Locustfork.net:
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was lobbied to drop the case against former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman during his trip to Birmingham Thursday for the swearing in of Joyce White Vance as U.S. attorney for the state’s northern district, sources say.
Several people, including Alabama Democratic Party officials, spoke to Holder on behalf of
Siegelman, and about firing U.S. Attorney Leura Canary — the prosecutor married to Karl Rove’s political ally Bill Canary of the conservative Business Council of Alabama — according to sources present for the swearing in.
Barry Ragsdale, an attorney who is a friend of the Vances and has been associated with the Over the Mountain Democrats in the past, acted as master of ceremonies for the swearing in.
Apparently he is a funny guy, and made several jokes, including poking fun at Chief U.S. District Judge Mark E. Fuller of Alabama’s middle district, the federal judge who presided in the controversial case against Siegelman and his co-defendant Richard Scrushy.
Vance, who was chief of the Northern District’s appellate division from October 2005 until she was named interim U.S. attorney in June, first joined the Birmingham office as an assistant U.S. attorney, prosecuting criminal cases, in 1991.
She replaces U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, who served a controversial term after being appointed to the office by President Bush. Vance was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn, who recently replaced U.W. Clemon as the chief judge in Birmingham.
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