I spoke with Don Siegelman today.

[no_hypocrisy]

He welcomed his first grandchild yesterday.

[hlthe2b]

1. I'm glad to hear he's had some happiness. How one gets past an intentional & largely successful

political effort to destroy your life is something I can't fathom. May the days going forward be good ones and for the Karl Roves and others involved... karma.

[dmr]

8. I agree. They did him dirty with cruelty.

[MustLoveBeagles]

15. +1000

It'll always make me angry but I'm glad he's found joy in his life.

[blm]

2. Good to hear

[mahina]

3. Many congratulations! Can you please remind me what happened with him?

I remember he was charged and prosecuted for completely bogus nonsense which was so cynical and so dark and we kept waiting for him to win and be released but it never happened and I think he had to serve his whole term? But I don’t remember what the BS was they charged him with. I remember that it was something that they did worse than he ever did and he had no bad intention and was a very honorable person. Thank you for reminding me. I checked Google first but I couldn’t find anything.

[MustLoveBeagles]

13. He was railroaded and the election stolen from him

Donald Eugene Siegelman (/ˈsiːɡəlmən/; born February 24, 1946) is a former American politician, lawyer and convicted felon who was the 51st governor of Alabama from 1999 until his unsuccessful re-election in 2003.

He served one term as the governor from 1999 to 2003. As of 2022, Siegelman is the last member of the Democratic Party, as well as the only Roman Catholic, to serve as Governor of Alabama.

Siegelman is the only person in Alabama's history to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide elected offices: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. He served in Alabama politics for 26 years.

In 2006 Siegelman was convicted on federal felony corruption charges and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. Following the trial, however, many questions were raised by both Democrats and Republicans, about allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in his case.

On March 6, 2009, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld key bribery, conspiracy and obstruction counts against Siegelman and refused his request for a new trial.[citation needed]

In October 2015, more than 100 former attorneys general and officials, both Democratic and Republican, contended that his prosecution was marred by prosecutorial misconduct; they have petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the case. Siegelman was released from prison on February 8, 2017, and was on supervised probation until it ended in June 2019.

Much more at the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Siegelman#2002_election_controversy

Also see post 6 in this thread

[mahina]

18. I remember writing letters and calling at the time

Thanks for the recap as it has been a long time

[MustLoveBeagles]

23. Your welcome

I remembered only a little bit about it and had to look it up.

[montanacowboy]

4. What I find hard to believe

is no Democratic President ever pardoned him. I just find that unfathomable.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

5. Leonard Peltier is still in prison, so....

it's not like we have Democratic Presidents do the right thing as far as pardons.

[montanacowboy]

9. I agree

He never should have gone to prison in the first place

[rpannier]

10. (I think) Accepting a pardon means you acknowledge you committed a crime

It's possible he refused to consider one because he believed/knows he did nothing wrong

[former9thward]

21. Not really.

He did request a pardon.

Obama denies pardon request for former Alabama governor

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — President Barack Obama has denied a clemency petition from former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who is nearing the end of a prison sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice.

Attorneys for the former governor were informed of the decision Thursday in a letter from the Department of Justice office of the pardon attorney. The letter did not list a reason for the denial.

The 70-year-old Democrat is serving a 6½ year sentence for bribery and obstruction of justice in a federal prison in Louisiana.

The decision was a blow to supporters who had long hoped the president would free the incarcerated governor as one of his final acts in office. Siegelman’s attorney, Gregory B. Craig, and the ex-governor’s son, Joseph Siegelman, did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.

https://apnews.com/article/75b9218a217848fa8462f8abcb916511

[Celerity]

6. Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who spent 6 years in prison, gets law license back

May. 23, 2021

https://www.al.com/news/2021/05/former-alabama-gov-don-siegelman-who-spent-6-years-in-prison-gets-law-license-back.html

[MustLoveBeagles]

16. Wonderful news

That man was railroaded.

[mnmoderatedem]

7. Siegelman spent time in prison

and trump walks free.

No justice

[brooklynite]

11. Really? Has DOJ made a decision on Trump?

[FoxNewsSucks]

12. At the time that was posted, MF45 was indeed free.

Has that changed? Did we miss the perp walk?

[brooklynite]

14. I was responding to someone who claimed the Trump had "walked free".

Do you agree?

[FoxNewsSucks]

19. I agree with the post you replied to,

because it says "and trump walks free." Currently, he does. Holds rallies to keep up his grift, in fact.

[MustLoveBeagles]

17. Congratulations

If anyone deserves happiness in his life it's him.

[brooklynite]

20. As much as people here have declared him a Martyr...

...I'm going to rely on the judgement of President's Obama and Biden, and their respective Attorney's General.

[FoxNewsSucks]

22. No curiosity as to why they are on the same side as Karl Rove and Bill & Leura Canary?

That really doesn't seem odd?

If you didn't follow what happened to Siegelman, and why it's not just people here but 100 Democratic and Republican Attorneys General (you know, those officeholders who should be relied upon) here's a write-up that summarizes it fairly succinctly.

https://citizensvotingny.org/news-blog/fbbuqly0jd5h9pb6hhmd78hikqgs7h

He did nothing others hadn't done. Except not be quiet about the election being stolen out from under him.

[brooklynite]

24. No.

We're not talking about throwing someone in jail. We're talking about DOJ officials who presented a case sufficient to achieve a jury conviction. "other people did it" isn't an excuse if he actually did what he was accused of. And unless you're accusing Obama and Biden DOJ officials of joining in on the supposed conspiracy, I'll go with their judgement.

[FoxNewsSucks]

25. Wow. "others did the same thing" is not a legal defense,

but I have no words for anyone who could be familiar with what happened to Siegelman and be willing to put on blinders and be OK with it.

It wasn't just a prosecution, it was a clear political persecution.

I hadn't heard or thought about this for a while, but I'm not alone in wanting an explanation for why any Democrats took the side of Karl Rove, the Canary's and the Bush crime family.

[brooklynite]

26. Get in touch with President's Obama and Biden and let us know.

[FoxNewsSucks]

27. If they wouldn't respond to all those AG's,

why would they answer me?

Amazing, that it causes no curiosity whatsoever.

[dsc]

28. The fact is what he was convicted of is literally done all the time

I wouldn't mind living in a world where people who give money to politicians aren't appointed to political boards by them but that clearly isn't the world we live in. I understand why Obama didn't expend the political capital in this case during his term and even understand why he didn't have it as a last minute pardon, but that doesn't make this right. And given the SCOTUS ruling in the case against McConnel of VA I can't fathom how this conduct is illegal.