Was Siegelman Whistleblower Really a Security Risk?

Grimes became nationally known last November when Adam Zagorin, of Time magazine, broke a story about her allegations of misconduct by the prosecution team handling the case against Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.

Zagorin's investigative piece indicates that Grimes filed her allegations through Congress and internal Justice Department channels. Here is a key paragraph:

The documents, obtained by TIME, include internal prosecution e-mails given to the Justice Department and Congress by a whistle-blower during the past 18 months. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which investigated the Siegelman case as part of a broader inquiry into alleged political interference in the hiring and firing of U.S. Attorneys by the Bush Justice Department, last week sent an eight-page letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey citing the new material.

It's unclear how Time obtained the documents. But it appears Zagorin, practicing that ancient art known as journalism, tracked them down through Conyers' letter to Mukasey. There is no indication that Grimes did anything improper.

So why is she now considered a security risk? Based on Kreig's reporting, it appears that Grimes might have been a risk to the professional security of Leura Canary, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Alabama.

Grimes tells Kreig that she took considerable care to raise her concerns in the proper manner:

In today's interview, Grimes said she tried her best to use legally protected channels to assure justice. "I am a Republican. I believe in the U.S. Constitution, and that what happened in Montgomery, Alabama with the Siegelman/Scrushy prosecution is a travesty of justice."

She said the prosecution's misconduct included contact with jurors during their deliberations without advising the defense, and pressuring two key witnesses to change their testimony. She said Canary continued supervision of the prosecution while publicly claiming that she was recused because of her husband's longtime political opposition to Siegelman.

"In July 2007, I filed whistleblower disclosures with several agencies," she said. "My thought was to get the word out to as many oversight agencies as possible.

Grimes describes how Canary ran the Middle District like a dysfunctional sorority house:

"When Leura Canary found out what I had done, she was livid. She called me into her office to threaten and intimidate me. It went downhill from there." Grimes said that she was repeatedly threatened with criminal prosecution on bogus charges of denying that she had made secret tape recordings, and then was placed on administrative leave. She was fired after writing a nine-page letter June 1 to Attorney General Eric Holder outlining prosecution misconduct against Siegelman.

"Selective prosecution is a tool that Leura Canary uses at will," said Grimes of Canary. "She has enjoyed a great deal of success thus far. No one has been able to overcome what she calls 'powerful friends' in Washington. My question is: Who is still pulling the strings almost six months into a new administration?"

Anyone who supports Barack Obama--and cares about justice--should be asking that same question.