Steve Marshall warns cities/counties and pledges to residents to uphold the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has pledged to uphold the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, in light of the five recent fines that have been placed on cities or counties for removing confederate memorials. Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill into law in 2017. It states, “No architecturally significant building, memorial building, memorial street, or monument which is located on public property and has been so situated for 40 or more years may be relocated, removed, altered, renamed, or otherwise disturbed.” Those between 20 and 40 years old may only be disturbed in certain circumstances (waiver). In 2019, the law was ruled an unconstitutional violation of the right to free speech, and the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that it couldn’t be enforced. The penalty for violating the law was fixed at a $25,000 fine. In June Birmingham officials removed a 115-year-old Confederate Soldiers and Sailors monument in the city’s Linn Park when Mayor Randall Woodfin ordered it removed after it was vandalized. In response, Marshall filed a lawsuit, seeking a $25,000 fine against the city of Birmingham Tuesday for removing a Confederate monument in Linn Park. Marshall’s statements come after the most recent lawsuit against Madison County when they removed a confederate monument in downtown Huntsville. Marshall commented, “In recent months, we have witnessed a number of elected officials take it upon themselves to tear down monuments and statues protected under Alabama law. I want to speak directly to the people of Alabama, as the chief law enforcement officer of our state, to make a few things clear about the actions of these elected officials: “First, any elected official who removes a historic monument or statue in violation of Alabama law has broken the law. He has not simply decided to ‘pay a fee’ so that he can lawfully have the monument or statue removed. He has committed an illegal act. “Second, any elected official sworn into office by taking an oath to uphold the law, who then breaks a duly enacted and constitutional law, has violated that oath. “Third, despite what some newspapers might have you believe, any elected official who disregards the duties of his office in this manner has done so not out of courage, but has done so out of fear. This should not be celebrated, for disregarding the law subverts our democratic system. “Our government vests the power to make laws in the legislature alone. If an elected official disagrees with a law, he can work through his legislators to see that law changed. That is how our system works. “I urge my fellow Alabamians to take note of those casting votes and spending their tax dollars to violate a law of this state. It is now a question of when not if these same leaders will cast aside yet another law—being guided only by the political winds of the moment. “Around the country, we have seen what happens when city and county officials allow the mob to take over. It all starts with subtle non-enforcement of laws and ordinances, and quickly devolves into utter lawlessness. As a state, we must remain vigilant that those elected to govern our localities do not lead us slowly down the same road.”
Kay Ivey distributes CARES Act funds to Alabama Feeding Initiative
With time running out to spend the nearly $1 billion left in funding for the CARES Act, Gov. Kay Ivey has set out to spend the funds on citizens in need in Alabama. The current deadline for spending the CARES Act funds is December 31. Over 80 organizations recently banded together to write a letter to Ivey urging her not to let the money go back to the federal government. The advocacy organizations all agreed that there are four main priorities for spending the funds: alleviating hunger; addressing evictions and homelessness; supporting people particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and child care. Ivey and other governors recently asked the federal government for more time to spend the funds during a meeting with the National Governors Association Executive Committee. During the meeting, the governor underscored to the group that it would benefit the states to remove that barrier and give all states the flexibility to continue spending those dollars in the first few months of 2021. Gina Maiola issued an update on the CARES Act funding stating Governor Ivey has allocated $3,606,104 for the Alabama Feeding Initiative. The allocation comes from the category providing “Up to $300,000,000 to be used to support citizens, businesses, and non-profit and faith-based organizations of the state directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic”. The funds will be used to reimburse food banks for the following COVID-related expenses: the purchase of food, packaging, and related supplies to meet increased demand; operational expenses, including fuel and maintenance, incurred due to handling a higher amount for food, as well as open-air distribution events; rental costs of storage space and vehicles to handle increased volumes of food; and to purchase PPE, screening equipment, and decontamination services to prevent the spread of COVID-19 Ivey stated, “Alabama is a state where neighbors help neighbors, even in the most difficult times. The Coronavirus pandemic presented significant challenges around the world, as well as here at home in our own state. Food banks in communities across Alabama have been a lifeline for those in need, and I am proud to be able to put these funds toward the Alabama Feeding Initiative. I have told Alabamians that I remain committed to getting these CARES Act funds into the hands of those who need it.”
Russell Bedsole: Census officials need more time to get rural counts right
As we approach the end of a year filled with an unprecedented global pandemic and seemingly ceaseless campaign coverage, it is more important than ever that Congress closes this session strong and puts our nation in a stable position to handle the coming year. However, as it stands, many rural states like Alabama may be looking at a long road ahead. While television and phone screens across the nation have been flooded with real-time updates on COVID-19 and this year’s election, another major development that has a direct impact on all of us, the U.S. Census, has been mostly overlooked. With lawmakers finding their way back to Washington for the next few weeks, though, addressing issues with this year’s Census needs to be among their top priorities. That is because, when a court ruling brought the Census counting process to an abrupt end in October, those responsible for checking and verifying the data were only given until December 31 to report their findings, despite the fact that this process normally takes about five months. Of course, verifying that the results are accurate is especially difficult this year, given the challenges that Census officials faced in collecting responses due to the pandemic and harsh coastal weather conditions. In cases when a person or a household does not fill out a response form for the Census, officials normally go to visit them to ask questions in-person. This year, however, opportunities for in-person discussions were limited due to concerns about COVID-19, and these workers were instead forced to fall back on information contained in government documents and administrative records, which are less reliable and could very well be out-of-date, especially in more rural states like Alabama where communities can be harder to reach. Alabama, for example, had more than 35 percent of its responses enumerated in these types of “Nonresponse Follow-up.” With these challenges, Census officials have now publicly recognized that it is unlikely the current reporting deadline is feasible to meet. As they close out the year, lawmakers should heed the words of these Census workers, and pass legislation giving them more time to report their findings. If they do not pass a bill extending the deadline for reporting Census results, there is a significant chance that rural and agricultural states like ours could be undercounted. Given that the Census directs billions in federal dollars each year, the potential ramifications are enormous. For example, research indicates that if Alabama’s population is undercounted by even one percent, we will lose almost $40 million in just jobs programs, healthcare, and education funding. The total costs would no doubt go even well beyond that though, as Alabama received a total of more than $13 billion in Census funding in 2016 alone. That is money we’ve been paying through our taxes, and we deserve for it to help our communities, not some large coastal state that had a more accurate Census tally. Some lawmakers have recognized how serious this issue is for rural Americans, and are working to help. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) has introduced a bill called the 2020 Census Deadline Extensions Act to push back the Census reporting deadline and has since gained support from other prominent Senate Republicans like Senators David Perdue (R-GA) and Steve Daines (R-MT). Now, I hope Senator Richard Shelby joins them in making sure our state does not miss out on important federal funding. It may not have received the same level of attention as the other major stories this year, but the 2020 Census is a vital process for ensuring good governance is possible, and those who have been working on it deserve the opportunity to do it right. As of now, the best way to guarantee that is by extending the reporting deadline past the end of the year. Russell Bedsole recently won the special election for Alabama State House District 49.
Paul DeMarco: November brings good news to Alabama from the United States Air Force
While it seems like everything we hear out of Washington D.C.is bad these days, thus two announcements this past week will bring welcome news to Alabama. First, the United States Air Force released the news that the city of Huntsville made the final list of prospective sites for the home of the United States Space Command. There were only five other locations around the Nation that made the cut. The Command will bring 1,400 employees to staff the mission. Huntsville had made the original short list before the Air Force was ordered to review their choices again. The city already is the home for some of the country’s most important missions with NASA and the Army’s Space and Missile Command located there. In addition, the city already has the infrastructure and skilled workforce to man the operation. The decision will come in early 2021. That same week the Air Force also revealed that Montgomery’s Maxwell Air Force Base wiIl soon house a flying training unit for the new MH-139 Grey Wolf Helicopters. Pilots will be trained to fly the new generation helicopters that will protect the Nation’s intercontinental ballistic fields in the Western United States. Both of these announcements should not be a surprise considering the number of important military facilities already in the state. Let’s welcome the new unit to Montgomery and hope Huntsville lands the Space Command in the new Year. It has been a tough year for the state, so these announcements are encouraging news for Alabama. Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives.
Alabama cities canceling Christmas parades as pandemic rages
Part of the holiday season will be missing in some Alabama cities this year as officials cancel Christmas parades because of the coronavirus pandemic. The cities of Birmingham and Anniston called off their parades in recent days as caseloads and hospitalizations increase across the state. The cities of Bessemer, Gadsden, and Madison were among those that previously called off their Christmas parades citing safety concerns over the virus. Some places are still planning events like tree lightings that residents can watch online, and other places are creating alternative events. Hartselle plans a contest in which residents can compete for prizes by decorating their homes. Tuscaloosa announced a “reverse” parade in which people can stay in their cars and drive past decorated floats in a park, but organizers canceled it citing low participation. Cases of COVID-19 are increasing rapidly across the state as a new wave of illness sweeps across much of the nation. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Donald Trump’s legal team cried vote fraud, but courts found none
As they frantically searched for ways to salvage President Donald Trump’s failed reelection bid, his campaign pursued a dizzying game of legal hopscotch across six states that centered on the biggest prize of all: Pennsylvania. The strategy may have played well in front of television cameras and on talk radio to Trump’s supporters. But it has proved a disaster in court, where judges uniformly rejected their claims of vote fraud and found the campaign’s legal work amateurish. In a scathing ruling late Saturday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann — a Republican and Federalist Society member in central Pennsylvania — compared the campaign’s legal arguments to “Frankenstein’s Monster,” concluding that Trump’s team offered only “speculative accusations,” not proof of rampant corruption. The campaign on Sunday filed notice it would appeal the decision to the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a day before the state’s 67 counties are set to certify their results and send them to state officials. So, as the legal doors close on Trump’s attempts to have courts do what voters would not do on Election Day and deliver him a second term, his efforts in Pennsylvania show how far he is willing to push baseless theories of widespread voter fraud. It was led by Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who descended on the state the Saturday after the Nov. 3 election as the count dragged on and the president played golf. Summoning reporters to a scruffy, far-flung corner of Philadelphia on Nov. 7, he held forth at a site that would soon become legendary: Four Seasons Total Landscaping. The 11:30 a.m. news conference was doomed from the start. Only minutes earlier, news outlets had started calling the presidential contest for Democrat Joe Biden. The race was over. Just heating up was Trump’s plan to subvert the election through litigation and howls of fraud — the same tactic he had used to stave off losses in the business world. And it would soon spread far beyond Pennsylvania. “Some of the ballots looked suspicious,” Giuliani, 76, said of the vote count in Philadelphia as he stood behind a chain-link fence, next to a sex shop. He maligned the city as being run by a “decrepit Democratic machine.” “Those mail-in ballots could have been written the day before, by the Democratic Party hacks that were all over the convention center,” Giuliani said. He promised to file a new round of lawsuits. He rambled. “This is a very, very strong case,” he asserted. Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor who specializes in election law, called the Trump lawsuits dangerous. “It is a sideshow, but it’s a harmful sideshow,” Levitt said. “It’s a toxic sideshow. The continuing baseless, evidence-free claims of alternative facts are actually having an effect on a substantial number of Americans. They are creating the conditions for elections not to work in the future.” Not a single court has found merit in the core legal claims, but that did not stop Trump’s team from firing off nearly two dozen legal challenges to Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania, including an early morning suit on Election Day filed by a once-imprisoned lawyer. The president’s lawyers fought the three-day grace period for mail-in ballots to arrive. They complained they weren’t being let in to observe the vote count. They said Democratic counties unfairly let voters fix mistakes on their ballot envelopes. Everywhere they turned, they said, they sniffed fraud. “I felt insidious fraud going on,” Philadelphia poll watcher Lisette Tarragano said when Giuliani called her to the microphone at the landscaping company. In fact, a Republican runs the city’s election board and has said his office got death threats as Trump’s rants about the election intensified. No judges ever found any evidence of election fraud in Pennsylvania or any other state where the campaign sued — not in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, Nevada, or Georgia. Instead, Trump lawyers found themselves backpedaling when pressed in court for admissible evidence, or dropping out when they were accused of helping derail the democratic process. “I am asking you as a member of the bar of this court, are people representing the Donald J. Trump for president (campaign) … in that room?” U.S. District Judge Paul Diamond asked at an after-hours hearing on Nov. 5, when Republicans asked him to stop the vote count in Philadelphia over their alleged banishment. “There’s a nonzero number of people in the room,” lawyer Jerome Marcus replied. The count continued in Philadelphia. The Trump losses kept coming. By Friday, Nov. 6, when a state appeals court rejected a Republican complaint over provisional ballots and a Philadelphia judge refused to throw out 8,300 mail-in ballots they challenged, Biden was up by about 27,000 votes. Nationally, the race had not yet been called. But it was becoming clear that a Biden win in Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral votes, was imminent. When it came, Trump quickly pivoted to litigation. It did not go well. A U.S. appeals court found Pennsylvania’s three-day extension for mail-in ballots laudatory, given the disruption and mail delays caused by the pandemic. Judges in Michigan and Arizona, finding no evidence of fraud, refused to block the certification of county vote tallies. Law firms representing the campaign started to come under fire and withdrew. That left Giuliani, who had not argued a case in court for three decades, in charge of the effort to overturn the election. “You can say a lot at a driveway (news conference). … When you go to court, you can’t,” said lawyer Mark Aronchick, who represented election officials in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere in several of the Pennsylvania suits. “I don’t really pay attention to the chatter until I see a legal brief.” On Tuesday, Giuliani stepped into the courtroom. He was a late addition to the docket after election lawyers from Porter Wright Morris & Arthur had bowed out over the previous weekend. He had an entourage in tow, a show of force that had everything but a compelling legal argument. Giuliani asked Brann to hold up the certification of
Board to certify Alabama election results on Monday
Alabama’s results from the Nov. 3 election will become official on Monday. The state canvassing board is set to meet at the Capitol on Monday morning to certify results from each of Alabama’s 67 counties. The board is in charge of reviewing the results of Alabama’s state and federal elections. The move will make official President Donald Trump’s overwhelming victory in the state over President-elect Joe Biden. While Trump is challenging the results in some states, Alabama isn’t among them. The board will also officially settle numerous other votes, including Republican Tommy Tuberville’s victory over incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. The canvassing board is composed of Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Steve Marshall, and Secretary of State John Merrill. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Alvin Holmes dies at 81; had served decades in Alabama House
Former state Rep. Alvin Holmes, who had been the longest-serving member of the Alabama House of Representatives before his 2018 defeat, has died. He was 81. Alabama House of Representatives spokesman Clay Redden confirmed Holmes’ death Saturday. Holmes, one of the first African Americans elected to the Alabama Legislature after the civil rights era, was for decades a fixture at the Statehouse. His political career included battles over issues ranging from removing Jim Crow language from the state Constitution to taking the Confederate flag off of the Alabama Capitol. With his trademark outspokenness, he had panache for humorous, and sometimes controversial, moments. Holmes was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1974, just four years after African Americans — who hadn’t served since Reconstruction — returned to the Legislature. “I came to the Statehouse out of the civil rights movement. I said I wanted to go up there and make a change,” Holmes said after his defeat in 2018. Holmes had said the accomplishments he was most proud of included establishing Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday and pushing for the hiring of African Americans for professional positions at the Alabama Legislature. He was among lawmakers who fought to take the Confederate battle flag off the Alabama Capitol’s dome where it had formerly flown as a symbol of Southern defiance to integration. He sponsored a constitutional amendment to remove an interracial marriage ban from the Alabama Constitution and unsuccessfully fought for years to get sexual orientation included in the state hate crime statute. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said Holmes was a champion for civil rights and for all taxpayers. “He took stands to ensure African Americans were treated fairly and that tax dollars were spent wisely. Representatives Holmes could be forceful at times and give no ground on issues he was passionate about, but no one ever questioned his sincerity. I was proud to call him a friend,” McCutcheon said. The short, mustached Holmes had a flair for humor and bluntness at the House microphone, a skill he said he knowingly deployed at times to draw attention to issues. Once, during a floor debate, Holmes pulled out a wad of cash and said he would give $700 to anyone who showed him Bible verses specifying that marriage is between only a man and a woman. The challenge prompted a flood of calls into the statehouse switchboard. “What’s wrong with the beer we got? I mean the beer we got drinks pretty good don’t it.” he also once asked during a debate on a bill, promoted by beer enthusiasts, to allow the sale of higher alcohol content brews. Rep. Christopher England, who also serves as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, said Holmes was a great Democrat and a fighter. “He stood on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights and was willing to sacrifice everything in his fight for justice for all. …. Alabama has lost a giant, whose wit, intelligence, fearlessness, selfless determination, and leadership will be sorely missed.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Judge allows for former coal executive David Roberson’s $75 million case against Drummond Company to move forward, orders discovery to begin
The statement made by Drummond Company was unequivocal. “We are disappointed by the jury’s decision to convict our employee, David Roberson. While we respect the judicial process, we consider David to be a man of integrity who would not knowingly engage in wrongdoing.” That statement came the day following the guilty verdicts in the trial of David Roberson and Joel Gilbert of Balch & Bingham. During the same time, Roberson says he and his wife were promised by Drummond “they had nothing to worry about” and that Drummond would keep David Roberson on paid administrative leave until his appeal process was completed. Drummond would pay him his full salary, bonuses, and benefits until the matter had been fully adjudicated. However, on February 7, 2019, exactly six months and eighteen days after his conviction, Drummond terminated Roberson’s employment with no notice or reason. Now the very same people at Drummond who spoke to Roberson’s integrity are attempting to impugn it as part of a defense strategy in a suit Roberson has filed against them. Roberson and his wife brought suit against Drummond Company and Balch & Bingham. Balch & Bingham was dismissed from the suit, not for its merits but instead on technical grounds after Judge Tamara Harris ruled that the firm was protected by the statute of limitations laid out in the Alabama Legal Services Liability Act (ALSLA). Burt Newsome the Roberson’s attorney, is moving forward in circuit court against Drummond Company. Ironically, Drummond is now attempting to use that same statute (ALSLA) as their defense. Responding to that claim, Newsom says, “Drummond Company, Inc.’s assertion that it falls under the Alabama Legal Services Act is simply absurd. It is a coal company, and the ALSA only applies to lawyers and law firms as clearly held by the Alabama Supreme Court.” The lawsuit claims that Drummond waited exactly six months from his conviction, believing that to be the applicable statute of limitations for both them and Balch and Bingham. Roberson is suing Drummond Coal for $75,000,000 compensatory and punitive damages. He and his wife allege in their suit a series of broken promises, bad faith advice, and misconduct by Drummond executives that left him without a proper defense in his criminal case and without income, which ultimately left him and his family in dire financial straits and ruined his reputation. Roberson, who maintains his innocence, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and complete 100 hours per year of community service during his year of supervised release. Speaking to the effects of the case and the alleged actions of Drummond and Balch & Bingham, David Roberson told Alabama Today, “Anna and I have lost everything as a result of what happened at Drummond – our home, our possessions, our friends and my career.” There is little room for disagreement that Roberson was held in the highest esteem in his personal and professional life prior to this case, as U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon acknowledged during the sentencing hearing for Roberson. Over 149 people, including family, friends, business executives, and lawmakers, wrote letters of support for leniency, which ultimately led Judge Kallon to deviate from the sentencing guidelines for a lesser sentence. During that hearing, Al.com reports that Roberson spoke, thanking his family and friends for their support. “I may have been naïve, I may have been too trusting… [but] I am innocent of all charges brought against me,” Roberson said. He said he trusted Gilbert and the Balch team to make sure everything they were doing was ethical, and also said he never saw the contract with Robinson’s nonprofit foundation. “I never thought we were bribing Oliver Robinson,” he said. “I trusted Joel [Gilbert].” Gilbert was not just Roberson’s co-defendant. They were long-time personal friends. Gilbert included Roberson in his apologies during his sentencing hearing. In a ruling made this past Friday, November 20, 2020, Judge Harris not only denied efforts for Drummond to have more time also ruled that discovery can also begin. Newsome said, “We are confident that the evidence will show that Mr. Roberson was deceived and that criminal activity was concealed from him by both Balch and Drummond, and he first learned about this misconduct at his criminal trial. Furthermore, we believe that the evidence will also show that David Roberson, nor Joel Gilbert either for that matter, received a fair trial and that other indictments related to this North Birmingham Superfund scandal are possible when the complete truth comes to light.” He went on to say, “Corporations have a duty of fair play with their employees – especially those that are in sensitive positions such as government affairs and compliance. Executive Management and the Board of Directors and their attorneys cannot engage in misconduct and then set up lower-level managers/employees to take the blame if the misconduct is discovered by government agents.” The cases and claims against Drummond and Balch & Bingham are not expected to be easy. Both companies have the financial means and political capital to fight it. Roberson noted this challenge and his faith that he will succeed, saying, “Burt Newsome is the only lawyer in this state who would take on two of state’s most powerful entities – Balch & Bingham and Drummond Company. Burt is a lawyer that has guts and integrity, and we are going to see this thing through to the end.” “All corporations want to make money, but a corporation should have some boundaries as to what it will do to make money and what it is willing to do to others to pursue profits,” Roberson continued. The court will now be able to hear the argument that Drummond did, in fact, go too far.
