Democratic lawmaker warns against Ala. ex-gov. Siegelman testifying to Congress Associated Press

Published: Monday March 31, 2008



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Print This Email This WASHINGTON - Democratic Rep. Artur Davis of Birmingham warned House Democrats Monday against calling Don Siegelman to testify before Congress, saying Republicans would use the occasion to try to embarrass the former Alabama governor. In a letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., Davis said it would be "extremely unwise" to open Siegelman up to fresh attacks and could jeopardize his appeal. Davis said the appearance would probably turn into a partisan debate over Siegelman's guilt or innocence and shift attention from the committee's true goal of determining whether Republican politics influenced his prosecution on corruption charges. "I fear that we will undermine what we value most if we divert this committee into a fact-finding quest into what Don Siegelman did or did not do," Davis wrote. A former federal prosecutor, Davis is a member of the Judiciary Committee who has worked closely with Conyers and other Democrats to focus attention on Siegelman's case. But Davis said he was not told of the committee's decision last week to seek Siegelman's testimony and would have advised against it, even before the former governor was released from prison Friday while he appeals his case. Davis said the committee should focus on getting testimony from political operatives, particularly from former chief White House adviser Karl Rove. Siegelman's testimony would probably provide little new information about Justice Department behavior, he said. "We may offer (Siegelman) a day in the court of public opinion, but our critics will assail us for doing nothing more than second-guessing a jury verdict," Davis wrote. "The Republican opposition within the committee will use the occasion to discredit him with the least flattering facts of the trial and his governorship. It is even conceivable that they could call some of the cooperating witnesses who testified against Siegelman to further damage his credibility." A spokeswoman for the committee said Conyers had no immediate comment on the letter. Siegelman's attorneys, who last week said Siegelman was eager to testify, could not immediately be reached Monday afternoon. Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy were convicted in June 2006 on bribery and obstruction of justice charges. Federal prosecutors accused Siegelman of appointing Scrushy to a hospital regulatory board in exchange for Scrushy arranging $500,000 in contributions to Siegelman's campaign for a statewide lottery. The defense has argued there was no personal gain or quid-pro-quo in the deal, and Siegelman has long maintained that his prosecution was politically motivated. After Siegelman served nine months in a sentence of more than seven years, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered his release last week while the case is on appeal, saying the former governor had raised "substantial questions of fact and law" in challenging his conviction. Last year, a GOP lawyer who once worked on the campaign of Republican Gov. Bob Riley said she overheard conversations among campaign officials in 2002 suggesting that Rove was involved in Siegelman's prosecution.

