A political prisoner right here in the US and A

The short version is that Don Siegelman, Democratic governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003, ran for reelection against Republican challenger Bob Riley. When the polls officially closed, Siegelman was ahead by something like 1500 votes. In the night, after the polls had closed, after the press and the bipartisan poll watchers had gone home, a small group of Republicans recounted the vote in one county. While this closed-door recount didn't affect any of the other issues on the ballot, something like 3000 votes were "discovered" that tipped the election to the Republican. And the ballots were sealed such that it would take a court order to open them.

When Siegelman woke up the next morning, Bob Riley was governor of Alabama, and while he didn't challenge the decision, he spoke publicly about his doubts about the authenticity of the election, thus becoming targeted with a campaign by the politically connected Republican prosecutors, Republican judges and none other than Karl Rove for investigations and charges, most of which got thrown out of court or for which he was absolved.

But they managed to make one stick -- that Siegelman appointed a political donor to a post on a medical panel ... except that the donations didn't go to him but to an education fund, and previous Governors had appointed the same person to the same position.

So now Siegelman is in Federal prison, and has a gag order that prevents him from speaking publicly about his case.

The best (and almost only reporting) on this is at RawStory.com and is a must-read. It's much more involved than what's in this post and it's very real and pretty scary. Part one is here.

It's hard to believe that this actually happened here, but it's the old "if a tree falls in the woods..." scenario. I've been hearing about it on Thom Hartmann's show - he had one of the reporters covering this on a couple of times. The whole thing feels like something out of the The Sopranos.

Congress needs to hold hearings about this, because something is seriously wrong in a country where someone can be so publicly and handily disappeared and the media turns a blind eye.

He was convicted for allegedly taking a bribe from an individual they said wanted a spot on a hospital board that he had already been on for years and the money did not go to Siegelman personally, it went to a charity, I believe, that he was associated with.

Overlord, please look at the affiliations of the people who had him framed (posted above and linked to) and you'll see that this is a VERY irregular and highly questionable prosecution. Then look at how he was treated after being convicted - is that normal for the kind of white collar crime he was framed for?

From the New York Times:

Thank you, Jake. Work has interfered with my message-boardin' lately.

ps. Not unsurprisingly, once again, all roads lead to Rove.

This is one really good result of the internet -- it can shed substantial light on local stories which have been buried under the deepest darkest rock, like this one. There was very very little reportage about Siegelman anywhere in Alabama.