Don Siegelman

Donald Eugene Siegelman
File:DonSpeaking1.jpg
51st Governor of Alabama
In office January 18, 1999 – January 29, 2003
Lieutenant	Steve Windom
Preceded by	Fob James
Succeeded by	Bob Riley
27th Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
In office January 16, 1995 – January 18, 1999
Governor	Fob James
Preceded by	Ryan DeGraffenried
Succeeded by	Steve Windom
43rd Alabama Attorney General
In office January 1987 – January 1991
Governor	H. Guy Hunt
Preceded by	Charles Graddick
Succeeded by	Jimmy Evans
44th Secretary of State of Alabama
In office January 1979 – January 1987
Governor	Fob James George Wallace
Preceded by	Agnes Baggett
Succeeded by	Glen Browder
Personal details
Born	(1946-02-24) February 24, 1946 Mobile, Alabama
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lori Allen
Profession	Politician

Donald Eugene Siegelman (born February 24, 1946) is an American Democratic politician. He was the governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003. Don Siegelman is the only person in the history of Alabama to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide elected offices: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. He served in Alabama politics for 26 years, winning his first election for the governorship with 57% of the vote, including over 90% of the African-American electorate.

He was defeated for reelection in November 2002 by Representative Bob Riley by the narrowest margin in Alabama history: approximately 3,000 votes. The margin was controversial, as a voting machine malfunction in a single county produced the votes needed to give Siegelman the election. When the malfunction was corrected, Riley emerged the winner. The recount, however, of that county's votes was affirmed by the state's Attorney General, Republican Bill Pryor.

In 2006, a Federal jury convicted Siegelman on corruption charges, and he was sentenced to seven years in prison. He served some time at the satellite camp of the Federal Detention Center in Oakdale, Louisiana. On March 28, 2008, he was released on bond by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals pending his appeal.

Personal life and early career

Don Siegelman was born and grew up in Mobile, Alabama. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1968, and from Georgetown University Law Center and studied international law at the University of Oxford. While at the University of Alabama, Siegelman served as the President of the Student Government Association and member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. While in law school at Georgetown, Siegelman met his expenses by working as an officer in the United States Capitol Police. Prior to becoming Governor in 1999, he had served as Lieutenant Governor from 1995 to 1999, state Attorney General from 1987 to 1991, and Secretary of State from 1979 to 1987.

Siegelman is married to Lori Allen, and they have two children, Dana and Joseph. Siegelman is Catholic, and his wife Lori is Jewish; they raised their children Jewish. Joseph had a bar mitzvah, and Dana had a bat mitzvah at Montgomery's Conservative congregation, Agudath Israel Etz Ahayem.

Siegelman has studied martial arts for decades and holds a black belt in Kyokushin-style karate.

Governorship

Siegelman attempted to capitalize early in his administration on what had been the keystone issue of his campaign: a state lottery, with the proceeds funding free tuition at state universities for most high school graduates. Disregarding the advice of some supporters, Siegelman supported a bill that placed the lottery on a free-standing referendum ballot in 1999. The measure was defeated. Many analysts believe that the key to the lottery's defeat was the difference in turnout between supporters and opponents. Some advisers had suggested that Siegelman wait until the regular 2000 elections, when anti-gambling interests would command a smaller percentage of the electorate.

After the defeat of the lottery, Siegelman struggled to deal with serious state budget problems. Alabama's tax system is historically sensitive to economic downturns, and tax revenues were down during most of his administration. Despite this, observers felt that Siegelman did a decent job of managing the limited revenue produced by this system during a national economic downturn.

Among his recognized achievements, Siegelman launched the "Alabama Reading Initiative", an early education literacy program that was praised by both Democratic and Republican officials, and emulated by several other states. Also, he was able to eliminate virtually all portable classrooms in the state's public schools, making good on a platform of his campaign.

Siegelman's term took place in the midst of an explosive growth in Alabama's automotive manufacturing industry. The first new major plant, for Mercedes-Benz, came to Alabama in the administration of Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. During Siegelman's administration, Mercedes agreed to double the size of that plant. Siegelman became an energetic industrial recruiter, visiting several countries and securing commitments from Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai to build major assembly plants in Alabama.

As Governor, Siegelman presided over eight executions (seven by electric chair, one by lethal injection), including that of Lynda Lyon Block, the first female executed in the state since 1957. He also oversaw transition from electrocution as a sole method to lethal injection as primary method.

2002 election controversy

Main article: Alabama gubernatorial election, 2002

On the night of the 2002 election, in which Siegelman ran as the incumbent against Republican Bob Riley, Siegelman was initially declared the winner by the Associated Press. However, local officials changed totals of the votes cast in Baldwin County in a controversial post-midnight recount from which Democratic observers were excluded, giving Riley the victory. See the main article at Alabama gubernatorial election, 2002: Baldwin County Controversy. Largely as a result of this controversy, the Alabama Legislature amended the election code to provide for automatic, supervised recounts in close races.

2006 gubernatorial election

Siegelman faced Lt. Governor Lucy Baxley and minor candidates in the Democratic primary on June 6, during his trial. Despite Baxley's relatively low-profile campaign, she easily defeated Siegelman in the primary with almost 60% of the vote compared to Siegelman's 36%. Siegelman was convicted of federal corruption charges just three weeks later.

Baxley went on to lose to incumbent Bob Riley in the general election. Riley won 58% of the vote; Baxley, just under 42%.

Federal prosecution

Alabama's U.S. Attorneys began a criminal investigation of Governor Siegelman in 1999 based on accusations of corruption while in office. In 2004, Siegelman was indicted, and in 2006 was convicted on corruption charges.

Early developments

On May 27, 2004, Siegelman was indicted on federal charges. The day after his trial began, prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges, when the third judge threw out much of the prosecution's evidence "with prejudice," meaning that charges could not be refiled based on the disallowed evidence.

Conviction in 2006

Siegelman, represented by Mobile attorneys Vince Kilborn and David McDonald, along with Greenwood attorney Hiram Eastland and Notre Dame law professor G. Robert Blakey, the author of RICO, was acquitted on 25 charges, including the indictment's allegations of a widespread RICO conspiracy.

On October 26, 2005, Siegelman was indicted on new charges of bribery and mail fraud in connection with Richard M. Scrushy, founder and former CEO of HealthSouth. Two former Siegelman aides were charged in the indictment as well.

In short, Siegelman was accused of trading government favors for campaign donations when he was governor from 1999 to 2003 and lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1999, and Scrushy was accused of arranging $500,000 in donations to Siegelman's campaign for a state lottery in exchange for a seat on a state hospital regulatory board. In fact, Scrushy had a history of shady dealings and had recently been investigated for his part in the HealthSouth Corporation fraud scandal which cost shareholders billions.

On June 29, 2006, a federal jury found both Siegelman and Scrushy guilty. Siegelman was convicted on "one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, four counts of honest services mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice", according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Siegelman was sentenced by Judge Mark Everett Fuller to more than seven years in federal prison and a $50,000 fine.

Jury controversy

Following the trial, Kilborn and McDonald raised issues regarding the jury's impartiality after receiving what purported to be emails exchanged between two jurors during the trial. In court the judge said, "I do not want to deliberate too much about these e-mails".

Unrelated to that issue, in his appeal Siegelman argued that Fuller "gave the jury false instructions."

Rove controversy

In June 2007, a Republican lawyer, Dana Jill Simpson of Rainsville, Alabama, signed a sworn statement that, five years earlier, she had heard that Karl Rove was preparing to neutralize Siegelman politically with an investigation headed by the U.S. Department of Justice. Simpson later told the Birmingham News that her affidavit's wording could be interpreted in two ways. She also stated in the same interview that she had written her affidavit herself, whereas in her Congressional testimony she had admitted to having help from a Siegelman supporter.

According to Simpson's statement, she was on a Republican campaign conference call in 2002 when she heard Bill Canary tell other campaign workers not to worry about Siegelman because Canary's "girls" and "Karl" would make sure the Justice Department pursued the Democrat so he was not a political threat in the future. "Canary's girls" supposedly included his wife, Leura Canary, who is United States Attorney for United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and United States Attorney for United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama Alice Martin. Leura Canary did not submit voluntary recusal paperwork until two months after Siegelman attorney David Cromwell Johnson's press conference in March 2002.

An opinion piece in the Alabama Press Register claims that Simpson's story has changed several times. According to the story, initially she said she heard Rove's name mentioned in a phone conversation where the discussion turned to Siegelman. Then she said she heard someone involved in a 2002 conference call refer to Mr. Rove meeting with Justice Department officials about the case. Finally she told 60 Minutes in 2008 that Karl Rove ordered her to "catch Siegelman cheating on his wife." In reality, the CBS story reported all three of these accounts, which are from 3 distinct conversations and thus do not conflict with each other.

In July 2007, 44 former state attorneys general, both Democrats and Republicans, signed a petition to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees requesting further investigation of the Siegelman prosecution.

In September 2007, Simpson gave sworn testimony to the United States House Committee on the Judiciary regarding this issue. However, despite her claims to 60 Minutes about having met and spoken with Rove repeatedly over the previous several years, in her sworn testimony to Congress she did not claim to have ever spoken with him or met with him (see Congressional reaction).

Reporters Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane reported on the news site Raw Story that Karl Rove met with Riley campaign higher-ups and advised Bill Canary on managing Republican Bob Riley's campaign against Siegelman: "Two Republican lawyers who have asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation allege that Canary and Rove also worked together on the 2002 Alabama governor's race. One of the lawyers is close to the Republican National Committee in Alabama".

Public reaction

Siegelman's supporters and interested academics established a website, donsiegelman.org, explaining their points of view.

Siegelman defenders point out that over 100 charges were thrown out by three different judges, and the investigating U.S. Attorney was the wife of Siegelman's political opponent's campaign manager.

Siegelman defenders argue that the sentence and fine are unusual and excessive because, for example, former Alabama Governor Guy Hunt, a Republican, was found guilty in state court of personally pocketing $200,000, and state prosecutors sought probation, not jail time, in the Hunt case.

60 Minutes aired an investigative segment on the case called "The Prosecution of Governor Siegelman" on February 24, 2008. During the broadcast WHNT in Alabama did not air this segment of the program, but claimed to have had technical issues with the signal. However, Scott Horton of Harper's Magazine says that he contacted CBS News in New York regarding the issue and claims that he was told that there were no transmission issues, and that Channel 19 had functioning transmitters at the time; Horton also noted that "This station was noteworthy for its hostility to Siegelman and support for his Republican adversary". The station responded to the controversy by broadcasting the report the next day.

Congressional reaction

On July 17, 2007, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and Reps. Linda Sánchez (CA-39), Artur Davis (AL-07), and Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, asking him to provide documents and information about former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman’s recent conviction, among others, that may have been part of a pattern of selective political prosecutions by a number of U.S. Attorneys across the country.

The deadline for providing the information was July 27, 2007. The documents had not been produced by August 28, 2007, the date that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that he would resign. In an editorial that day, the New York Times said that despite Gonzales' departure, "[M]any questions remain to be answered. High on the list: what role politics played in dubious prosecutions, like those of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, and Georgia Thompson, a Wisconsin civil servant".

Recent press reports have indicated that perhaps US Attorney Leura Canary of the Middle District of Alabama did not follow proper DOJ procedures in recusing herself from the Siegelman matter, since there were no filings to that effect made in court and Justice refused to disclose her 502 recusal form under FOIA.

On October 10, 2007, the House Judiciary Committee released testimony in which Simpson alleged Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys and that Rob Riley had named the judge who would eventually be assigned to the case. She also claimed Rob Riley told her the judge would "hang Don Siegelman". However, in contrast with what she told 60 Minutes, she never claimed in her sworn testimony to have met or spoken with Karl Rove.

Release from Federal Prison

On Thursday, March 27, 2008, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approved the release of former Governor Siegelman from federal prison while he appeals his conviction in the corruption case. He was released on Friday the 28th.

External links

• DonSiegelman.org A website in support of Don Siegelman
• Alabama Department of Archives & History - Alabama Governor Don Siegelman profile
• National Governors Association - Alabama Governor Donald Eugene Siegelman profile
• On the Issues - Don Siegelman issue positions and quotes
• Follow the Money - Don Siegelman
  • 2006 2002 1998
• New York Times - Topics: Donald Siegelman collection of news stories
• http://blog.locustfork.net/index.php/healthsouths-richard-scrushy-on-trial/jill-simpsons-a The first interview with Jill Simpson
• http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20071105&s=wilson The Nation: A Whistleblower's Tale
• Siegelman archive, Harper's Scott Horton's ongoing investigation
• The New York Times - "Strange Case of An Imprisoned Alabama Governor" September 10, 2007
• [3]Justice Department corruption story - Dead U.S. Attorneys....
• [4] A MUST READ - Why Siegelman case is important to Nation...
• The Raw Story - "The permanent Republican majority:Part One: How a coterie of Republican heavyweights sent a governor to jail" November 26, 2007
• The Raw Story - "The permanent Republican majority:Part Two: Daughter of jailed governor sees White House hand in her father's fall" November 27, 2007
• The Raw Story - "The permanent Republican majority:Part Three: Running elections from the White House" December 16, 2007
• CBS News 60 Minutes - GOP Operative: Rove Sought To Smear Dem February 21, 2008
• Harper's Magazine - "More Prosecutorial Misconduct in Siegelman Case"
• Video of Karl Rove holding "Free Don Siegelman" banner February 25, 2008