The mainstream press in Alabama has made little, if any, effort to get to the bottom of the Don Siegelman prosecution. But an important alternative news source, which is national in scope, is making a significant effort to shine light on the story.
Raw Story begins a multipart investigative piece on the Siegelman case today. Reporters Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane open with a solid overview of the case. They note that as early as 1998, when Siegelman was first elected governor, corporate interests in Alabama saw him as a looming threat.
The opening paragraph gets to the heart of the matter:
"For most Americans, the very concept of political prisoners is remote and exotic, a practice that is associated with third-world dictatorships but is foreign to the American tradition. The idea that a prominent politician--a former state governor--could be tried on charges that many observers consider to be trumped up, convicted in a trial that involved numerous questionable procedures, and then hauled off to prison in shackles immediately upon sentencing would be almost unbelievable.
"But there is such a politician: Don Siegelman, Democratic governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003."
Before the 2002 gubernatorial elections, Bob Riley asked Choctaw Indian lobbyist Michael Scanlon who represented the casino-operating Choctaw Indians in Philadelphia, Miss., to funnel money from the Choctaw Indians in return for helping him get elected governor over Don Siegelman and if he was elected he would kill any hopes of Alabama getting a state lottery and block the Alabama Poarch Indians from getting a class 3 gambling license. Scanlon was to see that the money was laundered before the 2002 election through the Republican Governors Association, the Alabama Republican Party and to the Business Council of Alabama.. Scanlon had an interest in the 2002 Alabama elections, where Riley faced Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman, because Siegelman was advocating a state lottery, which could have attracted customers away from the Choctaws' two casinos in Philadelphia, Miss.
ReplyDeleteIn 2002, Scanlon funneled the following amounts of Choctaw money to help Riley’s election campaign:
(1) Scanlon funneled $500,000 in October 2002 to the Republican Governors Association, which soon after transferred the money to a related Republican committee, which in turn donated $650,000 to Riley and $150,000 to the Alabama Republican Party the same month.
(2) Scanlon funneled $100,000 to four Alabama-based political action committees controlled by Montgomery lobbyists Joe Fine and Bob Geddie that contributed heavily to Riley's campaign.
(2) Scanlon funneled $9,000 plus later another undetermined amount to Progress PAC, the fundraising arm of the Business Council of Alabama, which also contributed heavily to Riley.
(3) Scanlon' also funneled $75,000 to "Riley" through the National Republican Congressional Committee, $50,000 to the NRCC, and the NRCC gave Riley $360,000.
In late 2001 Scanlon had paid $155,000, for the Choctaw Indians, to the public relations firm of Lunde and Burger for professional campaign services in Alabama which was used to defeat the lottery and gambling in Alabama while Siegelman was governor.
"LARGE NEWS MEDIAS ARE PAID TO BE ANTI-DEMOCRAT"
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised that as many Americans are informed as they are. It has been very hard to get the truth about anything that involves Democratic politicians. Without the internet blobs, forums and locally owned news medias, U.S. citizens would totally be controlled by Bush’s lies and scare tactics. U.S. Citizens are fed anti-Democrat propaganda from large news media.
The GOP under the Bush administration has managed to gain control of large communication and publishing companies through government contracts, appointments and through lobbyist such as Jack Abramoff and Michael Scanlon who have directed money from big business to private accounts.
In Alabama, just because Don Siegelman was a Democrat and a threat to Bob Riley in the 2006 gubernatorial race. During the election he was pulled into court and portrayed by the largest news media as a modern day Al Capone. He was shamefully shackled and paraded all over the United States by Federal Marshals and the Federal Penal Guards to several different prison holding facilities and finally ended up being placed in a prison over 600 miles from his family . He has been kept isolated and denied interviews by 60 minutes and local news media.
Many Alabama citizens both Black and white personally knew this popular born and raised Alabamian. He grew up to be the only person in history to have been elected to hold the top four positions in Alabama government