Senator Kohl on Don Siegelman

[Bushfire]

March 14, 2008

Dear Constituent,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me. I apologize
for the delay in my response and I would like to take this
opportunity to address your concerns regarding the prosecution of
former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.
On October 26, 2005, Mr. Siegelman was indicted on
charges of bribery and mail fraud. Mr. Siegelman was accused of
trading government favors for campaign donations. He was
ultimately found guilty by a federal jury and sentenced to seven
years in prison.
Some members of Congress have expressed concern that
the charges against Mr. Siegelman had political motivations,
questioning the fairness of his prosecution. On July 17, 2007,
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers and other
Committee members sent a letter to Attorney General Gonzales
requesting documents and information about Mr. Siegelman's case.
These documents were not produced by the Department of Justice.
In September 2007, the House Judiciary Committee initiated an
investigation into possible political motivations behind Mr.
Siegelman's prosecution. Jill Simpson, an attorney who worked on
several Republican campaigns in Alabama, testified that former
Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, Karl Rove, had pushed
DOJ to bring these corruption charges against Mr. Siegelman.
On February 26, 2007, the CBS program "60 Minutes"
aired a report on the Siegelman case. A local Huntsville, Alabama
station blacked out for 12 minutes during the airing of this
segment. This interruption raised suspicions and concerns among
certain viewers. The station subsequently reported that the break
was due to equipment failure, stating that a similar reception error
had occurred the previous day during a basketball game.
Should this issue come before the Senate, you can be sure
I will keep your views in mind. Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,


Herb Kohl
U.S. Senator

Have you contacted your elected representatives yet? I believe both Kohl, and Feingold sit on the Senate Judiciary committee which would look into abuse of power out of Gonzales' office.

[napi21]

1. Does anyone in Alabama know if there really WAS a similar interuption in

broadcasting the day before? I'd never heard that before.

Do we know if this IS ever going to come before the Senate?

[pacalo]

2. If Kohl sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, then he would be in a position to bring it up

wouldn't he? Are you going to follow up on his "should this issue come before the Senate" attitude?

[Bushfire]

4. Absolutely!

Kohl hardly ever sends more than a two sentence reply, so it goes to show he's getting educated by his constituents on this issue. I will keep on top of him, and Feingold to push for hearings on this. Have your elected reps replied yet to your calls for an inquiry?

[Bushfire]

6. Kohl doesn't head the committee btw, Patrick Leahy does

Call Patrick Leahy on Monday, and the other members of our party to get him to appoint an independent investigator not to mention getting Don into a safe environment where he is not subject to abuse within the prison as reported this weekend.

on edit, here's the link to the members of the committee

http://judiciary.senate.gov/members.cfm

[EFerrari]

3. Good job, Bushfire! n/t

[Bushfire]

5. Thank you

I know you've done what you could to keep this issue on the front burner.