There are some interesting developments in the saga of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, convicted in 2006 of bribery after what appears to have been a politically motivated prosecution. The Birmingham News reports:

Former Gov. Don Siegelman asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday to toss out his conviction, saying prosecutors confused campaign contributions for bribes.

Siegelman's lawyers argued the trial judge made multiple errors at the 2006 trial.

"We believe we will be successful in the appeal and all the convictions on all counts will be overturned," Siegelman lawyer Vince Kilborn said.

Siegelman, a Democrat, was released from federal prison in March pending the outcome of his appeal.

Also yesterday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers issued a subpoena to former White House Deputy Chief of Staff and key Bush advisor Karl Rove, demanding testimony about his role in the firing of U.S. attorneys as well as the Siegelman prosecution.

In addition, Conyers disclosed that the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility has opened an investigation into selective prosecution of Siegelman and at least three others, the Washington Post reports.

"I think this will make Watergate look like child's play," Siegelman said in a recent interview with the Anniston Star.

Labels: Alabama, corruption, don siegelman, karl rove, politics

Earlier this week we brought you the story of North Carolina state Rep. Thomas E. Wright, a New Hanover County Democrat expelled from the legislature last week over charges that he misappropriated almost $350,000 in campaign and other funds. He and his attorneys -- among them N.C. Central Law Professor Irving Joyner, who has sued the Durham Police Department for civil rights violations and monitored the Duke Lacrosse rape case for the state NAACP -- have characterized the expulsion as racist.

Now they're fighting that expulsion in court.

Joyner reportedly made a stop in Superior Court this week to file paperwork aimed at getting his client back in office. Should that tack fail, they can still take the case to the court of public opinion: Wright remains a candidate in the state's May primary.

Labels: corruption, Irving Joyner, money and politics, north carolina, Thomas Wright

Last week the North Carolina House of Representatives convened for a special session during which they expelled Rep. Thomas Wright by a vote of 109-5. The expulsion of the eight-term African-American Democrat from Wilmington is the chamber's first since Rep. Josiah Turner was thrown out for "obstreperous conduct" in 1880.

Wright stands accused of violating ethics rules and campaign finance laws for failing to report at least $180,000 in campaign cash, much of which he used for personal expenses, according to investigators. He is also charged with pressuring a state employee to write a fraudulent letter to help him obtain a $150,000 loan, which he defaulted on. In addition, investigators say Wright misused a $10,000 line of credit and $8,900 intended for a charity he ran.

Wright was indicted late last year on five charges of obtaining property by false pretenses and one charge of obstruction of justice. He has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence and promised to present evidence of it during his upcoming trial.

Wright's expulsion comes a little more than a year after House Speaker Jim Black, a Democrat from the Charlotte area, resigned and pleaded guilty to corruption for accepting cash from chiropractors in return for legislative favors. No expulsion proceedings were started in the case of Black, who is white. Indeed, Wright's attorneys have argued their client faced harsh treatment because of his race, though Black's replacement by a House speaker who promised to crack down on corruption was clearly a factor.

Deepening the tragedy of Wright's downfall is the fact that he was one of the most outspoken champions for justice in the case of the Wilmington Coup of 1898, when a white-supremacist mob violently overthrew the city's elected multiracial government, murdered an untold number of black residents, and ushered in the Jim Crow era. Last year the N.C. legislature passed a measure he sponsored that acknowledged and apologized for the coup, but for a time the bill's fate was uncertain because of the controversy over Wright's alleged wrongdoing.

Wright has a deeply personal connection to Wilmington's troubled racial history: In 1972, his brother, Joe, was falsely accused of firebombing a grocery store and shooting at emergency workers. He spent four and a half years in prison as one of the Wilmington Ten, but his conviction was overturned after Amnesty International deemed the group political prisoners.

Labels: corruption, money and politics, north carolina, Thomas Wright, Wilmington, Wilmington Coup, Wilmington Ten