Blogging the Convention

Siegelman Fires Up Colo. Dems

By Richard Martin, 8-25-08

	Jail Rove, not me

It’s not often you get to meet an authentic political prisoner. That was the opportunity the Colorado delegation had this morning at the daily breakfast meeting at Denver’s Grand Hyatt. Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, jailed for nearly a year on a questionable bribery conviction that is now being reviewed by the federal court of appeals, spoke to the assembled paty faithful.

Siegelman, now 62, looks surprisingly hale considering that he was imprisoned at a federal maximum security prison. He was released last March after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that there was substantial grounds for the appeal of his June, 2006 conviction on bribery and mail fraud charges. Fifty-four former state attorneys general have filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that what Siegelman was convicted of is not a crime. (You can read a full account of Siegelman’s case in this 60 Minutes report.)

Whether you’re an Obama voter or not, the circumstances of Siegelman’s trial and conviction sound more like a Kafka novel than something that actually happened in America in the 21st century. Siegelman used his speech before the Colo. delegation for one main purpose: to argue that Congress should vote contempt charges against former Bush Administration official Karl Rove, who has been implicated by several sources in the takedown of Siegelman.

“This isn’t about me,” Siegelman insisted more than once. “This is about the future of this country, about right and wrong, and holding accountable the people who who hijacked the Department of Justice so it was used as political tool to win elections.”

Citing “executive privilege,” Rove has refused to testify under oath before Congress. The House Judiciary Committee recommended that he be held in contempt for ignoring the congressional subpoena, and the full House will have the opportunity to vote on the issue in the fall session.

“If we want to discover the truth, and restore justice to this country, Congress must hold Karl Rove in contempt,” Siegelman said to a standing ovation from the half-full ballroom.

Siegelman’s own appeal will be heard early next year before a federal court in Alabama. 

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