The Governor of Goat Hill

Book excerpt: I think this will make Watergate look like child's play. Former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, on Karl Rove's alleged involvement in his prosecution Was Don Siegelman the victim of a Republican conspiracy led by Karl Rove, or was he perhaps the most corrupt governor in Alabama history? On February 24, 2008, 60 Minutes delivered a bombshell claims that President Bush's political advisor Karl Rove had assigned an Alabama woman to tail Governor Don Siegelman and take photos of him having extramarital sex. The piece also presented an open and shut case that powerful Republicans including Rove and Bob Riley, Siegelman's successor as Alabama's governor had somehow ordered the Justice Department to prosecute Siegelman. In this book, Eddie Curran the investigative reporter whose stories initiated the criminal investigation delivers a far different portrait of the one-time golden boy of Alabama Democratic politics. Curran leads readers on a first-person account of his discoveries, including Siegelman's use of his office to collect more than $1.3 million in legal fees while governor; the sale of his home through a straw man for twice its value; and a host of scandals involving the likes of Waste Management Inc., and Richard Scrushy, the deeply corrupt HealthSouth Corp. chairman prosecuted along with Siegelman. The Governor of Goat Hill is both a scathing portrayal of a New South governor gone bad and an indictment of some of the top names in American journalism, who bought into a bogus conspiracy for no reason other than it led to Karl Rove. This is a book you will either love or hate. One thing you definitely won't find it to be is boring. If you believe Don Siegelman got shafted by over-zealous, intensely partisan prosecutors you will find the case presented against him in great detail, making it easier for you to contradict with opposing evidence. I consider Don Siegelman a personal friend and this book has not changed my mind. He is a man of great ability and it will be up to the reader to decide if he abused the trust that was placed in him or was the victim of a witch hunt orchestrated at the highest levels of American government. Bill Stewart, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Alabama