Today The New York Times gives a rundown of the controversy surrounding ex-Gov. Don Siegelman’s (D-AL) prosecution, with the Republican lawyer at the center of the controversy set to trek to Washington to meet with a House Judiciary panel Friday.
The Op-Ed draws a comparison between Siegelman’s prosecution and the case against Georgia Thompson, a civil servant in Wisconsin whose corruption case was thrown out on appeal because the court found the evidence against her to be “beyond thin.”
The Bush administration insists that the United States attorney scandal is a non-scandal. But the Siegelman and Thompson cases are a reminder that when the power of the state to imprison people is put in the wrong hands, lives can be ruined and democracy can be threatened. Since the Justice Department refuses to appoint an independent prosecutor to examine whether these and other cases were politicized, Congress must provide the scrutiny.
