The Associated Press reports a federal grand jury has indicted former Governor Don Siegelman in a "widespread racketeering conspiracy" that included bribery and extortion:
The indictment, in part, alleges that former HealthSouth chief Richard Scrushy made disguised payments totaling $500,000 to Siegelman to get appointed to a key hospital regulatory board.
The Associated Press fails to mentioned that Siegelman is a Democrat until the next to last paragraph. Even then the Associated Press tries to hide the party affiliation by referring only to Siegelman's "Democratic campaign for a second term." Can you even imagine how prominently party affiliation would be mentioned if a former Republican governor had been indicted? I didn't think so.
This indictment will likely doom Siegelman's campaign. A recent poll found incumbent Governor Bob Riley with a commanding lead over any of the challengers:
Riley had a near-landslide lead in the poll over former Chief Justice Roy Moore in the GOP Primary . . . a whopping 44 percent to 25 percent among those who planned to vote Republican.
How would Riley do against either of the leading Democratic nominees-Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley and former Gov. Don Siegelman? Again he held commanding leads. He led Baxley in the poll by a 44-33 percent margin and Siegelman by a 45-31 margin.
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