by Don Siegelman, Political Prisoner #1

Published by NewSouth Books, Montgomery, AL; 2020. 279 pages with photographs　

This is his story, though it’s been told and retold in the press for almost two decades.

DS was born in Mobile, Alabama’s most cosmopolitan city, to a middle-class family with German working-class roots. He started running for office in middle school. Campaigning for something became his way of life. He had a talent for cultivating mentors and contacts.

He also had a strong interest in education. When he ran for governor in 1998 his primary plank was an education lottery similar to the one in Georgia. It would fund free pre-K and college or trade school so deserving students wouldn’t have to pay tuition.

This proposal was a threat to the income of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, whose casinos had a monopoly on legal gambling in those two states. Their money flowed through their lobbyist to Karl Rove to be used to defeat anyone who supported any other type of legal gambling. 

Rove and his partner, Bill Canary, came to Alabama after Bush ‘41 lost the 1992 election. They had both married Alabama women. Their political consulting company was dedicated to eliminating Democrats and liberals from public office by fair means or foul — for a price. They were largely successful, but not against Don Siegelman. He was popular.