Reply #23: Bottom lines are covering up stolen election in 2002 and Big Oil revenge on Siegelman.

[L. Coyote]

Taken in that context, this stinks to high heaven of a Southern Good Old Boy Corrupt Republican conspiracy being kept under wraps.

FROM THE TOP .... The story broke in early June 2007, popping up on my daily news search for "Karl Rove."

Abramoff and Kark Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor and Campaign Finances
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Rove Linked to Prosecution of Ex-Alabama Governor
By ADAM ZAGORIN/WASHINGTON - Friday, Jun. 01, 2007 - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1627427,00.html?xid=rss-nation

In the rough and tumble of Alabama politics, the scramble for power is often a blood sport. At the moment, the state's former Democratic governor, Don Siegelman, stands convicted of bribery and conspiracy charges and faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Siegelman has long claimed that his prosecution was driven by politically motivated, Republican-appointed U.S. attorneys.

Now Karl Rove, the President's top political strategist, has been implicated in the controversy. A long time Republican lawyer in Alabama swears she heard a top G.O.P. operative in the state say that Rove "had spoken with the Department of Justice" about "pursuing" Siegelman, with help from two of Alabama's U.S. attorneys. ..............

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From June 3, 2005 by the Boston Globe
Gambling, GOP Politics Intertwine, Casino Payments Seen as Influential
by Michael Kranish - http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0603-08.htm

WASHINGTON -- George W. Bush gave the nation's gambling industry plenty of reason to fear his presidency. .... He wooed religious conservatives by boasting in a presidential debate about his ''strong antigambling record."

But as president, Bush has not spoken out against gambling. .... as Republican lobbyists and activist groups collected tens of millions of dollars from Indian tribes seeking to preserve their casinos. Now those payments are the focus of Senate and Justice Department investigations.

... White House ... annual sessions over a four-year period that were arranged by antitax crusader Grover Norquist ... After Bush dropped his antigambling rhetoric, lobbyists touted their access, and fund-raising from Indian tribes grew exponentially.

...Norquist('s) ... organization received $1.5 million from tribes and fought a tax on Indian casinos; lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a top Bush fund-raiser who earned millions of dollars in fees as a consultant to gaming tribes; and Ralph Reed ...

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Mar-27-08 - Gov. Don Siegelman, the Roughly $3.6 Billion, ExxonMobil, and Pissing Off BIG OIL.
There is a story little told, from before the 2006 prosecution,
before the illegal campaign contributions to Riley from Abramoff and his felonious pals,
before the 2002 AL election theft stole victory from Dems in the middle of the night.

Siegelman's administration sued BIG OIL. ExxonMobil committed fraud and underpaid Alabama
in a contract for natural gas pumped from Mobile Bay. Alabama won that litigation, and a
jury awarded the state a judgment against ExxonMobil of roughly $3.6 billion. Not chump change!

Is that where it starts? This incident is certainly a BIG possible!
Or was this gambling corruption? Or just felonious politics?
How about defense contractors corrupting politics? Possible.
Or, it it another case of "ALL OF THE ABOVE"?

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ExxonMobil’s Alabama Paydirt
Scott Horton - Nov 4, 2007 - http://www.harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001584

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MORE Deja DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2909551