Don Siegelman Calls on House to Hold Karl Rove in Contempt

Posted by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 10:07 AM on August 25, 2008.

Editor's note: Former Alabama Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman has been fighting to clear his name after being convicted of bribery for appointing a campaign supporter to a non-paying position on a state board -- a practice that is commonplace in American politics. Siegelman believes Karl Rove, the president's former political strategist, was behind his prosecution by U.S. attorneys, just as Alabama Republicans stole his 2002 governor's race by revising the vote count in one county and sealing access to the ballots for a recount. Seigelman spoke about why Rove must be held accountable for failing to testify before Congress at an election integrity panel at the Denver Press Club on Sunday. The panel was a briefing for reporters attending the Democratic Convention. Here is an excerpt.

I am from Alabama. I know something about how votes are suppressed. I know how those in power seek to control elections.

The spirit of the civil rights movement was not deterred by police dogs. The spirit of the civil rights movement was not beaten back by billy clubs, or dampened by the water cannon. The spirit of that movement was built upon the belief that every person should have the right to vote, and that those votes should be counted.

And we watched this country come from a place where woman and slaves, African-Americans could not vote, where they built into state constitutions that you had to be white, male and 21 and own 40 acres of land or be married to somebody who owned 40 acres of land to vote. Then we came up with the poll tax and hard questions, and they were designed to keep people from being able to register to vote. And later we became more sophisticated, when votes were stolen. Dead people were voted so they could swing elections at the tail end of elections on Election Day. And then there were prosecutions of African-Americans who were activist in their community, trying to get people to register to vote or cast absentee ballots. And now we have come to the point when we are becoming even more sophisticated, requiring photo IDs that put an added burden on some people, particularly those who happen to vote democratic.

And then there is this new wave, or process, of trying to control elections, which is the electronic manipulation of the vote. And I think that Rove has come up with a new one, which is using the federal indictment and prosecution process as a way to eliminate his political enemies.

I'm going to be at this convention, and my sole purpose here is to see that Karl Rove does not walk away quietly into the sunset. The U.S. Congress has a duty and an obligation to dig for the truth. The House Judiciary Committee has votes that Karl Rove be held in contempt for failing to show up after having been subpeonaed to testify before the Judiciary Committee about my case and about the firing of the U.S. Attorneys.

Karl Rove has refused to show up. Congress now has an obligation to vote on that contempt citation. The full House must be encouraged to bring that up for a vote when they come back in September. To do otherwise, is to say to the American people that we have two standards of justice. One for the powerful and those connected to the White House, and another for the rest of us.

Karl Rove should be made to show up before the Judiciary Committee, just like you or I or any of the members of our family members would have to do if we were subpeonaed. And he can either answer truthfully. He can lie under oath or he can plead the fifth -- and it does not matter to me. But to do otherwise is to also send a message to Rove's band of right-wing extremists who have participated in this conspiracy to abuse power and use the Department of Justice to win elections to gain and maintain power. And frankly, that would be a terrible disservice to our democracy.

Tagged as: congress, don siegelman, karly rove

Steven Rosenfeld is a senior fellow at Alternet.org and co-author of What Happened in Ohio: A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election, with Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman (The New Press, 2006).