It’s a bad year for former governors. First George Ryan (R) gets convicted in Illinois, and now Alabama’s onetime guv Don Siegelman (D) is heading for the pokey.
From the AP:
Former Gov. Don Siegelman and former Health South CEO Richard Scrushy were convicted Thursday in a bribery scheme that derailed Siegelman’s campaign to retake his former office.
Siegelman, 60, was accused of trading government favors for campaign donations when he was governor from 1999 to 2003 and lieutenant governor from 1995 to 1999.
Scrushy was accused of arranging $500,000 in donations to Siegelman’s campaign for a state lottery in exchange for a seat on a state hospital regulatory board….
Prosecutors claimed Siegelman and his chief of staff, Paul Hamrick, received gifts, including a Honda motorcycle for the governor that he allegedly tried to conceal from investigators. Hamrick reportedly received $25,000 for a new luxury BMW automobile.
Muck trivia P.S.: The Mississippi Choctaw, an Abramoff client, paid Ralph Reed big (laundered) money to defeat Siegelman’s bid. Just goes to show — even if you’re corrupt yourself, you still can’t beat Jack Abramoff.
