Siegelman gets far worse than parking ticket
By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
MONTGOMERY – On Wednesday former Gov. Don Siegelman, in one of his frequent interviews outside the Federal Courthouse in Montgomery, turned a clever phrase: "This jury won't give me as much as a parking ticket."
On Thursday, Siegelman found out differently. In a decision which was nothing short of astonishing to most of the observers of this trial, the former governor was found guilty on seven charges. No less astonishing was that the jury also found former Health South CEO Richard Scrushy guilty on all of the charges brought against him by federal prosecutors.
And for all those doubters — those folks who were absolutely sure that a jury which included a black majority would never convict Scrushy — they surely must have spent Thursday afternoon wiping egg off their faces.
What was most stunning about the guilty verdicts against Siegelman and Scrushy was that for several days before the verdict the jury foreman had indicated that the jurors were deadlocked and he saw no reason to continue the deliberations. U. S. District Judge Mark Fuller urged them to keep on trying to reach some sort of decision, and all of us who thought we knew it all were supremely confident there would be a hung jury, with no decision on any of the defendants. We had some egg on our faces, as well.
While Siegelman and Scrushy were hearing the bad news, the same was not so for the two other defendants in the case. Paul Hamrick, Siegelman's former chief of staff, and Mack Roberts, who served as transportation director in the Siegelman administration. Both of them were acquitted of all the charges brought against them.
Roberts was most gracious in his post-trial interview but Hamrick made no attempt to express his bitterness for the ordeal he and his family had gone through.
What does the conviction of Siegelman do to the Alabama political landscape? What does it say about his future in politics?
There are some, including this writer, who felt Siegelman's sun began to set four years ago when he was defeated for a second term as governor.
He had the enormous advantage of being the incumbent and still he lost to a relatively unknown congressman named Bob Riley.
But certainly the convictions Thursday brought to an end Siegelman's role as a major player in Alabama politics. It also makes it almost a certainty that he will play little or no role in the upcoming General Election gubernatorial campaign between Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and Gov. Riley. It is not likely that Baxley will want Siegelman to play any role in her campaign.
On June 6, after conceding defeat to Baxley in the Democratic Primary, Siegelman issued a warning to Gov. Riley to "saddle up his horse" and get ready for a fight. Politically speaking, Siegelman no longer has a horse to saddle.
For years some political activists have wanted Alabama to have its presidential primary early, just like they do in Iowa and New Hampshire.
To set the stage for this the legislature passed a bill in the regular session which was intended to accomplish that goal by setting the date for the primary to Feb. 5, 2008.
But whoever drew up the bill screwed up and apparently none of the legislators — nor anyone in the governor's office, for that matter — read the bill.
What the legislature did was move all the primary elections back to February. Nobody wanted that. And worse, they didn't change the date of the run-off elections. What this means, if this dumb measure is not changed, is that the run-off election will be the last Tuesday in June 2008, four months after the primary.
Only in Alabama.
The measure is named in memory of Brody Parker, the unborn child of Brandy Parker of Albertville, who was over eight months pregnant when she was murdered.
Another new law requires that every child 14 or younger must be restrained by a children's car seat, booster or seat belt when riding in a motor vehicle.
Yet another law affirms the right of mothers to breast feed children in any place, public or private, where they otherwise are authorized to be.
