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May 3, 2008 at 22:04:47
Good Day for Siegelman, Good Day for Justice by Roger Shuler Page 1 of 1 page(s) |
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But yesterday was not one of them. In fact, Siegelman--now released from prison pending appeal of his conviction on corruption-related charges--had a banner day. And in the Age of Rove, a good day for Don Siegelman almost certainly means a step forward for America's beleaguered justice system.
First came word that federal officials admitted they screwed up in restricting travel for Siegelman. And how did they screw up? Probation officials in Alabama and Louisiana mistakenly applied rules governing offenders who are on probation. But Siegelman is not on probation; he is free on bond pending appeal. "Oops, our bad," justice officials said. More specifically, a spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts said: "They made an honest mistake."
Right, and no one higher up the line--say, a certain judge or prosecutor--had anything to do with it. This illustrates a point I've seen time and again in my battle with corrupt Republicans in Alabama's state courts. Corruption from the top of a justice system inevitably filters down to lower levels. If you find a corrupt judge at a state-court level, you are almost sure to find a corrupt district attorney, a corrupt county clerk, a corrupt sheriff, and so on.
When a justice system becomes infested with corruption, folks at the lower levels no longer serve the public--they serve the corrupt honchos above them. And since the small fry enjoy their nice government salaries and benefits, they aren't about to buck a system that is treating them pretty darn good--even if it means some people are screwed criminally, ruined financially, cheated civilly, etc.
Experience tells me this was not an "honest mistake" by probation officials in Siegelman's case. If Siegelman had not squawked loudly--with it amplified by his supporters and a semi-alert press--these unlawful travel restrictions would have stayed in place. In other words, the bad guys would have gotten away with it.
In my case, I don't have vocal supporters, and the press easily ignores my situation--even though my case is hardly isolated; the number of people who get cheated in Alabama state courts probably is staggering. So state court officials are likely to get away with just about anything when it comes to low-profile folks like me--up to and including, in my case, unlawfully seizing and auctioning my house.
But back to Siegelman. The former governor got more good news, in the form of an excellent column titled "What Karl Rove Fears Most" (love that headline!) by Dan Froomkin of the Washington Post. There is so much good stuff in Froomkin's column, it's hard to know where to begin. Basically, it's a splendid overview of recent events regarding Rove and his slithering efforts to avoid testifying about his role in the Siegelman case and other Justice Department shenanigans. It's a must read, and it shows that Siegelman's statements about the political nature of his prosecution are resonating with the national press. The Alabama press remains brain dead, but I'm not sure that matters anymore. Siegelman is expertly going over their heads and proving just how irrelevant corrupt Alabama news outfits really are.
Finally, Siegelman received a standing ovation, and supportive words from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, at last night's annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Birmingham. Pelosi heaped a heavy dose of criticism on President Bush:
With that, Siegelman stood and received a long and loud standing ovation from the crowd.
While Pelosi had harsh words for Bush last night, more than a few Democrats say she has not been aggressive enough in countering the White House, especially on matters of justice.
Glynn Wilson gave voice to those concerns in astrongly worded piece at Locust Fork News.
www.legalschnauzer.blogspot.com
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| 4 comments |
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NOT LIKELY
Pelosi is very close politically with Diane Feinstein. Feinstein's husband owns a couple of corporations that were barely solvent before the Iraq war, but now hold billions of dollars in military contracts to supply that war. The profits he makes go into the campaign coffers of Pelosi, Feinstein, and a number of other Democrats, making them no different than Cheney and Bush in their willingness to murder American soldiers and Iraqi nationals for profit. For this reason, impeachment has been off the table from the start, and it will stay off of the table. by W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 537 comments [52 recommended, 1 rejected]) on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 11:25:39 AM  (0+)
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Justice?
The rest of the country has known for years that the justice system in the south is awash in corruption, a holdover from the outright hatred of emancipation. It's strange that Southerners don't realize the corruption present when they live with it everyday. Perhaps the ones who benefit from the corruption are the only ones who could do something about it. Regardless when justice is finally done, if ever, it is BIG news since it happens so rarely. by Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1757 comments [112 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 12:05:59 PM (0+)
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things don't add up
I agree, there is some unknown (?) element at play here there has been plenty of evidence for congress to do much since the 2006 elections perhaps the anti-FISA spying was primarily aimed at Democratic leaders and they are so obviously cowed because of simple old-fashioned blackmail by Houston Radical (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 82 comments) on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 8:50:58 PM (0+)
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Nancy
Could someone lend Nancy a set of balls? Congress has more than enough to end the looking into phase and move to the do something about it phase,now. Or we could try house impeachment which is another way of looking into it with exposed TEETH, time's up, let's go Nancy this is why America cuts you a check as speaker! by tjb (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 255 comments [9 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Sunday, May 4, 2008 at 8:36:29 AM (0+)
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