Susan Lindauer
I was the guest Saturday for a live discussion of the Don Siegelman case at Covert Report with Susan Lindauer on truthfrequencyradio.com.We discussed the overwhelming evidence of corruption that led to the former Alabama governor's conviction, along with former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. We also discussed Siegelman's pending appeal before the U.S. Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, focusing on federal prosecutor Leura Canary and her apparent failure to step aside from a case in which she and husband Bill Canary (head of the Business Council of Alabama) stood to gain financially.
The two-hour interview probably is the most detailed examination of the Siegelman case to hit the airwaves in several years. It shines light on the role that compromised federal judges played in criminalizing standard political behavior.
First up is trial judge Mark Fuller, whose company (Colorado-based Doss Aviation) benefited from millions of taxpayer dollars during the U.S. government's case against Siegelman--and yet, Fuller never recused himself. Here is a portion of what we reported about Fuller's conflicts of interest in May 2009, based on a report by Andrew Kreig at Huffington Post:
Recent additional research by the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University found that Doss Aviation has been awarded more than $300 million in federal awards since Fuller began presiding over the Siegelman case in 2005. The scope of Doss Aviation's work is illustrated by the company's website, http://www.dossaviation.com/. Among other things, it displays a photo of Doss Aviation refueling the presidential plane Air Force One as part of its extensive refueling work for the Air Force. The website also describes the company's vital role in training Air Force pilots, and in manufacturing uniforms for federal military and civilian employees.
Kreig's reporting also shined light on the major role that Missouri attorney Paul Benton Weeks played in exposing Fuller's corrupt actions involving Doss Aviation:
Weeks put his evidence into a comprehensive filing to Fuller on July 25, 2003. The filing alleged "clear evidence of criminal misconduct" by Fuller both before and after he became a federal judge. Weeks wrote, "The evidence of criminal wrongdoing identified in this affidavit implicates lying and perjury; criminal conspiracy and criminal attempt to defraud the Retirement System of Alabama (RSA) of approximately $330,000; and, misuse of the office of district attorney and federal judge in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy and criminal attempt to defraud. . . . "
According to Weeks's statement, the problem was Fuller's cozy arrangement with his state staff that enabled him to lead Doss Aviation in Colorado Springs while also drawing a full-time salary as state district attorney in Alabama. Weeks suggested that the pay raise and pension fight for the investigator were, in effect, hush money.
We also discussed U.S. Judge Bill Pryor, who started the Siegelman investigation while serving as Alabama attorney general and apparently was rewarded by the George W. Bush administration with a plum, lifetime appointment on the Eleventh Circuit. Who was Pryor's campaign manager when he ran for statewide office in Alabama? Why, it was none other than Karl Rove, also known as "Bush's Brain." Jill Simpson, an Alabama lawyer and former GOP operative, provided sworn testimony before Congress that Rove had pushed the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute Siegelman.
Bill Pryor
Despite our lengthy discussion, Lindauer and I did not get a chance to discuss Pryor's ties to 1990s gay pornography and its role in reportedly turning him into a fixer for Rovian interests on cases before the Eleventh Circuit, covering Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.We will have more soon at Legal Schnauzer about the nude, gay-porn photos of Pryor, and their origins with a mysterious gentleman named Ernie. Several readers from the LGBT community have contacted us with background information about Ernie and the Pryor photos, and we are compiling posts on that subject now.
Meanwhile, you can listen to the Lindauer interview by clicking on the link below:
Roger Shuler interview about Don Siegelman case at Covert Report with Susan Lindauer