-- Although there are reports that George W. Bush top political adviser Karl Rove has signaled, through his attorney, Robert Luskin, his willingness to cooperate in the probe of the political use of U.S. attorneys in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and the firings of U.S. attorneys, we have learned that Rove and the U.S. Attorney for Northern Alabama, Alice Martin, are, in concert with the Obama Justice Department, engaged in a fishing expedition against chief Rove accuser, former Alabama GOP research assistant Dana Jill Simpson.
Last September, Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed the acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, Nora Dannehy, as a special counsel in the probe of Rove, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and others in the political misuse of the Bush Justice Department.
Little was said at the time about Dannehy’s conflict-of-interest in investigating Gonzales and his subordinates in the political misuse of the Justice Department. In 2006, Gonzales awarded Dannehy the department’s Distinguished Service Award for her work as the Supervisory Assistant U.S. Attorney in Connecticut.
We have learned that the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which is only legally authorized to investigate corruption by government employees, has been used to dig up dirt on Simpson that could be used by Rove in his defense before both Dannehy’s investigators and the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative John Conyers (D-MI). Dannehy has done nothing to stop the misuse of OPR in conducting an illegal “fishing expedition” against Simpson, who testified last year before Conyer’s committee on Rove’s collusion with Martin and her colleague, U.S. Attorney for Middle Alabama Leura Canary, in prosecuting Siegelman and HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, a contributor to the Democratic Party.
On January 8, 2009, We reported: “We have learned from knowledgeable sources that Assistant U.S. Attorney for Northern Alabama Jim Sullivan, who reports to U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, has been engaged in a detailed investigation on behalf of the OPR at Justice Department headquarters in Washington. This constitutes a major conflict of interest since the OPR investigation of the U.S. attorneys politicization involves Martin and her colleague in the Middle District of Alabama, Leura Canary. Essentially, Martin has permitted Sullivan, her top criminal investigator, to be used to investigate individuals who may have inculpatory evidence of the involvement of Martin and Canary in illegally using their positions for political purposes, including the political prosecution of former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman. Essentially, Martin is having her subordinate assistant U.S. attorney investigate herself. We have learned that assisting Sullivan in his probe of individuals outside the Justice Department is Assistant Counsel for OPR William Causey.”
We have learned details from informed sources on the fishing expedition being conducted by Martin, Sullivan, and Causey. The Justice Department and Martin’s office in Birmingham are probing Simpson’s adoption of her 4-year old daughter in 2004, her taxes, her previous rental properties, and legal cases she argued as a defense attorney. Several of Simpson’s legal clients, business associates, and even her ex-husband have been questioned by federal officers, including FBI agents.
We have also learned that one of Simpson’s early supporters, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL), a member of the House Judiciary Committee who spent Super Bowl Sunday with Barack Obama at a White House party, has decided to abandon his defense of Simpson because he has gubernatorial ambitions. Davis, who would be Alabama’s first African-American governor, has decided that it is more important to gain the support of the Business Council of Alabama, headed up by Leura Canary’s husband, Bill Canary, a major Republican official in the state and ally of current Republican Governor Bob Riley, than in getting to the bottom of Siegelman’s prosecution.
Davis beat Alabama Democratic Rep. Earl Hilliard in the 2002 primary, the same year Denise Majette defeated Georgia Rep. Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic primary in that state. Both Hilliard and McKinney were considered to be anti-Israel and too pro-Palestinian. Davis is a graduate of Harvard Law School, Obama’s alma mater. In addition, Davis is a main promoter of the EADS-Northrop Grumman U.S. Air Force tanker contract, a large portion of which is slated for Mobile, Alabama.
On March 6, 2008, We reported “The greasing for the EADS contract also involved Riley, who began cementing the EADS deal while he served until 2002 and his election as governor as a member of the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee, the committee with oversight for the Air Force tanker contract.” The selection of EADS/Northrop Grumman over Boeing resulted in massive Boeing layoffs in Alabama and a major set-back for “Buy America” Pentagon contract stipulations.
On March 19, 2008, We wrote: “The Rothschild connection to EADS, as reported by The Independent (UK), is through Diligence, a business intelligence firm chaired by former Conservative Party leader Michael Howard and founded in 2000 by ex-MI5 and Special Boat Service agent Nick Day and former CIA agent Mike Baker. Former Senior Bush chief arms control negotiator and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Burt was also a major force in the formation of Diligence. A Nathaniel Rothschild investment firm called JNR was reported by The Independent on February 18, 2007, to be involved in acquiring a stake in Diligence from a South American private equity firm. Diligence also attracted investments from the Republican lobbying firm Barbour [Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour], Griffith & Rogers. Diligence counts former CIA and FBI director William Webster and Carlyle Group managing director Edward Mathias among its advisory board members, along with Howard.”
In Alabama, Obama’s “change” is keeping a U.S. attorney in place who is involved in a political vendetta against someone who can put Rove behind bars. Which means that for some people, Obama is a “change” for the worse.
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