VOICES: The Siegelman case: Why Obama must get it right on justice issues

By Roger Shuler, Legal Schnauzer

Pressure seems to be growing on the Obama administration to supportcomplete investigations and accountability regarding apparentwrongdoing in the George W. Bush Department of Justice.

Obama needs to be listening. The long-term success of his presidency might depend on it.

The New York Times on Saturday opined that Attorney General Eric Holder should take a fresh look at the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Such a review becomes even more imperative, the Timesnotes, now that Holder has asked that charges be dismissed againstformer U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) because of prosecutorialmisconduct in his case. Wrongdoing by prosecutors probably was at leastas grave in the Siegelman case, probably more so, the Times notes:

Manyaspects of the case require further scrutiny. United States AttorneyLeura Canary is the wife of a prominent Republican political operativewho was a strong opponent of Mr. Siegelman. Her office prosecuted Mr.Siegelman. Ms. Canary said that she recused herself from theprosecution, but questions have been raised about whether she actuallydid.

Mr. Siegelman's supporters have long argued that he wastargeted by the Justice Department because he was Alabama's leadingDemocratic politician and stood a good chance of once again beingelected governor. A Republican lawyer in Alabama, Jill Simpson, hassaid that she heard Ms. Canary's husband, William Canary, say that hehad discussed the prosecution with Karl Rove, the senior White Housepolitical adviser.

Sources say The New York Times is not just writing editorials on the Siegelman case. Times reporters also are checking into the curious relationship between two Alabama newspapers -- The Birmingham News and the Mobile Press-Register -- andprosecutors in the Siegelman case. And Justice Departmentinvestigators, checking into the same issue, have found substantialevidence of improper connections between prosecutors and Alabamajournalists regarding the Siegelman case.

Christine Bowman, at BuzzFlash, writes that Holder must build on momentum from the recent release of Bush torture memos to conduct a thorough cleansing at the DOJ. Like the Times, Bowman focuses on the Siegelman case:

One DOJ conservative ideologue who needs to be dumped immediately is Leura Canary, the US Attorney in Alabama who prosecuted and jailed Democratic Gov.Don Siegelman. (He's out and mounting an appeal now.) Thom Hartmannurged listeners to his April 21 radio show to call Eric Holder's officeat 202-514-2001 and politely urge him to replace her.

Whyis it critical that Obama pay attention to these calls for justice atJustice? Much of the good he is likely to accomplish in his presidencycould go down the drain if he doesn't.

Veteran journalist Robert Parry has written that perhaps the biggest mistake of Bill Clinton's presidencywas his decision to give the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bushadministrations free passes on corruption. That caused Americans toview the Reagan and Bush legacies in a much more favorable light thanthey would have if wrongdoing had been exposed.

In businesslingo, Clinton allowed the Reagan/Bush "brand" to not be tarnished. Andthat led to the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush, which undidmuch of what Clinton had accomplished.

What does the Reagan/Bush"brand" of Republicanism stand for? It personifies greed, graft,corruption, income inequality, financial speculation, lax regulation,international recklessness, economic decay, environmental degradation,and more.

Obama has said he wants to look forward and notbackward. But if he doesn't look back and make sure wrongdoing isexposed, another president in the Reagan/Bush mold will come along andundo much of what Obama now is working to achieve.

The bottom line? If Obama doesn't get it right on justice issues, much of his effort in other areas is going to be wasted.