It was assumed the troubling case surrounding Don Siegleman's conviction would surely draw attention soon.
To date, it has not...
::::::::
One of Attorney General Eric Holder's first decisions in office was to
vacate
the charges and conviction of former Republican senator Ted Stevens.
People took notice, though the subject of Holder's attention surprised
some. Nonetheless, it was assumed the troubling case surrounding
Don Siegleman's conviction would surely draw that attention soon.
To
date, it has not, despite the growing corus demanding a full review of
the conduct of Bush-appointed US Attorneys in Alabama, and federal judge
Mark Fuller, among others. Documented DoJ witness tampering and jury tampering are
only two of the many problems swirling around the case. And yet, the
Obama administration turned, and continues to turn, a blind eye to the obvious: that Democratic
politicians have been politically and falsely persecuted by Bush administration
appointees in the Department of Justice. And more, that these
operations were overseen by the White House political arm, aka Karl
Rove.
But things have only grown more amazing still. Holder then "
dropped" the case against GOP operatives convicted in a 2002 New Hampshire election
rigging scheme, a scheme that then helped John Sununu squeek by his
Democratic opponent. Those GOP operatives were defended by a law firm
that shall be named. It was Eric Holder's former employer.
As a point, or several points, of information, and out of curiosity, I followed up Dana Jill Simpson's
article about Holder's ties to the RNC via Covington & Burling LLC, the Attorney General's employer during the grim yet profitable years of the Bush administration. And C&B indeed profited from the Bush adminstration, defending various members in a variety of tribulations, as you will see below. Holder reportedly received
some $2 million in compensation from C&B during his tenure, which
coincided with a number of high-profile cases involving the Bush
administration.
On its
website, the company boasts more than a few such cases, in
which it worked
for Bush et al. In nearly every one, and while
Holder was happily a partner in the firm, C&B defended GOP operatives, the financial industry and Big Pharma. These, of course, are the
very players responsible for the current immense corruption of the US public
sphere.
Check out the litany of litigation that C&B has been involved in,
mostly on the RNC side. Remember, these are the company's own proud
claims.
Must we, then, still wonder why Eric Holder is a no-show on GOP
election-rigging and selective prosecutions?
The real question is why Obama would infect his administration
with both Holder and
Greg Craig,
both of whom are not merely politically tainted,
but have acted as defense agents for the Bush administration and the
GOP more
generally.
Can the Dems really be this clueless? I doubt it. So
what else is going on? Are the political faces of the parties really
just a facade providing a virtual political space when, in fact, the
Republicans and the Democrats are just part of the same machine? It often looks exactly like that.
__________________________________
Political Representation
From
"Congressional Investigations,"
1)
We represented the Republican National Committee in connection
with investigations by the House Judiciary Committee and House Oversight
andGovernment Reform Committees regarding US attorney firings and the
hosting of e-mail accounts for White House officials.
2) We defended a former NASA official and a former
White House official in
investigations by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
and the House Judiciary Committee regarding alleged political
interference with the work of government environmental scientists.
From
"Election & Political Law"
3)
We represented the Republican National Committee in a
high-profile election-related civil litigation in New Hampshire concerning
alleged phone-jamming on election day. The firm has
served as election
law counsel to the RNC for many years, handling a range of litigation
and advisory matters. The Firm has also been counsel on election law
matters to the
National Republican Congressional Committee.
From "
FEC Enforcement"
4) We represented the
Louisiana Republican Party in a long-running
FEC investigation of alleged "coordinated expenditures"
5) We obtained outright dismissal of FEC complaints filed against
Friends of Giuliani Exploratory Committee.
__________________________________
Friends & Family
6) Representation of an executive of
KBR, Halliburton's subsidiary,
in a wide-ranging investigation into alleged bribery of Nigerian
government officials in connection with the selection of the company to build one
of the world's largest liquefied natural gas projects.
7) Representation of
Enron-related defendant in GSA debarment
proceedings.
8) Counseling regarding US contracting disclosure and
certification requirements resulting from initiation of criminal proceedings
against client's corporate officers in South America and from US indictment
of corporate board member. [I've been hunting this one, curious as to
whether this refers to the Ecuador v. Chevron, $27 billion pollution
litigation.]
[N.B. the time domain of this long-term bibbery scheme was then-CEO
Dick Cheney's reign of error.]
9) We
advised a major financial institution in connection with House
and Senate investigations of the student lending industry.
10) We
represented a major pharmaceutical company in an investigation
by the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee regarding
alleged off-label marketing of pharmaceutical products.
11) We
represented Hoffman-La Roche, Inc., in an investigation into
allegations that its drug, Accutane, contributed to teen suicides.
The investigation ended with multiple congressional hearings in which
we represented Roche.
__________________________________
Other bits and bytes:
12) Lead counsel to
Pfizer ...
13) Lead counsel to
GlaxoSmithKline ...
14) Representated
Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Inc ...
15) National co-coordinating counsel for
Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. and
Roche Laboratories Inc. ...
16) Lead counsel to
Purdue Pharma in OxyContin antitrust and
consumer protection class actions.
17) Representing one of the
world's leading oil companies in an EU
cartel investigation into the bitumen market.
18) Represented a coalition of
eleven oil and gas companies whose efforts to
pursue development of their California offshore oil and gas leases were
thwarted by the federal government.
19) Represented other oil companies, including
Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, in
breach of contract lawsuits involving leases offshore Alaska, Florida and
North Carolina.
20) September 2003 press release from the firm, C&B successfully
argued on behalf of the
Southern Peru Copper Corporation* to drop a lawsuit
brought against it by Peruvian citizens charging the copper company with
polluting communities and causing health problems.
21) Covington & Burling also served as "corporate affairs
consultants" to the
Philip Morris group of companies and helped organize the
company's "Whitecoat Project," Big Tobacco's "no scientific
consensus" campaign.
* The company is based in Phoenix, Az.
An astronomer who has worked on a number of NASA projects, Ken lives in Baltimore, where he devotes his scientific training to observations and inferences about current affairs, politics and the media.
He authors
Shockfront and
The Bonehead Compendium.