The American Trial Lawyers Association

By Mike Papantonio


Republican Senator Ted Stevens never should have been prosecuted in 2008. My bet is that most experienced prosecutors who reviewed the facts of that case would have reached the same conclusion. Stevens was a political target, plain and simple. Worse yet, the Federal Judge listening to the facts of that case was just as culpable of abusing democracy as the prosecutorial henchmen who targeted Stevens. Judge Emmett Sullivan did not go far enough when he held several rabidly overzealous Justice Department lawyers in contempt for their prosecutorial misconduct against Stevens. Sullivan should have ordered an acquittal of Stevens and sought indictments against those prosecutors for obstruction of justice. Last week, Eric Holder, the new Obama-appointed Attorney General, took his first step toward cleaning house in the Justice Department. He directed the Justice Department to dismiss their case against Stevens and acknowledged that prosecutors had abused their power by withholding evidence in that case.


Traditional media has done a pitiful job covering the many political prosecution stories that occurred during the John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales years. You might remember Ashcroft was appointed to the position of Attorney General by the GOP after Ashcroft had actually lost an election against a dead candidate in a Missouri senatorial race. That gives you a glimpse into the caliber of his qualifications.


But two areas where the qualifications of Ashcroft and Gonzales flourished was their ability to attract like-minded political operatives to the Justice Department and then turn them loose on political targets.


Between 2001 and 2006, the Bush Justice Department targeted 375 political candidates and elected public officials. If those politicos were Democrats, they were 7 times as likely to be targeted by the Attorney General's pack of prosecutor wolves.


Political prosecutorial misconduct typically undermines democracy and that alone makes for a sad story. But the tragedy that always develops in the lives of people who become political targets is usually wretched.


For example, a man by the name of Paul Minor was regarded as one of the most effective Democratic fund raisers in Mississippi. Today, he sits in a federal prison even after a jury initially determined that there was not enough evidence to conclude that he had ever committed a crime. The first jury was hung, but with a Herculean effort by politically motivated prosecutors, the government got a conviction on their second try. The limitless power and resources devoted to political prosecutions can be daunting. My prediction is that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will reverse this conviction, but in the meantime, Paul will have sat in prison for several years. Also, it is doubtful that his wife of 41 years will spend her last days with Paul. She is now in her final stages of terminal brain cancer. To shed light on just how capricious politically motivated prosecutors can be, Paul made a request to spend a few days with his wife before her imminent death. The Washington prosecutors involved in the case denied him even that right. No matter though, Paul's life is ruined the same way Ted Stevens' life was ruined when politics mixes with unchecked prosecutorial power. Seedy politics won and democracy lost.

Labels: air america radio, alberto gonzalez, Don Siegelman, eric holder, Justice Department, michael mukasey, Mike Papantonio, paul minor, Political Prosecution, ring of fire, Ted Stevens

Corporate lobbyists have been working overtime recently to stop a proposed tax increase on corporations' overseas profits, which is currently being considered by the White House. The Obama Administration isn't actually considering imposing a tax hike, but instead they want to repeal a series of tax cuts that actually reward companies for shipping American jobs overseas. Repealing these cuts would bring in an estimated $100 billion dollars over the next 10 years. Groups including the Business Roundtable, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Foreign Trade Council have helped form a lobbying coalition called Protect America's Competitive Edge that is devoted specifically to the issue. A letter sent to Congress last month opposing the plan was signed by 200 trade associations and companies, including General Electric, Intel, IBM, McDonald's, Merck, and Microsoft. The repeal of these tax breaks would also cause American corporations to lose their offshore tax havens which they have used to avoid paying taxes on their income. America is in desperate need of money right now, and if these companies want to continue doing business in the United States, they need to repay the system that they used to become wealthy.


In other news, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has a message for his fellow conservatives – either rebrand yourselves, or you'll most likely see a fracturing of the party and as a result, we could see a third party rise up before the next election. During an interview on Fox News this weekend, Gingrich said quote, “Republicans need to understand that there's a country which did not like the big spending of the Bush administration, and they didn't like the interventionist policies of that administration.” Gingrich helped draft the Contract with America back in 1994 when his party regained control of both houses of Congress, and has been a powerful and influential figure in Republican politics for more almost 2 decades. He believes that if the party doesn't change, it could be all over for the modern Republican Party. Gingrich, who is now the chairman of the think tank American Solutions, said that Republicans must stop insisting on earmarks and big spending, and must begin paying attention to the "vast majority of Republicans." I think the problem with Newt's philosophy is that he doesn't quite understand that conservatism simply doesn't work. Over the last 8 years, George Bush executed the GOP's plans exactly how they wanted, and look where that has gotten us. The failures of the last 8 years aren't the failures of Bush, they are the failures of the Republican Party.


And finally today, in light of the Justice Department stepping in and attempting to get the conviction against Senator Ted Stevens thrown out, former Alabama governor Don Siegelman is asking attorney general Eric Holder to do the same for him. The Justice Department wants Stevens' conviction thrown out because prosecutors withheld evidence during the trial. If that's reason enough to throw out a conviction, then Siegelman shouldn't have anything to worry about. Siegelman's case was riddled with misconduct, from the first trial against him which ended with the judge throwing the charges out saying that they had no basis for a prosecution; to the new Republican judge going along with basically the same case. Then there's the involvement of Karl Rove, the testimony from Dana Jill Simpson, and the fact that what Siegelman was accused of doing wasn't even really a crime. With any luck, Siegelman will get the same treatment as Stevens, and the Justice Department will step in to finally end this long nightmare for him.

Labels: Barack Obama, Contract With America, Don Siegelman, Farron Cousins, GOP, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Offshore, Outsourcing, Tax Break, Tax Haven