The New York Times editorial board is now calling on Congress to investigate the allegations made about Bush Justice Department manipulation of justice in the Jill Simpson affidavit. The editorial page even refers to it as the “Bush Justice Department.”

This is a first, and signals some kind of major sea change at the Times. I tried to get the New York Times to show some skepticism of the Bush Justice Department in its handling of the case of HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy back in the winter of 2005.

Instead, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin referred to one of the Times business reporters as her “little buddy.” Every correspondent I worked for covering that case demonstrated that all they were interested in was throwing Scrushy in jail for the rest of his life and taking all his money away.

The Times editors in the Business section did not back me up when I was harassed by certain U.S. Marshals at the federal courthouse in Birmingham - simply because I was working for the New York Times and the Times had failed to obtain press credentials in advance of the trial.

The paper also never included in ANY story ANY of my reporting showing that the Scrushy case was in some ways politically motivated.

I have no way of knowing if there has been a major personnel change at the Times or why they have changed their minds. Maybe we can chalk that up to Jill Simpson and her sworn affidavit.

Now if only the House and Senate Judiciary Committees would heed what the “new” Times is saying and call for a full investigation, perhaps we can get to the bottom of this once and for all.

In any event, the reporting on this is not over…

NYT: Questions About a Governor’s Fall

The investigation into White House connections to the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy continues by a number of news organizations, although we won’t be publishing much about that here until those stories emerge.

Locust Fork News and Journal Editor and Publisher Glynn Wilson is working under a national investigative reporting grant for several national news outlets, all of which require exclusivity for specific stories under development. So it would not be proper for those stories to be foreshadowed or commented on in this space. Links will be provided when those stories are published.

Keep all those tips coming via e-mail. We appreciate all the supportive comments about the work we have accomplished on this site since it’s creation as Mr. Scrushy’s first trial was underway in 2005 in Birmingham. That was the case that resulted in acquittal.

We will continue to publish here on other subjects as stories arise, so check back often to see what else we’ve got in store.

For those of you who may be new to this Website, this in an experiment in online publishing produced by experienced journalists and photographers. We mostly focus on the big national stories of the day, although we sometimes explore stories of regional, statewide or even local interest - when they spark our interest - especially concerning politics, science and the natural environment.

In that vein, we are also into wildlife photography, especially birds. So if that floats your boat, check back during the bird migration season in spring and fall.

As always, if you have suggestions for improving the site we would love to hear them, although we can’t promise we will be able to implement them all.

Happy surfing…

Connecting those dot, dot, dots…

This is hard to explain to someone from New York, or even Washington.

Let’s see if I can take you through it quickly before I fall asleep after spending all day in Montgomery covering the show trial of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and Richard Scrushy.

If you wake up Friday and pick up a newspaper in Alabama, there will be three stories on the front page for sure.

The top story will be written as a historic piece about how a Democrat (Don Siegelman) was found guilty of taking a bribe from a wealthy businessman (Richard Scrushy). What they won’t tell you is that the prosecution was cooked up in Washington by Karl Rove and company to get Siegelman out of the way - to clear the electoral path of Republican up-and-comers Bob Riley and his son Rob.

The next story down the page will feature a Republican Senator, Jeff Sessions, leading the fight to kill an immigration bill, supposedly backed by President George W. Bush himself. What they won’t tell you is that the bill was sent up to Capitol Hill by Karl Rove so that Sessions could publicly kill it - to prove he’s no rubber stamp vote for Bush in Washington.

Keep looking down the page, and you will see another curious story, a story taken right out of the political playbook of George C. Wallace. As Siegelman was being sentenced and Sessions was killing the immigration bill, our esteemed governor Bob Riley was all over the TV news asking the good and religious people of Alabama, I’m not making this up, to “pray for rain.” He even issued a proclamation declaring June 30 through July 7 as “Days of Prayer for Rain.”

OK, maybe ole Karl didn’t have time to craft the proclamation himself. It would have come out with a little more panache, like “liberal, activist judges.”

If you haven’t read the Atlantic magazine piece about this, now might be a good time to go back and do it.

But you see, Alabama is in the midst of a severe drought right now, and Lord knows we could use the rain. What no one around here remembers, however, is that Wallace used to appeal to the masses to pray for rain - everytime he found himself in hot water with the state legislature in Montgomery.

We are just wondering: Considering all the reports in the New York Times, Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the Florence Times Daily and the Locust Fork Journal about Riley’s connections to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the plot to take down Siegelman in the courts, why is it that no news reporter at any Alabama news organization bothered to call the governor and get his reaction to the Siegelman, Scrushy verdict?

Even if it had occurred to them, the governor would not have been around to give his reaction. Because right after he asked the people to pray for rain, he was whisked off to Washington to have some kind of high level meeting with somebody about something. Could it be that Karl Rove is seriously considering getting Senator Fred Thompson in Tennessee to draft Bob Riley to run as his running mate in the presidential race in 2008?

Nah, that must be a conspiracy theory. Right? How about it right-wing bloggers? Did you figure that one out yet?

You can read all these stories today on the Locust Fork News page. None of them are worth reading by themselves. But when you put them all together, now that makes an interesting read, don’t you think?

If I had the power of subpeona on my side, or if I was a really good hacker, I would like to see the phone records for Thursday from the White House, a certain Senate office, the governor’s office - and the federal courthouse in Montgomery. It would also be interesting to know who actually wrote that sentence for Judge Fuller - while he was in the courtroom rubbing his nose.

MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 28 - U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller’s voice shook just a little as he shot the middle to try and placate both sides Thursday night by sentencing former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to seven years and four months in federal prison and former HealthSouth CEO to six years and 10 months.

He rejected appeals on the part of the defense to allow both defendants to remain out of jail pending an appeal, and the opportunity to go home with their families and get their affairs in order before voluntarily reporting to prison at a later date. He ordered them into the immediate custory of U.S. Marshalls, handcuffed, shackled, and taken to a federal prision in Atlanta.

“Governor Siegelman, there’s no question you’ve done many great things, and I commend your 30 years of public service,” Fuller said. The judge indicated he read the 720 letters sent him “by people of all walks of life” on Siegelman’s behalf, including those with great wealth - and more humble beginnings - all of them with the same investment “in this great country.”

He called it an “unpleasant responsibility” to have to impose the sentence, but he said: “We both took an oath. By your actions you have violated that oath.”

Along with the Bush Justice Department prosecutors in this case, the judge claimed Siegelman and Scrushy damaged public trust in government, while the government’s actions in this case may prove to be a worse violation by the time the investigation is all over.

Fuller showed little mercy for Siegelman, fining him $50,000, plus $181,325 in restitution, along with 500 hours of community service upon his release, which could come after six years and eight months, according to attorneys. Or he could have his time reduced by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta - or the three judge panel there could immediately order his release by throwing the tainted case out of court on appeal.

Judge Fuller also showed little mercy on Richard Scrushy - in spite of an impassioned appeal on behalf of his family and his god - fining him $150,000, due immediately, and ordering him to pay restitution of $267,000 along with 500 hours of community service upon his release.

MONTGOMERY, Ala., June 28 - U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller added five to seven years to the possible prison sentence of Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman today - for talking to the media.

Instead of a possible 10 year sentence, Siegelman is looking at the possibility of 15 to 19 years behind bars, simply for exercising his First Amendment right to free speech, attorneys said.

The judge is using a system of federal guidelines established for sentencing defendants in federal cases based on a quantitative grid system. It’s a 1-43 point system based on court precedents for average sentences given for different kinds of crimes. Defendants can have time taken off for good works, if they are not considered a flight risk, if they show remorse and other things. Points and prison time can be added if they would be considered a risk to go out and commit other crimes or flee, for example.

U.S. government prosecutors argued that Siegelman had engaged in a “propaganda campaign” to “heap disrespect on this court” by talking to the media while awaiting sentencing, which is ironic considering the propaganda devised by Bush political strategist Karl Rove in his long history of manipulating judicial races in Alabama.

Attorney Susan James appealed to the judge to show fairness in the case, and brought up Jill Simpson’s affidavit alleging a conspiracy at the highest levels of the federal government to get Siegelman (reported on extensively below). She said the defense team had not intended to bring it up until the appeal, but the aggressive nature of the Bush Justice Department’s prosecution of Siegelman and the proposal to add more time to his sentence compelled them to bring up the issue to get it on the record.

Sentencing is expected tonight. There’s no free wireless Internet access in the federal courthouse in Montgomery, so for now, you can read the AP story or follow the case on other blogs and the one below.