But being flushed out now is the scope of a program that the U.S. Dept. of Justice employed onto political opponents in key races across the nation, in which the infamous Georgia Thompson prosecution was but one ugly piece.
Scott Horton, a human rights attorney and writer at Harper's, has broken much new ground investigating DoJ political prosecutions including today's column linking Karl Rove to the prosecution of former Democratic Alabama governor, Don Siegelman.
Weeks ago Horton had also uncovered the outlines of a DoJ scheme to use the DoJ machinery against major Democratic opponents and one tier of Democratic supporters, trial attorneys.
Writes Horton:
The (DoJ)scheme contemplated among other things that raids be staged on the law offices involved, and that the records seized not be limited to campaign finance—there was an acute interest in all politically oriented documents, in order to seize valuable intelligence on strategic planning from the enemy camp.
In today's New York Times, Adam Cohen, reports on a case in Mississippi where evidence points to the blatant political prosecution of trial lawyer Paul Minor.
Writes the NYT's Cohen:
Paul Minor is the son of Bill Minor, a legendary Mississippi journalist and chronicler of the civil rights movement. He is also a wealthy trial lawyer and a mainstay of Mississippi’s embattled Democratic Party. Mr. Minor has contributed $500,000 to Democrats over the years, including more than $100,000 to John Edwards, a fellow trial lawyer. He fought hard to stop the Mississippi Supreme Court from being taken over by pro-business Republicans.
Mr. Minor’s political activity may have cost him dearly.
The case fits a familiar pattern. The corruption Mr. Minor was charged with was disturbingly vague, as it was with (Wisconsin's) Ms. Thompson, whose only “crime” was awarding a contract to the lowest bidder, and Mr. Siegelman, who was convicted for fairly routine political behavior.
Mr. Minor’s prosecution, like the others in this scandal, gave a big boost to the Republican Party. The case intimidated trial lawyers into stopping their political activity. “The disappearance of the trial-lawyer money all but wiped out the Democratic Party in Mississippi,” Stephanie Mencimer reports in her book, “Blocking the Courthouse Door.”
The travails of Georgia Thompson, though revealed to be an innocent victim of a corrupt federal judiciary, continues to incite national condemnation:
Writes Cohen:
In Wisconsin, Ms. Thompson’s trial coincided perfectly with Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s re-election campaign, and Republicans tried to link Doyle to Thompson. Mr. Siegelman’s prosecution looks like it was timed to prevent him from becoming governor again. It may be that all three of these cases were simply attempts to use the Justice Department to get Republican governors elected.
Ms. Thompson was fortunate to get a good federal appeals court panel, which ordered her released. Mr. Minor and Mr. Siegelman may not be so lucky. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and many other key players in the United States attorneys scandal are gone, but Congress has a lot more work to do in uncovering the damage they have done to the justice system.
The House Committee of the Judiciary postponed today’s Joint Hearing on Allegations of Selective Prosecution: The Erosion of Public Confidence in Our Federal Justice System, but is expected to continue its investigations.
Wisconsin's Rep. Tammy Baldwin is the lone Wisconsin Democrat on the Committee.
The DoJ continues to stonewall the House Committee, but good government reporting in Harper's and the New York Times like that which contributed to the downfall of Richard Nixon may yet reveal the extent of the corruption of our national government under George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove.
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