In Exclusive Interview, the Former Alabama Governor Requests Readers Contact House Judiciary Committee to Demand Accountability for the Subversion of Justice...

Steve Heller Byon 7/9/2008, 8:24pm PT

Guest Blogged by Steve Heller of VelvetRevolution.us

The torment and imprisonment of former Alabama governor Don Siegelman, allegedly via the hands of Karl Rove and his political hitmen operatives, has been extensively covered by The BRAD BLOG.

Over the weekend, Velvet Revolution.us (co-founded by The BRAD BLOG) sat down with him for an exclusive video-taped interview in Alabama. The entire interview will be posted soon, but we have posted two excerpts on YouTube. Both are embedded below.

Siegelman wants you to let Congress know that Rove must face the consequences of his actions. So do we.

Rove has been subpoenaed to testify before Congress tomorrow, July 10th, regarding the politicization of the Justice Department. The House Judiciary Committee wants to question Rove about his knowledge of the persecution prosecution of former Alabama Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman and the U.S. Attorney firing scandal.

But Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, has informed the Judiciary Committee that Rove will not attend the hearing.

Luskin has offered to make Rove available to the committee behind closed doors and not under oath. Luskin also insists that there be no transcript of the questioning and that Rove would not respond to written questions from the panel.

The Judiciary Committee has rejected that so-called "compromise."

We join Siegelman's request, as stated in his interview, in asking you to please contact the House Judiciary Committee and your House Representative to politely but firmly insist that they hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress.

You can call the House Judiciary Committee at 202-225-3951 and you can email them via this page.

You can call your House Rep. at 202-224-3121. More contact info for your specific Representative can be found here.



As Siegelman notes about Rove during the VR interview, in the first posted excerpt (seen at right)...

This is a guy who has told Congress that he will not show up under subpoena unless he is not sworn to tell the truth, unless he has the questions in advance, and unless he is assured that nobody is writing down his answers. Now does that sound like somebody who's prepared to tell the truth?

...

We won't know the truth until Congress digs it out, and that's why it is so incredibly important that anybody that reads your blog or listens to it or watches it gets on the phone, gets on their computer, or writes Congress and tells them to hold Karl Rove in contempt if he does not show up to testify on July 10th.

...

[H]e needs to be held in contempt, needs to be arrested, needs to be brought in and made to sit before Congress and answer questions.

In the second excerpt (video at right, below), Siegelman goes on to point out that only Congress currently holds the power to reveal the truth about what went on in this sordid affair...









The American people deserve to know the truth. The American people deserve to know who was involved in perverting our democracy and subverting our Constitution. The American people deserve to know who hijacked the Department of Justice and used it as a political tool to retain or gain power. The only place that the American people can turn to restore justice in this country and to preserve our democracy is the United States Congress. We have to ask Congress to find the truth and to hold those people accountable who are responsible for these perversions of justice.

As Judiciary Committee member Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said last month, "We really cannot allow the co-equal branch of government, the legislative branch, to be trampled upon by the executive branch."

Her Judiciary colleague Linda Sanchez (D-CA) echoed: "We really need to set our foot down and show there are consequences to people who laugh in the face of Congressional subpoenas".

Amen to that. Let's hope Congress really does use what is known in the vernacular as a "spine."

Again, please contact your House Representative and the House Judiciary Committee and demand they hold Karl Rove in contempt of Congress for failing to comply with the subpoena. If he does. Which he will.



