Governor Bob Riley-- WKRG Interview September 2011

Former Governor Bob Riley just cannot resist telling us all how wonderful he is and milking his near death experience for all it's worth.

At the 19:55 mark he's asked about becoming the first Alabama governor in history to become a state lobbyist.

Contrast and compare his recent words with what Riley had to say in 2009 about the "special interests who have ruled over a rotten system for years." He's now among the ranks of those special interest players who incidentally, despite Riley's call for it, does not have to report any amounts he spends on legislators while lobbying for his own clients.

Well, they were Riley's rules passed in December 2010 weren't they?

If Mr. Riley violates any of his own rules, like he did with a PAC to PAC transfer in March of 2011, who's going to make certain he complies? Can we count on the Ethics Commission and the legislature to enforce the laws against the creator of them?

With praise like this coming from the Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard on Riley's new gig, the chances are slim to none:

Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, leader of the state House of Representatives, said, "There has been no greater champion for education reform and economic development than Bob Riley, and I'm glad to know he'll continue to be an advocate for moving Alabama forward in those areas." 

The more things change the more they remain the same in Alabama politics--we just find different words to justify turning wrong then into still wrong now.

 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

Senator Harri Anne Smith Calls for GOP Caucus to Ask for Senator Beason's Resignation

Alabama state Senator Harri Anne Smith thinks Senator Beason should resign in the wake of troubling revelations in his recorded conversations where the ghost of Jim Crow drifted in on racially tinged comments.

We agree with Senator Smith. 

What was revealed in his testimony is unforgivable and it's a blight on the state of Alabama, a state that still struggles to escape her painful past.

Senator Beason managed in a weeks time to go from GOP star to radioactive nuke when it was revealed in court that he referred to the primarily minority customers of the Greentrack Casino as "aborigines." 

In some of his FBI wire recordings with fellow republicans, where they are meeting and complaining about the casino operators, it's feared the casino owners would put their black customers on "HUD financed buses" and bus them to polls if a statewide vote was allowed on gambling. Beason and the republicans worried a large black voter turnout would keep the republicans from taking over the Alabama legislature.

"Just keep in mind" that if there's a referendum on ballot "every black in the state will be bussed to the polls and that ain't gonna help."---unnamed Alabama senator quote from trial testimony 6/16/2011

These republicans had a keen interest in defeating a March 2010 senatorial committee passage that would allow gambling to be put to a vote by the people of Alabama. Clearly, they were willing to pull out all the stops to kill the initiative. Testimony from Senator Beason and the wire recordings makes that an obvious conclusion.

But they weren't finished. Yet.

Not wanting to deal with the issue again, they plotted the best way to ensure that no other legislation came up was to get the feds involved and shut down the gambling faction and their enablers for good. Through Beason's wire wearing, Representative Lewis' cooperation with the feds and some other elected 'helpers' not yet revealed, they accomplished their goal.

An unexpected consequence of plotting sometimes results in backfiring on the schemers. This plot, and the republicans involved in it, is turning out to be dirtier than the alleged charges that brought on the indictments and the trial.

How much does the complexion of the new legislature influence it?

The state house this year is not only almost exclusively republican, it's overwhelmingly male Caucasian. And deeply southern. There are ghosts of Alabama's troubling past still alive and well in Montgomery. Beason's recordings prove that beyond question and he's handed these 'new day' republicans a huge image problem that won't fade away anytime soon.

Senator Smith says she is "disgusted and disappointed" by Beason's comments and she has "always been for letting the people vote" on gambling. In her own words after Wednesday's testimony:

Video by WELDBirmingham

Senator Beason claims that Smith was involved in a $500K promised future contribution to Beason for a future run as Lt. Governor. All Beason had to do, according to him, was vote for a favorable bill on statewide gambling, but there's no proof that ever occurred. In fact, when Senator Beason first approached the FBI he made no mention of the money or the offer according to testimony, but he is now claiming that was one of the main reasons he went to the feds.

Senator Smith had hired Beason as a political consultant in a previous campaign paying him $10K for 30 days work and a percentage of the media markup fees, which Beason says amounted to "around $6K." Beason approached Smith about a $70K loan to pay off some debt saying she was the only "one I knew who owns a bank." The bank turned him down and he went to Smith for 'intervention.' Smith suggested to Beason that he use a local bank as another option.  Did he expect to get the money without an officially recorded loan? Why was he turned down by Smith's bank and what did he expect her to do if he could not be approved through the regular application process?

In 2008 Smith, a republican state senator at the time, supported a democrat, Bobby Bright over Montgomery businessman Jay Love-R in a runoff election. It cost her a place in the Alabama GOP who quickly disqualified her from running for office as a republican. She was forced to gather signatures to run as an independent to hold onto political office. 

Congressman Spencer Bachus along with many other big wig 'boys club' republicans (Shelby, Sessions among them) did something in 2010 very similar to what Smith was ostracized for and none of them suffered any measurable political blow-back for it. They supported Parker Griffith, a *controversial, long time north Alabama democrat, who switched to the GOP in 2009. Parker's voting record was intensely liberal, but as soon as he changed parties he received praise from some of Alabama's most powerful conservatives. He was as welcome as rain in August to the fold.
*By Alabama's standards and before he switched parties, AL GOP frequently criticized Griffith.

Double standard maybe? Mildly misogynistic sort of?

What's the real motive behind Senator Beason's ax grinding with Senator Smith?

Smith's lawyers probably have a bit more light to shed on that in future testimony.

One of McGregor's Espy's (he has three of them) hinted there is more inflammatory language to come as the trial progresses. We tend to believe he's right and not talking off the cuff. In a new development, the federal judge presiding over the trial ruled the racist remarks are relevant despite vigorous attempts by the prosecution to discredit their importance.

Will the republicans and their core voters persist in defending Beason and his tolerance challenged cohorts maintaining the ends justified the means? The means are showing themselves to be frighteningly ugly.

If McGregor and Co. are guilty then justice must be served, but what about the underlying problem that is overshadowing the charges against them? 

It might be too much to hope for, but maybe we'll get a double shot of justice out of this trial--those that have committed acts of corruption will be justly punished and the 'new day' channelers of Jim Crow will be ousted from the statehouse.

*Update--ADP joins the chorus calling for resignation.
ALGOP leader Bill Armistead defends Beason as "honorable."
Senator Ben Brooks-R tries to unring the bell after being exposed.
Photo credit: MSU

 Subscribe in a reader

It's a Southern 'Thang'--Best Tweet From Opening Day of Alabama Bingo Trial

McGregor lawyer Bobby Segall

As southerners we do talk kind of funny. We can't help it it's just what we are.

Appearances are not always deceiving and the first glance at some of us tells the observer how we might sound before we get a chance to confirm it. Mr. Segall, one of Malcolm McGregor's lawyers, is the quintessential portrait of I bet I know how you'll sound before you utter a word. He has a countenance of part Mark Twain and part Wyatt Earp that proffers a clue of what you might expect before the first distinct syllable slips off of his silver devil southern tongue. 

And today he did not disappoint.

Segall has one of those 'old south' voice inflections that's thicker than kudzu vines.

Southern dialects differ to a certain degree--there's the run of the mill southern, redneck, country slang and the more proper old south diction that alludes, not always accurately, to a hint of proper breeding in the speaker's background. Politicians frequently revert to the old south diction when they are addressing a room of their own, or when they are getting ready to pull a fast one and want to disarm their prey by appearing a lot more gentile and gentlemanly than they really are.

It works more often than not because there is an indisputable put you at ease (or to sleep) quality to any oratory delivered in the old south diction and style.

You'll know it when you hear it--any word that ends in 'er' or has 'er' in it automatically comes out as 'ah.' There are no 'burglars' in the south, we have 'burgl-ahs' running around down 'he-ah.' Even Twitter gets the southern treatment from some of us, right Mr. Segall?

Kyle Whitmire, tweeting from the Alabama bingo trial (linked on the top R sidebar) caught a question today from the colorful Bobby Segall, as he was asking questions of potential jurors that's our favorite tweet of the many chirped today.  Al.com built an entire story on their tweets. There were some goodies among them, but none of them came anywhere close to this one from Mr. Whitmire:

 Subscribe in a reader