Siegelman, a Democrat, was imprisoned in June for 88 months for exchanging a seat on the state hospital licensing board for a contribution to an education lottery campaign he was pushing, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

He received no money personally and his actions were similar to those of politicians around the country, said David A. Sklansky, a former federal prosecutor who teaches law at the University of California, Berkeley.

The case could become the centerpiece of a Democratic effort to show the U.S. Justice Department engaged in political prosecutions, which Republicans have denied.

Former state attorneys general, including some Republicans, want Congress to review Siegelman’s conviction, which his lawyers are appealing, the Times said.

“There is reason to believe that the case brought against Siegelman may have had sufficient irregularities as to call into question the basic fairness that is the linchpin of our system of justice,” the attorneys general wrote in a petition.