Did Speaker Mike Hubbard’s camp accuse Luther Strange of criminal acts?

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Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, R-Aubrn (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

There have been a lot of twists and turns in the criminal case against Speaker Mike Hubbard on 23 class B felony charges.

The latest comes as his defense says it will challenge the constitutionality of a law that as, Alabama Political Reporter notes, the speaker himself helped to pass and then trumpeted in his book.

That’s certainly an interesting defense: The law I passed was a bad one. In an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser I found another assertion by Hubbard’s team to be just as important, a secondary defense maybe?

Mark White, an attorney representing Hubbard, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the challenges could include one to the application of the statute.

“The attorney general is engaged in the same or similar conduct as Hubbard is alleged to have done,” he said.

So now, instead of just saying he’s not guilty, he’s using  the “everybody does it” defense, as well as the “the law I passed isn’t legal” defense.

The question this brings is which laws does the speaker or his team think the attorney general has broken?

The Opelaka-Auburn News reported after the last hearing that the Speakers team believes Strange sought favors from the Business Council of Alabama.

They reported that White said to them at the time that “he and his team believe the conduct of both the speaker and attorney general is “absolutely, completely legal.”

The fact remains the grand jury and prosecutors disagree with the notion that the Speakers actions are legal. It’s also important to note that the charges against Hubbard are varied and not just the same charge.

Here are the charges the speaker faces as listed by AL.Com when the indictments came down:

  • Four counts of using of his office as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party for personal gain;
  • One count of voting for legislation with a conflict of interest;
  • Eleven counts of soliciting or receiving a thing of value from a lobbyist or principal;
  • Two counts of using his office as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives for personal gain;
  • Four counts of lobbying an executive department or agency for a fee; and
  • One count of using state equipment, materials, etc., for private gain.

We contacted White via email to ask which of these laws he thinks the attorney general has broken and he responded saying, “It will be addressed in upcoming pleadings.” He said those filings would come on or before August 13.

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