Attention in the Bush Justice Department scandal has focused primarily on cases where prominent Democrats (Don Siegelman in Alabama, Paul Minor in Mississippi, etc.) have been prosecuted for crimes they almost certainly did not commit. Some call these "selective prosecutions."
The flip side of the scandal, which so far has received little attention, involves cases where "loyal Bushie" Republicans have committed clear wrongdoing and gotten away with it. In fact, we have presented evidence in our series about Alabama U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, showing that the Justice Department intentionally sends these cases to the wrong investigative agency so they can die a quiet death. You might call these cases "selective non-prosecutions."
Don Siegelman has another term for this situation. He says that unethical "Bushie" Republicans enjoy an "umbrella of protection" that lets them get away with all manner of wrongdoing.
What kind of person enjoys the benefits of this "umbrella of protection?" One example is William E. Swatek, a Pelham, Alabama, attorney who has an almost 30-year history of unethical behavior in the legal profession. But Swatek doesn't have a thing to worry about--for now--because his son, Dax Swatek, is a GOP campaign consultant based in Montgomery, Alabama.
Dax Swatek used to work for Bill Canary, the GOP operative who was quoted by whistleblower Jill Simpson has saying "his girls" (Alice Martin and fellow U.S. attorney Leura Canary, Bill's wife) would "take care" of Don Siegelman. Bill Canary has longstanding ties to Karl Rove, and the two teamed up in the 1990s to help turn Alabama's appellate courts into a GOP-dominated wasteland.
So Dax Swatek has direct ties to "Bush's Brain," and that helps explain why Bill Swatek gets away with all kinds of shenanigans in Alabama state courts.
