Is she running for president in 2012, like the talking heads say?

Or, is there a coming “Iceberg Scandal” and is this all about damage control?

Hmmm. Stay tuned…

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Elliot Mintzberg, chief counsel for oversight investigations of the House Judiciary Committee, answered direct questions from Glynn Wilson, Editor and Publisher of The Locust Fork News-Journal, last Friday at a press conference on corruption in the U.S. justice system. He refused to give a date for former Bush political aide Karl Rove’s interview, but he insisted it would be under oath, subject to perjury and transcribed for public release, and could possibly lead to public hearings — as we reported the other day in the news feature Political Justice Under the Spotlight in Washington.

Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks, the Democrat from Fort Payne, said he will push for an education lottery if elected governor of Alabama in 2010.

Sparks made the blockbuster announcement in a news conference in Montgomery on Thursday. His plan also calls for taxing and regulating all gambling operations across the state, as well as college and technical school scholarships for every child in Alabama.

In the announcement at his Montgomery headquarters, Sparks said too many Alabama high school graduates do not attend college or trade schools simply because they can’t afford it.

“Higher education is just a dream that costs too much,” Sparks said.

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Alabama’s Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks, the Democrat from Fort Payne who wants to be governor, will announce major plans in a press conference Thursday to guarantee advanced education for every child, lower taxes yet higher funding for education and Medicaid, plus a disaster relief fund for agriculture.

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If so, then why did he reject the number one idea proposed by the most citizens of Alabama, legalizing marijuana?

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If you haven’t visited our favorite Libertarian blogger in awhile, Loretta Nall, click here now! She’s exposing a major loophole in the campaign of Artur Davis who says he is running for governor of Alabama to make change.

Somehow we don’t think continuing to let Alabama Power make environmental policy in Alabama is much of a change. We don’t think allowing ATnT to continue cooperating with the NSA in spying on innocent American citizens makes for change. And we don’t think ignoring a large block of Alabama’s progressive voters is much change from the politics of the past in this state.

What power brokers is Davis talking about who he blames for criticism of him in this election so far? Certainly he is not talking about his and Karl Rove’s buddy Bill Canary over at the conservative Business Council of Alabama, where they fight tooth and nail for the status quo. Is he talking about Paul Hubbert and/or Joe Reed at AEA? The trial lawyers? I mean hey, Artur, why don’t you just come out and say it?

And here’s a note to The Birmingham News…

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South Carolina Governor Keeps Digging His Hole…

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who recently resigned as the chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association after admitting having an affair with a women from Argintina, now admits more affairs with other women, although he claims they didn’t “cross the sex line.”

Causing MSNBC’s Keith Olberman to make a quip about a new name for a band: Crossing the Sex Line.

Maybe that would also make a great name for a blog. Quick, somebody buy the domain name. CrossingTheSexLine.com. It could house all the sex scandals of all the so-called “family values” Republicans. It would get millions of hits…

Glynn Wilson

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman in Atlanta for his appeal hearing Dec. 9, 2008

ANALYSIS
by Glynn Wilson

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has filed a motion in federal court asking for a new trial based on the emergence of new evidence uncovered since his conviction along with his co-defendant Richard Scrushy.

According to the court document, available here, his motion largely copies the document filed by Scrushy’s attorneys last week.

Scrushy Asks Judge for New Trial in Bribery Case

After a full reading of the motion, these are the main points.

Siegelman’s lawyers are accusing the federal prosecutors of blatant misconduct, including the manipulation of testimony from key witness Nick Bailey, improper contact with jurors and failure to disclose key documents to the defense, thus denying Siegelman and Scrushy a fair trial under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

The motion demands an immediate evidentiary hearing to explore improper communications between the prosecutors and the jury and between prosecutors and the judge not disclosed to the defense team.

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Will the Republicans really fight Obama’s Supreme Court pick?

Or in the end, will they just play games to raise money and throw red meat to the base?

Most of the real experts say Sotomayor will most likely be confirmed. But there will always be wrinkles, or rumors of wrinkles…

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge, according to AP.

The talking heads are all a Twitter about this, but is it a lot of hot air about nothing?

Meanwhile, the rumor mill is alive and spewing down Montgomery way with this tidbit.

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Glynn Wilson

Judge U.W. Clemon criticized The Birmingham News and the Bush Justice Department at The National Press Club

by Glynn Wilson

WASHINGTON, D.C. — One of the most significant problems corrupting American society and politics over the past eight years is finally getting the public spotlight it deserves in the nation’s capital. You can’t run a successful democracy without an honest system of justice that is removed as far as possible from politics, according to a panel of experts who spoke at one of the most venerated institutions in the United States, the National Press Club.

Some of the people who came from as far away as Alaska, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia were a bit disappointed when it was announced that former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers were not able to make it.

But Elliot Mintzberg, chief counsel for oversight investigations of the House Judiciary Committee, who came in Conyers’ place, insisted that all the investigations are continuing full bore into the politicization of the justice system by the Bush White House and Department of Justice — in spite of a certain camp in Washington who would rather “look forward, not back.”

Glynn Wilson

House Judiciary Committee investigator Elliot Mintzberg

He said the investigation into the firings of U.S. attorneys and the improper interference of Bush’s White House staff, including political aide Karl Rove, “is not yet done.”

In response to my direct questions about when Karl Rove will be called to testify and the controversy over whether his testimony will be fully on the record and subject to contempt laws, Mintzberg said a date has been set, but he could not reveal it. He insisted the committee will fully probe Rove on the record in a transcribed deposition that will make him subject to perjury if he lies to Congress. He insisted the deposition will be released to the public when the time comes just like the testimony of other witnesses, including Alabama attorney Jill Simpson’s, who made the trip to Washington for the forum. And he said that might very well lead to public hearings.

Mintzberg said investigations are continuing on several fronts.

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