From: Bill Gallagher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: June 6, 2007 9:33:39 PM PDT
Subject: Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor
Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor
By Adam Zagorin
In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for
power is
often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic
governor,
Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges
and faces
a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Siegelman has long claimed
that his
prosecution was driven by politically motivated, Republican-
appointed U.S.
attorneys.
Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been
implicated in the controversy. A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama
swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove
"had
spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman,
with help
from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys.
The allegation was made by Dana Jill Simpson, a lifelong
Republican and
lawyer who practices in Alabama. She made the charges in a May 21
affidavit,
obtained by TIME, in which she describes a conference call on
November 18,
2002, which involved a group of senior aides to Bob Riley, who had
just
narrowly defeated Siegelman in a bitterly contested election for
governor.
Though Republican Riley, a former Congressman, initially found himself
behind by several thousand votes, he had pulled ahead at the last
minute
when disputed ballots were tallied in his favor. After the abrupt vote
turnaround, Siegelman sought a recount. The Simpson affidavit says the
conference call focused on how the Riley campaign could get
Siegelman to
withdraw his challenge.
According to Simpson's statement, William Canary, a senior G.O.P.
political operative and Riley adviser who was on the conference
call, said
"not to worry about Don Siegelman" because "'his girls' would take
care of"
the governor. Canary then made clear that "his girls" was a
reference to his
wife, Leura Canary, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of
Alabama,
and Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of
Alabama.
Canary reassured others on the conference call - who also included
Riley's son, Rob, and Terry Butts, another Riley lawyer and former
justice
of the Alabama supreme court - that he had the help of a powerful
pal in
Washington. Canary said "not to worry - that he had already gotten
it worked
out with Karl and Karl had spoken with the Department of Justice
and the
Department of Justice was already pursuing Don Siegelman," the Simpson
affidavit says. Both U.S. attorney offices subsequently indicted
Siegelman
on a variety of charges, although Leura Canary recused herself from
dealing
with the case in May 2002. A federal judge dismissed the Northern
District
case before it could be tried, but Siegelman was convicted in the
Middle
District on bribery and conspiracy charges last June.
William Canary called the allegations "outrageous" and "the
desperate
act of a desperate politician." Terry Butts said, "I do not recall
this
telephone conversation - this whole story must have been created by
a drunk
fiction writer." A White House spokesman told TIME that since the
case of
former Governor Siegelman remained before the courts, it would have no
comment.
Rob Riley said, "I do not recall making the statement
attributed to me."
He added: "Neither I nor anyone on our campaign staff have been
involved ...
in a conspiracy to bring a criminal case against Don Siegelman." Lewis
Frankling, who prosecuted Siegelman, said he did confer on several
occasions
with Justice Dept. officials in Washington, but that "nobody
ordered me to
bring this case, and we handled it just like any other."
Canary was appointed by President George H. W. Bush to serve in
the
White House as special assistant for intergovernmental affairs, and
then
named chief of staff of the Republican National Committee. Later in
the
1990's he also worked closely with Karl Rove in a successful series of
campaigns to get Republicans elected to Alabama's state courts.
In an interview with TIME, Simpson confirmed that the "Karl"
cited in
her sworn statement was Karl Rove. "There's absolutely no question
it was
Karl Rove, no doubt whatsoever," she said. She also said she has phone
records to back up the date and duration of her phone calls.
Though Simpson's legal work primarily involved research for
companies
seeking federal government contracts, she says she also did
"opposition
research" on Siegelman as a volunteer in Riley's campaign in 2002. A
lifelong G.O.P. supporter, she says she has long been friendly with
Riley's
son, Rob Riley, whom she met at the University of Alabama and
worked with on
various legal cases.
In her interview with TIME, Simpson said the participants in the
conference call expressed growing concern that Gov. Siegelman would
refuse
to give up his challenge to the vote count. According to Simpson,
Rob Riley
said, "Siegelman's just like a cockroach, he'll never die, what are
we going
to do?" At that point Canary offered reassurance by citing Rove's
news from
Justice Department.
Simpson said she had long been troubled by the conference call
conversation, and even consulted an official of the Alabama State Bar
Association to determine whether she could disclose it publicly
without
violating her obligations as a volunteer working for the Riley
campaign. She
was told, she said, that she was free to speak of the matter.
Simpson said she grew more concerned about the matter after
Siegelman's
conviction last June. She says she told several friends about the
conference
call; one of them, Mark Bollinger, a former aide to a Democratic
attorney
general in Alabama and in the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, has
given his
own affidavit, obtained by TIME, swearing that Simpson had told him
of the
conference call and Rove's alleged statements.
The federal investigation of Siegelman culminated in a criminal
prosecution that became public not long after Siegelman announced
that he
would run again for governor of Alabama in 2006. Partly because of the
investigation, Siegelman failed in his bid for the Democratic
nomination.
Siegelman, together with former HealthSouth CEO Richard
Scrushy, was
convicted on bribery and conspiracy charges and faces sentencing
June 26.
Lawyers for Siegelman and Scrushy told TIME they were considering
whether to
use Simpson's affadavit in expected motions to dismiss charges
against their
clients, or in some other phase of what is likely to be a
protracted appeals
process.
Siegelman was convicted of appointing Scrushy to a hospital
regulatory
board in exchange for a $500,000 contribution to a campaign for a
state
lottery to fund education. Defense lawyers have argued that
Siegelman drew
no personal financial benefit from Scrushy's donation to the lottery
campaign, and they note that Scrushy had served on the hospital
regulatory
board under three previous governors, before Siegelman reappointed
him. The
reappointment, they have argued, offered little of value to Scrushy
except
more work.
