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Tuesday, February 9, 2010 | DeKalb County's Oldest Newspaper

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Unbelievable may be the truth

By Jared Felkins
The Times-Journal

Published February 27, 2008

It’s a yarn spun so wildly, it sounds like it should be in a John Grisham novel rather than a sworn affidavit to a House Judicial Committee.

It comes from a self-proclaimed “country lawyer” who just might have been underestimated by possibly one of the most powerful political groups in U.S. history.

In other words, it’s so unbelievable it just might be true.

Rainsville attorney Jill Simpson has been the focus of the national media after her sworn statement was released accusing a number of top-level Republicans of wrongdoing. Her statements point fingers at many in the GOP, including former White House aide Karl Rove, Gov. Bob Riley and U.S. attorneys Laura Canary and Alice Martin.

On one side is Simpson, a renounced Republican, who has stood up for former Gov. Don Siegelman because she thinks he was wrongly prosecuted. She now has the backing of 52 current and former attorneys general across the nation and many in both parties, mainly Democrats.

Simpson says she was privy to conversations between Riley’s son, Rob Riley, and others who she claims planned Siegelman’s prosecution to keep him from having a chance at governor again.

Sure, it’s unbelievable. A number of questions come to mind. At the top of the list is how did a Rainsville attorney and campaign worker come to get this information? How in the world did Simpson become so involved?

That’s the argument for Republican leaders, including GOP Party Chairman Rep. Mike Hubbard. It’s interesting Hubbard responded because he wasn’t chairman when the alleged conversations occurred.

And who else has responded to the claims? Several lawyers, including Rove’s, have a unified response, “That’s a lie.”

Certainly there are two distinct sides with Simpson in the middle. Simpson’s appearance on “60 Minutes” Sunday have bloggers’ fingers worn to the nubs this week.

True or not, it’s given us the opportunity to question government, which is everyone’s responsibility and anyone’s right.

So what’s next? We hope it will be a revisit to the Siegelman case in an attempt to figure out what really happened. And if it turns out Siegelman is guilty, what really has been lost? An appeal is in order.

Sure, it’s an unbelievable story. It’s so unbelievable it just might be true. And someday the truth just might set Siegelman free.

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