For the past year it has appeared that any push for reform in Alabama government -- ethics, campaign finance, you name the flavor -- would come from the next governor. Bradley Byrne and Artur Davis, generally thought to be their parties' front runners, were both positioned as reformers. Now they are out of contention for 2010. What does this mean for the future of government reform in Alabama?
It means that in the near term, the impetus for reform will likely come from the federal grand jury investigating possible vote buying related to bingo legislation. That's a sad situation, but if the Legislature fails to clean house long enough, someone else is bound to step in and do it for them. Usually that role falls to the federal government which can send in people who are outside any web of special influence that may exist at a local or state level.
So, don't look for the next governor to push for reform, but if the federal investigation bears fruit -- and the conventional wisdom is that it will, and pretty soon -- those left in the Legislature next year may decide there's a need to enact some basic clean government reforms out of self defense, if not for any more high-minded reason.
OK, bingo and politics were never really strangers in Alabama, but the federal grand jury investigating bingo related corruption has really brought the two together. Political consultant Joe Perkins appeared before the grand jury this morning to testify about at least one email messages. Emails are forever, guys.
Perkins said he does not represent any bingo operators. But he said federal investigators wanted to know about e-mail he sent to certain individuals. He declined to name them to reporters waiting outside the federal courthouse.
Matrix is a consulting/communications firm created by Joe Perkins and is considered a major player in state elections. Matrix worked for Birmingham Mayor William Bell in the recent special election and was closely associated with Alabama Power and former Gov. Siegelman. The highest profile Matrix candidate this year is probably Ron Sparks, who earlier this week cited a poll performed by Joe Perkins.
Sparks' primary opponent, Artur Davis, is running on an ethics reform platform and lost little time in noting the connection between Sparks and Perkins:
“One of Ron Sparks top campaign advisors, Joe Perkins, has been subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating corruption in Montgomery. This comes on the heels of reports that a major Sparks’ donor, Milt McGregor, was captured on wiretaps related to the probe and that another Sparks’ contributor, Jarrod Massey is at the center of the probe.
Alabama Democrats need to wonder what is in the emails that Joe Perkins was asked about and do they relate in any way to Ron Sparks? Finally voters in next Tuesday’s primary have no choice but to weigh the question: is the subpoena of a top Sparks campaign advisor a sign of things to come?”
In truth, no one knows which doors this investigation might lead under, but I've heard that not much moves in Montomery that Perkins and Matrix don't know about, whether they're directly involved or not. Oh, how I wish I had the Maalox concession in the Montgomery market right now.
Video of Perkins at the federal court house is below the fold, from RaycomPolitics.
The Decatur Daily has a good profile of Giles Perkins, one of the three Democrats running for Attorney General this year.
The 43-year-old Mountain Brook Democrat said the next attorney general should focus on ethics reform and consumer rights.
“It may not be exciting to say it, but what you’re really doing is running a big law firm that has as its client the citizens of Alabama and their interests,” Perkins said. “I believe I’m well suited to do that.”
Attorneys general do not put drug offenders in jail, he said; they supervise litigators who do.
“The attorney general’s job is substantially more than being prosecutor. Most of the prosecutions are handled either by the staff attorneys or, more appropriately, by the district attorneys in the counties where the crimes are committed.”
Perkins pledges to accept no gambling money for his campaign, but in Alabama that's pretty hard to be sure of because of the way money flows -- legally -- from PAC to PAC to PAC until even the recipients can't be completely sure where it comes from. Which brings me to another, very important, quote from Perkins:
“I got in this race because I think we are in a crisis of public corruption in Alabama. If we don’t resolve that, we’re never going to address the challenges that face us. We need good people in government who are tough enough to take it on,” Perkins said. “I think I can do that.”
No kidding. A study a few years back found Alabama the 4th most corrupt state in the nation. Trust in government is unbelievably low in this state and the folks currently running the show haven't done a darned thing to restore the public trust. Here's hoping the next AG will make that a high priority.
Gov. Bob Riley's political action committee that is fighting private bingo casinos in Alabama has received $10,000 from a lobbyist for Indians operating federally protected bingo casinos in the state.
"These records demonstrate unequivocally that what the plaintiffs have alleged did in fact occur. Mr. Langford has, miraculously, won over five hundred and fifty jackpots at VictoryLand," over the last three years, Mann wrote in the motion.
Langford told The Birmingham News on Tuesday he didn't remember winning multiple jackpots on any given day.
"Did you say 36 jackpots? Thirty-six ... jackpots! That's B.S.," Langford said. "I never won 36 jackpots in one ... night in my life."
Whatever you think of the former Birmingham mayor's incredible luck at the slot electronic bingo machines, or his memory lapse regarding that incredible luck, his accountant was savvy enough to report each and every jackpot to the IRS. The Birmingham News put together a neat bar chart showing Langford's 2008 winnings -- $729,000 in just 24 trips to Victoryland.
Of course, when any public official is "winning" this much money, there is potential for corruption (payoffs) or the appearance of payoffs. Langford's IRS records were subpoenaed in a lawsuit alleging that his wins were rigged, to the detriment of other customers in the gambling establishments.
We've all heard the story of how Al Capone was finally sent to prison for failing to report and pay tax on his illegal income. Langford did report his gambling winnings, but here's the part of the story I find even more incredible than the 555 jackpots: Larry Langford's gambling losses exactly equaled his gambling winnings!
... in 2006, he reported winning and losing $227,673. In 2007, he reported $485,633 in gambling winnings and losses. And in 2008, Langford reported winning and losing $810,601.
Exactly the same, right down to the dollar. What are the odds of that happening?
The City Council has debated paying Alexander's legal fees since last year.
In October, the council received bills totaling $151,000 in attorney fees, an amount that is now part of the $367,000 bill. At that time, council members sought answers on how the city handled payment of attorney fees for officials in past years.
My first problem is that she is requesting the city pay 367k. I am having a hard time doing the math and figuring out this works.
Alexander's lead lawyer was former U.S. Federal Court Judge U.W. Clemon who now works with White Dowd and Arnold. Mark White was recently Alabama Bar President and now represents Victoryland and Milton McGregor. Now granted this law firm probably charges and deserves a good hourly rate based on experience. However, I cannot justify how a city can pay this amount.
I think he doesn't ask tough questions when McCain, Cheney or other Republicans are on his program. I am, however in 100% agreement with his commentary today. Until the issue he discusses changes, we're just putting good bulbs in a bad socket.
A number of former members of the U.S. Senate and House, including former Senators Bill Bradley and Warren Rudman head up YouStreet.org. The organization is working for public financing of federal campaigns to reduce the influence of campaign donations on all the issues this country faces.
YouStreet should be better known, especially in light of recent events that have exposed the corporate underbelly of our campaign financing system.
This discussion about the corruption of Congress is from Wednesday's Morning Joe. Bernstein is on point about the problem and the solution when he says "There ought to be a citizen movement about it, and there has to be some mechanism for public funding of campaigns..."
BTW, Parker Griffith gets a mention though not by name.
Will this ad be persuasive? Does it go too far? How should we attack it? What Republicans in this state have been found guilty of criminal behavior?
A couple of key points:
The U.S. Attorney when Larry Langford went to trial - Joyce Vance - a Democrat
so I don't know about any political points being scored with the latest conviction.
Also - Blount and La Pierre have been gone from the State Party for some time. In fact they have not been around much in the ten or so years I've been involved
So we are now finding out the answers to some of our questions about which members of Congress actually represent We, the People...and which ones represent, Them, the Corporate Masters.
We have seen a Democratic Senator propose a policy that would put people in jail for not buying health insurance and a Democratic President who has taken numerous public beatings from those on the left side of the fence for his inability to ram something through a group of people...and yes, folks, the entendre was intentional.
But most of all, we've been asking ourselves: "why would Democratic Members of Congress who will eventually want us to vote for them vote against something that nearly all voting Democrats are inclined to vote for?"
Today's conversation attempts to answer that question by looking at exactly how money and influence flow through a key politician, Montana's Senator Max Baucus-and in doing so, we examine some ugly political realities that have to be resolved before we can hope to convince certain Members of Congress to vote for what their constituents actually want when it really counts.
This is the reason John Tyson, Jr. narrowly lost in 2006 and likely a big part of the reason he will not be running for Attorney General in 2010.
The Alabama Legislative Black Caucus issued a resolution accusing Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. of selectively prosecuting blacks, including former Judge Herman Thomas.
The resolution went out over the names of the entire caucus, but some members from Mobile, including Sen. Vivian Davis Figures (D, Mobile) and Rep. Joseph Mitchell (D, Mobile), were not told of the resolution. Rep. Yvonne Kennedy (D, Mobile) was aware of the resolution. A couple of years ago she resigned her position at Bishop State University, largely as a result of one of Tyson's investigations of public corruption.
I say public corruption needs to be investigated wherever it is growing, regardless of party or race. From what I can tell, Tyson has done that.
A hearing from the full 11th Circuit Court of Appeals was Don Siegelman's last chance to have his convictions overturned short of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Attorneys for Siegelman and Scrushy had asked the full 12-judge court to review the appeal. The court's refusal was posted on its Web site Friday.
Siegelman attorney Vince Kilborn said he believes the Supreme Court would be particularly interested in reviewing key questions: whether prosecutors proved at trial that there was a "quid pro quo" agreement between Siegelman and Scrushy and if U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller erred by not telling jurors such an agreement is required in federal bribery cases.
"This case has drawn national attention. I believe this is a case that will be of interest to the Supreme Court," Kilborn said.
Related: Special prosecutor Nora Dannehy interviewed Karl Rove today. Dannehy is investigating charges that political considerations led to the firing of several U.S. Attorney's during Bush's second term.
The guilty verdict ended McClain's 14-year career in the Alabama Senate.
"It's over," the Midfield Democrat said. "The Senate seat is gone as of the verdict. I no longer want to be referred to as Sen. E.B. McClain."
Gov. Bob Riley will set a special election to fill the seat, said McClain, who also served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives.
I don't know the ins and outs of this case, but will say that the transfer of large sums of money gives the appearance of impropriety and McClain and Pettagrue obviously failed to convince the jury that their dealings were innocent. Now what does this mean for the upcoming legislative session?
It sounds like McClain is out of the state Senate immediately. That leaves three vacant seats in the senate, since Parker Griffith resigned after election to Congress and Sen. Pat Lindsay recently passed away. Even more importantly, all these vacant seats were held by Democrats in a body where the balance of power was already razor thin. Senate President pro-tem Hinton Mitchem was elected on a 17-18 vote in 2006 with the understanding that Mitchem would step aside this year in favor of Rodger Smitherman. Can the Democratic majority bring some of those rogue Democrats back into the fold for a vote to elect Smitherman President pro-tem? I think they need two out of the three to make it.
The more one learns about McCain's Mavericky pick of Sarah "Not Smarter than a 5th Grader" Palin, the more one has to laugh . . . or cower in fear over.
Here's the latest on that "new, fresh brand of politics" Palin would bring to Washington, traveling along the Bridge to Stupid:
"When Palin needed to sell her house during her last year as Wasilla mayor, she got the city to sign off on a special zoning exception - and did so without keeping a promise to remove a potential fire hazard.
"She gladly accepted gifts from merchants: A free 'awesome facial' she raved about in a thank-you note to a spa. The "absolutely gorgeous flowers" she received from a welding supply store. Even fresh salmon to take home.
"She also stepped in to help friends or neighbors with City Hall dealings. She asked the City Council to add a friend to the list of speakers at a 2002 meeting - and then the friend got up and asked them to give his radio station advertising business.
"That year, records show, she tried to help a neighbor and political contributor fighting City Hall over his small lakeside development. Palin wanted the city to refund some of the man's fees, but the city attorney told the mayor she didn't have the authority. . . ."
For, apparently, no reason. No work has been done by Davis's firm on behalf of Freddie Mac since Davis "stopped drawing a salary." John McCain and his campaign claimed as recently as TWO DAYS AGO that Rick Davis has NOTHING TO DO with Freddie Mac. Nothing. And that he has NEVER lobbied for Freddie Mac.
No, seriously. If this is not THE NUMBER ONE STORY in the media this week, there is something VERY VERY VERY wrong with the media and with us for not MAKING them cover it as the NUMBER ONE STORY.
Because THIS IS F$$$ING HUGE.
Connect the dots: McCain... Rick Davis... Freddie Mac... FINANCIAL APOCALYPSE... Government Bail Out.
Once again the Republican Party shows their ability to lead in all things. This time the GOP secured 14 of the top 20 spots on the CREW's (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) Most Corrupt Members of Congress.
Yes you heard it right, 70% of the most corrupt members of Congress are Republicans. To top it off the GOP also secured 75% of the dishonorable mention section of the CREW list. All in a days work.
Pretty obvious, huh? But in the eyes of the law, they should receive equal treatment. Yesterday tryan pointed out that the standard for conviction appears to be different. Alaska Sen. Stevens (R - Bridge to Nowhere) was not charged with bribery because such a charge "requires proof of a specific quid pro quo" while the Siegelman jury was instructed that "NO SPECIFIC QUID PRO QUO WAS REQUIRED" for a bribery conviction.
Today, we witness more evidence that Ted Stevens is not Don Siegelman, and the two are not equal in the eyes of the law. Ted Stevens is running for reelection and asked that his trial begin soon so as not to interfere with the election. In 2006, Don Siegelman was running for governor and he also wanted his trial to begin well before the primary election in June. One delay led to another, and another and Don Siegelman's trial didn't begin until May 1st.
Siegelman was indicted on October 26, 2005. His trial began about 6 months later and he was convicted June 29, 2006 -- three weeks after the Democratic primary.
Ted Stevens was indicted last Tuesday, July 29 and his trial is set to begin on September 24 -- only 2 months later. Do the wheels of justice turn more quickly if you're a Republican?
Actually, I hope the justice system works as it should for Stevens -- no political delays, no conspiring, just a fair trial with justice at the end of it. That's what every American should expect from our legal system, but what Don Siegelman and too many others have not received.
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