At the Congressional hearing on "Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System" yesterday, Congressman Artur Davis mentioned a recent article in Time Magazine reporting that Lanny Young told investigators he made illegal contributions, not only to former Governor Don Siegelman, but to Republicans Jeff Sessions (a U.S. Senator) and Bill Pryor (now a federal judge) as well. Seemingly, prosecutors weren't interested in hearing about that -- they wanted to hear about Don Siegelman. Davis asserted this preferential interest in Siegelman wrongdoing indicated selectiveness on the part of the Department of Justice.
Unwilling to let that "selectiveness" charge stand, writers for the Birmingham News talked to someone who was involved in the case:
But Julia Weller, a former assistant U.S. attorney who worked on the case then, said they found no "quid pro quo," or evidence to show the Republicans knew about the alleged donations or did anything in exchange for them.
"We did follow up on it," Weller said.
OK, but who is Julia Weller? Predictably, the News doesn't tell us. According to Scott Horton, she is a close friend of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary (who "recused herself" from the Siegelman case) and her husband is Bill Pryor's "advisor." This is from Mr. Weller's bio, emphasis mine:
... He has served on the campaign staffs of United States Senator Jeff Sessions and Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor and has advised numerous judicial candidates regarding campaign compliance issues. ... He is married to Julia Weller who serves as an Administrative Law Judge for the State of Alabama.
Sounds like someone else should have recused herself. This is how Horton sums it up, emphasis mine:
Now let’s go back and plug in this information. The "former prosecutor" who is trotted out to tell us that Leura Canary’s shop handled proper procedures in looking into the allegations against Pryor and Sessions is the wife of Pryor’s attorney and a key figure in the Pryor and Sessions campaigns. So how, from the simple perspective of prosecutorial ethics—which are very clear on this point—does she even come to be involved in the matter?
The interconnectedness of the Canarys, the Wellers, Rove, Pryor and Sessions reminds me of the situation in Mississippi described by Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee, yesterday, also at the Hearing on Selective Prosecution.
Errors and emphasis mine:
The Committee has recieved letters from Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, as well as Mississippi trial lawyer Paul Minor and Mississippi attorney and former judge John Whitfield, detailing the facts of their prosecutions in Mississippi. ...
And once you read their letters, and it's mentioned in Judge Diaz's letter that John Grisham, a distinguished author, former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, has written a lot about Mississippi in fiction. But once you read their letters, it looks like something that's even more scary. It looks like a tail of intrigue, of political incest in the highest orders and places of the Mississippi Justice Department and attempts to get even with folks on the other side of the aisle.
... Mr. Minor made guaranteed loans to ... Mr. Diaz at approx. 65,000 dollars. That was legal in Mississippi, perfectly legal under Mis law. Another gentleman, Mr. Scruggs made loans of $85,000 to Mr. Diaz. The same election.
... In 2003, Justice Diaz, Mr. Minor, Mr. Whitfield, then a judge, and Judge Diaz's wife were all indicted.
... Mr. Scruggs guaranteed a loan at a higher amount of money, repaid those loans himself rather than raising money as Mr. Minor did ... Mr. Scruggs is not indicted. What's the difference in the 2 situations ...?
... Mr. Minor was one of the largest donors to the Democrats in that state, one of the 10 top donors the John Edwards presidential campaign. And was known for his support as a trial lawyer and working for the people's interests and against the tobacco interests
On the other hand Mr. Scruggs, also a trial lawyer , also a trial lawyer, had after that election given a half a million dollars to Republican causes, a quarter of a million dollars to the Bush/Cheney campaign, and coincidentally or not, is the brother-in-law of Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi. ... Mr Scruggs, not indicted and apparently not even investigated.
... Justice Diaz was not only indicted, but once the jury found him not guilty, acquitted him of charges -- three days later, he's re-indicted. When you read through these letters and you see a pattern of relationships and conflicts of interest that are not taken into consideration by the court ...
"A tail of intrigue, of political incest in the highest orders and places" indeed. In Alabama as well as in Mississippi, and almost certainly in many other parts of George Bush's United States. The House Judiciary Committee has plenty of reason to pursue their investigation to shed more light on these prosecutions. On top of just investigating, Congress must press the next Attorney General to committ to clean up this partisan mess in the Department of Justice.
I'm not an attorney, but it seems to me that at some point the Bar Association may want to take an interest in some of the apparent conflicts of interest in these cases. My understanding is that concern over something of that nature is what prompted Republican Jill Simpson to come forward with her affidavit last spring. Party loyalty is one thing, but at some point this incestuous crap becomes too much to swallow, fellow Republican or not.
