The Ignoble Arrest of Sue Schmitz at Dawn
In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel.
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level.
And show that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded.
And that even the nobles get properly handled.
All credit for the reporting of this story should rightly be attributed to Scott Horton at Harpers Magazine.
In isolation, the arrest of a 63 year old woman in Alabama may not appear to be a newsworthy event. When that arrest is examined within the broader context of state and national politics, however, a troubling picture is revealed. There are many moving pieces below the surface, threads that connect the motives and machinations behind this arrest, and Scott Horton has been doing yeoman's work to lay plain the case of another political prosecution in Alabama.
All I hope to do here is synthesize the work that has been done by Scott Horton on the subject, by asking some basic questions, and posting what I assume are his answers. I'd strongly urge interested people to read the material presented below at their original source:
Another Election Season, Another Political Prosecution in Alabama [AESAPPIA]
The Newspaper and the Schoolteacher [TNATS]
First, who is Sue Schmitz?
Sue Schmitz is a diminutive, 63-year-old retired social studies teacher who has lived in the town for 38 years, roughly 20 of them as a civics teacher. She is loved in the community and among her students is legendary for her passion for civics and her outreach to the disadvantaged... Schmitz is a Democratic member of the state legislature... She had never before had a conflict with the law in any way. [AESAPPIA]
What are the unique circumstances surrounding her arrest?
She was dragged from her home before the break of dawn. Her husband was forced to stand outside shirtless in the cold while a team of federal agents drags this woman, a respected member of the community, from her bathroom, tearing her flesh in the process so that she left her home dripping blood. All of this was done as part of a conscious attempt to humiliate and shame her, steps directed by Alice Martin. [TNATS]
...her attorney... also noted that he had advised the U.S. Attorney that if they decided to indict his client, she would come in on her own, and he would handle it–an offer spurned in favor of the heavy-handed arrest squad. [AESAPPIA]
What are the charges brought against her?
"We charge that Representative Schmitz’s only substantial ‘work’ was to work her official position in the Legislature to land a job through the postsecondary system," U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said in a statement.
Schmitz was employed from January 2006 until October 2006 by the CITY Skills Training Consortium, an arm of Alabama’s troubled two-year college system...The indictment claims Schmitz made as much as $53,403 annually as a program coordinator despite rarely showing up and doing virtually nothing for the money.
How could the strength of the charges be assessed?
At this point I’ll just say I’m terrifically unimpressed... But even if they were true, what would the solution be? Is it normal to bring a federal prosecution against a school teacher who fails to perform all of her teaching plan? Has anyone ever heard of such a thing? The normal course would be for her contractor (which is not the state of Alabama) to fire her. And in fact they did. That firing was contested, and the court ruled that her firing was wrongful. It’s on appeal now. Of course, these are "inconvenient facts," so the Birmingham News doesn’t share any of them with you. [TNATS]
What does this arrest have to do with Alabama politics? *
Bob Riley has a dilemma. He has one major objective to achieve to conclude his term as governor of Alabama, and that is to put the state’s legislature in Republican hands... Riley and his G.O.P. campaign team have settled on a campaign to accomplish their objective. They did some quick tallying and found that 33 legislators have some position in the state’s two-year college program. Thirty of them are Democrats. So, Riley and his team reason, if they can take out this group, they will accomplish their objective of crafting a new G.O.P. legislature. [TNATS]
Where is the Alabama media on this?
First, where do we read about this? On the editorial page of one of the three Newhouse newspapers that have a lock on the state’s print media market, and which operate as the press service of the Republican Party. The Mobile Press-Register, which otherwise publishes fawning pieces about Governor Riley’s cowboy boots and describes Karl Rove as a persecuted genius, now tells us that the G.O.P.’s plan to "take control of the legislature" (their words) is a wonderful idea. Indeed, it gets the official seal of approval of the paper. You can read this on line at the Press-Register’s website, but why not read it at the website of the Alabama G.O.P.? After all, they are all part of the same operation. [AESAPPIA]
The Birmingham News tells us that the criminal case will decide her fate. But the fact is that the Birmingham News already convicted her and is publishing and editorializing as part of a campaign to poison the well and deprive her of a fair trial. The News reported in advance of the rest of the world on every aspect of Alice Martin’s investigation, and this editorial offers up the most fawning quotations and references to Martin — more evidence of their hand-in-glove relationship. [TNATS]
What role does the U.S. Attorney's office play here?
And today we see the typical pincer movement involving the Alabama G.O.P. election campaign’s third arm, the U.S. Attorney’s office. Specifically, Alice Martin, the sometime U.S. Attorney, sometime G.O.P. candidate for elective office. Martin fully understands the benefit to the party and its election efforts of criminal prosecutions being commenced that target elected Democrats, are geared carefully to the election cycle, and are hyped extensively to the party media apparatus. [AESAPPIA]
...Alice Martin, the U.S. Attorney in Birmingham who figures high on the list of what Kyle Sampson called the "loyal Bushies" and who has a well-documented penchant for political prosecutions and a well-articulated desire for elected office or a judgeship. [TNATS]
What are the basic contours of big picture?
The battle plan rolled out to retake the legislature, announcing "corrupt Democrats" as the target.
The Newhouse papers run the call to arms and funds, and print a sequence of stories designed to make it all credible.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Birmingham announces the indictment of a "corrupt Democrat" retired school teacher.[AESAPPIA]
These are some of the important aspects of the arrest of Sue Schmitz. I sincerely apologize to Scott Horton, and the community here for posting such lengthy excerpts, but I feel that the story does not lend itself to an easy retelling, and was reluctant to summarize it for fear that I would neglect key parts and unintentionally give the impression that any of the insight or reportage was my own.
The intention (on top of raising awareness about the machinery of 'justice' being directed at Sue Schmitz) is to get people to read the articles, to think about the integrity of our legal system, and consider the challenges facing the next Democratic administration in dealing with 'loyal Bushies' embedded throughout the governmental apparatus.
* See also, the
Siegelman Chronicles.
"Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears, bury the rag deep in your face, for now is the time for your tears."