Siegelman says Scrushy didn't want hospital post

JASPER (AP) — Former Gov. Don Siegelman said a federal indictment over his appointment of then-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy to a state hospital regulatory board in 1999 is unfounded because Scrushy did not want the post after holding it under the past three governors.

Siegelman said he had to insist that Scrushy serve on the state Certificate of Need Review Board.

Scrushy is accused of arranging $500,000 in donations to Siegelman's unsuccessful lottery campaign in return for Siegelman appointing him to the board.

and helping see that he became vice chairman.

"In fact, Scrushy didn't even want to be on the board," Siegelman said Friday during a campaign swing through Jasper.

"When I called him and asked him to be on the board — and I think he'll testify to this, too; I haven't talked to him — but when I called him to ask him if he wanted to be on that board, he said, 'Governor, I've been on that board for 16 years. I really don't want to be on that board anymore. Would you consider appointing somebody else, somebody that works for me' — he may have even said that.

"I said, 'No, no, I want you to be on the board, and if it's not you, nobody else — I want you to be on the board yourself — because of your stature and background and experience,"' Siegelman told the Daily Mountain Eagle in a story Sunday.

One of Scrushy's attorneys, former state Supreme Court Justice Terry Butts, said Monday he didn't want to discuss Siegelman's comments at this time. "At the proper time, we'll have the truth out," he said.

Siegelman, Scrushy, former state Transportation Director Mack Roberts, and Paul Hamrick, Siegelman's former chief of staff, are scheduled for trial May 1 in Montgomery.

Siegelman's former executive secretary, Nick Bailey, pleaded guilty to bribery in 2003 and is expected to testify against his former boss. According to court documents made public in Siegelman's case, Bailey told a federal grand jury in 2004 that Scrushy had supported Gov. Fob James, Sieglman's opponent, in the 1998 race for governor.

He recalled that Scrushy visited the Capitol in 1999 to smooth out differences with Siegelman and that Siegelman wanted $500,000 in contributions to his campaign to legalize a state lo ttery. He said Siegelman arrived at the figure by calculating that Scrushy had raised $350,000 for James' campaign and then added interest to it.

Bailey said that after the two men met privately at the Capitol, Siegelman told him, "'He's halfway there,' and showed me a check that he had made as a contribution to our lottery campaign," Bailey said.

Bailey said he asked Siegelman, "'What in the world is he going to want for that? I think the governor's response was, 'The CON Board."'

Defense attorneys have disputed Bailey's testimony.

The governor appoints the Certificate of Need Review Board, which approves hospital expansions.

State records show Gov. Guy Hunt first appointed Scrushy to the Certificate of Need Review Board in February 1993 — not 1983, as Siegelman indicated to the Jasper paper — and he was reappointed by the next three governors, ending with Siegelman in 1999.

Scrushy left the CON Board during Siegelman's term and Siegelman appointed then-HealthSouth executive Thomas Carman to replace Scrushy.

A judge in August sentenced Carman to probation and fined him $500 after he pleaded guilty to lying about a scheme to pay a $1 million bribe in return for a $50 million deal to run a hospital linked to Saudi Arabia's royal family.

Scrushy was acquitted in June on charges stemming from a $2.7 billion accounting fraud at HealthSouth.

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Information from: Daily Mountain Eagle, http://www.mountaineagle.com

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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