Steve Flowers: Requiem for Alabama political icons lost in 2016
At the close of every year, my tradition is to acknowledge the passing away of significant political players from the political stage in Alabama. We have lost some Icons from politics in the Heart of Dixie this year. Lucy Baxley passed away in October in Birmingham at 78. She was born on a farm in rural Houston County in the community of Pansy. She went to school at Ashford. After graduation from high school, she went to work at the courthouse in Dothan and worked for Judge Keener Baxley. When Judge Baxley’s son, Bill, got elected Attorney General in 1970, young Bill Baxley asked Lucy to come to Montgomery to be his administrative assistant. Eight years later she and Bill married. She was an integral part of Baxley’s first campaign for Governor in 1978. Bill became Lt. Governor in 1982, then lost again for governor in 1986. Soon, thereafter, Bill and Lucy ended their ten-year marriage. Lucy then began her own career in Alabama politics. She was elected State Treasurer in 1990 and spent eight years in that post. She was a natural campaigner. One of the best one-on-one I have ever seen. She worked the state during those eight years as Treasurer, especially among senior citizen groups. She parlayed that campaign into being elected as the first female lieutenant governor in history. In that 1998 campaign, she coined the campaign phrase, “I Love Lucy.” Her signs were all over the state. Her name identification was so pronounced that her lieutenant governor’s parking space simply said “Lucy.” She was the Democratic nominee for governor in 2002, but lost to Republican Bob Riley. She finished her political career by serving on the Public Service Commission. Lucy loved Alabama and folks loved her. Judge Perry O. Hooper, Sr. passed away in his hometown of Montgomery in April at the age of 91. Judge Hooper’s career paralleled the growth and dominance of the Republican Party in Alabama. He was indeed one of the founding Fathers of the modern Republican Party in the Heart of Dixie. He was a Republican before it was cool. One time when he was state party chairman, Hooper would joke that he could call a meeting of the state GOP in a phone booth. Hooper was a Marine. His lovely wife, Marilyn, was a Montgomery native and they raised four fine boys. As a pioneer Republican, he led the Goldwater landslide of the South in 1964. That crescendo propelled him into the Montgomery Probate Judge office. He was re-elected to that post in 1970; in 1974, he moved to a Montgomery Circuit judgeship. Twenty years later Judge Hooper broke the ice of control that the Democrats and Trial Lawyers had over the State Supreme Court. He became the First Republican Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Democrats and Republicans alike noted at his funeral that during his years as a Judge he treated everyone fairly. Jim Bennett was the longest-serving Secretary of State in Alabama history. Jim passed away in Birmingham in August at age 76, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer. Jim was a writer, reporter, State Representative, State Senator and Secretary of State. He became a reporter for the Birmingham Post-Herald after graduation from Jacksonville State. He covered the Civil Rights protests in Birmingham in 1963 and stood next to Bull Conner when he ordered fire hoses turned on protesters, including children. He once told me he interviewed George Wallace, Bull Conner and Martin Luther King in the same day. He ran for and was elected to the state legislature in 1978. We served together in the House. He later moved to the Senate. He was first appointed Secretary of State in 1993. He won the election in 1994 and served two four-year terms through 2003. He is not only the longest-serving Secretary of State, but is also the only one to have been elected as both a Democrat and as a Republican. He was a longtime member of the Jacksonville State University Board of Trustees and was Chairman of the Board when he passed away. Jim Bennett was a true public servant. Have a Happy New Year! ___ Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard sentenced to 4 years in prison
Former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard has been handed his sentence — a total of four years in prison, eight years on probation and ordered to pay a $210,000 fine — for 12 felony ethics violations for abusing his position by using the influence and prestige of his political offices to benefit his companies and clients. Flanked by family and friends who arrived at the courthouse in support, Hubbard received his sentence Friday morning from Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker in the same Opelika courtroom where his long-awaited ethics’ trial took place last month. On June 10, Hubbard was convicted on 12 of 23 counts of corruption, which automatically removed the powerful Republican from both the Legislature and the speaker’s office, ending the upward trajectory of the one-time GOP star whose career previously appeared to have no limits. Throughout Friday’s sentencing Hubbard kept silent, even after the Judge offered him a chance to speak. However, his Defense attorney Bill Baxley declared after the sentencing was handed down, “I’ve seen very few people convicted by a jury that I felt were innocent… I can count on one hand. I believe with all my being, after everything we’ve gone though, Mike Hubbard is absolutely innocent of every charge.” Outside the courtroom Baxley proceeded to call the case a “witch hunt” and vowed to “appeal the case all the way.” Despite his sentence, Hubbard will not immediately be taken to prison, as Judge Walker is allowing an appeal, which Hubbard has 42 days to make.
Mike Hubbard trial day 6: Gov. Robert Bentley takes the stand
Easily the most high-profile witness to date testified Wednesday morning in the trial of indicted Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley took the stand at 9 a.m. to gasps and finger pointing by surprised jurors. In under 20 minutes, Bentley testified that he remembers meeting with Hubbard to discuss what he described as economic development projects. Prosecutors are seeking to prove Hubbard was being paid up to $12,000 a month to illegally lobby the governor on behalf of his business clients.. A state prosecutor showed Bentley reports Hubbard sent his clients describing how he met with the governor on projects that could benefit them. The governor testified he recalled the meetings. During the cross-examination, lead defense attorney Bill Baxley asked if it was Bentley’s opinion that Hubbard’s actions were in the best interest of Alabamians. Bentley explained that it was. And that he believed the projects were good for the Yellowhammer State because they would bring jobs. “Yes, sir. It was because it was jobs,” Bentley said before the captivated courtroom. Like Hubbard, Bentley has found himself at the center of his own scandal in recent months, having admitted making sexually charged remarks to a former female aide. Next up on the witness stand was lobbyist and long-time Hubbard acquaintance Dax Swatek. Swatek testified Hubbard asked him to invest in Craftmaster Printers, but declined as he thought it would be illegal. “I told him that it was at a minimum bad perception and my understanding of the ethics law was that he could not ask and I could not give,” Swatek testified. “To me, a there is a perception issue there. Two is that the investment idea was something that wasn’t appealing to me, but also three, the ethics law states, based on my training and understanding, that a legislator can’t ask a lobbyist for anything and a lobbyist can’t give anything back,” Swatek said, as he explained Hubbard was seeking investments from several contacts to keep his business afloat. Hubbard’s defense team argued the charges Hubbard faces for soliciting investments from lobbyists and principals, such as Swatek, are exempt due to an exception for friendship in the state’s ethics law. Will Brooke, an executive at a finance firm and former chairman of the Business Council of Alabama, took the stand next and testified Hubbard asked for his help to devise a plan to save his company. He agreed to help Hubbard and later presented him the idea to get a group of people to make $150,000 investments in exchange for preferred stock in Craftmaster to help make the company solvent, and that he himself invested $150,000. “This was a way he could support himself and be free and independent,” Brooke testified to the merits of his plan. Prosecutors argued Hubbard broke state ethics law by soliciting advice from Brooke, a board member at the Business Council of Alabama. Former state senator and Mountain Brook-Republican Steve French was next on the stand to testify that he introduced Hubbard to Sterne Agee CEO Jim Holbrook, whom Hubbard is accused of soliciting and receiving a $150,000 Craftmaster investment. French served in the state Legislature alongside Hubbard until 2010, and worked under Holbrook at Sterne Agee from 2010 to 2014. “He and Mr. Holbrook had never met and they had never talked. So he was, I guess, asking for a warm introduction,” French testified of Hubbard approaching him with the investment plan. French testified under an immunity agreement he signed with prosecutors in the Hubbard investigation. Hubbard was indicted in October 2013 on 23 felony ethics charges of using his political office for personal gain. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years imprisonment and fines of up to $30,000 for each count. He would be removed from office if convicted of any of the 23 charges. Hubbard has since maintained his innocence and continued to serve as Speaker of the Alabama House during the 2016 legislative session. Testimony will resume on Thursday.
Mike Hubbard’s former chief of staff takes stand
Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard‘s former chief of staff testified Wednesday that he became uncomfortable at times when Hubbard’s personal business dealings appeared to intersect with the official functions of his office. Josh Blades— who for four years served as Hubbard’s top aide — provided emotional testimony as a prosecution witness at Hubbard’s ethics trial. Blades described Hubbard as a “friend” and “good boss,” but his voice shook as he recalled times when he was upset and concerned about his former boss’s words and actions. Blades said he was uncomfortable when Hubbard told him he had “one hundred thousand reasons” to help a maker of drinking cups quickly get a patent approved. “I immediately thought the speaker meant money,” Blades testified. Hubbard had asked Blades to reach out to the patent office and a Mississippi congressman who sat on a patent oversight board. Blades said he only later learned that Hubbard had a consulting contract with the cup company. Hubbard faces felony ethics charges accusing him of using his political positions to obtain $2.3 million in work and investments. Hubbard earns about $54,000 as speaker. His defense argues that the transactions were proper, and that state ethics law exempts such things as normal business dealings and friendships. Blades said he was also worried about “legal implications” and an “appearance of impropriety” after later learning that an amendment they agreed to add to a 2013 budget bill could have benefited one of Hubbard’s clients. Blades said he attended a meeting with lobbyists about a possible budget amendment that would set requirements for any pharmacy benefit manager the state Medicaid office might use. Blades said he later learned that the only company to qualify for the work — the Alabama-based American Pharmacy Cooperative Inc. — was paying Hubbard through a consulting contract worth $5,000 a month. APCI works with 1,300 independently owned pharmacies in 23 states as a buying cooperative for medications. “I was upset because I played a role in what transpired,” Blades said. Blades said that when he asked Hubbard about it, the speaker acknowledged the contract but said he only worked on out-of-state matters for the group. Hubbard directed him to try to remove the language before the bill hit the House floor but it was too late, Blades testified. The former chief of staff also urged Hubbard not to vote on the budget bill because it “looked bad,” but Hubbard said it would send up “too many red flags.” The language was later stripped in committee. Under cross-examination from Bill Baxley, Blades acknowledged he and others thought the budget language was good public policy and that Hubbard wanted it removed when Blades suggested it was a problem. Jason Isbell, Hubbard’s former chief counsel, testified that he helped draft the Medicaid amendment but didn’t know about the speaker’s relationship with the cooperative. “You didn’t know he had an interest in APCI?” acting Attorney General W. Van Davis asked Isbell. Isbell said he didn’t know, adding that he was an attorney in the speaker’s office but not the speaker’s personal attorney. Business associates of Hubbard’s testified earlier Wednesday, describing one of his companies as deeply in debt while another earned tens of thousands of dollars each month through Hubbard’s consulting contracts. Barry Whatley, a partner with Hubbard in the Craftmaster printing company, said their business was struggling financially, and that he and Hubbard came up with a plan to ask several deep-pocketed individuals for investments of $150,000 each. “It’s almost like raising the Titanic,” Whatley said of the company’s finances. Chris Hines, a former vice president at Hubbard’s other company, the Auburn Network, said the radio broadcast and publishing firm received checks worth many thousands of dollars each month, and that he wasn’t sure what Hubbard did for the money. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press
Mike Hubbard trial Day 1: Opening statements & first witnesses
Nineteen months in the making, after a grand jury charged him with 23 felony ethics violations, Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard finally had his day in court on Tuesday. Whether he wanted it or not. The day began at 9 a.m. as the courtroom began to fill with reporters and interested observers. At 10 a.m. the jury was seated. Prosecutor Matt Hart has arrived in courtroom. Hubbard and defense team have stepped out. Not sure when this will start. #alpolitics — Mike Cason (@MikeCasonAL) May 24, 2016 Shortly after the Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Division Chief, Matt Hart, gave opening statements for the prosecution, where he gave a detailed lesson on how the Alabama state government works, what are ethics laws and why they exist, followed by a charge-by-charge explanation of charges against Hubbard. His opening took approximately one hour and 40 minutes. Deputy Attorney General Matt Hart opens the case against Speaker Mike Hubbard in court on Tuesday, May 24, 2016, in Opelika, Ala. Hart is facing Mike Hubbard, right, and attorney Lance Bell, left. [Photo Credit: Todd Van Emst] “Mr. Hubbard asked things he was not allowed to ask and took things he was not allowed to take,” Hart said in his opening arguments. Hubbard faces a 23-count indictment on felony ethics charges alleging he used his office for personal gain and used his position as Speaker of the House, and formerly as chair of the Alabama Republican Party, to solicit jobs and investments in businesses with which he was involved. Hart went on to explain that before the 2010 election, as the Party chairman, Hubbard directed Party business to a printing company he owned, Craftmaster, as well as a media company Hubbard founded, the Auburn Network. According to Hart’s opening statement, Hubbard directed Party officials to send $101,925 in business directly to Craftmaster and $41,835 to Auburn Network. “If you just saw a check going to Majority Strategies, you wouldn’t know,” Hart explained. Following Hart, former Attorney General Bill Baxley presented the opening statements for the Defense for roughly an hour and 15 minutes, where he called the charges against Hubbard “gobbledy-goop” and “mumbo jumbo.” Hubbard attorney Bill Baxley attacked the Speaker’s indictment as “unintelligible,” “mumbo-jumbo” and “gobbledygook.” (2) #alpolitics — Brian Lyman (@lyman_brian) May 24, 2016 Baxley claimed Hubbard went out of his way to make sure he followed ethics laws by actively seeking guidance from the Ethics Commission. “He tried to follow every part. He tried to get them to tell him to make sure he knew where the line was,” Baxley told the courtroom. After the opening remarks, jurors heard testimony from the first two witnesses in the case, John Ross and Tim Howe, both former state GOP officials who are now partners in the Montgomery-based lobbying firm of Swatek, Howe and Ross. Testimony resumes at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Witnesses expected on Wednesday: Barry Whatley: president of Craftmaster Josh Blades: Hubbard’s former Chief of Staff Jason Isbell: Hubbard’s former legal adviser Jeff Woodard: clerk of the House Steve Clouse: Alabama representative, Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee
Judge grants delay for ethics trial of indicted House Speaker Mike Hubbard
A judge is delaying the ethics trial of Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard for two weeks until mid-April. Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker ruled Thursday that he will push back the trial until April 11 after the defense appeals some of his pre-trial decisions to the Alabama Supreme Court. Hubbard was scheduled to go to trial March 28 on felony charges of using his office for personal financial gain. Defense attorney Bill Baxley argued that additional delays might be needed. Baxley says Hubbard’s current legal team has only been on the case for a few months and may need more time to prepare. The judge agreed to only a brief delay. Walker told lawyers to be ready with questions for potential jurors on March 28. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Lessons reside in Bill Baxley versus Charles Graddick
“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” George Santayana History teaches us some valuable lessons. Learning the ins and outs of Alabama’s politics has been one of the most fascinating parts of launching this news site. Today, Alabama is one of the reddest states in the nation. Gallup puts it second behind Mississippi in self-identified conservatives. It was not that long ago, however, that Alabama was blue. I’ve been told of an Alabama that was bluer then than it’s red now. I’ve heard stories of the days when the teachers unions, big labor, and trial lawyers ruled the state. The Democratic Party was king. We’re not talking lifetimes ago; we’re talking in the mid- to late ’80s. Fast-forward to today and I’m not even sure there is a Democratic Party in Alabama. In looking back at this latest election cycle it seemed every man or woman running as a Democrat was going at it alone or with local camps as opposed to a state operation. So I’ve asked around about when the turning point was and what caused it. The answer from most was Bill Baxley versus Charles Graddick in 1986. Just hearing Baxley versus Graddick one would think this was a landmark legal case or state legislative battle. Most people involved in Alabama politics have been around since then or long enough to have heard the stories and even know the actors involved. Countless articles and even a book have been written on the fight and the gubernatorial race that changed everything. The short version, for those who don’t know the story, is that the Democratic Party allowed a power struggle between a few to divide everyone. It was a story where one group became so concerned with its own political interest it forgot the people it was supposed to represent. So in that year people decided to make a change. It wasn’t around any issue, but because internal party politics had become so nasty. It began that cycle with the election of the first Republican governor since Reconstruction and culminated in 2010 the Republican control of the governor’s office, Legislature and every statewide constitutional officer. Only one Democrat has been elected to the governor’s office between then and now, Don Siegelman. One of the authors of the book After Wallace documenting the fall of the Alabama Democratic Party, Patrick Cottel, said in a 2009 interview with the Tuscaloosa News, “I think when people feel where they are left out of the process and there are people making decisions for them, they don’t necessarily like that when it comes to Election Day … politicians learn it over and over again.” With some much change it’s interesting to see how much is the same. Republicans have taken up the mantle of power and unfortunately it looks like they have started their own infighting. Punches are thrown every day and not just behind closed doors. Let’s just admit it’s not in a productive way. I disagree wholeheartedly with Gov. Robert Bentley about raising taxes or expanding Medicaid, but calling him names or citing others who will call him names isn’t helping the case against his policies. Whose best interest is that in and what good does it do? Surely it’s not the party I love or the state I have made my home that benefits from that. There is nothing wrong, in fact it’s impossible to avoid, disagreements within political parties these days. With a two-party system umbrellas have gotten big, leaving a lot of room between the moderates and extremes within both parties. It’s important that both sides challenge one another and come to conclusions that are in the best interest of everyone, but let’s do it civilly. What should be avoided is letting it become personal and the political fights in this state seem to be pretty personal right now. The Republican Party is splintering or has splintered into camps, and now seems like a good time to remind everyone that we’ve seen this before and the results … well you can ask the Democrats how it works out. Graddick spoke to a reporter at AL.com this past year about his party’s downfall and succinctly said, “I’d like to say it was me, but it was more the Democratic Party hierarchy. They shot themselves in the foot.” Here’s to hoping those in the circular firing squad within the Republican Party hierarchy put down their gun before its too late. File photo
