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.

We have covered the issue of the provacative e-mails before. We said then and we’ll say again now. If the jury was reading news coverage online and communicating about that through e-mail, this case should have automatically been declared a mistrial. The very idea that Siegelman, a white collar defendant even the government said was no flight risk, was shackled off to jail the day of the sentencing hearing by a judge who knew there was improper jury communications going on is by itself a travesty of justice.

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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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Glynn Wilson

The sun rises in the east on Highway 66 with about 30 miles to go to reach the nation’s capital.

NATIONAL PRESS CLUB, WASHINGTON, D.C. — We’re just now getting back online after the long drive from Birmingham to Washington, D.C. overnight and will have a full report later on about the interesting people we met at the forum on Justice Department misconduct from Alaska to Georgia and some of their stories and photos.

For now, checkout these live blog notes from David Swanson,

LiveBlogging National Press Club Forum on Justice Department

We’ll have video later too. Some updates already coming in in the comments, including the C-SPAN link…

Congress is set to vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act on Friday, a new climate bill that, tragically, doesn’t have the teeth to save us from climate change, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

First, the bill’s greenhouse gas reductions targets are insufficient to stabilize atmospheric CO2 at 350 ppm, the goal scientists say we need to reach to avoid runaway global warming. Its emissions-lowering targets will give us more than a 50/50 chance of hitting the catastrophic tipping point at which climate change will spiral out of control, with ripple effects like the extinction of polar bears and numerous other species, loss of crop yields, and dangerous water scarcity for billions of people.

Second, the bill would senselessly discard some of our best weapons for fighting climate change under the Clean Air Act, eliminating the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to control emissions from sources like power plants, oil refineries, and industrial plants; letting wealthy industries continue spewing too much CO2 into the air; and allowing the construction of numerous coal-fired power plants without any additional emissions-reductions targets for more than a decade into the future.

The non-profit group urges citizens concerned about the climate and the environment to take action immediately by urging their Congressional Representatives to strengthen the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Learn about the lobbying frenzy surrounding it in the New York Times.

Jefferson, Tuscaloosa counties make EPA top 20 list for airborne cancer risk

An Environmental Protection Agency report released this week adds to the mounting evidence about the risk of increased risk of cancer from air pollution in Alabama.

The report utilized the most current national data available (2002 toxic emissions data) to assess risk levels for cancer caused by airborne pollutants and found that Tuscaloosa and Jefferson counties were in the top 20 of all the counties in the United States for highest risk levels.

This study marks the fifth of its kind in seven months detailing the unsafe levels of cancer-causing toxics concentrated in Alabama communities.

In December, the Conservation Alabama Foundation released a study that found Alabama residents to be at a much higher risk of exposure to 13 carcinogenic air toxics, as compared to limits set by the EPA.

The modeling data in the EPA report underscores the continuing need for more stringent controls on toxic emissions. The Foundation is discussing such controls with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM).

“We are hopeful that ADEM will have a proposal to reduce toxic emissions by the end of the year,” said Adam Snyder, executive director of the foundation. “However, if ADEM won’t take the lead on this issue, we will ask the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) to adopt rules to reduce toxic emissions.”

Wednesday’s EPA report revealed that Tuscaloosa’s cancer risk rate caused by air pollution was 67 per 100,000 people, while Jefferson County’s air pollution posed a risk of 63 in 100,000. The national average is 3.6 per 100,000 people.

The Conservation Alabama Foundation’s report is available online at
Website.

Links to Other Air Reports

Summary of Results from the EPA National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (Released June 2009)

Toxic Air and America’s Schools (USA Today – December 2008)

Toxic Air Pollution in Alabama – A Threat to Human Health (December 2008)

Birmingham Air Toxics Study (February 2009)

Justice in the Air (April 2009)

Links to Articles

Jefferson and Tuscaloosa Counties make EPA Top 20 List for Cancer Risk from Airborne Pollutants (The Birmingham News – June 25, 2009)

Study: Holt has high risk of cancer from air pollution (The Tuscaloosa News – June 25, 2009)

Let’s Break Down South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s Affair, That ‘Sparking Thing’

I had a crush on a chick from Argentina once in New Orleans. Their culture is interesting, and not so prudish as here. Maybe we should legalize sex in American, eh?

Sorry, though. We can’t cry for family values Republicans caught with their pants down at this point … Lewinsky anyone?

There they go again, the Wall Street Journal and Karl Rove.

ObamaCare Isn’t Inevitable

In his latest rant, published in Rupert Murdock’s Wall Street Journal, Bush’s brain admits “there is some good news in the Resurgent Republic poll for Mr. Obama if he can sell his plan as shifting power from ‘insurance bureaucrats to consumers.’ Resurgent’s poll found that Americans favor that by 57% to 38%.”

But he spins himself into a snort-em-up rant with this conclusion, like only the king spiderman can.

“Health-care reform was said to be ‘inevitable’ a few months ago. Today, its prospects are less certain, even to Democrats. The issue may even turn out to be a millstone for the party.”

Whoa, hooo…, biatch… How about this Karl Rovism…

“Americans are increasingly concerned about the cost — in money and personal freedom — of Mr. Obama’s nanny-state initiatives.

Nanny-state, jackpot justice, you got to hand it to him, but they ain’t buying it no mo…

“To strengthen the emerging coalition of independents and Republicans, the GOP must fight Mr. Obama’s agenda with reasoned arguments and attractive alternatives. Health care may actually be an issue that helps resurrect the GOP.

Hahaha! LOL! ROFL!

Hey Turd Blossom? Don’t you think you would be doing yourself and your party a favor by just disappearing from the limelight for awhile, like your buddy Georgie down in Crawford? What’s shakin’ down on Rosemary Beach?

Give this up man. You just ain’t no good at being a columnist. We can read polls too : )

Ha!

ObamaCare Isn’t Inevitabler

National Press Club to Host Speakers Including Conyers, Clemon, Horton and Siegelman

U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) is scheduled to keynote an unprecedented press conference June 26 about misconduct allegations against the U.S. Department of Justice. The 8 to 11 a.m. forum will take place at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Experts from Congress and federal courts along with defendants and legal commentators will discuss evidence before the Judiciary Committee that the Bush administration targeted defendants on the basis of political beliefs.

Evidence includes the fact that elected Democrats were seven times more likely to be investigated than Republican officials.

Confirmed speakers for Friday’s forum will include Alabama’s former Governor Don Siegelman, a Democrat who was convicted on corruption charges during a second trial in 2006. The next year, a Republican whistle-blower provided evidence of a conspiracy to eliminate Siegelman from politics.

Retired Chief U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon of Birmingham will discuss his recent letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder saying that Siegelman’s first prosecution was “the most unfounded criminal case over which I presided during my entire judicial career” of nearly 30 years.

Law professor and Harper‘s columnist Scott Horton, among the first and most vehement critics of the prosecutions, will discuss why the recently dismissed convictions of GOP Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska was a political prosecution also. The Alaskan’s prosecutor is among top DoJ leaders invited to speak.

Former Georgia State Sen. Majority Leader Charles Walker’s 10-year sentence will be on the agenda as well. Last month, his 2005 trial judge recused himself after Walker proved an appearance of bias. Earlier, DoJ forced the resignation of the first prosecutor for misconduct. On Friday, Walker’s son Charles “Champ” Walker plans to announce a national campaign to protest mistreatment of similar defendants around the nation.

“These cases must be investigated,” says Walker, a former congressional candidate. “The biggest scandal in American politics is prosecution misconduct against Democrats, which is as indefensible as racial bias.”

Confirmed speakers include: Congressman Hank Johnson (D-GA), chair of Judiciary’s crime and competition subcommittee; former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, twice acquitted in prosecutions that imprisoned trial lawyer Paul Minor; Puerto Rico State Senate Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia (D), representing acquitted former Gov. Anibal Acevedo; Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron; Project Save Justice Executive Director Gail Sistrunk, discussing the group’s video, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove”; Investigative reporter Andrew Kreig; and McClendon Group President John Hurley.

“The lid is coming off deep, dark secrets,” says Hurley, a former staff aide to the late White House correspondent Sarah McClendon. “This is an opportunity to learn about some of the nation’s most important and controversial recent investigations of official corruption.”

Sponsors include such civil rights groups as Alliance for Justice, Project Save Justice, and Velvet Revolution US. Registration is free. Reporters can arrange interviews with speakers.

“This conference is vital to acquainting the public with DOJ misconduct,” said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, author of the definitive book, Prosecutorial Misconduct.

To learn more, peruse the most extensive archive on the case on the Web Press.

Don Siegelman On Trial

For more information about the press conference, hit the Web site of The Sarah McClendon Group: PoliticalProsecutions.org.