Yesterday imprisoned former Alabama governor Don Siegelman spoke on the Thom Hartmann show to substitute host Sam Sacks. Shortly thereafter he was seized and placed in solitary confinement:
I am writing to everyone to let you know about Don's situation...since I was there and
sent to to the SHU (special housing unit) as punishment for minor infractions as well....
If Don didn't have permission for the interview...then he really forced their hand in placing him in segregation for what I assume will be a short-period of time...
They will threaten him with going behind the fence ( a higher security prison) and take away his good time...but these are usually only meant to intimidate you!
He will be in his cell (8x12) for 23 hours a day....allowed to shower twice a week and have his meals served in his cell 3 times a day....they will give him paper and pen and a few books to read..but there will probably be no radio (unless they let him take his) no tv...they will deliver his newspapers..
He probably won't have a cellmate because of his high profile...but it is possible...but they won't put a violent offender in with him....
Boredom, food and lack of exercise is the only real danger he is in..
No attribution because of fear of retribution.
Siegelman's political background featured in Time, 1 June 2007:
Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy. A longtime Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys.
The allegation was made by Dana Jill Simpson, a lifelong Republican and lawyer who practices in Alabama. She made the charges in a May 21 affidavit, obtained by TIME, in which she describes a conference call on November 18, 2002, which involved a group of senior aides to Bob Riley, who had just narrowly defeated Siegelman in a bitterly contested election for governor. Though Republican Riley, a former Congressman, initially found himself behind by several thousand votes, he had pulled ahead at the last minute when disputed ballots were tallied in his favor. After the abrupt vote turnaround, Siegelman sought a recount. The Simpson affidavit says the conference call focused on how the Riley campaign could get Siegelman to withdraw his challenge.
Rove's mission was to take Siegelman down as he took down
Paul Minor in Mississippi:
Has Republican strategist Karl Rove succeeded with his long-running campaign to intimidate Democratic candidates for statewide offices in the Deep South?
.... The goal behind the Mississippi prosecution apparently was to dry up a key source of financial support for Democratic candidates. Paul Minor, an attorney who had become wealthy from bringing successful litigation against the asbestos and tobacco industries, was one such donor--in Mississippi and beyond. Minor was a major supporter of John Edwards' presidential campaign, and Horton has reported that Bush strategists had fingered Edwards as the most likely threat to Dubya's re-election in 2004. That evidently helped make Minor a target for the Bush DOJ--along with state judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield, who had received Minor's campaign support. Minor, Teel, and Whitfield all are in federal prison for crimes that, as we have shown in an extensive series of posts here at Legal Schnauzer, they did not commit. The message? If you give to Democratic candidates in a deep red, Deep South state, you will come to regret it.
Other Rove victims:
Meg Scott Phipps, Former Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila, Geoffrey Fieger, Oliver and Jennifer Diaz, Paul Minor, John McTiernan, Former Governor Don Siegelman, Garey Ballance, Ted Stevens, Katheryn Shields, Judge Wes Teel, Carl Bussey, David Rosen, David Friend, Senator Matt McCoy, Sandra McFadden Weaver, Jerry Mezzatesta, Luisa Inclan, Jorge Velasco Mella, Ex Senator Charles Walker, Former Governor Eliot Spitzer, Pierce O'Donnell, Phillip Cardarella, Dr. Cyril Wecht, Dr. Candido Negron Mella, Bill Waris and thousands of others.