Special Counsel Shut Down Probe of Siegelman Case Last Year
By Ben Evans
The Associated Press
Wednesday 07 May 2008
Washington - The U.S. Office of Special Counsel last year shut down a previously undisclosed investigation into the federal prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, according to an internal memo made public Wednesday.
The investigation was being conducted by a task force formed at the agency a year ago to pursue high-profile political investigations in Washington, most notably whether the White House played politics in firing U.S. attorneys. It began gathering information on the Siegelman case in September and was planning to request documents from the Justice Department in October before Special Counsel Scott Bloch ordered the case closed, according to the Jan. 18 draft memo, made public by the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group.
The investigation was one of many that the task force had taken up, and the memo shows that Bloch frequently differed with investigators about which cases to pursue.
For example, he asked the task force to broaden its investigations into the fired prosecutors and into whether federal agencies received political briefings from the White House to boost GOP electoral fortunes. But he shut down an investigation into whether the Justice Department was hinging its hiring decisions on job applicants' political affiliations.
An attorney for Bloch, who himself is under a federal investigation, declined comment. But a person familiar with the origins of the POGO draft document said the decision to not pursue Siegelman or other cases stemmed mostly from a shortage of time and resources. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
Siegelman, a Democrat, said the memo suggests further political interference in his case and reiterated his call for the Justice Department to appoint a special prosecutor to take up the matter.
"The question is who told them to shut it down," Siegelman said Wednesday when told of the memo. "Why would you start an investigation and let it proceed and then shut it down? The logical conclusion is that somebody intervened and told them to shut down the investigation."
Siegelman has long claimed that Republicans engineered his prosecution on bribery and other corruption charges to kill his chances for re-election, a claim repeatedly denied by federal prosecutors. His attorneys requested earlier this year that the Justice Department appoint a special prosecutor to investigate whether White House appointees in Washington, including former Bush adviser Karl Rove, influenced the case. Rove also has denied any involvement.
The Special Counsel's office is an independent agency charged with investigating unlawful political activity by government employees and ensuring that government whistle-blowers are not subjected to reprisals.
The January memo is a summary of the task force's activities and recommendations since it was formed in May 2007. It says investigators expressed concerns about closing the Siegelman investigation before completing it. But the task force was "directed to not further investigate this case and to wait for further instructions."
The memo says the task force still considered the case open and was requesting authorization to continue.
"I'm stunned by all this," said Vince Kilborn, one of the former governor's attorneys. "If an ongoing government investigation was shut down, I would say it's potential obstruction of justice."
FBI agents raided the office and Bloch's home this week in an investigation into whether he destroyed evidence potentially showing he retaliated against staffers who opposed his policies.
Siegelman, who served one term as governor after being elected in 1998, was convicted in 2006 on bribery and other charges and sentenced to more than seven years in prison. He was recently released on bond pending appeal.

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan contributed to this report.

To Whistleblower Support,

I am writing to let you know that the Senate Democratic Policy Committee will be holding a hearing on Monday, May 12 at 2:00 p.m. This hearing may be of interest to you and your readers. Three individuals will testify about whether Bush Administration reconstruction and anti-corruption failures have undermined our troops and the U.S. mission in Iraq . The witnesses include two former Bush Administration officials and a retired two-star general.

This hearing is open to the public. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Holly

Holly Teliska
Policy Analyst
U.S. Senate Democratic Policy Committee
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/
p: 202-224-7013
f: 202-224-3432

419 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510

www.OSCwatch.org

PRESS RELEASE

FBI Conducts Raid on
The Office of Special Counsel

Will Whistleblowers Abused by Scott Bloch Finally Receive Justice?

Contact:

Joe Carson, Chairman
(865) 300-5831
Joe.Carson@OSCwatch.org

P. Jeffrey Black, Co-Chair
(800) 980-2185
Jeffrey.Black@OSCwatch.org

For Immediate Release

May 6, 2008

Knoxville, TN – Today the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the office and home of Scott Bloch, the chief of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). Bloch was served with a subpoena to appear before the grand jury, along with over a dozen employees that also work in the the same office.

OSC Watch applauds the FBI's investigation of both Bloch and the blatant lawbreaking by OSC, which consists of a wide array of alleged criminal acts from obstruction of justice, to the abuse of investigative authority when OSC has summarily dismissed hundreds of valid whistleblower claims of federal employees, without conducting the proper and unbiased investigations of those claims.

While under the helm of Bloch, OSC has failed to comply with its lawful duties to protect federal employees from Prohibited Personnel Practices, and as a result, has significantly harmed the merit principles of the federal civil service and contributed to the continual occurrence of significant gross mismanagement, waste, fraud, and abuse in numerous federal government agencies –– most significantly the Department of Homeland Security.

OSC Watch contends that thousands of loyal and patriotic federal employees who have filed complaints with OSC, have been negatively impacted by Bloch's failure to comply with his statutory duties to protect those federal employees –– especially those employees who have filed whistleblower appeals at the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).

OSC Watch will carry-on with its primary mission to persuade Congress to discharge its oversight authority over OSC, and to compel OSC to abide by its statutory duties to protect federal employees from prohibited personnel practices, whistleblower retaliation against employees, and OSC’s non-compliance with its statutory obligations and duties.

Last month, OSC Watch sent to every member of Congress, a petition requesting immediate and proper oversight of OSC, recommending the creation of an independent panel to investigate OSC's non-compliance of its statutory duties.

To Read the OSC Watch Petition to Congress

>>> CLICK HERE <<<

Founded in 2007, OSC Watch is comprised of federal government whistleblowers who's mission is threefold: 1) to expose OSC's continuous lawbreaking; 2) to stop OSC's law breaking through Congressional oversight, and 3) to obtain some measure of justice and rehabilitation for the thousands of federal employees who have been negatively impacted by OSC's lawbreaking. The right of federal employees, individually or collectively, to petition Congress or any Member of Congress, or to furnish information to either House of Congress, or to a committee or Member thereof, may not be interfered with or denied. [5 U.S.C. § 7211]


# # #

ABC News Article about Gerald Eastman’s upcoming retrial as Boeing attempts again to seek retribution, and some amusing reader comments.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2008/04/second-trial-fo.html

Enjoy

From: www.thelastinspector.com (There are very useful pictures from the television news story about the King County Deputy Prosecutor on Mr. Eastman's blog. You will want to go see them there.)

Case Setting Hearing Delayed Until Next Week Because the Senior Deputy Prosecutor Hurt Himself
Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 11:11 AM
Updated: Today was to be the case setting hearing for the retrial of me on unfounded charges by Boeing's King County Prosecutor.

However, the Senior Deputy Prosecutor, Scott Peterson, hurt himself over the weekend, so the county asked for a week's delay, which my attorney and I did not object to. The hearing is now set for next week, Monday, May 5th.

Hopefully Senior Deputy Prosecutor Peterson didn't hurt himself like he did last time--by committing a class B felony. I believe a class B felony is a much more serious a crime than the class C felony I am accused of.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Peterson hurt himself last time (in 2004) just after he committed the class B felony of assault with a deadly weapon on a defenseless woman by ramming his car repeatedly into her while she was standing in a parking space. He hurt himself just after committing that crime against the defenseless woman when he "impacted" the forearm of the woman's boyfriend who came to her aid and block tackling him to the ground.

So, hopefully the other innocent citizens around Senior Deputy Prosecutor Peterson when he hurt himself this time were not also being assaulted as the noted woman, Danatte Griffin, was, and they did not sustain any injuries.

To find out the character of the prosecutors I'm up against in this county you can view the news story by clicking this link:

http://www.kirotv.com/video/3532554/index.html?taf=sea

Here are some notable frames of the KIRO 7 Broadcast on the flagrant "caste based" bias in Seattle's and King County's prosecutions of the people who try to protect victims when their assaulters are powerful and/or rich:


KIRO 7 News Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne


Victim Danatte Griffin, whom King County Senior Deputy Prosector Scott Peterson Repeatedly assaulted with his vehicle.


King County Senior Deputy Prosector Scott Peterson, who repeatedly assaulted Ms. Griffin with his vehicle after he saw her in his way, standing between two vehicles that he wanted to wedge in between in order to park. Watch out non-elite of King County! If you thought a member of the elite wouldn't hit you or run you over just to get to a parking space, you were wrong! And if you thought the member of the elite would get prosecuted for running you over intentionally while parking you would be dead wrong!


The weapon King County Senior Deputy Prosector Scott Peterson used to hit Ms. Griffin with repeatedly


The injuries King County Senior Deputy Prosector Scott Peterson inflicted on Ms. Griffin during his assault. If her boyfriend had abused her and left such nasty bruises he would have been jailed and prosecuted. However, a stranger to Ms. Griffin, King County Senior Deputy Prosector Scott Peterson, battered her intentionally with his vehicle, so his crime was never actually investigated, much less prosecuted. Mr. Peterson didn't even spend a second in jail for this assault. However, her boyfriend, who tried to protect her from Mr. Peterson, was prosecuted for his "bumping into" such a powerful person as King County Senior Deputy Prosector Scott Peterson. Class warfare is only allowed one way in King County--The rich and powerful can do anything they want to do to the common citizen here, while the common citizen will be prosecuted for even trying to defend against such assaults.

This pretty much proves the opposite of justice that is in place in the King County Prosecutor's office when the powerful assault an innocent citizen, or assault citizens trying to save many lives from being assaulted and/or killed by knowingly defective, largely uninspected and unapproved "vehicles" (commercial airplanes), as in my case.

When such citizens are assaulted by those perpetrators, the King County Prosecutor's office doesn't protect the victims of those crimes, whether they are innocent bystander citizens or whistleblowers trying to save lives placed at risk for greater profits--It instead prosecutes the victims or anyone coming to the aid of the victims, as in King County, the Prosecutor's office seems to always purposefully ignore the vastly greater crimes of the powerful and/or wealthy, and instead prosecutes the victims of those criminal actors in order to maintain the powerful and/or wealthy perpetrator's status, protecting them from accountability for their crimes by going on "offense" legally for those powerful interests by prosecuting the victims or anyone that comes to the victims aid on fabricated charges.

Don't believe me? View the news story at the above link. Senior Deputy Prosecutor Peterson's felonious actions were never actually investigated, much less prosecuted. However, the boyfriend protecting the one he loved was prosecuted for doing so.

In my case, I am being tried again on what the King County Prosecutor's office knows (unless you believe their actions are driven by legal ignorance and incompetence, which I don't) are false charges after the first attempt at convicting me on those false charges rightly failed. However I am not really the victim even though I'm being prosecuted on false charges. Just as the boyfriend was prosecuted for trying to protect his girlfriend from Mr. Peterson's road rage attack with his car on a pedestrian, I am being prosecuted for trying to protect the flying public from fraud that has already cost people many injuries and/or their lives. The flying public is therefor the victim, in my case.

So which crime was greater? Senior Deputy Prosecutor Peterson getting angry at an innocent pedestrian and repeatedly hitting her with his car? Or the "crime" of the boyfriend pushing Deputy Prosecutor Peterson to the ground with his forearm in defense of his already injured girlfriend who was under attack by Mr. Peterson?

Or is the greater crime a King County Prosecutor's office that ensures that victims or their protectors are always charged on fabricated charges when the wealthy and powerful assault them, especially if it is one of their own elite that is the perpetrator, and/or one of their campaign contributors?

You had better hope that King County Executive Ron Sims doesn't come up to you on the sidewalk (if you are in King County and are out for a walk) and shoot you in cold blood, for if you survived, you'd be charged for spitting blood on the sidewalk and Sims would go free, unless the prosecutor's office discriminates based on race as well as caste in its prosecutions. (Of course, this is a hypothetical example only, and as far as I know King County Executive Ron Sims is a model citizen who would never even think of doing such a thing, nor do I think he rests any easier with the knowledge that he might get away with any crime he wanted to commit with the King County Prosecutor's office in its current biased against justice state.)
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Reader Comments from newest to oldest:

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GFS
Monday, May 5, 2008, 11:33 PM / http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com
Oh, by the way, Pete. Since you seem to be so ignorant. Are you one of those guys in Boeing that got into big trouble recently for committing acts of sexual harassment at the work place?

Since you seem so ignorant regarding your behavior, think about this. What you wrote to Mr. Eastman in your post's last sentences, if one can call them that, is very blatant harassment, sexual harassment, in writing yet, and in a public place. I may even post this whole article and your blog comments in my public blog and group sites as well as it is such a good example of the problem. That would be about eight nationally read sites. Lots more people would get to see the types of attitudes and behaviors you are exemplifying.

Mr. Eastman now has good reason to haul you up on charges of sexual harassment, and sue you Pete. And it is all there clearly in writing in this very public place. I guess maybe you should worry about cleaning up your own act. If your employer, Boeing, sees it, it will probably necessitate the opening of an investigation on you. And if you actually hold a security clearance, it may not be for much longer. In case you don't get it yet, your company does not like to be embarrassed publicly, so you really put your foot in it this time.

You just think this over a bit now.
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GFS
Monday, May 5, 2008, 11:09 PM / http://whistleblowersupporter.typepad.com
Interesting. Quite disgusting. I found that news story too and have been pondering the vast inequities of our local legal system.

So, Pete, what job to you hold in the Boeing Company. Your comments sound like sheepherding tactics for the company's benefit. Take the plea deal? Why should a legitimate Whistleblower take a plea deal, even if there was one, from a company set on denying he is a legitimate whistleblower, and also determined to smear him and fraudulently represent him as a common criminal and convict of same? It makes no sense. Denying the existance of the whistleblower laws we do have, and the rights of due process and protections whistleblowers do have does not absolve the company of responsibility for their own"sins" and refusal to mediate them, which caused the whistleblower reports in the first place. Nor does it give them the ability to try to kill the messenger with impunity. Last time I checked, this is still America.

You Boeing employees, more often lawyers or managers, shouldn't even bother to try to sway influence in blog sites. It is only too apparent where you are coming from and all the more pathetic.

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Gerald Eastman
Friday, May 2, 2008, 03:13 PM / www.thelastinspector.com
"Nothing to blow the whistle on"? You are the insane one if you were anywhere close to the QA or Manufacturing departments of Boeing and actually believe that. But because you were in both Monroe and Walla Walla prisons, I guess you must be at least criminally insane.
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Pete
Friday, May 2, 2008, 09:05 AM
Eastman either just does not get it, he is totally out of touch with reality, or he is a complete knothead! By antagonizing/bating both the Prosecutor's office along with the Boeing Co. he is setting himself up for a very costly and painfully hard fall! Eastman's best recourse it appears to me would be to have is lawyer negotiate a plea deal. Thus, he could minimize his sentence as well as choosing his place of incarceration.
If Eastman is stupid enough to roll the dice and proceed to trial a 2nd time all the while hiding behind this phony defense of being a whistleblower (especially when there was nothing to blow the whistle on) he is insane.
One thing Eastman should really consider very seriously is that both in Monroe and Walla Walla State Pens are convicts that love to make heavy-set inmates with "man-breast's" their personnal Bitches!