U.S. Attorney "Very Pleased" with Political Persecution

Andre Birotte, Jr., the Obama appointed U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles, has an ego bigger than the Golden State.  Last winter he ended up with fish sauce all over his face when he tried to pump up his national profile in a case involving a Sushi restaurant that served endangered whale. His ego-driven sideshow was quickly harpooned when the restaurant immediately closed down as a self-imposed punishment.

Now Birotte is supporting the Rove Republican Racket's continued persecution of Democratic operative and famed trial lawyer Pierce O'Donnell (pictured). O'Donnell was accused of funneling money to John Edwards' 2004 presidential campaign by having friends and family donate to the campaign. O'Donnell later reimbursed them.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the charges were tossed out last year by U.S. District Judge S. James Otero, who ruled that the conduct described by prosecutors in their indictment did not violate the federal law under which O'Donnell was charged. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel disagreed in June. As a result of the ruling, the charges were reinstated and the case was ordered back to Otero's court.

When the federal appeals court reinstated the charges,  Birotte's office claimed to be "very pleased" with the ruling.

How "pleased" should Americans be that an Obama-appointed  prosecutor is supporting the Rove Racket's purely political prosecution of O'Donnell?

To support the notion that O'Donnell was being singled out by the Rove Republicans, his lawyers presented prosecutors with 21 illegal campaign contribution cases they said were handled administratively by the Federal Elections Commission, even though most involved larger amounts of money and more egregious conduct than what was alleged in O'Donnell's case, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Without a doubt, Birotte should receive another black-eye and his ego fed to the political shredder.

Witch Hunts by Federal Prosecutors

The Rove Republican Racket received some visible black-eyes in their stock-option backdating cases.

At the end of last year, a U.S. District judge tossed out a high-profile corporate backdating case because federal prosecutors were accused of prosecutorial misconduct which including leaking grand jury testimony and intimidating plaintiffs.

In another backdating case, Greg Reyes, former CEO of Silicon Valley's Brocade, was targeted and convicted by members of the Rove Republican Racket in 2007 for stock-option backdating. Reyes  appealed the ten count verdict due to prosecutorial misconduct. This past summer, the appeals court threw out the convictions due to deliberate prosecutorial misconduct.

Greg Reyes is back in court this week and Therese Poletti of MarketWatch has opined brilliantly:

U.S. attorney Adam Reeves, one of the prosecutors trying to put Reyes in federal prison for stock options backdating, allowed what seemed like a major gaffe, when one of his witnesses agreed that there was no "look-back pricing" (one of the more horrendous legal euphemisms for backdating) at another Silicon Valley company where he worked....Are the prosecutors over-aggressive or just having a hard time keeping their facts straight dealing with arcane accounting issues? Prosecutorial misconduct played a role in the first criminal trial against Reyes, which wound up being overturned by an appellate court.

Some executives in Silicon Valley decried these cases as witch hunts by prosecutors looking for political gain. The relentless focus on a few executives like Reyes in criminal actions, while others were charged only by the SEC with no threat of prison, has seemed unjust. During the Reyes trial, prosecutors did not produce witnesses or shareholders to testify to any kind of Enron-like harm.

Still, mistakes and minor slip-ups by seemingly over-zealous prosecutors may add more fuel to the debate over whether these cases should ever have been tried as criminal.

 Again, we stress the fact although backdating may be wrong, unethical, or even an accounting error, some prosecutors have stretched the law to make it criminal.

Kentucky Woman

Sue Schmitz, the former Democratic State Representative of Alabama and grandmother, reported to prison on January 28th. She is serving a 30 month prison term at a minimum-security prison camp for women in Lexington, Kentucky.

Her political crime? Being a Democrat during the Rove Bush Cheney era. What was she convicted of? The silliest of non-crimes: doing little or no work for a nice salary. Problem was her salary was funded in part by federal funds. Karl Rove and friends said, "Gotcha!"

Hope for Paul Minor

Paul Minor, the prominent Democratic fundraiser from Mississippi, targeted by the Rove Repubican Racket in part with the "dishonest" honest-services crime, now sees hope and possible liberation from federal prison. Earlier this month, several criminal charges against Minor were tossed out.

The Associated Press writes:

JACKSON (AP) — Disbarred lawyer Paul Minor and two judges he’s accused of bribing hope an unrelated case before the U.S. Supreme Court will get them out of prison. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said the federal statute for honest-services fraud is too broad, joking it could make a crime of a worker calling in sick so he could go to a ball game.

A recent hearing before the Supreme Court has many legal experts believing the high court is poised to strike down the statute, which makes it illegal for public officials to fraudulently deprive constituents of honest services. Some observers say such a move would help Minor and former Coast judges Wes Teel and John Whitfield.

In March 2007 a federal jury convicted the three on corruption charges because Minor had helped to guarantee or pay off loans of the judges, who heard some of his cases. It was a scheme, prosecutors said, to influence the judges’ decisions and deprive the state of their honest service. They were convicted of bribery, conspiracy and fraud, and Minor also was found guilty of racketeering.

If justices throw out the statute, it would be the second victory for the three, which saw a panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently toss out all their bribery convictions after finding a lack of federal jurisdiction. Matt Steffey, professor at the Mississippi College School of Law, said the application of the federal bribery statute to a state court judge whose salary and office receives no federal funds is “shaky at best.” He said he believes they would go free if the high court finds the honest-services statute unconstitutional.

“There is some possibility that prosecutors will say the claim is procedurally barred,” he said. The 5th Circuit ruling on the bribery charges means they could be resentenced on the remaining charges. It’s not clear how much the reversal will reduce Minor’s sentence; he got the most time for a racketeering conviction, which was upheld.

A Month More of Freedom in Alabama

Former Democratic Alabama State Representative Sue Schmitz, who was targeted and prosecuted twice by the Queen of the Rove Republican Racket, Alice H. Martin,was given a month more of freedom this week.

Schmitz (pictured) was eventually convicted for a non-crime--being paid to do little or no work.

The Birmingham News reports:

Former State Rep. Sue Schmitz will not have to report to jail Dec. 30 as scheduled after a federal judge extended her reporting date to Jan. 28. Schmitz, 65, was convicted in February on fraud and mail fraud charges involving federal money that paid her salary while she worked in Alabama's two-year college system. She served in the Legislature at the same time. Prosecutors argued that she did little work for her pay.

U.S. District Judge R. David Proctor Monday issued the order to extend her reporting date, following a request by Schmitz's attorneys. Federal prosecutors opposed the request, noting that Schmitz had already obtained two extensions. Schmitz is appealing her conviction and also has a request before the 11th Circuit Court to allow her to remain free on bond during her appeal.

Paul Minor Conviction Tossed Out

Breaking News: The government's case against Mississippi Democratic fundraiser Paul Minor was dealt a huge blow today by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Jackson Clarion Ledger reports:

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tossed out a bribery conviction in the public corruption case against former lawyer Paul Minor, but the remainder of his convictions remain intact.  It will be up to U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate to decide what reduction, if any, he will give Minor in his 11-year sentence as well as $3 million in fines and restitution.

In 2007, a federal jury in Mississippi convicted Minor and two former Mississippi Gulf Coast judges — Wes Teel and John Whitfield — of corruption because Minor had helped guarantee or pay off loans of judges who heard some of his cases. The three-judge panel had previously raised questions about federal jurisdiction, asking prosecutors how a bribery charge could constitute a federal crime if it didn’t involve "any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more" as required by statute.

Readers may recall that the Rove Republican Racket went after Minor because of his Democratic political connections in Mississippi.

Framed by Fitzgerald's Staff?

In September, we wrote about one of  U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's proecutors who was accused of prosecutorial misconduct after allowing a government witness to testify falsely in a drug conspiracy case.

Later, Fitzgerald's office attempted to justify the prosecutor's action by labeling the testimony "truthful, but inaccurate."

Yesterday, a prominent developer, Peter Palivos (pictured), targeted by Fitzgerald's office, claimed he was framed. He accuses Fitzgerald of using a bogus witness who testified falsely.

The Rove Republican Racket enjoyed unjustly locking away political operatives and fundraisers during the Bush years and Palivos was one of them. It seems this pattern of using witnesses who testify falsely is a regular occurence in Chicago.

Fox News Reports:

A former Chicago developer on Thursday claimed that the House Judiciary Committee is in the middle of a four-year investigation into his long-standing complaint that he was framed by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office six years ago. Fitzgerald has been at the forefront of a slew of high-profile political cases and currently is leading the corruption case against former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Peter Palivos claims Fitzgerald's attorneys framed him during an investigation into another politician, former Gov. George Ryan. Palivos says the attorneys slapped him with a bogus obstruction of justice charge after he wouldn't lie for prosecutors seeking Ryan's conviction in the corruption case, and he claims they even got witnesses to lie in their testimony against Palivos. Palivos was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to a year in prison in 2005. Since then, he has been engaged in a vigorous campaign against Fitzgerald's office and has dragged Congress into it.

Read more here

Alabama Slammer

Sue Schmitz, the grandmother and popular former Democratic State Representative from Alabama who was targeted by the Rove Republican Racket, is going to jail, won't pass go, and won't receive $200.

Schmitz was sent to trial twice (she won the first round) for a non-crime: being paid to do little or no-work. What Karl Rove's friends did is drag her through some Alabama mud after the entity that paid her used federal funds to do so. Read more background here.

We hope the Obama Administration pardons or commutes her sentence as a Christmas gift.

FOX Affiliate WBRC writes:

Former State Representative Sue Schmitz begins her prison sentence on December 31st. A judge denied her request to remain free while she appeals her conviction. In February, Schmitz was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison for a fraud conviction. She must also pay $171,000 in restitution. Prosecutors say Schmitz was paid for a job with the two-year college system, but did little or no work.

Mississippi Liar

Former Assistant U.S. Attorney from Mississppi Tom Dawson,who appeared to be planning, outlining, and preparing to write a book while still serving as a federal prosecutor and consultant to the local U.S. Attorney, appears to have shown the world he is a liar.

Dawson co-authored a book with right-wing blogger Alan Lange about the Scruggs judicial bribery cases and the political prosecution of Paul Minor, a Democratic fundraiser from Mississippi.

Dawson has repeatedly said his motives in writing the book are for the public good not greed. As Steve Seale commented on the Magnolia Marketplace blog:

I do have concerns about Mr. Dawson’s role and said so. To amplify, I don’t believe a prosecutor (particularly one with the major role Mr. Dawson had in this case) should profit in any way from the sale of a book or otherwise about the investigation or the prosecution of the parties concerned. While I don’t question the fact that he followed whatever rules are established in this regard, Mr. Dawson himself spent several paragraphs at the beginning of the book explaining how he followed such rules and why he felt it was his duty to the public to participate. One question: absent participation in any profits/pay for being an author, why didn’t Mr. Dawson just make himself available to Mr. Lange as a source for the information in the book?

What we find ineresting is Dawson is now attempting damage control by having handlers boast about an award he recently received from fellow members of the U.S. Department of Justice or shall we more accurately say, fellow members of the Rove Republican Racket.   As we all recall, Dawson has failed to answer three simple questions about when he started to plan to write this book. Why? The writing could be a breach of ethics and involve prosecutorial misconduct.

The Endgame in Alabama

From 2001 through 2009, the Rove-Bush-Cheney Administration and left-over members of the Rove Republican Racket have successfully targeted leading political operatives across the country for political crimes against the state.

From Pierce O'Donnell in Los Angeles to Jim Tobin in Maine, politicians have been dragged through a deep puddle of vengence with a strong stench of injustice by U.S. Attorneys.

So what is the endgame? In other words, what pieces are left after all this turmoil?

In Alabama, the question has been answered. From the Associated Press:

The Alabama Republican Party has a new campaign video filled with lots of Democrats — the convicted kind. State Republican Party officials unveiled a video Tuesday that they plan to use in campaign ads and online during the campaign for the 2010 legislative elections as they push for GOP majorities in the House and Senate, which Democrats have controlled for more than a century.

The video includes images of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman; former state Reps. Bryant Melton and Sue Schmitz; former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford; former Democratic Party chairman Bill Blount; former Democratic Party executive director Al LaPierre; former state two-year-college chancellor Roy Johnson; and former state Sen. E.B. McClain. All are Democrats, and all have been convicted or pleaded guilty to government corruption charges.

The sound of jail doors closing can be heard in the background of the video, which then shows screens with the words “Alabama Democratic Party leaders. Scandal, corruption, crime.”

Extra Well-Done Grilling in the Silicon Valley

Last week, we told you about a study that shows that prosecutors in California who engage in prosecutorial misconduct truly get away with it.

In the posting, we quoted from the San Jose Mercury News that in Santa Clara County, home of the Silicon Valley, only one prosecutor has been held accountable for misconduct, a Mr. Ben Field.

Now comes news that Field is appealing his four-year suspension before the State Bar of  California. Fortunately, the review panel grilled Field's lawyer extra well-done on Wednesday.

The Mercury News writes:

Former Santa Clara County prosecutor Ben Field on Wednesday took his fight to clear his disciplinary record to a State Bar of California appellate panel, but he ran into a tough inquiry from judges who sent strong signals they believe his four-year suspension for misconduct may not be harsh enough.

During an hourlong hearing, Field's lawyer, Allen Ruby, encountered generally hostile questioning from the three-judge appellate review panel, which is considering the former prosecutor's bid to overturn a ruling last summer that suspended his law license for four years "because he abused his prosecutorial power" in a series of cases over a decade.

At least two of the judges, Presiding Judge Joann Remke and Judge Judith Epstein, grilled State Bar prosecutor Donald Steedman on why his office didn't seek to permanently strip Field of his law license, given the argument at trial that he'd repeatedly violated ethical rules and the constitutional rights of defendants in criminal cases.

An Important Question from Mississippi

On Sunday night, the Greenwood (Mississippi) Commonwealth newspaper's editorial asked, "Why isn't Peters facing prison, too?"

Ed Peters is the corrupt DA from Mississippi who we affectionately call the "Pied Piper." Pied Piper Peters plays a tune so wonderfully that he worked out a sweet immunity deal with disgraced and embattled U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of the Northern District of Mississippi. The immunity deal has been sealed tight and the U.S. Department of Justice won't provide details.

The Commonwealth correctly opines:

Why has Ed Peters, who was hired by [Richard] Scruggs and his friends to try to bribe [Judge Bobby] DeLaughter, gotten off so lightly? It was Peters who federal prosecutors say dangled the poisoned fruit -- a lifetime judicial appointment in exchange for a favorable ruling in a multimillion-dollar dispute over legal fees -- in front of DeLaughter. It was Peters who was the go-between, ferrying messages and documents between the judge and the Scruggs team. Yet, the former Hinds County district attorney has been able to skirt prosecution by turning on his onetime protegé. Peters’ only penalty, other than losing his law license, was giving back what was left of the $1 million the Scruggs team had paid him.

“I find it rather odd that the man who got $1 million is out fishing, and Bobby DeLaughter is going to prison,” [DeLaughter's lawyer] said. “At least in Chicago we chase the money.”

So have federal prosecutors in Mississippi, except when it comes to Peters. So far, six plaintiffs’ attorneys, three state judges and a former state auditor have drawn prison time in three judicial bribery cases -- some of them for misdeeds that were a lot less culpable than Peters’.

Why did he get such a sweet deal? That’s a question the feds have yet to answer.

Alaska Debacle Continues

Forget former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin!

The Rove Republican Racket is getting slapped around again.

Earlier this year, the Racket was slapped around for witholding evidence in regards to the case (and eventual conviction) against former Alaska U.S. Senator Ted Stevens. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder voided the convictions and withdrew the charges due to prosecutorial misconduct on April 1.

In June, we reported how the two federal prosecutors who withheld evidence of a star witness in the case were reassigned.

Now a related case is making headlines. From today's Alaska Dispatch:

Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys faced off in federal court Tuesday in an attempt to win the mind of the judge who will decide whether the corruption convictions against Pete Kott should be thrown out. The former Alaska representative, convicted of bribery, extortion and conspiracy in September 2007, was freed from prison in June pending a review of withheld evidence that his lawyer claims seriously discredits Bill Allen, the feds' star witness.

Specifically, the newly discovered evidence counters Allen's own statements that the transactions were bribes to keep Kott as a well-greased political ally, [Kott's lawyer]claims. The government had documents and interviews that showed Allen at times had made statements that Kott didn't extort the oilman, but that Allen gave Kott money out of friendship and as a bonus for the flooring work.There is also the matter of whether Allen had motivation to cooperate with the government out of fear that his alleged sexual indiscretions with prostitutes and minors -- which resulted in police investigations but no charges against Allen -- might come to light. McCloud argues these allegations were strong motivators for Allen to cooperate with the government, and Kott's defense team should have been allowed to question Allen about them at trial.

Looks like the Rove Racket took a heavy gamble on Allen and is losing on all bets held. Bill Allen was sentenced last month to three years in federal prison for bribery.

Going to Jail in Alabama?

Former Democratic State Representative of Alabama Sue Schmitz (pictured) was targeted by the Rove Republican Racket in 2008. In our previous posting about Schmitz, we told you how former U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin tried her twice for a bogus crime.

Schmitz worked for a not-for-profit and since her position was funded by federal dollars, Martin, the Queen of the Rove Republican Racket, took the opportunity to scrutinize Schmitz's work and throw her behind bars.

Her crime? Not sitting behind a desk, using a computer, or working a full 40 hours a week. Smells like that dishonest "honest services" crime!

No one would really give a damn if Schmitz were non-political and if the position had been funded by private donations.

Last month, a federal judge ordered Schmitz to prison on December 4. She was sentenced to two years in the big house. Now Schmitz is appealing that decision as she also appeals the entire case.

We believe this is one of the worst examples of political persecutions by the Rove-Bush machine and hope she prevails.

Two Contracts in Mississippi

Disgraced U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee of the Northern District of Mississippi, who ethnically targeted "Islamic-name sounding" convenience store owners and fumbled the ball 27 times in a high profile criminal prostitution case, has won the ultimate prize: political stupidity.

According to Main Justice, in January, Greenlee signed off on rewarding former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson with a six-month, secret contract only days after he retired.

Some months beforehand, as early as the summer of 2008, while attending an Ole Miss football game, Dawson also met with Republican blogger Alan Lange of Y'All Politics, according to a local Oxford, Mississippi newspaper. (These are the two authors we told you about last week who are cashing in and seeing green.)

According to Main Justice, at some point in the summer of 2008, Dawson, who was still an Assistant U.S. Attorney, discussed the book project with Lange. Then, at some undisclosed point in time, the two agreed to write a book and later signed a book contract.

What are they going to write about? The prosecution of Democratic Mississippi fund-raiser Paul Minor and those Mississippi Democratic trial lawyers and others involved in the Scruggs bribery cases.

And who was the lead prosecutor in those cases? Tom Dawson. Who appeared to be planning, outlining, and thinking about writing a book while still serving as an AUSA and/or USA consultant? Tom Dawson.

Main Justice writes:

The circumstances of Dawson’s employment with the Northern District of Mississippi office were unusual, raising questions about whether he may have skirted Justice Department ethics rules when he began discussing the book project with Lange last summer. Dawson officially retired on Jan. 2, after nearly 36 years as a prosecutor. But he returned to the office on Jan. 15 under contract, working part time behind the scenes on ongoing Scruggs-related investigations until early June.

“It wouldn’t be any conflict necessarily because it was only about two days a week,” [Dawson] said. “But just to remove any criticism of that, I decided to cease the contract.” According to the Justice Department, Dawson was a part-time consultant from Jan. 15 to June 7. His contract originally was to run through the end of June. Justice Department ethics rules advise employees wishing to undertake writing projects to be “cautious to avoid any conflict of interest with their position and to ensure that no interference with the performance of their official duties occurs.”

Looks like Dawson's conscience finally got to him!

Greenlee and his friends in the Rove Republican Racket have been attacked and criticized (including by this blog) for turning the U.S. Department of Justice into the political arm of the Republican Party and now there is proof in the pudding.

We hope Greenlee's irregular and secret contract to a moonlighting writer/active prosecutor--who was joined at the hip to a right-wing blogger a year ago--ignites renewed Congressional scrutiny and catches the ear of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Seeing Green

What do you get when you mix a Rove Republican Racket prosecutor who tossed many leading Democratic boosters in jail and stir him together with a local Mississippi Republican online blogger who rejoiced in the public political lynchings?

A book.

Alan Lange, blogisher of Y'All Politics, and  former Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Dawson. who worked under disgraced Northern District of Mississippi U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee, announced today that they're publishing a book about the political prosecutions of Richard Scruggs and Paul Minor.

Lange even says it will make a "GREAT Christmas gift."

As former President George W. Bush is selling himself out as a motivational speaker, his former lieutenants and political prosecutors in the Justice Department are selling themselves out as authors.

To paraphrase U.S. Representative Alan Grayson, what "K Street whores!"

Read the full post here.

Slap at the Prosecution

The U.S. Supreme Court this term has chosen to hear the case of Jeff Skilling (pictured), the former Enron executive, who was convicted of crimes including "honest services" fraud. Yesterday, we wrote about the the closely-watched cases being reviewed by the nation's highest court involving the dishonest "honest services" crime.

Today, the Houston Chronicle writes about the Skilling case (Enron was based in Houston):

[Jeff] Skilling, the former Enron CEO who was convicted on 19 counts and is serving a 24-year prison term, raised two issues in convincing the [U.S. Supreme] court to review his convictions. He contends that pretrial publicity and the effect of Enron's collapse on the Houston community tainted the jury pool.

He also says that some of his convictions were based on the theory that he failed to provide “honest services” to his employer and that the term isn't clearly defined in the law.

“This is a slap at the prosecution,” Houston lawyer David Berg said. “These cases were over-indicted and showed an absence of a sense of justice.” Barry Pollack, a Washington lawyer who tried two Enron cases, agreed. “The Enron Task Force doesn't have a great record on appeal,” Pollack said.

After the court announced Tuesday it would take up Skilling's case, a Department of Justice spokeswoman said prosecutors would not comment.

The absence of justice is evident from the Rove-Bush Cheney years and the political prosecutions by the Rove Republican Racket.

As a side note, the late Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay, former Chairman of Enron, was a friend and financial backer of President George W. Bush.

Scalia vs. Headline-Grabbing Prosecutors

The dishonest "honest services" crime is now under scrutiny by the U.S. Supreme Court. In the last week, the Court agreed to hear three cases involving this "vague law."

The Rove Republican Racket, which has used this bogus "crime" to toss political opponents in jail , created a legal monster.

And one U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (pictured)has had enough.

On Monday, The New York Times wrote:

In February, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that federal prosecutors had developed an unseemly crush on a particularly vague law, one that had “been invoked to impose criminal penalties upon a staggeringly broad swath of behavior.” Justice Scalia was writing to protest the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear an appeal from three city officials in Chicago who had been convicted of violating the law, which makes it a crime “to deprive another of the intangible right of honest services.”

If you can make sense of that phrase, you have achieved something that has so far eluded the nation’s appeals courts. “How can the public be expected to know what the statute means when the judges and prosecutors themselves do not know, or must make it up as they go along?” Judge Dennis Jacobs of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York, asked in a 2003 dissent.

The “honest services” law, Justice Scalia explained, says that “officeholders and employees owe a duty to act only in the best interests of their constituents and employers.” Carried to its logical extreme, he said, “it would seemingly cover a salaried employee’s phoning in sick to go to a ballgame.”

The bottom line, Justice Scalia said in February, is that the courts have not been able to define what separates “the criminal breaches, conflicts and misstatements from the obnoxious but lawful ones.” The honest services law, [Scalia] said, “invites abuse by headline-grabbing prosecutors in pursuit of local officials, state legislators and corporate C.E.O.’s who engage in any manner of unappealing or ethically questionable conduct.”

Read the full article here.

Not All Wrongful Conduct is a Crime

Last week we mentioned that there are so many laws on the books, prosecutors can find something to pin on anyone, including the Pope. We also wrote about the serious problems with the dishonest "honest services fraud" charge that is the favorite prosecutorial weapon of the Rove Republican Racket's legion of U.S. Attorneys and Assistant U.S. Attorneys.

Today, we found a judge in Florida who is taking a stand against labeling all wrongful conduct a crime.

It seem the former Speaker of the House in Florida, Rep. Ray Sansom (pictured) tricked some of his colleagues into funding a $6 million educational project that eventually had a community college building an airport hanger that was then leased to one of Sansom's top political contributors.

According to the Palm Beach Post:

Circuit Judge Terry Lewis ruled that while Rep. Sansom is accused of doing something wrong, "not every wrongful conduct is a crime." Judge Lewis said that although Rep. Sansom might have fooled the public and his colleagues in the Legislature, such deception didn't equate to the crime of official misconduct. If legislators had been sharp enough and inquisitive enough, they could have spotted the $6 million and stripped it from the budget. "The fact that Mr. Sansom may have misled other members of the Legislature by hiding from them his 'true' intent, does not make the appropriations act itself false,'' Judge Lewis wrote. The budget, as written, wasn't a lie or a false document; it was just a bad law. If courts ever decided that writing a bad law was a crime, Judge Lewis said, it would violate the separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of state government.

If Rove and friends were ever to stick their nose in this matter, they would have prosecuted Sansom for "Honest Services Fraud." Luckily for Sansom, he's a dyed-in-the-wool Rove-Bush Republican.

Too Many Laws

When the Rove Republican Racket went after political operatives, sometimes they would lose during the first trial with a hung jury. They came back again and again, eventually winning and in some cases losing. Prominent Democrats plead out and went to jail. Others, like Governor Don Siegelman of Alabama, are still appealing.

U.S. Attorneys of the Rove-Bush machine were successful in part because of the enormous number of laws on the books. They can pick and choose what law fits the concocted "crime." (Be sure to see yesterday's post on the Dishonest Honest Services Charges.) In an eye-opening post today, Thomas Lifson of American Thinker writes of a new report:

When there are so many laws that are vague, contradictory, and unfathomable, anyone can become a criminal if the state chooses to prosecute. America is too rapidly approaching this state, as a horrifying report from Brian W. Walsh of the Heritage Foundation in the Washington Times indicates. George Norris, an orchid importer, spent two years in prison for paperwork errors in the course of operating his business of importing and distributing orchids. No illegal substances were involved, and so far as I can see there was no tax evasion going on. It was paperwork.

Two years in prison for paperwork errors!

The plain reality is U.S. Attorneys and their assistants wield too much power with too many laws. And if they subjectively feel you haven't cooperated, they can throw the entire penal code at you.