Netroots Nation hosts an unprecedented forum on Aug. 15 in Pittsburgh to help journalists learn how Bush administration prosecutors altered the U.S. political map by corruption investigations of Democrats, who were targeted by at least 5:1 ratios.
Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and former Pennsylvania Allegheny County Coroner Dr. Cyril Wecht will show how "selective prosecution" unfairly ruined careers and poses an ongoing threat to our legal system.
The forum is, "Reporting DoJ Misconduct Scandals: Why Netroots Remains Last Hope for Justice." The title reflects largely failed oversight by courts, Congress and traditional media – and the breakthrough reporting opportunity right now for others, based on major recent revelations.
I’m Andrew Kreig, a journalist/attorney who is moderating the forum after researching the public impact of DoJ's mid-term dismissals of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006. White House political advisor Karl Rove helped remove them, including seven on one day. Congressional hearings documented how so-called "Loyal Bushies" tried get rid of law enforcers who refrained from political hit jobs, such as pre-election indictments to affect an election.
High Stakes
The 84 remaining U.S. attorneys have created their own history, much of it tawdry and largely unexamined by independent local journalists armed with an understanding of the federal court system. That’s why Siegelman, Alabama’s governor from 1999 to 2003, continues to stress an ongoing threat to the country, not simply the ruin of his own career and family.
Siegelman’s convictions in 2006 were essentially because he urged HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy in 1999 to donate to a non-profit that advocated better school funding. The governor then reappointed Scrushy to a state regulatory board. Now 63 and free on bond, Siegelman faces 20 years in prison when he returns for sentencing before Middle District Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, a Republican who is reputed to hate Siegelman. Scrushy, a Republican who says he was framed in a "vendetta" against Siegelman, is serving a seven-year sentence.
Wecht is a law school graduate and a national leader in forensic medicine who similarly seeks better oversight of DoJ. The 78-year-old Democrat is now $6 million in debt from legal bills.
DoJ’s 84 felony charges against Wecht were politically motivated and based on "trivial" matters, according to 2007 congressional testimony by former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, a Republican and member of Wecht’s defense team. Authorities charged Wecht with 24 felonies for using a fax machine in the coroner’s office, for example.
Republican U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan dropped charges in June for lack of evidence, but continued to denounce Wecht. Remarkably, Buchanan and Alabama Middle District U.S. Attorney Leura Canary remain in office despite the country's tradition that U.S. attorneys resign when their party loses power. Canary’s husband William is a close friend of Rove and a longtime political opponent of Siegelman.
Change?
No Obama nominees for U.S. attorney have yet taken office 10 months after elections. As the Senate begins its month-long recess, Bush holdovers continue in many other influential DoJ jobs. One is Public Integrity Section Chief William Welch, II. He was the Department's top official signing a July 28 legal brief arguing that not one reasonable person in the U.S. would think that Siegelman and Scrushy deserve a hearing to explore newly discovered evidence since their trial in the spring of 2006.
DoJ’s argument rings false. DoJ’s prosecution was already the nation’s most controversial of the decade before evidence this June that prosecutors tried to blackmail and coach their chief witness, both without required disclosure to the defense. This was on top of other revelations suggesting highly improper contacts between prosecutors and the judge, and between prosecutors and jurors.
In 2007, University of Missouri at St. Louis Professor Donald Shieldsfound that elected Democrat officials were targeted by a 5:1 ratio over Republicans. New research shows even higher rates, with some prosecutions of Republicans also questionable.
Penetrate the Secrets
To explore these patterns, the Netroots forum features Wecht’s lead trial attorney Jerry McDevitt of K&L Gates. McDevitt will describe how prosecutors can secure advantage in subtle ways at every stage of a proceeding, from investigation through appeals.
Gail Sistrunk, vice president and executive director of the educational group Project Save Justice, will summarize national abuses portrayed in its recent documentary video entitled, "The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove."
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Michigan) is invited. The Justice Department declined to send speakers even for a separate segment without opposing views.
These topics are undoubtedly sensitive. The Siegelman case alone includes three public-spirited individuals (none Democrats) who’ve paid huge career costs because of their belief that legal ethics required them to report to authorities their evidence of wrongdoing.
One is Missouri attorney Paul B. Weeks, who unsuccessfully sought Fuller’s impeachment in 2003 by delivering more 50 copies of evidence to DoJ, courts, bar authorities and congressional leaders with no response. Another is Alabama attorney Dana Jill Simpson, who swore in 2007 that fellow Republicans plotted to frame Siegelman. Also in 2007, Justice Department paralegal Tamarah Grimes protested to DoJ misconduct on the prosecution team. DOJ then threatened her for a year with criminal prosecution, and fired her in June.
I’ve reported their stories here,here and here with responses by authorities, including Fuller and DoJ. So have others who are mostly web-based journalists effective in both big picture and local angles.
Harper’s, CBS 60 Minutes in 2008 and the New York Times have been among leaders in traditional media in breaking new ground. But most traditional news organizations avoid this story, which risks antagonizing powerful executives – including those at parent companies who seek the goodwill of top government decision-makers to help their non-media affiliates.
But the facts behind these official corruption scandals are too dramatic to remain hidden. We’re going to unveil a national action plan Aug. 15 to use the Web to make more of raw data from around the country more widely available for journalists.
This is not just a story about a few well-known political leaders forced to defend themselves. It's about many others targeted around the country along with their devastated families, thereby affecting the policy agenda of localities and regions. Let's compare notes in Pittsburgh. And please pass this on to interested friends. This is a good fight, and a big one.