DON SIEGELMAN UPDATE….Remember the Don Siegelman case? He was the popular Democratic ex-governor of Alabama who was planning to run again in 2006 but was conveniently prosecuited on flimsy corruption charges and thus put out of action. Background here, here, and here.
Today, Time reports that John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has yet more evidence that Leura Canary, the U.S. Attorney in Alabama who was a major supporter of Siegelman’s Republican opponent, remained involved in the case even after she claimed she had recused herself:
Conyers says the evidence raises “serious questions” about the U.S. Attorney in the Siegelman case, who, documents show, continued to involve herself in the politically charged prosecution long after she had publicly withdrawn to avoid an alleged conflict of interest relating to her husband, a top GOP operative and close associate of Bush adviser Karl Rove. Conyers’ letter also cites evidence of numerous contacts between jurors and members of the Siegelman prosecution team that were never disclosed to the trial judge or defense counsel.
….The documents — whose authenticity is not in dispute — include e-mails written by Canary, long after her recusal, offering legal advice to subordinates handling the case. At the time Canary wrote the e-mails, her husband — Alabama GOP operative William J. Canary — was a vocal booster of the state’s Republican governor, Bob Riley, who had defeated Siegelman for the office and against whom Siegelman was preparing to run again….”A recused United States Attorney should not be providing factual information … to the team working on the case under recusal,” Conyers wrote Mukasey last week.
Will Mukasey do anything about this? Who knows? But if he doesn’t, a Democratic replacement just might. Stay tuned.