two-year college scandal
Update on the Attorney General Race
07/05/10 13:26
I feel I should disclose my bias in this matter up front: I have openly supported Luther Strange in his campaign for Attorney General for several months now. I am not paid by the campaign or anyone connected with it. I did participate in a television ad for the Luther Strange campaign.
It looks like the Alabama Attorney General's race is about to get a lot more interesting.
Incumbent Troy King took political pandering to a new low last week with his claim that Luther Strange lobbied for the oil company whose rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In Friday's Press-Register, a spokesman for King said, "that Strange's ties to the oil industry and particularly to Transocean could compromise his ability to serve as the state's top lawyer."
It's ironic that King would be accusing Luther Strange of having a conflict of interest when he has had to step aside and let the Feds conduct two major investigations that the AG's office should have been involved in but couldn't because of King's ties to targets of the investigation. While investigating the junior college scandal King asked Chancellor Roy Johnson for jobs for at least two of his friends. He then had to turn the investigation over to Richard Minor, District Attorney from St. Clair County. In addition, the FBI is handling one of the largest investigations into government corruption the state has ever seen, and where is the AG's office? Not involved. Troy King's ties to the gambling interests has caused a conflict of interest for the AG's office. So you'll have to pardon me if I don't take King's accusation seriously...
It's true that Luther Strange lobbied for Sonat, Inc. which was the parent company of Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. In a statement released Friday he says, "I briefly represented Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. 12 years ago and provided only federal legislative monitoring. Furthermore, it is in no way the same company that it is today. In fact, it has been reincorporated twice through mergers in the past 10 years and my work for them 12 years ago has absolutely no bearing on my intent to pursue all those responsible for the tragedy." In my opinion King is clearly trying to take a bad situation which people are understandably upset about, and use it for his own benefit.
Furthermore, I'm hearing rumors that the AG's office has some scandals of it's own to worry about. Questions are being asked about Troy's assistant JW Godwin and his campaign activities while on the state's payroll. Last Thursday AG Troy King and JW Godwin traveled together in a state car to a campaign event in Huntsville, AL. Pictures taken by the Luther Strange campaign show the state car and the campaign materials they brought with them. When the Strange campaign questioned the AG's office about whether or not JW Godwin had taken leave time to participate in campaign activities, Chief of Staff Chris Bence confirmed that as of 3:00 pm on the day of the event Godwin had not filed a leave slip. The leave slip was filed when Godwin returned (one might infer that was because he was asked about it by the Strange campaign). A member of Luther's campaign staff was told it was consistent with the AG's policy on leave not to file the leave slip until after the leave has been taken.
I feel I should also point out that in addition to his duties in the AG's office, JW Godwin was sent to campaign school, has an iPad purchased by the campaign, and has campaign stationary with his name on it. Clearly Godwin is taking an active role in King's campaign which legally, he has every right to do. What he cannot do is campaign while on state time. The Alabama Code is pretty clear on that point:
Section 17-17-5: Improper use of state property, time, etc., for political activities
No person in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city whether classified or unclassified, shall use any state, county, or city funds, property, or time, for any political activities. Any person who is in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city shall be on approved leave to engage in political action or the person shall be on personal time before or after work and on holidays. It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee to solicit any type of political campaign contributions from other employees who work for the officer or employee in a subordinate capacity. It shall also be unlawful for any officer or employee to coerce or attempt to coerce any subordinate employee to work in any capacity in any political campaign or cause. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of the crime of trading in public office and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined or sentenced, or both, as provided by Section 13A-10-63.
It's also pretty clear on using state resources, i.e.-vehicles, for campaign activities:
Section 36-12-61: Use, etc., of state-owned property for promotion or advancement of interests of candidates for public office.
It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the State of Alabama to use or to permit to be used any state-owned property of any character or description, including stationery, stamps, office equipment, office supplies, automobiles or any other property used by him, in his custody or under his control for the promotion or advancement of the interest of any candidate for the nomination or election to any public office of the State of Alabama.
As I said at the top of this post, I am unarguably biased in this race. In writing this post, I'm simply putting the information out there (along with my opinion of course) and I'll leave it to readers to decide whether they think any of the items have any merit.
It looks like the Alabama Attorney General's race is about to get a lot more interesting.
Incumbent Troy King took political pandering to a new low last week with his claim that Luther Strange lobbied for the oil company whose rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In Friday's Press-Register, a spokesman for King said, "that Strange's ties to the oil industry and particularly to Transocean could compromise his ability to serve as the state's top lawyer."
It's ironic that King would be accusing Luther Strange of having a conflict of interest when he has had to step aside and let the Feds conduct two major investigations that the AG's office should have been involved in but couldn't because of King's ties to targets of the investigation. While investigating the junior college scandal King asked Chancellor Roy Johnson for jobs for at least two of his friends. He then had to turn the investigation over to Richard Minor, District Attorney from St. Clair County. In addition, the FBI is handling one of the largest investigations into government corruption the state has ever seen, and where is the AG's office? Not involved. Troy King's ties to the gambling interests has caused a conflict of interest for the AG's office. So you'll have to pardon me if I don't take King's accusation seriously...
It's true that Luther Strange lobbied for Sonat, Inc. which was the parent company of Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. In a statement released Friday he says, "I briefly represented Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. 12 years ago and provided only federal legislative monitoring. Furthermore, it is in no way the same company that it is today. In fact, it has been reincorporated twice through mergers in the past 10 years and my work for them 12 years ago has absolutely no bearing on my intent to pursue all those responsible for the tragedy." In my opinion King is clearly trying to take a bad situation which people are understandably upset about, and use it for his own benefit.
Furthermore, I'm hearing rumors that the AG's office has some scandals of it's own to worry about. Questions are being asked about Troy's assistant JW Godwin and his campaign activities while on the state's payroll. Last Thursday AG Troy King and JW Godwin traveled together in a state car to a campaign event in Huntsville, AL. Pictures taken by the Luther Strange campaign show the state car and the campaign materials they brought with them. When the Strange campaign questioned the AG's office about whether or not JW Godwin had taken leave time to participate in campaign activities, Chief of Staff Chris Bence confirmed that as of 3:00 pm on the day of the event Godwin had not filed a leave slip. The leave slip was filed when Godwin returned (one might infer that was because he was asked about it by the Strange campaign). A member of Luther's campaign staff was told it was consistent with the AG's policy on leave not to file the leave slip until after the leave has been taken.
I feel I should also point out that in addition to his duties in the AG's office, JW Godwin was sent to campaign school, has an iPad purchased by the campaign, and has campaign stationary with his name on it. Clearly Godwin is taking an active role in King's campaign which legally, he has every right to do. What he cannot do is campaign while on state time. The Alabama Code is pretty clear on that point:
Section 17-17-5: Improper use of state property, time, etc., for political activities
No person in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city whether classified or unclassified, shall use any state, county, or city funds, property, or time, for any political activities. Any person who is in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city shall be on approved leave to engage in political action or the person shall be on personal time before or after work and on holidays. It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee to solicit any type of political campaign contributions from other employees who work for the officer or employee in a subordinate capacity. It shall also be unlawful for any officer or employee to coerce or attempt to coerce any subordinate employee to work in any capacity in any political campaign or cause. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of the crime of trading in public office and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined or sentenced, or both, as provided by Section 13A-10-63.
It's also pretty clear on using state resources, i.e.-vehicles, for campaign activities:
Section 36-12-61: Use, etc., of state-owned property for promotion or advancement of interests of candidates for public office.
It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the State of Alabama to use or to permit to be used any state-owned property of any character or description, including stationery, stamps, office equipment, office supplies, automobiles or any other property used by him, in his custody or under his control for the promotion or advancement of the interest of any candidate for the nomination or election to any public office of the State of Alabama.
As I said at the top of this post, I am unarguably biased in this race. In writing this post, I'm simply putting the information out there (along with my opinion of course) and I'll leave it to readers to decide whether they think any of the items have any merit.
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