[Sosfbay-discuss] Gov. Siegelman's prison release begin's Rove's demise?

[Drew Johnson]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/washington/28cnd-siegelman.html?_r=2&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1206805713-eJrJ0bO6efNCtXmu+Yhexg
Freed Alabama Ex-Governor Sees Politics in His Case

Published: March 29, 2008

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Former Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, released from
prison today on bond in a bribery case, said he was as convinced as ever
that politics played a leading role in his prosecution.

In a telephone interview shortly after he walked out of a federal prison
in Oakdale, La., Mr. Siegelman said there had been “abuse of power” in his
case, and repeatedly cited the influence of Karl Rove, the former White
House political director.

“His fingerprints are smeared all over the case,” Mr. Siegelman said, a
day after a federal appeals court ordered him released on bond and said
there were legitimate questions about his case.

Mr. Rove has strenuously denied any involvement in the conviction of the
former governor, who was sentenced to serve seven years last June after
being convicted in 2006. He could not immediately be reached for comment
today.

Mr. Siegelman served nine months while his lawyers appealed a federal
judge’s refusal to release him on bond, pending the ex-governor’s appeal
of his conviction. That refusal was overturned by the United States Court
of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Thursday.

The former governor, a Democrat, said he would “press” to have Mr. Rove
answer questions about his possible involvement in the case before
Congress, which has already held a hearing on Mr. Siegelman. On Thursday,
the House Judiciary Committee signaled its intention to have Mr. Siegelman
testify about the nature of his prosecution.

In June of 2006 he was convicted by a federal jury here of taking $500,000
from Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive of the HealthSouth
corporation, in exchange for an appointment to the state hospital
licensing board. The money was to retire a debt from Mr. Siegelman’s
campaign for a state lottery to pay for schools, and the ex-governor’s
lawyers have insisted that it was no more than a routine political
contribution.

On the telephone outside the prison today, Mr. Siegelman said he had
confidence that the federal appeals court, which will now consider his
larger appeal, would agree with his view of the case — that he was
convicted for a transaction that regularly takes place in American
politics.

Otherwise, Mr. Siegelman said, “every governor and every president and
every contributor might as well turn themselves in, because it’s going to
be open season on them.”

His case has become a flash point for Democratic contentions that politics
influenced decisions by the Justice Department, fueled by testimony from
an Alabama campaign operative that suggested Mr. Rove may have had some
involvement.

In Alabama, the Siegelman case has inflamed partisan passions, with
Republicans insisting that Mr. Siegelman’s term from 1998 to 2002 was
deeply corrupted, and Democrats furious over what they depict as a
years-long political witch-hunt.

Before his release earlier in the day, the ex-governor completed his
prison chores for the day — mopping a barracks area — and waited for his
wife and son to pick him up for the eight-hour drive to his home in
Birmingham, Ala.

“It feels great to be out,” Mr. Siegelman said. “I wish I could say it was
over. But we’re a long way from the end of this.”