Reporting DoJ Misconduct Scandals: Why Netroots Remains Last Hope for Justice
Netroots reporters can penetrate the Bush administration’s investigation of hundreds of Democratic elected officials at a 7:1 rate over Republicans. Experts will show how dubious Justice Department corruption prosecutions secretly altered the U.S. political map, and destroyed the lives of targeted officials (some Republican) and their families. Learn why DoJ, federal courts and traditional media have such difficulty examining complaints fully -- even from clear-cut prosecution misconduct and even years after the White House scandal of firing mid-term U.S. attorneys. Penetrate the process, and see why web-based journalists remain the last best hope for justice, both locally and nationally.
Don Siegelman is the only person in the history of Alabama to be elected to serve in all four of the top statewide offices: Secretary of State, Attorney General, Lieutenant Governor and Governor. He served in Alabama politics for 26 years. Until he won his last election, sweeping into the governorship with 57% of the vote, including over 90% of the African-American electorate. He served as Alabama Governor from 1999-2003.
Andrew Kreig is a Washington, DC-based blogger, radio host, attorney and author. His recent work exposes misconduct by the Bush Justice Department, which targeted elected Democrats by a 7:1 margin. Huffington Post is among his major outlets after years of newspaper and magazine articles. From 1996-2008, Kreig led the Wireless Communications Association as CEO in its worldwide advocacy to create a broadband wireless industry. In 1987, he authored “Spiked” about newspaper trends. Listed in many “Who’s Who” books for his work, his law degrees are from Yale and the University of Chicago after a Cornell undergraduate education.
Jerry McDevitt is a partner at K&L Gates. His media-sensitive cases include winning dismissal of 84 federal felony charges against Dr. Cyril Wecht, a Democrat, author and internationally known forensic pathologist and medical examiner. In March 2008, the defense rested at trial without calling a witness, resulting in a hung jury on all counts. Thereafter, McDevitt quashed the major search warrants, which led to dismissal of all remaining counts before retrial. Dr. Wecht’s prosecution is nationally controversial as an example of selective prosecution by the Bush administration that destroyed the careers of Democrats holding political office.
Cyril Wecht, MD, JD, an outspoken Democrat and the former coroner of Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, was vindicated in June when federal prosecutors dropped the last of 84 felony counts against him after a career that had established him as a leading forensic pathologist. He has served as president of medical societies, professor at medical schools, and author of leading publications and books. National news shows frequently invite him to discuss the deaths of John and Robert Kennedy, Elvis Presley, etc. Now 78, he and others have denounced as pure politics his Bush administration prosecution that leaves him $6 million in debt.
Gail Sistrunk is VP & Executive Director of Project Save Justice, which educates the public about the U.S. Justice Department. Its present focus is on political prosecutions of elected officials, their families and fundraisers. Research on hundreds of such cases is summarized in the documentary video “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove” produced by her and film maker John McTiernan. The video and additional information are available for free downloading at: www.politicalprosecutions.org. Sistrunk is a former college president who reopened one of the first campuses devastated by Hurricane Katrina. She holds degrees from Southeastern Louisiana and Loyola Universities.
