Josh Marshall at TPM has a nice examination of the Siegelman case here.

However, I still haven’t found anyone who has followed up on Scott Horton’s contention that Dana Jill Simpson had her house burned down and her car totalled.

Josh, why didn’t you say anything about that?

Meanwhile, Siegelman’s sentencing hearing goes on. The judge (a specially-chosen hard-line and loyal Republican) has now said he will sentence Siegelman to 15 to 19 years. This in a court that sentenced a Republican governor who had personally stolen $200,000 to only probation.  Read more 

Lots of folks are getting interested in this case now. Here’s a story from the New York Times about it. G. Robert Blakey, the guy who helped to draft the RICO statute and tried many cases using it, really slapped the prosecution around in the article:

“It’s a joke,” Professor Blakey said. “A guy walks in, gives a contribution, and gets an appointment? Until Congress reforms this, this is the system we live under. They are criminalizing this contribution.”

Furthermore, Mr. Blakey derided the prosecutors’ racketeering case against Mr. Siegelman. “It’s the worst-drafted RICO I’ve ever seen,” said the professor, whose career at the Justice Department began in 1960. “You find as much trash as you can, then you dump it in.”  Read more 

Wow. Go read this if you want to learn just how Rove wants to use the legal system to settle political scores. Of course, I’ve always felt that Alabama was really a third world banana republic run by the sort of folks who belong in John Grisham novels — but I digress.

And, apparently, it all would’ve worked perfectly but Dana Simpson, a Republican, had to open her mouth and blow the whistle. So now the Rovian mafioso-like intimidation begins:

The response to Simpson’s affidavit has been a series of brusque dismissive statements – all of them unsworn – from others who figured in the discussion and the federal prosecutor in the Siegelman case, who has now made a series of demonstrably false statements concerning the matter. She’s been smeared as “crazy” and as a “disgruntled contract bidder.” And something nastier: after her intention to speak became known, Simpson’s house was burned to the ground, and her car was driven off the road and totaled. Clearly, there are some very powerful people in Alabama who feel threatened.  Read more