Karl Rove deserves a cell

'Rove'ing conspiracy against Don Siegelman

Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman ran into another brick wall on Friday, March 6 when a three-member panel of the federal appeals court upheld most of the bribery and conspiracy convictions that were clearly manipulated by George W. Bush’s former political adviser Karl “Bush’s Brain” Rove.

Siegelman dedicated nearly three decades to public service, becoming the only elected politician to serve in the swing state’s four highest offices. So popular was Siegelman, the Democrat, in the Republican state, Rove and company pushed the trial during the governor’s 2006 re-election bid.

For those unfamiliar to Rove, he’s one of the guys who helped manufacture “proof” that Saddam Hussein was seeking “yellowcake” uranium, which helped sell the U.S. Congress on the invasion of Iraq. He’s the Dark Lord lurking behind the “hanging chads” shenanigans in Dade County, Fla. to structure a Republican dictatorship during the 2000 presidential elections.

Rove, in collusion with Dick Cheney’s since convicted former Chief of Staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby, is also the guy who leaked Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative. This was in retribution for an op-ed titled “Mission to Niger” her former Ambassador husband, John Wilson, published in The New York Times.

Those are merely a few of the more noted scandals and conspiracies Rove has been connected with. When he was summoned to testify at Siegelman's trial he refused.

Rove is the guy who should be heading to prison, not Don Siegelman.

My multifaceted bias about the case comes not only from the contempt I’ve developed watching Rove’s devious political maneuvering dating back to the 1994 bullshit he pulled in Texas to get George W. Bush — that’s right, he was Dubbya’s campaign adviser in ’94 and ’98 — elected and re-elected as governor.

I’m also concerned because the evidence in Siegelman’s case, as well as well-known prosecutorial misconduct, is extremely sketchy (topics I’ll address in an upcoming Daily Forty-Niner editorial).

I’ll also disclose that Cal State Long Beach alumna Dana Siegelman, Don’s daughter, is a good friend of mine through promoting peace, human and civil rights.

Her father has just filed a second appeal to his convictions seeking a full-panel review because the last jury was not given important instructions that could have ended this.

In the meantime, Rove continues to enjoy freedom and wealth. He’s so slippery, the U.S. can only estimate his overall worth at between $ 1.5 million and $6.3 million. Instead of being a prison cell, he continues to enjoy his freedom, something possibly allowed by connections in the IRS. If ever a conspiracy theory stood out….