Montgomery Grand Jury Report Reveals the Fallacy of "Handshake" Ethics Reform

2010 -"This special session will make history," Governor Riley said Tuesday. "It will be the first real debate of reforms to change a corrupt political system and give Alabama the toughest ethics laws in the nation.”
 
Talk is cheap, especially when it comes from a politician.
 
On April 13, 2012, a Montgomery Grand Jury released its findings on accountability in select state departments and loopholes in the Fair Campaign Reporting Act (FCRA): Governor Riley’s special session was a colossal failure at reining in the undue influence of political action committees (PACS) and PAC-to-PAC transfers. 
 
Despite the chest-thumping that Mr. Riley and the legislature publicly exhibited while exalting their “new day in Alabama” reform package, the grand jury’s report reveals the truth – they did not empower the Alabama Ethics Commission with the muscle they claimed they did. 
 
Adding insult to injury, the FCRA law weaknesses that were left in place aren’t illegal even though the grand jury seemed to indicate a willingness to issue multiple indictments if the laws had been solid enough.

The report listed specific instances of FCRA violations that would “prohibit successful prosecution…due to a number of problems with the law as written.” 
  
One of the biggest planks in the ALGOP's platform “Handshake with Alabama” was a promise to "end corruption in Montgomery." It's an empty accomplishment judging from their ethics failure and 'business friendly first' legislation, that also scores dismally low on the accountability scale. Still, they get out and crow their ‘promise to the people of Alabama’ frequently in news stories aggrandizing their latest schemes accomplishments, and repeat the propaganda when press microphones are hot and available for broadcasting to the masses. 
 
If you’re going to brag about your party’s political moral high-ground it’s wise not to stand on shifting sands.
 
Rebuttal to the grand jury report has already begun from legislative mouthpieces who claim it’s much ado about nothing because “we never intended to keep the money and it was returned.” Another excuse being floated is the old standby of “things are going to get by us we just didn’t realize at the time.”
 
One of Riley’s own policy directors, who's now a state senator, made these remarks to the Birmingham News in December 2010:

Sen. Bryan Taylor, R-Prattville, who used to be Riley's policy director, said bills similar to the ones now up for review have been proposed and sometimes debated in the Legislature for years.
"These reforms have been studied thoroughly. They've been presented before legislative committees," Taylor said. "There is no rush here at all." 

Which is it? Did some things "get by" the legislators in their zeal to prove their moral superiority or had the reforms, as Senator Taylor said, been "studied thoroughly...for years?" 

If the voters are foolish enough to accept weak excuses from these republicans after-the-fact and don't believe that getting caught was the only reason the money was ‘returned,’ then they deserve what they voted for – scoundrels.
 
The 2010 special session was specifically aimed, according to Riley, at “world-class” ethics reform: PAC-to-PAC transfers were a key element of the republican’s efforts. That endeavor cost cash-strapped Alabama hundreds of thousands of dollars, and many criticized the session as unwarranted and premature. Robert Bentley was due to be sworn as the next governor in January. The start of a new legislative session was only three months away. Riley’s purely political maneuver was a last grasp at legacy building from an administration frequently mired in controversy and corruption from its inception.
 
"Special sessions are designed for emergencies. This is not an emergency," Rep. Richard Lindsey-D said in the run-up to the event.
 
(One of the most egregious acts Riley was involved in (and owes his gubernatorial election to) was the the Choctaw Indian money scandal that helped bring down the infamous Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Exactly how (and why) Bob Riley escaped investigation and consequences in the scandal, with his direct ties to Michael Scanlon, remains one of the many baffling mysteries in Alabama politics. “I don’t know anything about how the money was used,” was all Riley offered as a defense - it was accepted as Dixie gospel by Bush’s DOJ, former State AG Troy King and Leura Canary, the former US Attorney in the Middle District of Alabama.)
 
Who comes out of the current ethics brouhaha practically unscathed is Governor Bentley. There’s plenty to criticize regarding his decisions and policy-making since he’s been in office, but ethics reform isn’t on his doorstep - yet. If, however, he ignores the recommendation of the grand jury and does not remedy the FCRA issues before the November 2012 elections it will be his visitor to entertain.
 
With the 2012 legislative session ending shortly the chances are slim to none anything will be done about it this year. The governor does have the option of calling a special session before November. If he does, Alabama will have to come up with another few hundred thousand to fix a problem that could have been repaired for nothing had Bob Riley’s ego not entered the mix. 
 
The blame for Alabama’s inability to effectively police itself has many sources – politicians, lobbyists, special interests and the sheer weight of money as the enforcer to maintain the status quo. It’s ingrained in the state’s political history to do the wrong thing just because they can.
 
A handshake is a timeless symbol of a promise to hold up your end of the deal.
 
The republicans broke that deal when they lied to the citizens of Alabama and failed to deliver comprehensive ethics reform.
 
Excuses after-the-fact are nothing but cheap talk.

ALDEMS PR & docs #1
ALDEMS PR & docs #2

 Subscribe in a reader

Developing Stories--Conecuh County Landfill and BP Contract $$ to Senator Trip Pittman

"No Opposition"?

Conecuh County, Town of Repton--The controversial mega landfill planned for Conecuh County saga is heating up again with the owners of the landfill (Conecuh Woods, LLC) filing for a dismissal of the case citing there is "no opposition" to the landfill.

March 11, 2011:

With more than 400 people seated in the auditorium and hundreds more in line at the start of the hearing, five county commissioners listened as Stone and his attorney took about 30 minutes to defend the Conecuh Woods LLC project that would be built on a 5,100-acre tract.

During several hours of the hearing, with people allotted five minutes to speak, six supported the landfill, while hundreds opposed it.

A hearing is scheduled for this Wednesday, September 21 @ 11:00 am in the Conecuh County Courthouse.

Opposition to the landfill is fierce and lawsuits have been filed to stop the project. "No opposition" is a non-starter of an argument, but that never stopped crafty lawyers from obfuscating the reality of an issue with propaganda before. It will be interesting to see how the court rules in the motion to dismiss.

The "Republican tractor" Senator Pittman

Baldwin County, Alabama--According to a report in today's Baldwin County Now, Grand Jury subpoenas have been served on Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant, City Administrator Greg Mims, Purchasing Manger Dan Ames and Information Technology Director Jason Colee "in that probe of the $635,000 contract to Pittman Trucking Company of Daphne in 2010" for post BP spill cleanup services.

Senator Pittman defended himself by feigning ignorance because he had not yet had the ethics training mandated by the state when the 'sweeping ethics reform package" was passed by the Alabama legislature in December 2010.

The Pittman Trucking Co. is owned by Senator Trip Pittman-R and Bob James of the Baldwin County Commission. Former Alabama Governor Bob Riley put Senator Pittman in charge (along with Rep. Steve McMillan-R) of $1.2 million dollars allotted to Baldwin County from BP to administer at his discretion:

The issue has grown out of Pittman Tractor Co. winning a bid from Fairhope to provide booms around the city and the Grand Hotel in the wake of the oil disaster. Citizen activists have filed a complaint with the state Ethics Commission saying Pittman’s company should never have even bid for the job, much less received it, because not only is he a state senator, but he also had been chosen by Gov. Bob Riley to help oversee BP funds coming into Baldwin County.

The Alabama Ethics Commission answered the complaints by refusing to investigate Pittman and James. Have the feds finally taken notice of the huge impropriety of the senator's (and the former governor's) actions?

More on the back-story here
*Updated Monday PM--David Ferrara Mobile Press Register story on Pittman inquiry

 Subscribe in a reader

Long-time Alabama Lobbyist Massey Admits "I Am A Criminal"

Tweet from BingoTrial coverage Kyle Whitmire/Second Front

Lobbyists call their profession "honorable and responsible" despite what the public overwhelmingly thinks about the industry. Alabama lobbying is a cottage industry of huge monetary proportions and undue influence on an epic scale. No one trusts these paid mouthpieces and suspect they play fast and loose with the law as a rule, not the exception.

Jarrod Massey admits what he is and what he has been doing as a lobbyist.

Massey's revelation on the stand in the gambling trial may only apply to his actions involving bingo corruption, but since he has other clients and he admits acting "corruptly" on behalf of one client, was he doing the same with all the others? It's a fair question.

Whether or not the indicted Jarrod Massey can be considered a credible witness is open for debate, but what he admits to confirms the impression of Alabama lobbyists by most of the general public--they're probably closer to being paid crooks and liars than they are honorable representatives who operate above board in their endeavors.

Many of them have been paid with state dollars i.e. taxpayer funds, which is all the more reason they deserve much harsher scrutiny than the legislature is willing to implement on their activities. 

The same old brand new goats on the hill had a chance to rein in the monetary persuading by passing a reporting requirement on lobbyists funds and expenditures when they enacted the "toughest ethics laws in the nation" last December. Predictably, and likely at the urging of the lobbyists, that requirement was removed from the final version of the ethics laws.

This sounds like a perfect opportunity to take a closer look at Jarrod Massey and his clients for at least the last decade. In fact, let's go one step further and examine the entire system of Alabama lobbyists while we're at it and see how just deep the criminality runs.

Our guess is any honest examination of the system would overload the courts with cases in subsequent indictments. It would be money and time well spent considering the potential benefit on our political process. Isn't "rooting out corruption" one of the grand promises our lawmakers told us they went to Montgomery for?

If they cannot or will not do this, then as far as we are concerned the "Handshake with Alabama" is not "a promise kept" it's a promise denied.

So Say We The Opinion Board of The Vincent Alabama Confidential

 Subscribe in a reader

Press-Register Claims Alabama Ethics Laws "Among Strongest in the Country"

Illustration: Thomas Nast

Saying it is doesn't always make it so.

The Mobile Press-Register ran an editorial on May 30th entitled "Ethics reform marches on" that was more symbolism than fact about our 'new' get tough (but not too tough) ethics laws. A lot of good opinion pieces have come out of their editorial board--this isn't one that goes in the 'good' pile.

But it might belong in some kind of pile.

For years Alabama has had the weakest ethics laws in the country, so any movement on strengthening them is a modicum of improvement. The Ethics Commission was granted the power to subpoena. Good. There was some tightening on the amount of money lobbyists were allowed to spend on wining and dining our legislators that should have gone farther, but at least something was done to end the steak and lobster lunches.

Well, sort of.

They left some huge loopholes in these new laws that the ever-crafty money boys in suits could drive their Hummers through, and it didn't take them long to figure out how to step on the gas. Some of them were so impatient they started making loops around the senate floor as the bills were being written.

"No, that's not going to pass legal muster, here replace it with this...oh sorry, got a little butter on it didn't I? I can't eat my lobster without butter Jimmy boy." Reference to Representative Jim McClendon-R who was having his ear bent by one of these Slick Willies on the House floor during the crafting of these slightly better than nothing reforms.

The Press-Register has to answer to Ricky Matthews the publisher of the paper. Matthews is a big fan of republican everything and we wouldn't expect him to present too much to the public that isn't republican friendly. If he can help it. Ethics reform passage was a big deal  to the "new day" republicans that swept the statehouse in 2010--- they campaigned on it and included it in their "Handshake with Alabama" propaganda.

But this editorial is really stretching the tarp a little tight.

What these ethics laws don't do is hold lobbyists accountable to provide records of what they spend on the legislators. No effort was made to put an end to the corporate sponsored fabulous coastal resort getaways or good ol' boy runs through the woods at private hunting retreats.

"Now don't y'all talk about any b'ness to do with legislation y' hear? Okay you promise? That's good enough then, we don't need any law on this thing here do we boys? 'Course not."

These corporate retreats are frequently used for anything but 'down time' and it's a well-known wide open secret that bills are at the ready for these legislators to take back to Goat Hill and set in motion. Most of the trips arranged for Alabama lawmakers come from a few select corporate law firms and Alabama Power. APCOs hunting trips have become the stuff of legend in Alabama and an invitation to 'come play' is highly prized. And rarely refused. APCO expects a good return on the sizable campaign donations they generously hand out and they make sure they get it--one way or the other.

For any legislator to overlook adding a lobbyist/corporate reporting requirement to the ethics laws lets us all know that our lawmakers did not go far enough and the definition of strength is clearly in the eye of the beholder.

Or in this case, the publisher.

Alabama cannot count herself as "having the strongest ethics laws in the nation" until she actually does.

And saying it's so doesn't make it any more true than it actually is.

So Say We The Opinion Board Of The Vincent Alabama Confidential

 Subscribe in a reader

Riley Appointee M. William "Bill" Campbell, Jr. Indicted on $7.3 Million Theft of Alabama State Funds

"Riley's Boys" Former ADEM Director Glenn (L) & Bill "Sir William" Campbell Summer 2008

Guilty verdict returned Nov. 17th on all 96 counts
FBI release

**Follow up story posted April 12, 2011 


April 1, 2011 FBI Press Release:

BIRMINGHAM—A federal fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy indictment was unsealed today against the former state director of a college consortium of business development centers, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance, FBI Special Agent in Charge Pat Maley, and IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent In Charge Reginael D. McDaniel.

The 96-count indictment, returned March 30, charges MAURICE WILLIAM CAMPBELL  JR., 59, of Rainbow City, with using his position as state director of the Alabama Small Business Development Consortium to obtain more than $7 million from the State of Alabama.

The indictment charges Campbell with conspiracy to defraud the state and a private non-profit institute he incorporated, and to make financial transactions intended to conceal the proceeds of the fraud. The indictment also charges Campbell with three counts of mail fraud, 56 counts of wire fraud, and 36 counts of money laundering. It also provides notice that the United States will seek forfeiture of $7,326,569.

About February 2005, Campbell incorporated the Alabama Small Business Institute of Commerce. Campbell was the president, a director, the initial registered agent, and the incorporator of the institute. The stated purpose of the institute was to enhance economic development, increase employment, and reduce business failure in Alabama through business education and workforce training.

The institute was formed as a nonprofit, with the representation that the corporation would not be operated for private profit, nor its assets at any time be used to benefit any shareholder, member, director, trustee, officer or other private person. The institute was expressly organized as a private, non-profit, charitable organization.

The institute received nearly all of its funding from the state through grants, contracts, and appropriations in the education budget. From 2005 through 2010, the private nonprofit Institute received more than $7.3 million in public funds to, among other services, provide education and training to Alabama workers.

The indictment charges that Campbell and others used the state funds provided to the Institute for personal gain through a variety of means, including the use of the mails and wires. The indictment further charges that Campbell and others created a number of other entities—into which state funds provided to the Institute were deposited and later spent—in order to conceal the source, ownership, and control of those funds.

There's more to the story of the ASBDC and we're seeing once again the bad behavior of "Riley boys" looting the state coffers and violating the trust of Alabama's citizens. Glenn had to resign his post as ADEM Director amid controversy and Mr. Campbell, well, we see what he's been doing don't we? At least we are seeing some of it, but we'll probably never know the whole story.

What we do know is that are too many quasi-governmental agencies in place whose duties seem to overlap each other and positions are created to put as many porkers at the trough as possible. Creating so many state governmental agencies also serves to shuffle money around and make it almost impossible to track the funds, thwarting any accountability until it's too late, as in the case of Campbell, and the money is long gone.

Big government does not lend itself to transparency and that's the idea. It was certainly Riley's idea it appears.

Riley added insult to injury and gave Mr. Campbell an additional plum role a full two years after the thefts began and appointed Campbell as a "special adviser" to the Alabama Rural Action Commission in Summer of 2007 according to the ASBDC newsletter:

Governor Bob Riley appointed ASBDC State Director, William Campbell, as a Special Advisor to the Alabama Rural Action Commission (ARAC).

Crows the rooster Riley about this multi-layered economic endeavor:  

Governor Riley said “I am excited about our efforts to expand the action commission model statewide.”  We have an exceptional leadership team in Central Alabama that is working hard to involve local citizens and to build the partnerships needed to improve the quality of life for citizens in this part of our state.”

How many agencies do we need in this state that are focused on economic development? Wouldn't it make better fiscal sense to have one central agency? The answer is absolutely yes! And if we had one main agency in place, maybe we would still have $7.3 million in our Education Fund coffers. And whose idea was it to fund the ASBDC with education fund money? The Alabama Legislature helped to make that happen through bill passage. Was that approved because ASBDC is affiliated with the four-year college system and the federal government was piping money into the state under certain approved uses?

Federal money has gotten Alabama into more trouble because of greed, misappropriation and the basic inability to balance the books more than anything else. Our politicians are like crack addicts with federal money and like an addict, they simply cannot be trusted to make fiscally sound decisions. Instead, they pass it around to their buddies and large campaign donors by creating all these redundant agencies.

We were in education prorartion twice under Riley and here we are again in Bentley's term right back in it again. Our schools and Alabama's children have to suffer because of grown men acting irresponsibly. It's no wonder the state education system and state budgets are in shambles. With all the dual salaries (double dipping), agencies doing the same thing under a different name and political payback, the government in this state is ripe for corruption and misappropriation of vast sums of money.

Campbell set up his own little "non-profit" drainer the Alabama Small Business Institute of Commerce that received all of it's money through appropriations, grants and contracts from the education budget. It was the perfect ruse to pilfer with wild abandon unchecked and unsupervised. He wrote checks worth tens thousands to unidentified women known only as "the Little Sisters." They probably were not the Little Sisters of Charity and didn't wear habits.

More play money went to Hooters, and swankier eateries like PF Changs and various clothing outlets like Neiman Marcus, in addition to repeated purchases of bracelets that were inscribed with "Lil' Sister" and "Sir William." 

This is sounding more like a cathouse than a house of charity and "Sir William" considered himself the large and in charge Mr. Big Bucks. The indictment alleges Campbell frequently bought expensive gifts for the women and we can only imagine what that might have been 'gratitude' for.

Others were culpable and aided the scheme, but those names have not been released yet. In fact, the original indictment was sealed in May of 2010 and the only reason anyone knows this theft occurred is because of the unsealing of the original indictment by a federal judge, who issued a new one this week. 

All of this was the end result of an IRS Criminal Division and FBI investigation.

Did Riley know about the indictment? It's hard to believe he didn't.

Did he know what Campbell was doing for five years? It's hard to believe he didn't know about that either, but we're not saying he actually did.

What we do think is that the sealing of this indictment was a political power move to not embarrass a sitting governor who was responsible for Mr. Campbell being in a position to pull off this alleged crime.

Now what does that remind us of? Maybe the $635,000 that went into Senator Pittman's and Baldwin County Commissioner James' pockets? Riley was the one responsible for putting Pittman charge of the $1.2 million in BP funds. But that turned out differently than Campbell's tomfoolery--Pittman has thus far escaped any justice for his scheme and the Alabama Ethics Commission refuses to even investigate the matter.

Or many others that have occurred during the last eight years. Riley has commended Ethics Commission director Jim Sumner more than once over the years for "his outstanding service to the state of Alabama."

He really meant 'Jim does what I tell him to do' in our opinions.

There are countless other examples of chicanery during the Riley administration, too many to list here, but there is one overriding theme to all of it--very bad judgement in appointing dishonest honest people in charge of huge amounts of money going to every place under the sun but where it was intended to go.

And here's Governor Dr. Dr. Bentley crying all over the state that "we're broke!"

The problem is that we're worse than "broke."

What we really are is 'broken' from decades of corruption.

Indictment is not a conviction and under the laws of the US, Mr. Campbell is presumed innocent until proven guilty, but the government is alleging some very serious misconduct.

**According to court records, Campbell was arrested on April 1, 2011, forced to surrender his passport and posted a Surety Bond of $100,000.00. Attorney of record April 1: Stephen W. Shaw 

FullIndictmentMWilliamCampbellJr
 Subscribe in a reader

Anniston Star Editorial--Corrupting a Good Law Playing Politics With Ethics

Kudos to Bob Davis and the staff for a great editorial about the issue of editing the language of the passed-in-a-real-big-hurry ethics laws last December. Do what you want elected officials and lobbyists--just don't do it "corruptly." Now honestly folks, do they really know any other way?

We don't always agree with the Star Editorial Board, but on this issue we salute them for a stellar editorial. Even if we don't not agree that any of the ethics laws are "good." They are better than what we had, but there's serious loopholes in them that will only get worse if Sumner and the gang start whipping out the edit pencils.

"Corruptly" is the word du jour and apparently it means different things to different people. What it means to us, along with this editing and rewriting, is that somebody(s) are up to no good. Lobbyists would be our first suspects. Financial gain by dubious politicians runs a close second.

The Ethics Commission acts on less than 5% of cases that come before it and as we have written before, with this do nothing commission serving as the gatekeepers on investigations and ethics violations, Corruption, Inc. will have no stern enforcers.

So none of it means really anything if enforcement is lacking. Not only is it lacking, it's practically non-existent according to the the EC's own records. Expect business as usual in the good ol' boy system of Alabama politics that thrives on "corruptly."

From the editorial:

What none of these men are doing is defining what type of gift-giving would be viewed as corrupt. How does the state compare one encounter between legislator and lobbyist with another? Does the state have a magic “intent meter” that it can use to gauge whether a lobbyist’s gift-giving is harmless or politically unlawful?

Or, as Jacksonville State University political science professor Lawson Veasey told The Star, “I think there’s … an implicit level of good ol’ boy politics in Alabama that basically overwhelms everything else.”

As anyone who understands the inner workings of Montgomery knows, it’s not as simple as using common sense and sound judgment. Political spin can attempt to make a covert, influence-peddling meeting between lawmakers and lobbyists seem as innocuous as a Wednesday night Bible study.

Adding the word “corruptly” to the law’s language may create more problems than it solves — for the ethics commission and for the state’s majority party.

Read more here

The "new day republicans" are expecting a pass on this from the voters, and their base probably will give them one, but many others are paying close attention to what Sumner and the good ol' boys in the legislature are doing. And we don't think it's likely the 'get away' will be as 'clean' as they are hoping for.

 Subscribe in a reader

The $675,000 Sins of Senator Trip Pittman-R are Irrefutable and Actionable

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it"

Martin Luther King

Dr. Christopher Warner encapsulates the in-broad-daylight crime that occurred in Baldwin County, Alabama and raises compelling questions about why the Senator, and BC Commissioner Bob James, (Pittman's business partner) have not been held accountable for the underhanded and devious manner they demonstrated in pilfering over half a million dollars of the $1.2 million allotted to the area from BP.

The horse of justice for Baldwin County has no rider.

Letter reprinted with permission from Dr. Warner and cross posted at BaldwinWatchdog.com which also has the "smoking gun" documents uploaded on their site.

March 8, 2011
From the Desk of:
Dr. Christopher E. Warner
510 West Chase Court North
Fairhope, AL 36532

On November 20, 2010, the Saturday preceding the Iron Bowl, Connie Baggett of the Mobile Press Register published an article titled, “Senator's company awarded $639,000 while he supervised grants for boom work.”

Prior to this revealing article, no one knew of the second set of
paperwork submitted in May 2010, naming Oil Recovery of Alabama and not Pittman Tractor, as the documented contractor of record for the Fairhope Oil Boom Grant. Record of Oil Recovery of Alabama as the contractor for this grant was forwarded by Baldwin County Emergency Management Director Leigh Ann Ryals to Alabama Emergency Management offices in Clanton, Alabama, the official repository for the said document.

The question of the second set of paperwork, to the best of my knowledge, has never been clearly answered by Mr. Lee “Trip” Pittman, state senator, or Mr. Tim Kant, Fairhope Mayor.  The reason the second, submitted paperwork set exists, is because Mr. Pittman, who had been tapped by then-Alabama Governor Bob Riley to oversee the proper dispersal of the BP funds along the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay, was told by Baldwin Commissioner Gruber, Emergency Management Coordinator Lee Ann Ryals, Chief Legal Counsel Scott Barnett and Chief Administrator Michael Thompson that “they would have to file an Ethics Commission complaint within ten days” if he proceeded to attempt to give the grant money to his own company, Pittman Tractor.

In short, Mr. Pittman was told he could not proceed with the Pittman
Tractor paperwork and become the contractor.  He thus obliged the same day with the second set of paperwork, explicitly citing Oil Recovery, and not Pittman Tractor—as he had agreed not to go forward with it after he was told of the possible Ethics Commission complaint.

THE SKINNY: At this point, after being advised by four (4) Baldwin County officials, Mr. Pittman certainly knew it was unethical for him to use his position and privileged knowledge of the situation (tapped by Governor Riley) to garner the contract.  Nevertheless, moving forward he practiced to deceive for the simple sake of greed.

Moving forward, Mr. Pittman worked with the City of Fairhope to illegally secure the boom grant funds.  We know that the City was complicit in this transaction because the return email dated May 8, 2010 from Lee Ann Ryals to City of Fairhope employee Ken Eslava initially asking about the status of the boom contract proves that the City knew Mr. Pittman submitted a second set of paperwork under a different company name, as detailed in Ms. Ryals’ response.

Moving forward, Mr. Pittman received checks totaling $639,000 from the City of Fairhope, even though he had been told by Baldwin County officials not to do so for obvious ethical concerns.

On February 17, 2011 I requested under the United States Freedom of
Information Act a copy of the submitted documents from Baldwin County Emergency Management to Alabama State Emergency Management in Clanton, Alabama.  This request was made via email to Mr. Bryan Prescott, Chief Counsel for EMA in Clanton.

Mr. Prescott was unable to find the requested document in the grant file paperwork. He told me as much. I knew that Connie Baggett and F. Paul Ripp had previously unsuccessfully tried to get this document. However, I had given Mr. Prescott, along with my request, a copy of Ken Eslava’s email that contained Lee Ann Ryals’ response alluding to a second set of paperwork under a different company name being sent to Clanton.  I asked Mr. Prescott to find this document, as we knew it existed.  He informed me he would call Ms. Ryals for more information, and would get back to me.

Mr. Prescott called me back within minutes.  He said he spoke to Ms. Ryals.  She told him she filed the document electronically on their EMITS emergency information server. He found it there and sent it to me, forthwith.

The document file contained the boom grant contractor of record documents from Spanish Fort, Daphne and Fairhope.  Again, Fairhope referenced “Oil Recovery of Alabama” and not Pittman Tractor, as contractor.

This is an extremely simple matter.  Mr. Pittman was told “no” by county
officials doing their jobs when he tried to use his position for personal gain. He pretended to agree with them.  Surreptitiously he and Mr. Kant and his city workers went against the warning of county officials, and wrote the checks to Pittman Tractor.  Further, Mr. Bob James, Mr. Pittman’s business partner and County Commissioner, used his clout to fire and/or demote the aforementioned county employees who knew of the scam.  Mr. Pittman, according to these named former County Employees, even scoured the Baldwin County offices and the Clanton EMA office, for incriminating documents, removing all that he found to cover up the crime.

One must ask oneself another question: “If Mr. Pittman would say one thing and do another regarding securing the illegal grant money, what leads one to believe that Mr. Pittman was honest after the fact and used the money as prescribed to purchase and place protective boom along the Eastern Shore? Further, why would the City of Fairhope do business with Pittman Tractor, which has no contractor’s license?  The grant application repeatedly states that a true contractor is required.

The above information has been presented in various and sundry forms,
including a 130-page complaint compiled by multiple concerned citizens of the City of Fairhope.

The information of the particulars of this crime has been presented to the following law enforcement officials:
1) Fairhope Police Chief Bill Press
2) Hallie Dixon, Baldwin County District Attorney
3) Luther Strange, Alabama
Attorney General
4) The Alabama Ethics Commission.

As of this writing, nothing has been done to enforce the applicable laws of the City of Fairhope, Baldwin County and the State of Alabama.

For justice to be unequivocally served in this sordid case, the brazen,
corrupted, perpetrators of this crime against a disaster backdrop (11 people died in the Horizon Oil Spill Disaster) must be made to feel, in their hollow bones—the full power of the law.  Further, the tax-paying public, which faithfully lives by this same law, must see clearly and unabashedly, that this is finally the case.

Respectfully,  
Dr. Christopher Edward Warner

 Subscribe in a reader

I'm Jabo Waggoner and I Don't Have a Clue (following "Meet the New Boss" article)

Senator Waggoner has taken a real beating over his controversial hiring of Paul Hamrick and this morning he 'responded' in a radio interview that made everything clear as mud.

Some highlights (and lowlights) of the 'selection process' and Jabo's glaring inability to fully understand what he did when viewed through the sick-and-tired-of-it lens of the people. So much for the "new day in Alabama politics." How long did that last? Two seconds?

Jabo was asked about the decision to hire Hamrick:

"We put out a request for somebody and got 5 or 6 responses back. There was certain criteria we demanded such as they couldn't be a lobbyist or anyone with a conflict with another entity..."

He went on to list some of the potential candidates without names:

A "former president of a newspaper" (that one came later in the interview)

Former Lt. Governor

Pensacola resident (don't we have some developer honcho from there?)

Someone who wanted $10,000 a month (contract was for $5,000)

A lobbyist (big surprise)

Paul Hamrick

Jabo said that he "consulted with Senators Del Marsh, Arthur Orr and Trip Pittman" but the ultimate decision was his. We'd like to know what Pittman was doing in the discussion since he has shown himself to be ethically challenged at best, and capable of willfully working the system for hundreds of thousands of BP money in his pocket at worst.

Is Waggoner the reason the Ethics Commission is hands off with investigating the controversial oil boom contract work by Pittman and Baldwin County Commissioner James?

Jabo plays the blame game and says that "we underestimated the opposition" as if the only outcry came from the left, *which is opposite of the truth, and he says it "couldn't be worse timing coming on the heels of the governor hiring Sparks." First shot officially fired in what will be an escalating blame the Dr. Dr. Bentley game.
*(Paul Hamrick confirmed in an interview that too many republicans had concerns.) 

The senator is right about the number of democrats being hired by these "new republicans." People are very upset about it, but because of that, shouldn't he have known better? The answer is yes, absolutely!

But he's not listening and he just doesn't get it. He tried to pull a fast one and he got slapped for it. Big. Time to send some bags of quarters to his office for clue purchase.

Then he lamented on Hamrick "not being an issue for the last 4 or 5 years" and he "has been working informally for the republicans all that time." We have to wonder how many in the party faithful knew about this and if they did, why are they outraged now? Why haven't they been upset for the last few years? Or, when Jabo says "informally" does that mean no one knew and/or it was fine as long as Hamrick wasn't made public?

This raises more than a few questions for us and we're going to look a little deeper into it later, but the most obvious is how have political loyalties become so blurred?

The last part of his weak defense was just utter nonsense and he knows it was, but folks who don't pay attention, which is most of the voting public, wouldn't catch it:

"Not many people are aware of the heartbeat of Montgomery. It's hard to find a republican purist that has never worked in a democratic campaign. I'm disappointed to start the process over because it's so hard to find somebody."

Translation--it's hard to find somebody that me and my circle of three think will play our version of the game. This whole brouhaha was an inside deal involving some formerly elected officials in the mix, one was Steve French an inside source tells us, that are bending Jabo's ear and are still in the pile, even though they don't have an office on Goat Hill because the people told them "NEXT."

Here's a suggestion Senator Waggoner, tell the washed up has-beens to go home, accept defeat and stay out of the people's business! You've been voted out, so get the hell out of the state house boys. There's no reason for you to be there. It's ridiculous that Jabo even allows this to go on, but it's not at all a surprise.

How's that "new day" looking so far? And just for the record, 'purist' and 'Montgomery' are oxymorons Senator Waggoner.

Waggoner then put out a call on air: "....if anybody knows of someone to let me know." 

Anybody want a job paying $5,000 a month that can help Jabo and the republicans out? 

Requirements are simple:

Ability to lie at the drop of a hat

Listen to only what you are told to listen to--with a tin ear

Parrot propaganda designed to cover the machine and pull the wool over on the folks

Demonstrate a strong ability to be oblivious to criticism on cue

Able to forget your own morals and adopt the ones of those around you

It won't be difficult really, and you'll have lots of tutors on Goat Hill who will be only too eager to help you learn the fine art of helping yourself.

**Update on Riley gifting AG Strange--Bentley asks for $7.9 million back

 Subscribe in a reader

FY 2008-2009 Annual Report Alabama Ethics Commission

There's no waste like government waste.

The Alabama Ethics Commission's own report shows this agency of 16 employees to be a wasteful use of Alabama's money and more of a over-bloated, taxpayer funded, figurehead entity than it is money well spent to protect the citizens of this state from elected officials who do as they please, rather than follow the written laws.

And yes, Mr. Evans, there were laws on the books already to go after Senator Pittman.

Compare the appropriation amounts with the expenditures and ask yourself why this agency is spending 78.29% of its $1,607,898.00 FY 2009 Appropriation Funds on personnel services and employee benefits, and then compare that with what they take in from investigations and penalties: (which is supposed to be their main function)

                                                                                                            FY 2008                     FY 2009

Complaints Filed with Ethics Commission                                     223                           263
Complaints Closed After Preliminary Inquiry                                *196                         *264
Cases Presented to Commissioners                                                   13                             25
Cases Closed by Ruling of Commissioners                                       1                               2
Cases Forwarded to District Attorney or Attorney General             4                               6
Administrative Penalties Assessed by Ethics Commission            5                             16

Fines Collected by Ethics Commission                                 $2,600.00                $6,435.64
Restitution Collected                                                                      $280.00              $32,439.25

(*Includes complaints/cases that were received prior to October 1, but closed during the
current fiscal year.)

If anyone knows of a private business that can successfully operate and remain profitable under the same manner that this bean counter of a glorified lobbyist fees collection agency does we'd like to hear about it.
 

While we're in the realm of the surreal, how about an explanation for why a candidate for a local Sheriff's race who puts a campaign sign on a four-wheeler ATV, finds himself the object of an EC investigation and is found guilty of two counts of "using his office for personal gain," but a sitting state senator (and his Baldwin County Commissioner business partner) who are enjoying over half a million dollars in profits because of their elected positions, do not even warrant an investigation by the EC?

Ethics Commission Annual

 Subscribe in a reader

The Arrogance of Hugh Evans III and the Alabama Ethics Commission in the Senator Pittman Ethics Complaint

*Update Feb.10th-- Mr. Ripp responds
                             Baldwin Watchdog and Lagniappe sound off
*2nd Update Feb 11th--Pittman and Evans refuse to talk won't return phone calls to the Press-Register
        
This letter will speak for itself about the unmitigated gall and complete ineffectiveness of the Alabama Ethics Commission, Chief Counsel Hugh Evans III and their unfathomable refusal to go after Senator Pittman.

Reprinted here with permission from Mr. Ripp.

Ethics Commission Evans III

 Subscribe in a reader