Siegelman sentencing gets mixed reactions

MONTGOMERY -- There's dismay in Democratic circles over former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's swift sentencing Thursday and his shackled shuffle to the Atlanta federal penitentiary, but there's deafening silence from Republicans.

A federal judge sentenced Siegelman to seven years and four months in prison. Leg irons were snapped on and he clinked off to a transport vehicle to take him to the same federal prison that once housed mobsters Al Capone and John Gotti, and baseball player Denny McLain.

"He wasn't even given three minutes to get his toothbrush,'' his attorney, Vince Kilborn, said Friday. "He was allowed to keep his wedding ring.''

Co-defendant Richard Scrushy,

former CEO of HealthSouth, got six years and 10 months and was shuffled off, too. "Scrushy didn't get a chance to kiss his kids goodbye,'' Kilborn said.

Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley said both Siegelman and Scrushy were at the Atlanta federal prison.

She didn't say whether either was at the maximum security male prison or the minimum security male prison camp. It also has a detention center for pre-trial and holdover inmates.

Kilborn said he filed an emergency bond appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It is Siegelman and Scrushy's next venue in fighting their 2006 convictions on bribery, conspiracy and mail fraud charges that Democrats say may come back to haunt Republicans.

Siegelman and Scrushy were convicted partly for a $500,000 contribution Scrushy made to Siegelman's 1999 lottery campaign. Siegelman appointed Scrushy to a state medical review board.

The state Democratic Party charged politics by a Republican administration.

"Any credible allegations of political involvement being injected into the judicial justice system for partisan, personal or political gain should be fully investigated by Congress and the news media,'' party officials said in a statement.

Riley's office had no comment. Neither did Alabama Republican Party officials. But Democrats did.

"The terminology politicians use is quid pro quo,'' Colbert County Democratic Party Chairman Billy Underwood said. "(Republican Gov.) Bob Riley gets a lot of (campaign) money from somebody and then appoints them. I guess if (Democratic U.S. Sen.) Hillary Clinton gets (elected president) and appoints her U.S. attorneys they can indict Bob Riley for the same thing.''

There's an allegation that former White House insider Karl Rove conspired with Riley's son, Rob, Business Council of Alabama President Billy Canary, who is the husband of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary whose office prosecuted Siegelman, and others to get Siegelman. They denied it.

"It reeks of political shenanigans,'' Tuscaloosa County Democratic Party Chairman James Smith said. "I mean, it was obviously a vendetta, stuff coming out about Karl Rove's involvement.''

Alabama Ethics Commission Director James L. Sumner Jr. said the convictions and sentences may send a message to politicians to clean up their acts.

"Also, it will cause great pause on the behalf of business people who are asked to do something in exchange for something else, a quid pro quo,'' he said.

Auburn University Montgomery political science professor D'Linell Finley wondered whether every campaign contribution is now a case of bribery.

"Are you going to convict every person who makes a campaign contribution to an elected official?'' he asked.

"What if a Democrat wins (the White House) and the U.S. attorney decides to investigate (Attorney General) Troy King with Alabama Power?'' Smith said, referring to initial failure to report Alabama Power's Atlanta Braves baseball game tickets to King.

Dana Beyerle can be reached at (334) 264-6605 or dtb12345@aol.com.