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Thornburgh: Justice Dept. targeted Pa. Democrat

WASHINGTON - Dick Thornburgh, a Republican who was U.S. attorney general under two GOP presidents, accused the Justice Department yesterday of prosecuting a former Democratic officeholder in Pennsylvania for political reasons.

WASHINGTON - Dick Thornburgh, a Republican who was U.S. attorney general under two GOP presidents, accused the Justice Department yesterday of prosecuting a former Democratic officeholder in Pennsylvania for political reasons.

Thornburgh, who led Justice under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and before that served two terms as Pennsylvania's governor, told a congressional hearing that a client of his law firm - Cyril Wecht, the former elected coroner of Allegheny County - was singled out for being a Democrat.

Wecht has pleaded not guilty to using public resources to run his private forensic-pathology practice. He is scheduled to stand trial in January.

Wecht "has always been a contentious, outspoken, highly critical and highly visible Democratic figure in Western Pennsylvania," Thornburgh told two House Judiciary subcommittees. "He would qualify as an ideal target for a Republican U.S. attorney trying to curry favor with a department which demonstrated that if you play by its rules, you will advance."

The Judiciary Committee is investigating last year's ouster of nine U.S. attorneys and whether prosecutions by the Justice Department were politically motivated.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales resigned after members of Congress questioned his truthfulness on the firings.

Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh who is handling Wecht's prosecution, said in a statement that the case was based "solely on the facts and the law."

Republicans on the panel criticized Thornburgh for using his credibility as a former Justice Department official to advocate for a paying client.

Rep. Ric Keller (R., Fla.) said Thornburgh's testimony was "pathetic" and filled with "innuendo."

Also testifying yesterday was G. Douglas Jones, a former U.S. attorney in Birmingham, Ala., who has represented former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. The Democrat is serving seven years in prison after being convicted last year of receiving a bribe from HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard Scrushy.

Siegelman, who is appealing, says he was targeted for prosecution because he is a Democrat.

Jones said the case against Siegelman gained momentum in late 2004 after federal prosecutors in Alabama were instructed by Justice Department lawyers in Washington to take another look at evidence that had been characterized as circumstantial.

The Alabama prosecutors "did not think a lot about this case" at that time, Jones said. After the order from Washington, "it was a whole new investigation," he said.

A Justice spokesman said Siegelman was "convicted by a jury of his peers" in a case led by career prosecutors.