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Alabama GOP Disputes 60 Minutes Story

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By The Associated Press

M30o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr Alabama GOP Disputes 60 Minutes Story

Published: Mon, February 25, 2008 - 11:15 am
Last Updated: Mon, February 25, 2008 - 11:23 am

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Republican campaign volunteer in
Alabama told CBS's "60 Minutes" of what she viewed as a secret
five-year campaign to ruin former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman, a
claim that was denounced as a fabrication by the state GOP.
Party officials say Jill Simpson, a Rainsville lawyer who has
now left the Republican Party, was no more than a low-level
volunteer for individual campaigns, if anything, and would not have
had access to the kind of information she alleged on Sunday's "60
Minutes" episode.
In the program, Simpson made claims that she had not previously
raised publicly, either in an affidavit that drew wide attention
last summer or later in sworn congressional testimony.
She said then-White House political strategist Karl Rove asked
her in 2001 to find evidence that Siegelman was cheating on his
wife.
Simpson said it wasn't the first time that Rove -- who was
active in Alabama politics before going to the White House -- had
asked her to find damaging information about opposing campaigns.
Rove declined to be interviewed by "60 Minutes" and by The
Associated Press. But his attorney, Robert Luskin, denied Simpson's
allegations, saying "'60 Minutes' owes Mr. Rove an apology for
circulating this false and foolish story."
Simpson had not mentioned Rove directly speaking to her
previously. In her earlier sworn statements, she said she heard
party operatives running Republican Bob Riley's campaign for
governor discuss political influence behind Siegelman's prosecution
on corruption charges.
She describes conversations in 2002 and 2005 in which she claims
Riley campaign officials suggested that Rove was pushing the
Justice Department to pursue charges against the former governor to
keep him off the ballot.
Siegelman, who narrowly lost to Riley in 2002, was convicted on
federal bribery and obstruction charges in June 2006. He is serving
a sentence of more than seven years.
Alabama Republican Party officials said Simpson was fabricating
her stories. State GOP chairman Mike Hubbard, in a written
statement, says the party staffers "can find not one instance" of
Simpson volunteering or working on behalf of the Alabama Republican
Party.
Also, he says, no one within the Republican Party leadership in
Alabama has ever so much as heard of Simpson until she made her
first wave of accusations.
Simpson's attorney, Priscilla Duncan, disputed that account and
said Simpson could provide details of fundraisers and other
activities she helped arrange. Duncan denies that Simpson is
changing her story as she raises new allegations.
Simpson says she is a lifelong Republican, volunteering for
state and national campaigns dating back to Ronald Reagan and
George H.W. Bush. Duncan says Simpson has decided to leave the
party because "she's just so disgusted with their reaction."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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