week, we have seen an outpouring of support from our online community in my effort to raise the $30,000 I need to pay legal expenses for my appeal on December 9th. ... But, with less than one week left, I still need your help to reach that goal. Please donate what you can today – so I can have the resources I need to keep fighting back and to hold Karl Rove accountable!”</span> -- One of Siegelman's many e-mail letters to supporters in which he cites his battle against Karl Rove as a reason for them to donate to his legal defense fund.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><strong>A Rappin' Update: </strong>Last week (Nov. 12, 2010), Siegelman sent supporters an e-mail that began:</span></div><div align="left" style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><strong><span style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Dear Friend,</span></strong></div><div align="left" style="color: #333333; line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><strong>Karl Rove is a cross between Caligula and a Maniacal Machiavelli. </strong></span>....</span></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-88549374377148914932011-05-10T13:28:00.005-05:002011-05-10T15:19:18.644-05:00Bad day for Siegelman; partial win for Scrushy<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> </b>Am working on a blog/column about today's ruling by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on the appeal by Scrushy and Siegelman, and hope to have it done by tonight. For now, here's the short version:</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>The bottom line is that today was a very bad day for Siegelman and an awful day for Milton McGregor and Alabama's other"bingo" defendants. </b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> <b> Siegelman came into the day with five previously upheld felony charges, and he'll end the day with the same five charges. </b></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> </b> However, it brought some limited good news for Scrushy and, most importantly, was a great day for people of both political parties who believe that bribery statutes should apply to campaign contributions.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> To put it another way: It was a bad day for people who think public officials should be able to freely and for all practical purposes openly trade public acts for campaign money. It was a great day for people -- not just in Alabama, but throughout the country -- who want there to be at least some restrictions in the wild world of political giving.</b></span><br />
<span style="border-bottom-color: windowtext; border-bottom-style: none; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: windowtext; border-left-style: none; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: windowtext; border-right-style: none; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-color: windowtext; border-top-style: none; border-top-width: 1pt; padding-bottom: 0in; padding-left: 0in; padding-right: 0in; padding-top: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> In March 2009, when the 11th Circuit first considered the appeal, it tossed two of what was then seven counts against Siegelman and upheld all the six counts against Scrushy. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> Today's ruling comes ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the 11th Circuit to reconsider its March 2009 ruling (for the reasons explained in a column below.) With today's ruling, the 11th Circuit eliminated two of the six charges against Scrushy. It briefly noted the two counts thrown out against Siegelman.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> Those were one and the same as the two counts the court tossed in 2009. There was no way the 11th Circuit was going to re-instate the two counts. That wasn't on the table. On Tuesday, the court </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">upheld the five counts it upheld back in 2009, and for the same reasons given then.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> I will argue in the blog I'm going to start on later that far more than the fates of Siegelman and Scrushy rested on this ruling. Had the court ruled otherwise, it would have essentially legalized quid pro quo arrangements/bribery where campaign contributions are involved.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> I may also address how the <i>NY Times</i> handles coverage of the ruling. The paper actually sent a reporter to the oral arguments before the 11th Circuit. It will be interesting to see if the <i>Times</i> A) uses a wire story or has one of its reporters write the story; and B) if its own story, if the reporter addresses in any detail the aspects of the Siegelman case that make it so different from the way it's been characterized in so many <i>Times</i> news stories, editorials, and op-eds.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> Here's that thing I wrote on the appeal last July, after the Supreme Court sent it back to the 11th Circuit for reconsideration.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>"What does the Supreme Court's ruling </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>ultimately</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b> mean for Siegelman and Richard Scrushy?"</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-line-height-alt: 9.55pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> It is reasonable to suppose that former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman sweated out the months of May and June, and not because of the heat.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> The U.S. Supreme Court, which has been sitting on his case since he appealed to it last August, had until July 5 — the final day of its 2010 term — to rule on that appeal.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> The country’s highest court had two basic choices: It could uphold Siegelman’s conviction and assure his sooner-than-later return to prison; or take one of several possible measures, each of which would prolong that return and possibly keep him free for good.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> On Tuesday, the Supreme Court chose one of the latter options. It didn’t agree to hear Siegelman’s appeal, which would have been his best-case scenario. Rather, the court issued a brief order directing the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its March 2009 decision upholding Siegelman’s conviction (for reasons shortly to be explained.)</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> Siegelman and his lawyers hailed it as a great victory. Considering the alternative — a fast-track back to prison — Siegelman had every right to be elated. But even he conceded that he’d won a battle, not the war.<br style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial;" /> So what, ultimately, does Tuesday’s ruling mean for Siegelman and his co-defendant, former HealthSouth Corp., chairman Richard Scrushy?</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> Pardon if this gets complicated. This is a complicated case with a complicated past and it’s not getting any simpler. I can’t claim to understand it all, but hopefully I can provide some clarity and explain why I believe — am in fact pretty certain — that last week’s decision merely delays the inevitable.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> In other words, that Siegelman will return to prison.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> First, a brief recap of some key events in the case.<br style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial;" /> In October 2005, a federal grand jury in Montgomery indicted Siegelman on 32 criminal charges, some of which involved Scrushy, who was also indicted. The following June, a jury found Siegelman guilty of seven of the charges — six of the Scrushy charges and an unrelated obstruction of justice charge. On that one, he was accused of using a series of sham check transactions to cover up a $9,200 payment to him from Lanny Young, the landfill developer, serial briber and secret owner of the fabulously corrupt company, G.H. “Goat Hill” Construction.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> In June 2007, federal judge Mark Fuller sentenced both Siegelman and Scrushy to about seven years. They were ordered directly to prison, in my opinion, because of Fuller’s anger at bogus attacks by the defendants and their attorneys on the jurors following the verdict.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> In March 2008, a 3-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ordered Siegelman freed based on its finding that he had a reasonable chance of success on appeal. Scrushy, though, had to remain at a federal prison in Texas. Months before sentencing, he had taken an unauthorized trip in Florida on his yacht, found to have lied about his whereabouts, and was deemed a flight risk. Thus, he was denied an appeal bond.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> A year later, in March 2009, another 3-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ruled on Siegelman’s (and Scrushy’s) appeal. That detailed 68-page order is, in my opinion, the obstacle that Siegelman cannot overcome. The 11th Circuit dismissed two of the Scrushy-related charges against Siegelman (rightly so, I believe), but delivered a strongly-worded, legally air-tight defense of the remaining five charges.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> As expected, Siegelman and Scrushy appealed to the Supreme Court, but the law of averages was not on their side. Each year the court receives about 7,000 appeals. Of those, it considers about 100.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> It was Siegelman’s great good fortune that during its 2010 session, the Supreme Court decided to tackle the constitutionality of criminal cases involving the “honest services” statute, which indeed is vague in many cases. Two of the remaining charges against Siegelman involved that law, and four of the six against Scrushy cite the statute.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> Two weeks ago, the court ruled on one of those honest services cases — an appeal by former Enron executive Jeffrey Skilling. The ruling promises to limit the ability of prosecutors to use the honest services law, especially in cases against corporate officials. However, the court found that prosecutors may continue to apply the “honest services” statute in cases involving bribery and kickbacks.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> And that’s the rub for Siegelman. The two “honest services” charges against him involve bribery, and again, the “honest services” statute isn’t part of the other three charges. And unlike Skilling, he’s a public official, legally, a different beast altogether than a corporate officer.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> The Siegelman jury, like the 11th Circuit, considered evidence regarding a host of bizarre transactions, the totality of which undermines the characterization by Siegelman and the likes of the New York Times that he was convicted for accepting a mere donation and then appointing Scrushy to a state board.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> One of the two $250,000 checks came from a near bankrupt Maryland healthcare company by way of the New York investment banking arm of the Swiss bank, UBS. Neither of the “donations” were reported to the secretary of state or IRS until more than two years later, after a series of stories in the Mobile Press-Register exposed the payments and led to their forced disclosure. Also, Siegelman was personally liable for a $700,000-plus loan the money allowed him to repay.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> (As I argue in my book, some of Siegelman’s worst acts — including the sale of his home through a straw man for twice its value and his acceptance of about $1.4 million in legal fees while governor — were worse than many of the crimes for which he was charged.)</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> After the “Skilling” ruling, even some web-sites known to be fervently pro-Siegelman expressed disappointment that it wouldn’t help their man because of the bribery exception to the Supreme Court’s whittling down of the honest services statute.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> Now, per last week’s order, the ball is back in the 11th Circuit’s court. It could act quickly — which for an appeals court, means a month or two — and issue a ruling stating that the “Skilling” limitations on honest services cases don’t apply to Siegelman’s case.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> Or, the 11th Circuit could play it cautious and order the parties — Siegelman, Scrushy, the federal prosecutors — to file briefs, perhaps even hold oral arguments, on the relevance of “Skilling” to Siegelman’s case. If that happens, Siegelman, regardless of the outcome, will probably be guaranteed a year or more of freedom.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> It doesn’t end there. Because the 11th Circuit tossed two of the charges against Siegelman, he must be resentenced once all of the above is resolved.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> In no small part because of Siegelman’s behavior — accusing jurors, prosecutors, the judge, even Karl Rove of all manner of imaginary hijinks — I think he’ll be lucky to get a year shaved off his seven-year sentence.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> If that scenario pans out then Siegelman — now 64 — will in the next six to 18 months return to prison for about five more years.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 115%;"> When it’s all said and done, Scrushy may be glad he took that yacht trip in Florida. Because of that unauthorized venture, he will have served his time, or much of it, and get out of prison in 2013.<br style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial;" /> Meanwhile, his co-defendant — Alabama’s 51st governor — will spend a considerable block of his golden years housed in a federal prison.<br style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; mso-special-character: line-break;" /> <br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /> </span>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-28921856626685060932011-05-10T02:30:00.000-05:002011-05-10T02:30:23.893-05:00Meet Buddy Hamner<div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b> I'm working on some chapters that weren't included in my book ("The Governor of Goat Hill") that I'm going to publish any day now on my web-site. This little project has expanded a bit on me, and for reasons to be explained when I get the extra chapters up, a long ago story about legendary Alabama political player Buddy Hamner came to mind. I located it, and was surprised by how many well-known folk appeared. Among them are some that seem to just keep making news. For example, Milton McGregor.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b> So, what the heck, here's an old story for this blog that's not really a blog. If you happen to be one of my three or four occasional visitors, and find this story interesting, if for nothing else than old time's sake, feel free to pass it around.</b></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Mobile Register <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">By Eddie Curran<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Staff Reporter<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">May 26, 1995<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>W.F. "Buddy" Buddy Hamner pleaded guilty to tax charges in 1982, and published reports have raised his name when revealing details of investigations into Alabama's prison telephone scandal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">But those drawbacks haven't stopped Hamner from developing a client list that includes some of the most powerful companies and political interests in Alabama, according to disclosure forms for 1991 to 1994. </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At 66, the former fire truck salesman apparently has developed into one of Montgomery's most sought-after political consultants, working at times with South Central Bell Telephone Co., a law firm representing Alabama Power Co., and others. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Buddy Hamner is someone who has been in Montgomery a long, long time,'' said Maury Smith, a partner in the Birmingham-based law firm of Balch & Bingham, which represents Alabama Power.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"He has close, close political ties to people like the former governor (Jim Folsom), and he's particularly close to the former attorney general (Jimmy Evans),'' Smith said.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"He's close to many members of the Senate for example, John Teague, a former member of the Senate. He just knows numerous people in administrative and legislative positions,'' Smith said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While he mainly has worked outside of public office, Hamner has served on the state Board of Corrections, having been appointed in 1977 by then-Gov. George Wallace. He left the Board of Corrections in 1979, when Gov. Fob James first took office. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Folsom appointed Hamner to the Alabama Aeronautics Commission, a position he no longer holds. That commission's former director protested, saying the appointment was illegal because state law prohibits naming a felon to public office.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Prior to the last election, Hamner was more than close with at least two public officials. James Hamner, one of the top administrators in Evans' attorney general's office, is his son. So, too, is Billy Hamner, an appointee on the Public Service Commission, the state board that monitors utilities, including prison telephone service providers. Billy Hamner later became an administrator in the state auditor's office.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Balch & Bingham, Alabama's second-largest law firm, at times employs consultants, Smith said. But he said he could not confirm or deny that his firm hired Hamner.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"We have clients in the banking industry, in insurance, in medical services, and in public utilities, like Alabama Power. The only shield I put up, or guard, is because I feel like I'm talking about my law firm's clients' business,'' Smith said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Balch & Bingham, like South Central Bell, VictoryLand dog track and others, appears on client lists of Hamner's found in the statements of economic interest that his wife, Kathleen, files every April with the Alabama Ethics Commission.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Hamner works as an administrator at Trenholm State Technical College, and, like most state employees, is required to file a statement of economic interest each year. Mrs. Hamner is bound by law to provide a complete list of her spouse's income sources.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mrs. Hamner said she doesn't fill out her husband's portion of her financial disclosures. ``He adds what he does on there for himself,'' she said.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Beside each company or law firm name, Hamner described his work as either consultant or employee, in most cases as consultant. Neither Hamner nor his attorney could be reached this week despite repeated calls to their offices.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The forms filed by Mrs. Hamner cover the years 1991 through 1994. The 1994 files were turned in this April. Any work in 1995 wouldn't appear.<br />
<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of the clients listed on Mrs. Hamner's report said he didn't work for them; or they didn't return repeated calls in which the nature of the inquiry was left with a secretary; or they declined to confirm that they'd hired him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Others hesitated before saying Hamner worked for them as a political consultant.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Who told you? Was it an attorney?'' asked Bill Todd, the corporate spokesman for South Central Bell.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Todd said he'd call back with an answer, which he did. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"Buddy Hamner is a consultant for South Central Bell. He is not a lobbyist. He provides advice and counsel on the political process,'' Todd said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Todd declined to elaborate on Hamner's role with the company, nor would he say how much Bell has paid Hamner in the four years he has worked for the phone company as a consultant.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A spokeswoman for Alabama racetrack owner Milton McGregor said last week that Hamner did not work for McGregor as a lobbyist. The spokeswoman would not address whether Hamner worked for McGregor as a consultant. McGregor did not return repeated calls Tuesday and Wednesday.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hamner, whose office is in the same building as McGregor's, is not a lobbyist. Lobbyists are required to register with the state Ethics Commission. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The companies and firms listed by Mrs. Hamner's husband on her forms and the years covered include: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- South Central Bell (1991-94). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- VictoryLand, (1991-94). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- Balch & Bingham, (1991-94). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- Waste-Away (now called Durjac II), a garbage disposal/landfill business recently purchased by landfill giant Chemical Waste Management (1993-94). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- Tom Coker and Associates, the high-powered lobbying firm that represents, among others, Alabama Power, the University of South Alabama and casino gambling interests (1994). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- Kaufman & Rothfeder, a Montgomery law firm (1994). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- National Telcoin, the prison phone company Hamner founded in 1989 with former state auditor Terry Ellis (1991). <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- Boyett Brothers, a Montgomery automobile towing company (1992). William T. Boyett, the owner of Boyett Brothers, joined Hamner as a partner in National Telcoin in 1991. The business later was sold to a Florida company.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of Hamner's clients would specify what they paid for his services. In each case, Hamner checked the highest-paying classification on the statements of economic interest, meaning he was paid $10,000 or more per year for each company or firm listed for that year. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That could mean he was paid $10,001 by a company, or it could mean $100,000, or more. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Coker, the Montgomery lobbyist, said Hamner worked for him last year. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"I wouldn't really call him a consultant with me, but on occasion I've asked him to help me on different projects,'' Coker said. ``We have had a business relationship. I guess that would be the second time in 10 or 12 years I've had him doing things for me.''<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attorney Samuel Kaufman of Kaufman & Rothfeder said he wasn't aware of any work Hamner had done for his firm. Told that Hamner had listed at least $10,000 received from Kaufman & Rothfeder in 1994, Kaufman said he would check with his bookkeeper.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"He's never been an employee or consultant for us I'm positive he's been neither,'' Kaufman said when called back. ``I cannot say if he's ever received a check from the firm, because we could have done a transaction where he received a check.'' <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The November election severed many of Hamner's political connections. Democrats Folsom and Evans were defeated. James Hamner, as an Evans' hire, was not kept on by new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a Republican. James Hamner now works as a lobbyist for John Teague's lobbying firm, and shares an office with his father.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"My recollection is that he ( Buddy Hamner ) hasn't done any work for me since on or about when the administration changed,'' said Durwood Jackson, owner of Durjac II. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hamner is a former owner of National Telcoin, a prison telephone company he founded in 1989 with former state auditor Terry Ellis. William Boyett, owner of one of the companies on the client lists, later purchased the business, and sold it to a Florida company. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>``I really, I'm not going to talk with you about it, because I have no good information,'' Boyett said of why his company was on the list. ``I don't have anything to say to you.'' <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>National Telcoin had close ties with Global TelLink, the company once owned by former Mobile County Commissioner Dan Wiley.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Global, the Wiley-run company that operated in partnership with National Telcoin, is the focus of an FBI investigation and a fraud lawsuit filed in federal court by Global's new owners, Schlumberger Technologies. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last summer, Evans launched an investigation into National Telcoin for allegedly fraudulent billing practices. At the time, James Hamner was a top administrator in Evans' office, directing the administrative division in charge of budgeting, inventory, and accounting.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While allegations have been made, neither Hamner nor any other principal in Alabama's prison phone business has faced criminal charges of defrauding customers or evading their income taxes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When Evans announced the investigation, former state Sen. Mac Parsons, citing Evans close relationship with Hamner and the fact that he worked with Hamner's son, called on Evans to appoint a special prosecutor. Evans didn't do so.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Parsons said recently that Internal Revenue Service investigators interviewed him last summer and requested records he had on National Telcoin because of his former membership on the Senate's prison oversight committee.<br />
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1982, in a matter unrelated to prison phones, Hamner pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges of nonpayment of about $75,000 in taxes from the years 1978 and 1979, and was sentenced to five years on probation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-2778031631035940062011-05-06T20:07:00.001-05:002011-05-06T20:07:59.533-05:00Announcing, "Curran Research Services"I have recently started a new business. The tentative name for it is, "Curran Research Services."<br />
For more about it, go here: <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/CurranResearchServices.htm">http://www.eddiecurran.com/CurranResearchServices.htm</a>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-69843078721418649822011-04-29T20:39:00.004-05:002011-04-30T01:53:09.030-05:00Bonus Chapter II: The Governor's Money Pot<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 900px;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="times13Creg"><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><strong> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> </span></strong><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span></b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next week I will be publishing on my web-site and </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><i></i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">probably </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the blog as well five "bonus chapters" that</span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">were cut from, </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">"The Governor </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">of Goat Hill." Hard to </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">believe but at one </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">stage the book </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">was even </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">longer. </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">There will also be </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">a section on my </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">reporting on </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">the </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">James' administration </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">that was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">severely cut, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">and </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">some </span></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">table-scraps, mostly involving </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">reporting, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">that </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">didn't </span></i></span><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">make the book.</span></span></i></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i> For a preview, here's, "Bonus Chapter II: The</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Governor's </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Money Pot."</span></i></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><br />
</span></b></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b> </b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Portions of this chapter -- about Siegelman's </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">misuse </span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">of the </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Governor's Contingency Fund -- are </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">in the book. </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Siegelman's </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">defenders frequently say that he didn't do</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">anything that other </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governor's didn't do. I disagree. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Certainly, no other governors </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">abused the contingency </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">fund as he did. Of that, there can be </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">no dispute.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> $483,935</span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> -- Amount of charges by Siegelman, his wife Lori, </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>his </em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em></em><em>"confidential </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>assistant" Nick Bailey and others to </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>a special </em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em></em><em>pot of money called </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>the governor’s </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>contingency fund, and</em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>for which state auditors </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>were unable to determine the </em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em></em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>nature of the </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>expenditures and/or </em></span><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">their public purpose.</span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> “Let me come to the defense of my wife this </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>way: I ran</em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>for </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>governor, Lori did not. If you </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>plan </em><em>to keep kicking </em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>someone </em></span><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">around, kick me.”</span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> -- From Feb. 28, 2003 letter Siegelman sent </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>Register</em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>publisher </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>Howard Bronson, after our </em></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>first story on the </em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em></em><em>contingency fund.</em></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Each year, some $700,000 to $1 million is </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">provided to </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governor’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">office to pay for all </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">manner of expenses, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">from legal </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">bills to the staff’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">coffee </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">vendor. Administrations </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> are given </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">considerable </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">latitude when spending money </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">from the fund. State</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">law merely requires that it be used “for a public </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">purpose </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">at the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governor’s direction or discretion.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The law requires that the governor’s office </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">provide the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">legislature with periodic </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reports of the spending. For whatever </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ancient reason, the state comptroller doesn’t </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">maintain the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">supporting </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">documents for those charges. Instead, these are kept</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">at the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governor's office.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> If you want those supporting records,you ask the governor’s </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">office, and it provides </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">them. That, in any event, is how it’s </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">supposed </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to work, and until Siegelman, always had.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In February 2002, a lobbyist suggested to <em>Montgomery </em></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>Advertiser</em> reporter </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Mike Cason </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that he review certain charges </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">from the fund. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">He subsequently submitted a list of 45 expenditures</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to Siegelman’s press office and requested the supporting </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">documentation.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The list included records for travel-related </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">expenditures by </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman and others; and the c</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">redit card bills and receipts </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">explaining charges </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to American Express cards issued to Siegelman, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his wife, Bailey, and several others.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Some records were provided, but many, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">including the AMEX</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">bills, were not.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Siegelman spokesman Rip Andrews told </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Cason that the</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">administration was of the position </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that some spending records</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">were private. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Andrews and others, including Ted Hosp, the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governor's general counsel, were unable to cite </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">any case law </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">supporting that position.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Rip said the withheld records pertained to the industry </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">recruiting trips and that their disclosure could jeopardize future </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">efforts. This was bunk, as was Rip’s pledge to Cason and</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">therefore the public that no personal items were charged to the</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">cards and that receipts and supporting documentation did in</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">fact exist for all the purchases.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> What, though, were Rip’s options? Telling Cason and thus</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Alabama voters that hundreds of thousands of dollars in public </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">expenditures couldn’t be explained or supported by receipts? </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> That taxpayers picked up the tab for Nick Bailey, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman’s budget officer/confidential assistant/ADECA chief </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to, as will be seen, fly himself and others to Las Vegas twice? That </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">public funds were used to pay for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the first family’s vacations, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">including one to the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Virgin Islands?</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The administration opted for the lesser of two public </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">lashings – the one of predictable scale sure to be administered </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for violating the records law preferred to the catastrophic stink </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">guaranteed by release of the records and the acknowledgement</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that, in many cases, none existed.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> A <em>Birmingham News</em> editorial scolded Siegelman for </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">disobeying one of his own post-G.H. ethics reform executive </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">orders. In that particular Aug. 2001 order, Siegelman issued </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a mandate requiring all state agencies to generate annual </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reports of their grants, contracts and expenditures, and </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">make the information public. The order covered the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governor’s office and the contingency fund.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> “This is just one more example of Don Siegelman saying </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">one thing publicly and doing another thing privately,” opined </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the <em>News </em>after the <em>Advertiser </em>reported on Siegelman's refusal </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to turn over the spending records.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Bob Riley, then a candidate for the Republican gubernatorial </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">nomination, added salt to the wound. He told the Associated Press</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that Siegelman “signs an executive order requiring disclosure,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">then he refuses to follow it.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> A year later found Siegelman out of office and the</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">contingency fund records in the safekeeping of the new Riley </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">administration. I was of the position that the records merited </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a look see.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -------</span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I had been reviewing contingency fund expenditures </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">since early in the James’ administration and had made excellent</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">use of them. <span class="style12">(See, Bonus Chapter VI: The Fob James Section.)</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Cason’s story from the year before suggested rather strongly </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that Team Siegelman had something to hide. Shortly after Riley’s </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">swearing in I called his press people and asked if I could review</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the records. No problem, they said. It was all public.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It took five days and two trips to Montgomery to sift through </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">a roomful of file cabinets bearing thousands upon thousands of</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pages of bills. On these days, from 8 a.m., until 5 p.m., I eyeballed</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">tens of thousands of itemized expenses. I copied all the AMEX </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">bills and much else besides. I couldn’t feed the records into the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">copier, but had to do it page by page. Wore my ass out, to say</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">nothing of my fingers, sentenced to hell by a thousand papercuts. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Don’t expect this will engender much pity, but I sure felt sorry</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for myself.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Upon returning I organized the bills and entered them into </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">my Quicken program at home.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style2"> </span>At this stage we were sensitive to the potential for claims</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">that I, and the paper, should leave Siegelman alone. I justified </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the stories on the following grounds: He had refused the year</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">before to divulge the records; he would surely be running for</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">statewide office again; and above all, the expenditures were</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">newsworthy.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Our review focused primarily on the AMEX bills and travel </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">charges, including those to a Tuscaloosa-based firm called </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Worldwide Travel. In 1999, Siegelman ordered all agencies to</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">make their travel arrangements through Worldwide, whose owner </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was a friend of his and Bailey’s.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The laws governing the fund had to be explained to readers,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">including the requirement that state employees all the way up to </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the governor's office provide receipts and other documentation </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">explaining the expenditure of public funds. As anyone who’s </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">completed one knows, expense reimbursement forms are drudgery,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">though I'm sure the governor has secretaries to do the detail work.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">In any event, the law demands documentation for the spending </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of public funds regardless of whose doing the spending, as it should.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The state Examiners of Public Accounts audits the contingency </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">fund every four years. These reports are notoriously picky. Four </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">years before, the audit of the James’ administration cited First </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Lady Bobbie James’ use of her own money to buy silverware, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">furniture and other items for the mansion. She’d turned in the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">receipts and been reimbursed. According to the examiners, Mrs.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">James’ actions cost taxpayers $72 – that being the amount in </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">sales tax the state would have saved had the administration</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">bought the items, since the state doesn’t pay sales tax. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The examiners inability to determine the purpose </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of a single</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">out-of-state airline ticket was noted in the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">audit and news stories</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on same, as was the James Gang’s </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">failure to document the purpose</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for spending $945.56 </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on 21 hams.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Considering the reporting of these minor infractions, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">could hardly claim he didn’t know the rules </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">governing the fund, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">nor, having tortured them, complain </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">at being called out for it.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style2"> </span>One charge in particular impressed me for its gall.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Every year graduates of high schools and colleges </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">receive</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">letters seeking donations to their alumni funds. Most of us would</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">like to give, or contribute more than we do, but our generosity is </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">mitigated by financial realities. No such realities plagued Siegelman </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">upon receipt of a form letter seeking donations to the alumni </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">association of Mobile’s Murphy High School. <span class="style14">(<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">See record below.)</span></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The governor wrote a notation on the letter telling his </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">secretary to "send $500" to the alumni fund. It came, not from his</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pocket, but from Alabama taxpayers<strong>. </strong>Here he was, using public </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">funds to play big man on campus at donor time. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Among the multitude of other relatively small if equally dubious</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">charges were $35 to renew his membership in the National Rifle</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Association; $336.35 for “Personal Power” audiotapes by tanned, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">tall and toothy motivational speaker Tony Robbins<strong>; </strong>and $43.45</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">for a pair of shoes.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Larger outlays included:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span class="style37"> -- $6,251.35 in flight, hotel and assorted purchases in December</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style37">1999, when the Siegelman family and Bailey flew to and stayed </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style37">in Puerto Rico, then on to the Virgin Islands. There they spent the </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style37">Christmas holidays at the vacation home of Jack Miller, the Mobile</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style37">lawyer, state Democratic Party boss, and beneficiary, through his</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style37">firm, of substantial amounts of state legal business awarded by </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style37">Siegelman.</span></span></div><div class="style37" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- $3,690 to fly Bailey and unidentified others on two charter </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">airplane trips to Las Vegas. (During the 2006 Siegelman trial, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Bailey's confirmed a litany of gifts and payments given him while</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">he served Siegelman. Among them: four tickets to a Las Vegas </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">show from dogtrack owner come electronic bingo bribery </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">defendant Milton McGregor.</span></div><div class="style37" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- $1,443.64 for a state security officer to chaperone </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman’s daughter on a personal trip to North Dakota.</span></div><div class="style15" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- Thousands of dollars in unexplained purchases from vendors</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">including Banana Republic, the Gap, Bloomingdales, Amazon.com,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and Delta Air Lines’ in-flight catalogue. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">(See one many examples </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of such bills below.)</span></div><div class="style15" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -- Thousands more in travel-related bills so Don and Lori</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman could attend three of the annual summer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">gatherings/junkets held by the Conference of Western Attorneys</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">General (in Custer, S.D.; Sun Valley, Idaho; and Monterey, Calif.)</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It’s difficult to fathom how the Siegelmans presence at a</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">conference of attorneys general from western states could benefit</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Alabama citizens, but he deemed it so, and used the contingency</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">fund to pay for airline tickets, hotel bills, meals and the rest. Later, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman's friends in the ex-attorneys general community were to</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">band together and file petitions, legal briefs and generate </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">substantial publicity for Siegelman's claim to have been</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">railroaded by Republican prosecutors.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> With a few exceptions, no itemized receipts or written</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">explanations existed for trips and credit card charges by</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman, his wife, and Bailey. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Within the files was a December 1999 memo from governor’s</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">office accountant Becca Crawford to state examiners.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> “I cannot make any sense out of some of these receipts,"</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">she wrote.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> -------</span></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The first story on the contingency fund expenditures enraged </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman, perhaps as no other by me before or after. It followed </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">my first review of the files, and led with undocumented trips and </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">charges by the First Lady. The bills indicated, for example, that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">when in Birmingham, Lori Siegelman was something of a regular</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">at Planet Smoothie, which sells fruity frozen energy drinks.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The piece began:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In mid-October, with her husband campaigning for re-election </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">virtually around the clock, then-first lady Lori Siegelman flew</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to Buffalo, N.Y., took a shuttle bus to Canada and spent more </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">than a week at the Queen's Landing Inn, according to bills from </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">an American Express card issued to her by the governor’s office. </span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Alabama taxpayers paid $156.50 for her flight from Atlanta</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to Buffalo, $52.09 for the shuttle bus, $38.81 for a meal and</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">$797.94 for the hotel room in a town called Niagara-on-the-Lake,</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the bills show. </span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In the final 14 months of her husband's administration, Lori </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman billed the state for trips to New Orleans; Monterey,</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Calif.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Boston and for an airline ticket to </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Milwaukee, according to the American Express bills. </span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The former first lady -- regarded as a private woman who </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">rarely appeared with her husband at government events -- also</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">used the card at restaurants in Birmingham, where she has family</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and where the Siegelmans bought a home in December 2001; </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and to buy goods, including vitamins, books and artwork.</span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> We knew that the Siegelmans would refuse to answer </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">questions from me, but recognized the sensitivity of reporting on </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his wife’s spending. She had been, well, the first lady, and first</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">ladies frequently use their positions to advocate for pet causes</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">or public projects. Still, spouses and children of governors should </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">not be confused with those of presidents in terms of what taxpayers</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">pay for.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> It was decided that Bill Barrow (then one of the <em>Register's</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em></em> Montgomery reporters, now a reporter with the <em>New Orleans </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>Times-Picayune</em>) would contact Siegelman. He did, but Siegelman </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">declined to take his questions.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I went beyond the call of duty by searching Merlin (the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">computer library of <em>Register</em> stories) and Nexis for stories reporting</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">trips, official or otherwise, and this allowed me to verify or reject </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the public purpose of some of the travel. I was under no obligation</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">to present readers with what amounted to guesses for permissible</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reasons for charges by the Siegelmans and Bailey, but did so</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">anyway, as here, in that first story:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> Siegelman’s decision not to comment to the Register makes it </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>difficult to know for certain if any charges were made for personal</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>expenses. </em></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> Some purchases, such as art or even books, could have been </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>for the Governor’s Mansion -- an allowable use of contingency </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>funds, assuming the art or books remained at the mansion </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>following the first family’s departure.</em></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> Another example: In November 2001, the first lady charged</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>$621.42 to Sleeping Bear Press, a publisher of children’s books.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>Lori Siegelman’s chief project as first lady involved the promotion </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>of art for children, and she hosted several arts festivals for </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>children from throughout the state. </em></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em> The children’s books could well have been associated with</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>those festivals -- an expense that would be allowed from the </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><em>contingency fund. </em></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The Associated Press picked up the story and called Mike </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Kanarick, the third and final Siegelman spokesperson and still </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">helping out. Kanarick told the wire service that anyone “who </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">attacks the integrity and fine character of the former First Lady</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">has stooped to a new and unconscionable low.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Our story hadn't attacked anyone's integrity or character. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">It had merely catalogued spending of state funds for which there </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was no explanation, some of which involved Lori Siegelman.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The <em>Montgomery Advertiser</em>, its reporter rebuffed a year </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">before when he sought the records, published an editorial that </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">asked, tongue in cheek, the question, “Was former first lady</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">hunting for </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">industry?” <span class="style14" style="color: red;">(See below.)</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Our paper also editorialized on the spending, Siegelman</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">wrote a long letter to <em>Register</em> publisher Howard Bronson. He</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">complained that I “knew or should have known” that his wife</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“personally paid for personal items and that all of Lori’s travel</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was for a public purpose – namely, the advancement of arts </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">education for Alabama’s school children … Your reporter has</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">shown a continuous reckless disregard for the truth.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> That prompted a story by us, written by Barrow and </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reporting Siegelman’s complaints and our responses to them.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Readers were told that Siegelman had refused our request to </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">explain the charges; and that I had sent multiple e-mails to the </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">press staff of the new governor as well as the governor’s office</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">accountant seeking any additional records from the prior </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">administration that might explain the bills. In fact, I'd feared</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reporting that no explanations were provided for the charges</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">cited in the story, only to learn otherwise, post-story, from </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman. That made me work that much harder to locate possible</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reasons for the spending.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Bill's story reported Siegelman’s explanation for many of </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his wife’s trips. Some were to meet other first ladies to help build</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">houses for Habitat for Humanity, and certainly met the public</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">purpose requirements of the contingency fund. Others involved </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">travel to conferences related to the arts – Lori Siegelman’s chief</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">interest -- and arguably met the requirements as well. Some – such</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">as traveling with a friend to Chicago to watch the Alvin Ailey</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">dance troupe – struck me as questionable.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I didn’t relish Siegelman’s attack on me for writing about </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">his wife, but appreciated his vigorous and clearly heartfelt defense</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">of her. </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> There had been rumors of difficulties in the marriage, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">understandable if so, considering the pressures of the job and Lori </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Siegelman’s private nature. Most of what I knew about Siegelman </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">was unflattering, his disingenuous side. Here he was from another</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">angle, caring about his wife and ferociously angry at her being </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">written about.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Siegelman chose to communicate with us to defend his wife, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">but refused Barrow’s request that he explain other charges. As Bill</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">reported, the former governor “declined specific comment on other</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">contingency fund expenditures mentioned in the <em>Register’s</em> Sunday</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">news story, including shoes and chocolates purchased in Chicago </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on his credit card and more than $78,000 spent to print and mail</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">invitations to the state Christmas tree lighting ceremony.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span class="style2"> </span>My second story reported the first family’s trip to Puerto Rico</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and the Virgin Islands and presented an overview of the American </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Express bills. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The abuses presumably would have been worse, or in any event,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">more numerous, had someone not stepped in and put the kibosh</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">on the credit cards midway through Siegelman’s term.</span></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></strong></div><div style="text-align: left;"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> --------</span></strong></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Three days after publication of our first story, Ted Hosp</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">delivered a $38,799 check to the state. It was from the trust </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">account of the law firm of long-time Siegelman lawyer Bobby </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Segall, whose signature it bore. A memo described it as a partial </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">settlement of expenditures disallowed by the examiners. As far</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">as Siegelman was concerned it was a final settlement, since it was</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">both the first and last such payment.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In May, the examiners issued a report that supported our</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> findings, and then some. Phil Harrod, who had audited the Guy</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Hunt administration and every governor’s contingency fund since, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">told readers he’d never come across problems “of this magnitude.”</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Despite considerable time and effort, the examiners were at </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the end of the day unable to determine the public purpose of </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">$483,935 spent on trips, meals, and truckloads of other items, </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">many of which couldn’t be identified by the available records</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">and memory banks.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Harrod spoke to Siegelman once, in an exit interview. Of</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">this meeting, readers were told:</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In summarizing the $483,935 worth of trips, meals, and </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">assorted items that the examiners could not issue an opinion on,</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Harrod wrote that Siegelman “represented to me that these </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">disbursements were made for a public benefit and purpose.”</span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Harrod determined, however, that “the lack of supporting </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">records, travel authorizations, contracts and other written</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">documentation limited my ability to determine whether public </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">funds were spent in accordance with applicable state laws and </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">regulations.’”</span></em></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Harrod, for example, was unable to determine the purpose,</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">public or otherwise, of Bailey’s trips to Las Vegas, or able to </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">learn what Bailey and Lori Siegelman bought from airline </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">catalogues. </span></em></div><div style="margin-top: 0px;"><em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> “In a lot of cases, they didn’t have an answer,” he said. </span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">“Time had passed and they said they just did not know.”</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></em></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <span class="style16" style="color: red;"> <i><b>Here's a portion of the letter from Murphy High to alumni</b></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style16" style="color: red;"><i><b>seeking donations. The handwriting on the side is Siegelman's, </b></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style16" style="color: red;"><i><b>directing that $500 be sent to Murphy from the contingency </b></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><span class="style16" style="color: red;"><i><b>fund.</b></i></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><strong><span class="style16"><br />
</span></strong></span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="style14"><img height="156" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/images/ContingencyMurphyHigh_000.jpg" width="600" /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="style14" style="font-family: 'times new roman'; font-size: 21px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"> </span></span><span class="style14"> </span></div><div class="style15" style="margin-top: 0px;"><span class="style14" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> Here is one of the payments for the Personal Power/Tony</i></span></b></span><br />
<span class="style14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Robbins videotapes.</i></b></span></span><br />
<span class="style14"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 16px;"><img height="437" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/images/PersonalPower.jpg" width="630" /></span></div></td></tr>
<tr> <td class="times13Creg" height="1141"><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>This is one of many AMEX bills -- this one, for expenditures </i></span></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">on Nick Bailey's card -- and </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">reflecting charges for which there </span></b></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">was no supporting documentation. In other words, there </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">were </span></b></i></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>no records showing what was purchased from the Gap, </i></span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">Bloomingdales, Amazon.Com, and </span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">on and on and on.</span></b></i></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br />
</span></b></div><span class="style14" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><img height="381" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/images/NickAMEXpage_001.jpg" width="574" /></span><br />
<div class="style12" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="style12" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Below is editorial by the Montgomery Advertiser which,</span></i></b></span><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">a year before, had been denied </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">the records that </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">didn't</span></span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">become </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">available until Siegelman vacated </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;">the governor's </span></span></i></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>office.</i></b></span></div><div class="style12" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><strong><br />
</strong></div><div class="style12" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><img height="700" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/book_excerpts/images/AdvertiserEditorial.jpg" width="579" /></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-62530948661266689302011-04-24T17:24:00.003-05:002011-04-30T01:58:48.646-05:00If Elvis had lived, would his hair look like...Milton McGregor's?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B28joS-kZPE/TbSgIumdFmI/AAAAAAAAAJo/SsTbhRr58bs/s1600/elvis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-B28joS-kZPE/TbSgIumdFmI/AAAAAAAAAJo/SsTbhRr58bs/s200/elvis.jpg" width="184" /></a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtBwGk7KTM8/TbOSOhot-7I/AAAAAAAAAI8/Wy-YcrlDv7w/s1600/8542466-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="170" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dtBwGk7KTM8/TbOSOhot-7I/AAAAAAAAAI8/Wy-YcrlDv7w/s200/8542466-large.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"> <b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> </span></b></span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">The Day </span></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Lanny Young </b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Called </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Milton McGregor, "</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Elvis"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b><br />
</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Recently I've been organizing my "Siegelman files" for storage, and while doing, came across this record from the 2006 trial that I present here in honor of Milton McGregor. He's been in the news a whole bunch the past year, and appears to only now be getting warmed up. A statute of McGregor should be erected in front of the Alabama Public Corruption Hall of Fame. No, there is not such a thing, but should one be built, I want credit for the idea.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The record below is a transcript of a taped July 2000 phone call between Waste Management's straw man landfill developer Clayton "Lanny" Young and Bill Blount, the investment banker (both would be featured in the aforementioned Hall). Blount, like Young, was involved in the corruption-infested if short-lived G.H. Construction warehouse deal. Young later went to prison for crimes related to the G.H. Construction project. Blount is now in federal prison for bribing former Birmingham mayor Larry Langford.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The tape was introduced as evidence in the 2006 trial, as was a transcript of it My copy of the transcript is in bad shape, but is readable. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> First, some background on the transcript. Young testified that he hadn't intended to tape Blount. He'd set up a taping system at the urging of his lawyer, to catch people trying to extort him regarding his efforts to win a permit to build a landfill in Lowndes County. Had he won the permit, Young was going to sell it to Waste Management, and stood to make as much as $10 million on the deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Prosecutors presented the tape to bolster their case against Paul Hamrick, Siegelman's former chief of staff and, at trial, the ex-governor's co-defendant. Young, it turned out, had been paid $35,000 by Blount. Young said it was to help to land state bond business and funding for projects Blount was involved in. That's the subject of the first pages of the transcript.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> I found the tape interesting because it captured two politically connected and less than upstanding dudes chatting away, unguardedly, about winning state business and other matters. The best bit is at the end, when Blount tells Young that McGregor's efforts to build a landfill in Macon County were on the front of that day's <i>Montgomery Advertiser</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In, "The Governor of Goat Hill," I contrasted -- as had stories at the time -- the public statements by the Siegelman administration about their friend Lanny's landfill efforts in Lowndes County and those by McGregor in nearby Macon County.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> This, from the book, and after that, pictures of Blount and Young, and then the transcript, which has the notes and scratch I made on it after I acquired it from the court records.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In August 2000 the Associated Press published two stories reporting the governor's contrasting positions on two proposed landfills, one sought by Lanny, the other by dog track magnate Milton McGregor.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <i>Siegelman came out against the McGregor site days before the Macon County Commission was to vote on it. He pledged to "fight a landfill that is a magnet for the nation's trash."<b><o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><i> </i></b><i>Local black leaders enlisted Jesse Jackson to oppose the site on grounds that </i></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">it was an example of environmental racism.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i> After the county's vote, Siegelman sent a statement praising the decision. "Today, you are drawing a line in the sand. You are saying, 'Enough is enough. You are saying, 'Macon County will not become the pay toilet of America.'</i><i>”</i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> A second AP story added another wrinkle. It posed the question: Why had the governor become involved in Macon County but stayed out of a near identical landfill battle in Lowndes County?<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Like Macon County, Lowndes is poor, rural and majority black. The piece reported Young's support of Siegelman and his friendship with Hamrick. The chief of staff said the difference was that the Macon County site would take garbage from out of state, whereas the Lowndes project would not.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> "We typically wouldn't and haven't gotten involved (in supporting or opposing </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">landfill projects)," Hamrick said.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Some black leaders in Lowndes County, as with Macon County, opposed the </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">landfill. Jesse Jackson came to Lowndes County as well, and decried the proposed </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">landfill's proximity to the historic Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights trail.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Macon County borders Montgomery County to the east and Lowndes to the west.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Had McGregor won a permit, his site would surely have competed against Young's.</span></i><br />
<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Had it been built first, it might well have ended Waste Management's interest in the </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Lowndes project -- a decision that would have been financially ruinous for Lanny.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> At trial, prosecutors introduced a recorded telephone conversation between </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Lanny and investment banker Bill Blount, which Lanny had made, he said by </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>accident, but turned over to the government</i><i>.</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The two are heard making fun of McGregor by calling him Elvis, a reference to </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">the dog-track owner's famous bouffant hairdo. Young told Blount that McGregor -- </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">keenly aware of the relationship between Lanny and Hamrick -- called Siegelman's</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">chief of staff to promise that his landfill in Macon County wouldn't compete with </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Lanny's landfill in Lowndes County.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> Said Young, in an apparent joke: "I told Paul, I said, 'You tell Elvis that I don't </span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">give a shit what he does over there. I'm trying to get my dog track and casinos built </span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><i>in Lowndes County right now.</i><i>”</i></span></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-align: left;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> McGregor's efforts (by calling Hamrick) did no good, as the administration lent its weight against his landfill and helped kill it.<span class="Apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Df6yBh-ZCgQ/TbOSWmLtxVI/AAAAAAAAAJA/iwfnaocAtmo/s1600/Blount+B-hamWeekly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Df6yBh-ZCgQ/TbOSWmLtxVI/AAAAAAAAAJA/iwfnaocAtmo/s320/Blount+B-hamWeekly.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; padding-top: 4px; text-align: center;">Bill Blount</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1DV43aTmpXU/TbOSe1C2Y8I/AAAAAAAAAJE/At5q0IVADo0/s1600/Lanny+Leads+the+Way.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1DV43aTmpXU/TbOSe1C2Y8I/AAAAAAAAAJE/At5q0IVADo0/s320/Lanny+Leads+the+Way.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lanny Young</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GYKq0987b1A/TbSdmpm75dI/AAAAAAAAAJg/395VX7stGC4/s1600/BlntLanny5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GYKq0987b1A/TbSdmpm75dI/AAAAAAAAAJg/395VX7stGC4/s640/BlntLanny5.jpg" width="490" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-emJ5dqBrEfA/TbSdt2vYRZI/AAAAAAAAAJk/I2tCgTVrvPI/s1600/BlntLanny6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-emJ5dqBrEfA/TbSdt2vYRZI/AAAAAAAAAJk/I2tCgTVrvPI/s640/BlntLanny6.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i8mLYO0vDcg/TbOSoaP5tjI/AAAAAAAAAJI/RMN-z13FvMI/s1600/BlntLanny7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-i8mLYO0vDcg/TbOSoaP5tjI/AAAAAAAAAJI/RMN-z13FvMI/s640/BlntLanny7.jpg" width="496" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fsjI_wAVaD4/TbOSwTPirvI/AAAAAAAAAJM/0p6qRWPEIcY/s1600/BlntLanny8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fsjI_wAVaD4/TbOSwTPirvI/AAAAAAAAAJM/0p6qRWPEIcY/s640/BlntLanny8.jpg" width="466" /></a></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-74529243064664247412011-04-21T15:30:00.002-05:002011-04-21T15:36:36.680-05:00Author Radio Interview<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>Siegelman's worst character trait?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b> The story behind the stories that unearthed the secret, concealed second life of the "lottery foundation?"</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>"Mikey" from the Life cereal commercials as a member of Siegelman's cabinet?</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b>That and more in this radio interview I gave in March.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><br />
<div align="left" class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-top: 0px;"> In mid-March I taped the following radio interview with Doc Kirby for his, "On the Bookshelf" program on Troy-based WTBF. I was visiting to participate in Troy University journalism department's annual "M. Stanton Evans Symposium on Money, Politics and the Media."</div><div align="left" class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Kirby came to the interview knowing the subject, prepared to ask informed questions, and ready for fun. </div><div align="left" class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> Kirby, shown at bottom, is also a lecturer at the university.</div><div align="left" class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> The interview was quite long, and Kirby edited it down to about 30 minutes. Below is a rough guide to the subject matters we discussed and when, during the interview, they came up. I think the interview presents a pretty good synopsis of, "The Governor of Goat Hill." For the interview, <a href="http://www.eddiecurran.com/RadioInterviewwithDocKirby.htm">click here</a>.<br />
<br />
</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> <span class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"> Start:</span> Explaining how and why I first started looking into the Siegelman administration.</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><br />
</div><div class="style472"><span class="style472" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> <span class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">4 minute mark</span><strong>:</strong> The G.H. ("Goat Hill") Construction story, and its role in starting the investigation into Siegelman.</span></div><div class="style472"><span class="style472" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> <span class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">5:45 minute mark</span>: On Nick Bailey, and what I believe to be Siegelman's greatest personal flaw.</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><br />
</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px;"> <span class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;">7:50 minute mark</span>: How I stumbled upon the hidden, secret second life of the "Alabama Education Lottery Foundation."</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px;"> This was the series of stories that led to Richard Scrushy becoming part of the investigation into various <span class="style472" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">matters regarding </span><span class="style472" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;">the Siegelman administration.</span><span class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> </span></div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> This section leads into an</span> analysis of Siegelman and his fiercely aggressive fund-raising techniques.</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"> <span class="style474" style="color: red;"><strong>14:00 minute mark</strong></span>: Here, I discuss stories about the at least $1.4 million paid to Siegelman in legal fees while he was governor.</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif;"><br />
</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px;"> <span class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"> 18:30 minute mark</span>: In which we talk about the odd entrance into the Siegelman case of north Alabama lawyer Jill Simpson, and the manner in which Siegelman and his public relations people managed to sell Simpson as a legitimate source linking Karl Rove to the Siegelman prosecution. Related issues are also discussed, including: The silliness of the premise that Karl Rove would or could order the Justice Department to prosecute Siegelman; and the failings of the national media, especially as contrasted to the reporting</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-top: 0px;">on the same matter by the Alabama media.</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px;"> <span class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"> 23 minute mark</span>: On the coverage, or rather, mis-coverage, of the Siegelman case by the<em> New York Times</em> and others after they were given an affidavit by Simpson. I also touch upon a theme I bring up in some of my talks: That the <em>Times</em>, it would seem almost as a whole (news side and editorial), fails to understand Alabama politics.</div><div align="left" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><br />
</div><div align="left" class="style476" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"> </span></div><div align="center" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><img height="232" src="http://www.eddiecurran.com/images/doc_small.jpg" width="290" /></div><div align="center" class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 0px;">Doc Kirby, of WTBF, Troy, AL</div><div class="style473" style="color: red; font-weight: bold;"><br />
</div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3599523953741493081.post-25846595398762252262011-04-12T02:20:00.035-05:002011-05-24T10:58:01.537-05:00Say it ain't so, CBS: Pelley in line to replace Couric<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Jill Simpson's interviewer reportedly</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-large;"><b> next in line for the "Cronkite Seat"</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">And why that may not be such a good thing</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b>Chapter in book on the 60 Minutes report is below</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NA5TfswrNdc/TaPO12HkqKI/AAAAAAAAAGg/oTZg0z92EY4/s1600/PelleyInterviewsJill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NA5TfswrNdc/TaPO12HkqKI/AAAAAAAAAGg/oTZg0z92EY4/s400/PelleyInterviewsJill.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b> Scott Pelley listens intently as Rainsville lawyer Jill Simpson expands on her previous tales. This time, the destitute, heretofore unknown Alabama lawyer claimed</b><b> that she had, at Karl Rove's directions, secretly tailed Siegelman for months trying to get pictures of him nekkid with a person other than Mrs. Siegelman. </b><b> It is all so preposterous -- Simpson, her stories, and especially that the likes of "60 Minutes," Time and the New York Times took her seriously -- that ridicule at the powers that be is perhaps the best response.</b></span><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span></b></div></div><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 5px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 5px; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"></span></b><br />
<div class="style16" style="margin-bottom: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><b><em><span class="style8"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></em></b> In recent days its' been reported that A) Katie Couric is soon to be leaving the anchor's position at CBS Evening News and that "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley is to replace her. Pelley, according to this <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/business/media/12anchor.html?_r=1&hpw">New York Times story</a>, is the favorite of new CBS News chairman Jeff Fager.</span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In honor of this impending changing of the guard, I'm willing to, non-profit-like, provide a free chapter from, "The Governor of Goat Hill." The chapter -- boldly titled, "'60 Minutes Kicks Rove's Ass" -- raises what I certainly felt were serious issues regarding Pelley's performance during a February 2008 "60 Minutes" piece that essentially concluded that that Karl Rove ordered the prosecution of Don Siegelman, and much else as well. Fager, as head of "60 Minutes," at the time, also gets play in the chapter.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> In addition, and also free of charge (when you self-publish, you can get away with murder), are short segments from elsewhere in the book and referring to Pelley's performance on the Siegelman-Jill Simpson-Karl Rove piece. In Pelley's defense, others -- the writing/producing/so-called investigative team -- would have done the legwork and fed the story to the talent. However, Pelley can't hide completely behind others -- it was his choice not to ask certain follow-up questions of Simpson or, if he lacked the competence to do so, to permit the producers to edit out her responses.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> If you wish to watch the piece, go to DonSiegelman.org. It's been front and center on the "Free Siegelman" web-site ever since it came out.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> The first two pages are from an earlier chapter called, "The Canary Canard." As with the rest of this, it obviously helps to have some background on the matter (such as to know about Scott Horton of Harper's), but I think it can be followed pretty well without. (Those seeking more background can search this blog or go to my web-site, EddieCurran.Com.)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"> (Note: With the following pages, you can click them and make them larger for easier reading.)</span><br />
<b> </b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b>The following is the chapter about the "60 Minutes" piece. </b></span></div><div class="style16" style="color: black; margin-bottom: 0px;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVh_Bj6P7rY/TaPx-D9iOjI/AAAAAAAAAG8/LsydhlPQgnE/s1600/p566.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVh_Bj6P7rY/TaPx-D9iOjI/AAAAAAAAAG8/LsydhlPQgnE/s640/p566.jpg" width="452" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><b> </b></div>Eddie Curranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13353059370738970984noreply@blogger.com0