Racket Wiretaps Congresswoman

Breaking News: In explosive allegations that broke over the weekend by CQ.com, Democratic Congresswoman Jane Harman was wiretapped in 2005 by the Rove Republican Racket speaking to an Israeli lobbyist and offering to soften the prosecution of two Israeli lobbyists in exchange for support for a Congressional committee appointment.

But the most interesting (and ironic) item in this breaking scandal is the following (from CNN): "CQ.com also reported that after the intercept, the FBI tried to open an investigation of Harman, but then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pulled the plug because he wanted Harman's help defending the controversial domestic warrantless wiretapping program, which she supported."

Obviously, Gonzales' decision was pure politics. The Rove Racket successfully turned the U.S. Department of Justice into a branch of its political army.

CQ.com broke the story and here is the link. CNN did a follow up interview and the story is here. Harman has called on Attorney General Eric Holder to release any and all transcripts immediately.

Vague Argument

The Jackson Free Press points out today that the broad and vague argument used by the U.S. Attorneys who wrongfully convicted Paul S. Minor could be used against anyone who donates to a judicial campaign.

The Rove Republican Racket that targeted the Democratic fundraiser changed jury instructions on a re-trial after losing round one.

The same three-judge panel that deferred the furlough decisions [about Minor] to the Bureau of Prisons is currently reviewing Minor’s appeal, and voicing doubts about irregular jury instructions granted by ...U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate during Minor’s 2007 trial. Wingate had presided over the prosecution’s failure to convict Minor and three other judges in 2005. Wingate removed the necessity of quid pro quo proof of bribery in the 2007 re-trial, however, and instructed the jury that they did not have to find any proof of bribery, or even find that the judges’ rulings were illogical. U.S. Department of Justice attorney Elizabeth Collery recently informed the panel that prosecutors settled for a vague corruption arrangement. “The agreement,” Collery affirmed, “was you will take this money and in some future case you will rule dishonestly for me,” even though there was apparently no guarantee that the candidate would win the election or even preside over a Minor case.The lack of detail made convicting Minor a cinch, although [Minor's attorney]—who helped devise modern U.S. corruption laws—argued that the same argument could be fashioned to convict just about anyone who donates money to a judge’s campaign. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, for example, donates millions of dollars to judicial candidates who favor plaintiffs and corporations, making the supreme courts of many southern
states a suit-free haven for businesses.

A Very Good Question, Indeed

In today's Montgomery Advertiser, a leading article focused on the debate over Alabama's ethics law. Both Republicans and Democrats seem to disagree with Republican Alabama Governor Bob Riley's interpretation.

There is quite an interesting passage inside the article:

"People, including those watching the case of former Gov. Don Siegelman, know that there are laws against quid pro quo, exchanging something of value for an official action. They argue prosecutors did not prove quid pro quo against Siegelman, but he was convicted of appointing Richard Scrushy to a state board in exchange for a large donation to a failed lottery campaign."

The governor's spokesperson then "asked who is supposed to determine whether a gift was given to influence."

A very good question, indeed! Maybe he and his boss should look in the mirror.

Riley's friends at the Rove Republican Racket targeted Siegelman. The Rove Republican Racket "determined"by their almighty wisdom that Siegelman was being influenced by a gift.

The Rove Racket now acts like the Puritans of Clean Politics when the whole case was nothing more than a political prosecution by the U.S. Attorneys Office used to destabilize the Democratic Party in Alabama.

Meet Brenda K. Morris and the $1.34 Million Misconduct Settlement

(Image: Copyright 2008, J. Scott Applewhite / AP)

Ms. Brenda K. Morris, Deputy Chief of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, has garnered fame as one of the six prosecutors responsible for the withholding of evidence in the case against U.S. Senator Ted Stevens which was recently tossed out.

The prosecutorial misconduct in the Stevens case shows deep patterns of inappropriate and unethical conduct throughout the DOJ. But Morris' misdeeds appear to have been a standard operating procedure. Mind you she's a shining star and the patron saint of "public integrity" for the Rove Republican Racket

Now comes an eye-opening column from Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey about Morris' behavior from 2002, when the Rove Republican Racket was at its infancy:

A San Antonio federal judge expressed similar feelings about Morris and her team seven years ago. The feds had obtained a search warrant to search the office and home of criminal defense attorney Alan Brown for evidence of tax cheating and money laundering, but U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled the search to be unconstitutional and barred prosecutors from using what they had collected. In seeking the search warrant, Garcia ruled, investigators misled a U.S. magistrate by failing to disclose that their primary source, a former office manager for Brown named Kelly Houston, had fallen in love with one of Brown’s clients, a drug trafficker whose 18-year federal sentence she hoped to get reduced by turning on Brown. Finding that an agent told the magistrate Houston was truthful even when he knew she had lied about some key financial documents, Garcia called the government’s conduct “reprehensible.” Morris appealed the ruling and, meanwhile, used a technicality to move the case to Austin. The 5th Circuit reversed Garcia’s ruling but ordered Austin federal Judge Lee Yeakel to address the issue. Yeakel’s rhetoric wasn’t as rough, but in 2005 he also found the search to be unconstitutional. Brown was tried in Austin on accusations of hiding more than $500,000 of income over four years. Morris put on 86 witnesses over 29 days of testimony. Witnesses for the defense included two former federal prosecutors and the former first assistant district attorney for Bexar County. It took the jury less than an hour and a half to find Brown innocent. One of the jurors, the wife of an evangelical pastor, held a party at her home for Brown, his wife and the other jurors. Charges against Brown’s wife, Jean, a family lawyer, were dropped. Unlike most defendants, however, the Browns weren’t content to give praise and try to rebuild their lives. They sued the federal government. One of the fine things about filing a lawsuit is that you get to subpoena all sorts of documents. “And the thing is, because I had been acquitted they couldn’t claim that the documents were part of an ongoing investigation,” said Brown on Friday. Among the e-mails he says he recalls was one in which an agent discussed indicting his wife without sufficient evidence because it would get Brown to accept a plea bargain. What else was in the mounds of papers? We will likely never know. Rather than go to trial, the government in 2007 settled the case for $1.34 million. Brown says he was required to return all the papers he had obtained.

Minor Cannot Attend Wife's Funeral

Paul Minor, the Democratic fundraiser who was targeted by the Rove-Bush Administration and is serving an 11 year political prison term, has been denied a request to attend his wife's funeral.

From the Associated Press story posted last night:

Imprisoned former Mississippi attorney Paul Minor won't be able to attend his wife's funeral Friday in New Orleans. The Federal Bureau of Prisons had denied his request to attend the service, but Minor's attorney had written an urgent letter Thursday to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to intervene. Holder replied in an e-mail to attorney Hiram Eastland Jr. late Thursday that Minor wouldn't be allowed to go. "I do not in any way fault the attorney general or the Justice Department for this denial," Eastland said. He said Holder and the agency brought "this entire bizarre issue front and center with the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau of Prisons, however, would not budge and based their denial on an antiquated, Draconian, anti-family policy of forcing a prisoner to choose between being with their wife while they are dying or after they have already passed away," he said. In February, the Bureau of Prisons allowed Minor to have an escorted visit to his wife for a few hours.

Rove´s Advice

Karl Rove was in Northeastern Pennsylvania yesterday. Here's what the Times Leader wrote:

"From the simple dining room of Tony’s Restaurant in Kingston to the academic surrounds of Wilkes University, Republican strategist Karl Rove on Wednesday discussed the art of political campaigning. He discounted the importance of superior fundraising and warned against over-reliance on attacking an opponent....Rove told the students good campaigns are persistent, have lots of good data and achievable goals. He said there is a right way and a wrong way to criticize opponents."

Rove disingenuously discounted the importance of superior fundraising. Both Bush and Obama have broken fundraising records to win the presidency.

It appears now that the "right way" to criticize opponents is to politicize the U.S. Department of Justice and simply prosecute your opponents and their top fundraisers.

The achievable goals have been Siegelman, Minor, Schmitz, etc. So persistent were these prosecutors, that many folks were prosecuted TWICE after the DOJ initially failed to prove their guilt in round one of a bogus political witch hunt.

Coalition Against the Rove Racket

Breaking news from the news wires today:

Today a broad coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to an honest and accountable government launched "Restore Justice At Justice," www.RestoreJusticeAtJustice.com, a campaign to clean up the Department of Justice's sad record of political prosecutions under the Bush Administration.

These organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of members, have a strong track record of spurring action on crucial issues. The coalition has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, available on the Restore Justice At Justice website, requesting that he quickly investigate and identify those targeted, and vacate their convictions, beginning with Alabama ex-Governor Don Siegelman and Attorney Paul Minor.

The coalition asserts that under the Bush administration, the Department of Justice was driven by ideology, and prosecutions were often used to settle scores and intimidate the opposition. The GOP, at the direction of Karl Rove, used the DOJ to target political enemies including Democratic contributors and those who were a threat to GOP electoral gains and big business interests. The Department was used as an arm of the White House to destroy these Democrats. This political profiling resulted in the criminal prosecution of many on the GOP list, including Don Siegelman and Paul Minor.