Did you know the United States has in recent years prosecuted

hundreds of people for political reasons? This is a crime, or rather a

crime wave, that has thus far been addressed primarily by ignoring it.

You can read a lot about it from bloggers like Larisa Alexandrovna or Scott Horton. But you won't hear the president mention it on TV.

In an attempt to convince the corporate media that this issue ranked

right up there with governors' sex lives and celebrities' deaths, a

group of notable speakers, judges, attorneys, victims, and witnesses,

gathered and spoke on Friday morning at the National Press Club. You

can watch the whole forum on C-Span. You won't find it anywhere else. Below is what I blogged from the event:

8:00 a.m. Don Siegelman (former governor of Alabama and victim of a

politically motivated prosecution) had to go back to Alabama and won't

be here. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers may not make

it either. But everybody else is milling and chatting. Some people, I'm

not supposed to say are here. I spoke with Scott Horton about Spain. He

thinks they're going to spend 1.5 years on the 6 lawyers and prosecute

and convict 'em. He also thinks Italy will soon convict the CIA agents

and report them to Interpol and end their traveling.

8:11 John Edward Hurley, President, Sarah McClendon Group, opening, welcoming.

8:31 Andrew Kreig, journalist, author & attorney, says Siegelman

was here yesterday but had to get back to Alabama for a filing of new

evidence with his attorney.

8:36 Kreig says the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined an invitation to participate in today's forum.

8:37 Scott Horton: prosecutorial misconduct is the topic.

Prosecutors wield incredible powers. Abuse must be held in check by

Justice Dept itself. [Isn't that a weakness?] Horton quotes Robert

Jackson on danger of targeting people rather than taking up important

cases, of picking individuals to find a crime for rather than picking

crimes and finding the guilty parties.

8:42 Horton notes that as attorney general, Michael Mukasey gave one

speech on corruption and claimed to know of none, at the same time that

stories of former attorney general John Ashcroft's corruption were in

the news. Mukasey claimed that for the 14 months he headed DOJ there

was no evidence of politically motivated prosecutions. Yeah? What about

Don Siegelman, Sen Walker, Paul Minor, and many others? And what about

all of the cases of refusing to prosecute Republicans or sabotaging

possible prosecutions of Republicans, like Renzi, as exemplified by yesterday's report

by Murray Waas -- a story documenting sabotage of a case by a man then

appointed as director of public affairs by Mukasey? Mukasey repeatedly

promised in Congress to look into the Siegelman case but never did. The

current DOJ says it has inherited a mess (detentions, torture, etc.)

but there is another mess. Holder did the right thing in the Stevens

case. But what about all of these other cases?

8:51 Nan Aron, President, Legal Director, Alliance for Justice,

introduces Elliot Mincberg, Head Counsel for the House Judiciary

Committee, speaking in place of Chairman Conyers who has to stay on the

hill and vote this morning. Mincberg refers to reports like this one and this one.

Committee is still investigating 2006 firing of US attorneys and has

already demonstrated clear political motivation in firings, based on

which prosecutors were too aggressive or insufficiently aggressive in

going after Republicans or Democrats respectively. Mincberg recounts

holding Miers and Bolten in contempt, and says settlement has given the

committee more White House documents and that the terms of the

settlement will be revealed after interviews, and there may be

hearings. Second, the political hiring and firing, the testimony of

Monica Goodling ... but we now have a new AG. [So what?] Holder might

reconsider prosecuting Brad Schlossman. Third, the torture [he doesn't

use the word]. Mincberg stresses the importance of the Office of

Professional Responsibility (OPR) report, and says Conyers will hold

hearings with Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury, and "hopefully a representative of

the DOJ" after that report is released? [Why must this town shut down

until that report is released? Who will enforce the subpoenas? Will

Conyers use the Capitol Police? Why can they not subpoena a

representative from DOJ?] Fourth, the warrantless spying (also waiting

for a report). Fifth, today's topic: selective prosecution. We held

LOTS of hearings, claims Mincberg and found extensive evidence of

political prosecutions. Just the percentage of prosecutions of elected

officials that were against Democrats had a 1 in 10,000 chance of being

coincidence. A couple of cases in WI and PA have now been thrown out.

But what about all the troubling activity by Republicans not

prosecuted, such as the Republican voter registration firm in Nevada

tearing up registrations of Democrats. See report on HJC website.

Sixth, deferred prosecutions - Ashcroft. Seventh, abuse by FBI of Natl

Security Letters (warrantless search warrants). Eighth, state secrets

abuse. This is area where Mincberg admits great disappointment with the

current DOJ and cites its sovereign immunity claim. Says committees in

House and Senate are waiting [absurdly] for the DOJ's statement prior

to marking up the State Secrets Protection Act. Ninth, the Office of

Legal Counsel (OLC) had been turned into an office that told the White

House what it wanted to hear. Tenth and final, voting rights was dealt

with politically -- we held hearings, John Tanner - chief of civil

rights division - resigned. [To Mincberg's credit he says a lot more a

lot faster than Conyers would have.]

9:14 Q&A: Scott Horton asks Mincberg about settlement but he

says he can't give details but that they have received new documents

and that the White House continues to claim privilege to withhold other

documents.

Go to 1:06:12 in the C-Span video,

and watch what I ask Mincberg and how he answers. The camera is on me

when I'm asking the question, and I wish it had been on him. Another

camera in the room may have been on him. You'll notice that partway

through my question I stop and ask him what he thinks is funny. What

had happened was that I had asked whether the House Judiciary Committee

would ever use the Capitol Police to enforce its subpoenas. The very

idea of thus defending the powers of the first branch of our government

made Mincberg giggle nervously. The notion that one might assert such

power completely apart from the decrees of the emperor always disturbs

congress members and their staffers.

9:20 I asked Mincberg why in the world his committee would delay

subpoenaing Yoo, Bybee, and Bradbury until the OPR report and whether

they would use inherent contempt if subpoenas are violated, and why in

the world not impeach Bybee. He said he really does believe that the

OPR report will be out soon, although Holder recently said otherwise if

you use the word "soon" the way I do. Mincberg also said that every

subject of every OPR report is permitted to submit comments, even

though Senator Whitehouse has said this is unprecedented - allowing

Yoo, Bybee, and Bradbury to submit edits. Mincberg thought that

inherent contempt was funny and claimed that they had done better going

through the courts, a claim that the public cannot judge except by

saying there have been no hearings and no public satisfaction, and it's

hard to imagine what secret outcome could have been BETTER than

compelling all the recalcitrant witnesses to appear and testify.

Mincberg said the House had just impeached Kent and probably would

impeach another judge soon, and so was very busy, apparently too busy

to impeach Bybee.

9:21 Mincberg says an interview with Rove has been scheduled but not

occurred. No straight answer as to whether Rove will be put under oath.

But every word will be transcribed and made public and under 18 US Code

Section 1001 Rove cannot legally lie. In other words, the BETTER

outcome than locking Rove up until he testified is this: he will

testify in secret and not under oath, and he has still, years later,

not yet done so.

9:28 End of Q&A. And speaking of abuses of justice, check this out: Proposal Offers Specifics On Preventive Detention.

9:30 We're running 30 mins behind schedule. Kreig introduces Hon.

U.W. Clemon, Shareholder, White, Arnold & Dowd, former Chief U.S.

District Judge, Alabama's Northern District (1981-2009). He says

Siegelman case in May of 2004 didn't just spring up, but like a phoenix

rising from the ashes it had an earlier existence. Two years earlier Dr

Phillip Bobo convicted of Medicaid fraud and narrowly defeated in

reelection. Siegelman was leading in polls for his reelection. 11th

Circuit Appeals reversed conviction of Bobo. But Bobo was reindicted

with Siegelman and an aide to him added as part of a conspiracy. And

prosecutors were already shopping for a Republican judge and had

requested a Judge Johnson to recuse herself. Then a Bush Sr.-appointed

judge recused himself. Then a Clinton-appointed judge Smith was lobbied

to recuse himself although Siegelman had no complaint and he saw no

reason to recuse himself - but he did so. Then a Bush Jr.-appointed

judge got the case and Bobo was doctor to this judge's children.

Siegelman objected. So then the case came to Judge U.W. Clemon. A

dishonest campaign in the media sought to disqualify Clemon. Clemon

denied double jeopardy claim by Bobo but granted motion to disqualify

Siegelman's lawyers. Justice Dept still sought to have Clemon removed

and sought to poison the jury pool through the media. Clemon found no

conspiracy. Government moved to dismiss and Clemon granted. Prosecutor

said she was untroubled because a new indictment of Siegelman would

come in a different district. DOJ was focused on the man, not the

crime. It was the most unfounded case Clemon ever saw. (Of course, that

new indictment did come.)

Q&A: Clemon answered a question by saying that Holder last week

told him the DOJ was looking into Siegelman case. [Believable?]

9:59 Charles "Champ" Walker, Jr., business executive and son of

imprisoned former George State Sen. Majority Leader Charles Walker,

Sr., owner of the Walker Group and Augusta Focus newspaper. Describes a

"war against Democrats," hundreds of cases around the country of local

prosecutions of Democrats, people like Paul Minor. Prosecutor Richard

Thompson investigated on behalf of a Republican politician (who has

since made him a judge) four top Democrats in Georgia, including Walker

Sr. Numerous attempts to charge Walker Sr. with made-up crimes failed.

Judge with conflicts of interest refused to allow defense to raise

prosecutorial misconduct, and removed black jurors, changed jury from

65% urban black to 65% rural white with jurors from outside district.

Walker had led the fight to take Confederate flag out of state flag.

See: http://politicalprosecutions.org

10:22 Bruce Fein, author of "Constitutional Peril," and former

Reagan Administration Associate General Counsel of the Justice

Department and General Counsel of Federal Communications Commission:

Fein denounces corruption of our system in recent years. No principles.

Partisan loyalty. Assumption of guilt. Destruction of lives with

baseless public accusation. Complete immunity for prosecutors. Culture

must change. Education must change. And Congress must step up and

create statutes.

10:31 Bill Yeomans, Legal Director, Alliance for Justice, worked 26

years at DOJ and 3 years at Senate Judiciary Committee for Kennedy. He

notes accurately that we seem to be concluding each discussion by

deferring to a pending report by the Office of Professional

Responsibility (OPR). This is the office through with the Department of

Justice (DOJ) investigates itself. Alberto Gonzales began the practice

of sending really big projects to OPR, knowing it did not have the

resources. The OPR investigation of the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC)

memos on torture is five years old. The OPR shared responsibility with

Inspector General (IG) for report on US Attorney firings, and that

report got done. OPR is overtaxed and also NOT independent. OPR answers

to attorney general who can approve an investigation or its results, or

not. So we should stop accepting that sending a problem to OPR takes

care of it. We should question how and whether OPR should exist. --

Then Horton said that on April 21 Holder met with chief judges from

around the country who all raised impassioned complaints about failures

of OPR.

10:36 Cliff Arnebeck, Chair, Legal Affairs Committee, Common Cause

Ohio, National Co-Chair, Alliance for Democracy and 2004 Ohio election

voting litigation expert: Ohio was ground zero in 2000 for judicial

independence on state supreme court. $7 million of illegal corporate

money ran ads attacking Justice Alice Robie Resnick. Whole court now

Republican. Arnebeck and others litigated successfully. FBI

investigated, but in 2004 DOJ dropped prosecution just before election

-- did not want to prosecute Republicans, a nationwide pattern.

Arnebeck also recounted election fraud investigations closed down.

These investigations should be reopened.

10:44 Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver E. Diaz, Jr.,

acquitted, had -- according to Horton -- been prosecuted for purely

political reasons. There are many hundreds of these cases around the

country, Diaz says, and people falsely convicted. Project Save Justice

took report by U of Missouri on prosecutions of Democrats. Gail

Sistrunk, Executive Director, Project Save Justice (Producers of the

video, "Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove") has interviewed these

people who have never heard of each other all tell the exact same

story, and the video is stunning, Diaz says rightly.

Sistrunk described the video and hands them out. See: http://www.politicalprosecutions.org

She describes prosecuting grown children and elderly parents,

investigating clients to destroy businesses, and other abuses used

rampantly. She calls OPR the Bates Motel: cases go in and never come

out. And the statistics show improbably high rates of prosecution for

moderate Republicans as well as Democrats. This is not a Republican

crime wave but a Federalist Society crime wave.

Diaz points out Paul Minor's daughter here, Kathryn. He also credits

Harper's and Raw Story (Scott Horton and Larisa Alexandrovna) for their

reporting on these stories.

10:58 Diaz describes Paul Minor's father Bill Minor

a newspaper man who spoke up for civil rights in Mississippi in the

1950s. As a child, Paul Minor saw crosses burned on his lawn. He went

and killed Asians in Vietnam. He came back and took an interest in

politics. (All of this is told as if it's good, including the fighting

in Vietnam.) Paul Minor gave money to candidates. He was the single

largest contributor to Democrats in Mississippi and one of the biggest

nationally. Diaz served in the Mississippi legislature as a Republican

and knew Minor as a friend and ally. Minor supported Diaz in campaigns

for judgeships including for the Mississippi Supreme Court. The US

Chamber of Commerce spent millions against Diaz. So, Minor contributed

and raised contributions from others for Diaz. A US attorney indicted

Minor and Diaz for bribery. But Diaz had refused to vote on a single

case brought by Minor. That, he says, is why he's free to stand here

today. Yet, there is almost always a conflict in every case and he

could very well have voted on some of those cases. Diaz was dragged

through a 3-month prosecution. His wife Jennifer who is here was

indicted too. For what, it was not clear. They faced over 30 years in

prison. DOJ told wife she could plead guilty to an unrelated tax charge

and stay home with her children if she turned evidence against her

husband. He told her she had to do it and should give them every scrap

of info. But there was no evidence of any wrongdoing. So she was not

called as a witness.

Diaz refers to Paul Minor's case as the Ted Stevens case on

steroids. Prosecutor Welch is now appropriately the target of a

criminal investigation at the instigation of a federal judge. He

withheld evidence from the defendants, known as Brady violations. Diaz

was acquitted. Others got hung juries. Minor was re-indicted. Diaz

points out that everyone accepts that prosecutors were fired for not

bringing political prosecutions, but not enough attention is paid to

the fact that some prosecutors were not fired, because they DID bring

political prosecutions. Paul Minor has been in prison these past 3

years. He was denied the right to visit his wife as she fought cancer

and died a couple of months ago. He is a political prisoner. DOJ

refused to allow him to attend his wife's funeral. We need

investigations and we need them now. Very well said.

11:12 Puerto Rico State Senator & Minority Whip Eduardo Bhatia

(D), representing former Gov. Anibal Acivedo, acquitted. Another

similar story of abuses, bogus charges, leaks manipulating the press to

damage a public figure, a trial with no evidence, immediate acquittal,

and $3 million in legal fees still unpaid by innocent defendant.

If any of this disturbs you, please click the links in this blog,

learn more, and make your opinions known to Attorney General Eric

Holder 202-514-2001, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers

202-225-5126, and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy

202-224-4242.

Author's Bio: David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" by Seven Stories Press and of the introduction to "The 35 Articles of Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush" published by Feral House and available at Amazon.com. Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson is Co-Founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, creator of ConvictBushCheney.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com, a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, the Backbone Campaign, and Voters for Peace, a convenor of the legislative working group of United for Peace and Justice, and chair of the accountability and prosecution working group of United for Peace and Justice.

www.opednews.com/articles/Our-Political-Prisoners-by-David-Swanson-090626-141.html