The Truth About Don
I came across a site called The Truth About Don that details news reports on the exploits of convicted felon and former Alabama governor Don Siegelman. I don’t know anything about the genesis of the site or who operates it.
I’ll take this moment to comment on the whole Don Siegelman saga. Across the left side of the internet people are decrying his political prosecution and demanding that he be set free. What I don’t hear are people saying that he didn’t actually commit the crimes he was convicted of. I have little doubt that there was a political element to his prosecution. But that doesn’t mean that he didn’t break the law.
I find it a bit ironic that critics are upset about a partisan, political prosecution and seek to rectify the situation with a partisan, political investigation. The most vocal opponents of Siegelman’s prosecution just happen to be the most rabidly partisan. Take Scott Horton of Harper’s Magazine. He’s penned a number of blog posts on the topic, vilifying the prosecution. His bio states that he is a New York attorney. A search of Open Secrets shows that only one Scott Horton in New York has made political contributions in recent election cycles. That Scott Horton is also an attorney. That Scott Horton has made contributions totaling nearly $7,000 – all to Democratic candidates or organizations. I’m not 100% sure they are one and the same, but I’d bet a box of doughnuts on it. If they are the same it begs the question: Are Scott Horton and other Democrats really interested in justice or are they just interested in keeping corrupt members of their party out of jail?
I’m surprised that as many Alabamians are informed as they are. It has been very hard to get the truth in Alabama about anything that involves Democratic politicians. Even the local TV and radio media pretty much parrots what the three largest newspapers in Alabama print. These newspapers are the Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Press-Register which are owned by Communications giant Advance Publications, Inc.
Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Michael Scanlon, Toby Roth, Rob Riley, etc. have represented big business clients (Mississippi Casinos, Chevron/Exxon, etc) who have funneled large amounts of money through money laundering organizations, such as the Business Council of Alabama, to campaign funds and to these larger newspapers to endorse GOP politicians in return for political favors.
It is not certain, at this time, whether the corruption is isolated to the three larger Alabama newspapers or to Advance Publications Inc.
My hat goes off to the smaller locally own Alabama newspapers that investigate and print the truth.