When I start a tirade on transparency, I often start with the scripture where Jesus said, “Men seek darkness, rather than light, when their deeds are evil”. Loopholes in our campaign finance law provide many opportunities for candidates and special interests to operate in darkness.

A nomination for the most blatant exploitation of the glaring loopholes in our campaign finance law during this primary election cycle has to go to candidate for the Supreme Court Tracy Cary, from Dothan.

On Monday, May 24th , he filed a waiver in lieu of his 10-day campaign finance report, indicating that he had not reached the minimum threshold of $25,000 of money raised or spent in his campaign to date. After he sent in the report, he immediately made an ad buy in excess of $600,000. Obviously, Mr. Cary doesn’t want Republican voters to know the source of the funds until after the election. One news source reported Mr. Cary as saying the he didn’t want to report the source, because his opponent would use it against him. Duh. What he has done might be legal, but it sure isn’t right.

If the candidate should win, he will be required to file the funding source on a 45-day report prior to the general election. Election winners have to eventually file or they are decertified, although last-minute contributions are not reported until after the election. If the candidate loses, the law requires that he file either a final report or an annual report due on Jan 31, 2010; however, it is common for candidates who are not elected to never file anything else. So, in effect, the source of much of the last minute campaign funding is never known.

Failure to file a final report is a B misdemeanor, although it is rarely enforced.

There were several bills introduced to address these loopholes during the last session, and I even had one pass the House unanimously (HB197), only to fail in the Senate (although Sen. Orr made a valiant effort to get it on the calendar). This is another example of how much work we’ve got to do in Alabama next year.
A few years ago, Alabama was ranked number 4 in the nation for public corruption. I’m afraid we’re getting in position for a national championship that we don’t need.

Early in the session, Sen. Orr and I introduced bills to require notification of surrounding property owners of purchases of real property by Housing Authorities, approval of local governments prior to property purchases and to remove their power of eminent domain. We expected resistance, because most organizations tend to want to do what it takes to protect their turf.

Here’s what happened to our bills:
Sen. Orr and I introduced our respective bills (HB202 and SB123) on the first day of session, January 12th. On January 19th, SB202 easily moved out of committee in the Senate. HB202 was on the House committee calendar the following day and when I got to the committee hearing, the Housing Authorities were ready for battle. I was told they would like to negotiate. When my bill was called up, the Chairman of the County and Municipal Government Committee, Rep. Bill Dukes, told me that he would carry the bill over for two weeks to allow time to work on the bill with the opposition. I agreed to do that.

During the next two weeks, I tried to negotiate with the Housing Authorities to no avail. They refused to entertain the notion that we make any changes to the state law governing housing authorities. The representative of the housing authorities told me it was a local problem, so I worked a substitute that would only apply to the Huntsville Housing Authority and would only require mail notification prior to the property purchases. Sen. Orr and I spoke to Mike Lundy about the changes and he was very receptive to the idea, although he soon changed his mind.

After the two weeks passed, I started trying to get my bill back on the committee calendar. Rep. Dukes was out of town, so I went to the committee vice-chairman Rep. Randy Wood and asked him to place the bill on the calendar. He readily agreed to do so. When Rep. Dukes returned, he removed the bill from the calendar. I reminded him that he had told me he would carry the bill over for two weeks in the presence of the committee. He said that he carried it over at the call of the chair, which is technically correct; but at the time his word meant something to me and he had told me two weeks. Over the next couple of months, I tried several times to get him to bring my bill up, only to be continued to be put off.

I didn’t raise too much of a fuss at the time because I was pretty sure that Sen. Orr’s bill would get on the calendar and if his bill got out of the Senate, I was grasping to the hope that Rep. Dukes would let that bill have a hearing in committee. Sen. Orr’s bill did get on the calendar for a third reading in the Senate; however, it was filibustered and killed. Even our effort to only require notification by the Huntsville Housing Authority prior to the purchase of property was dead.

To add insult to injury, I’ve just been notified that Rep. Dukes has placed HB202 on the County and Municipal Government Calendar for April 13th, which is the very last day a bill can be reported out of committee and have a chance for passage. Of course, the Housing Authority still hasn’t budged and it won’t pass. When I kick up a fuss Rep. Dukes can always say that he didn’t kill that bill because he put it on the committee calendar.

Rep. Dukes, don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.

Last week, the Alabama House overwhelmingly passed a bill that would give the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power. This bill has been introduced many times before, last year and this year by Rep. Cam Ward. Previous efforts have made little progress. Last week, Rep. Ward’s bill finally made the calendar, although it was immediately preceeded by an identical bill sponsored by Rep. Alvin Holmes. Rep. Ward, with the blessing of the House Republican Caucus, graciously withdrew his bill and pledged his support for Rep. Holmes’ bill. I am hopeful that this bill will pass, but I will be pleasantly surprised if it does (unless it gets neutered, first).

With elections around the corner, I understand the Democrats’ political need to get some credibility on this type of issue; particularly with the broken Covenant with Alabama they touted in 2006. Many of their items in the “Covenant” haven’t even been introduced by them. With a few notable exceptions, most of the push for ethics reform and transparency has come from the Republican side. Just getting getting this bill and the PAC-to-PAC ban (for the umpteenth time) out of the House is a sign they are concerned. I’m pretty sure that when Rep. Holmes’ bill was placed on the calendar ahead of Rep. Ward’s, some of the Democratic leadership were hopeful that Republicans would act petty and childish over it. Maybe they thought Rep. Holmes as the sponsor would be provocative to Republicans. If they did, they were sadly mistaken.

Rep. Holmes’ sponsorship of the bill is interesting to me on several levels. Rep. Holmes can be very difficult to read. He is one of the craftiest politicians I’ve ever seen. Everything he does has a reason, and he’s always thinking several moves ahead. I doubt he cares if you think he’s a clown, a buffoon, or even a fool (remember “what’s wrong with the beer we got?”). He knows opponents who believe that haven’t figured him out, and that’s fine with him. I’ve learned a lot about politics from watching him work.

It is possible that Rep. Holmes really wants to pass this bill. It is possible he doesn’t. He might want to pass it, but knows the Senate will kill it and probably has a good idea how it will die. While it’s often a stuggle to figure out what Rep. Holmes is doing, I can usually figure out what he’s done and how he got there.

If the bill passes without being gutted, we’ll know his support was real; if it doesn’t, we’ll probably never know, for certain. Rep. Holmes has never lied to me, but he seldom shows all his cards. I would have preferred Rep. Cam Ward’s bill to move forward, not so much because Cam is a Republican, but because Cam’s actions and motives are easy to understand.

There is one thing of which I am certain: With the 2010 elections looming in this political climate, Democrats desperately need to bolster their credibility on ethics issues and with that recorded vote, Rep. Holmes handed them a plum.

It has been said that fools rush in, where angels fear to tread. With that in mind, I’m going to share some of my thoughts on the gambling issue in Alabama. Because of the huge amounts of money and social consequences at stake, I expect the long contentious stalemate that has existed will continue for some time to come. “Groundhog Day” is alive and well in the Alabama Legislature. I don’t expect either proponents or opponents to be very happy with my comments, but I believe I have a responsibility to try to cut through some of the cacophony.

I’m starting to get nauseated every time I hear the word “bingo”. Almost everyone, even the opposition calls it bingo. It ain’t cards with numbers being called out and folks yelling, “Bingo”. Bingo, as most folks picture bingo, is already legal in many counties. This is about having slot machines and casinos in order to compete with slot machines and casinos in other states. So please, if we ever have a referendum, let the bill say what it’s about: slot machines and/or casinos.

It must have proper oversight. This is where it gets complex. It must be transparent with a stringent process involving public disclosures and accounting, overseen by a commission that is subject to strict financial disclosure and stringent conflict of interest prohibitions. It should be heavily taxed and regularly audited. It must generate significant revenue to mitigate the additional drain on public services.

It should both allow for competition within the gaming industry, yet not allow widespread proliferation all over the state. The counties where it is to occur should be clearly spelled out in the referendum. Gambling statutes should be made enforceable in areas where it isn’t regulated and taxed, with both criminal and civil penalties severe enough to deter illegal gambling.

I don’t think a constitutional amendment has even been introduced yet and I certainly don’t expect to see one that would settle this, once and for all. It is not unreasonable to say that a significant number of legislators and citizens across the political spectrum are growing weary of the never-ending controversy over gambling in Alabama. There are so many other things that need our attention. It is past time to lay this issue to rest. Ultimately, a clearly-worded statewide referendum is the best chance of doing exactly that; however, it must be a clear question that is placed on the ballot. I have yet to see a proposal in the Alabama Legislature that even comes close to laying the issue to rest.

That’s my thoughts. As always, feedback is welcome.

Investment banker and former Democratic Party Chairman Bill Blount has been in the news quite a bit lately as a witness/co-defendant in the on-going federal case pursuing corruption in Jefferson County. Of course, that’s certainly not why I am grateful to Mr. Blount.

Testimony underway in the trial of Birmingham mayor and former county commissioner Larry Langford has revealed that Blount gave Langford hundreds of thousands of dollar in “gifts” of clothing, jewelry, and cash to ensure that his company was involved in as many bonds, swaps and other transactions as it possibly could, resulting in a return of millions of dollars for his company.

In August of 1986, Blount was one of a panel of five Democrats that selected Bill Baxley as their nominee for governor. Charlie Graddick had received the most votes by a narrow margin in the Democratic primary run-off, but controversy erupted over allegations that the margin of victory was supplied by crossover Republican voters, which was prohibited by Democratic Party rules. Baxley was the prohibitive favorite son of longtime Democrat loyalists.

The Republican nominee that year was a little-known former probate judge, farmer and country preacher named Guy Hunt. At time Blount and company chose Baxley as the Democratic nominee, a Republican winning a statewide race was unthinkable, since one had not won a statewide race in Alabama since reconstruction. Guy Hunt scored a solid win over Baxley in the general election and won reelection four years later over Dr. Paul Hubbert.

Coupled with the 1986 retirement of George Wallace from Alabama politics, that decision by Mr. Blount and his Democrat friends can be directly linked to the rapid growth of the two=party system in Alabama. If you’d like to learn more about this, I’d recommend the newly-released book, After Wallace.

Hindsight is 20-20, but I believe that if the panel had disqualified Graddick and ordered a run-off in the Democratic Primary between Baxley and third-place finisher Fob James, the rise of two-party politics in Alabama would have been much slower. I know it’s a little late, but thank you Mr. Blount for your part in that August, 1986 decision.

It’s safe to say that most law enforcement officers don’t particularly enjoy going to court. It’s usually not very interesting or memorable, and there’s a lot of waiting around. I’ve noticed that many of the best judges are a bit boring on the bench. In our adversarial system of jurisprudence, the role of a judge is much like that of a sports official: Make sure the rules are followed, and let the attention be on participants in the contest. Make sure it’s fair. It’s amazing how often the truth will emerge.

Last month when “Wade on Birmingham” compiled “Birminghams’s Biggest Crooks”, I recalled the least boring judge I’ve ever seen. Seeing the list sent me on a drive down memory lane about 30 years, when I was a young state trooper working the midnight shift in Jefferson County.

While “colorful”, “bizarre”, “unpredictable”, “crude”, “entertaining”, and “armed” are all adjectives descriptive of the judge we refered to as “Mad Jack”, most of us were shocked when we learned that “corrupt” was another adjective that described him. After reading “Jack’s Law: The Rise and Fall of Renegade Judge Jack Montgomery: by Steve Joynt”, I would add “pathetic” to the list of adjectives.

Lot’s of folks have “Mad Jack” stories, here’s one of mine:
Late one night I stopped a drunk. When he realized he was going to jail, he spat on me and tried to get my pistol from my holster. We had a knock-down, drag-out fight on the side of the road. Fortunately for me, his willingness to fight exceeded his alcohol-impaired ability to fight. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t quit fighting until I had worked him over pretty good with my flashlight. After I took him by the emergency room, I put him in jail.

A couple of days later, I was in court when it was discovered the man had failed to make bond. Judge Montgomery had the man brought down and proceeded to try the case. The guy really looked pitiful, with bruises and stitches on his head and face. I felt a bit sorry for him.

Judge Montgomery’s court was always informal and he did the questioning, not the attorneys. He asked me what happend and I told him. The judge then chewed me out. “Trooper Ball, I used to have respect for you. I used to think you were one of the finest troopers to come before my court, but I am shocked at your behavior in this case.” As the judge went on about what a sorry excuse of a law enforcement officer I was, I could see a smile grow across the defendant’s face. He and I we both sure the judge was about to turn him loose. The thought crossed my mind that he might put me in jail.

When the judge pointed at me and asked if I had anything to say that would explain my actions, I told him that the level of force that I had used was necessary, because the defendant was much bigger than me and I had no chance to call for back up. (Of course, there was no back up available, anyway, since I was the only Trooper in 5 counties after midnight) I told the judge that I didn’t know what else I could have done.

“Mad Jack” scowled at me and said, “When he spit at you, you should have shot the sonuvabitch. Bailiff, look up the maximum for this turkey”.

I’d prefer a boring judge, anyday.

Once again, a bill that most everyone agrees should be passed has died amid the confusion of the process. Prior to the special session Rep. Hinshaw had a great idea for a bill: A local constitutional amendment for Madison County prohibiting the imposition of an occupational tax. Although I see no danger of a occupational tax being implemented in Madison County, the bill is symbolic of our willingness to encourage economic development in Madison County.

Rep Hinshaw introduced HB5 and it flew out of the House. In the Senate, all of the Madison County Senators signed off on it and it was assigned to the local legislation committee chaired by Sen Zeb Little. On August 13th, Dr. Paul Hubbert requested a public hearing on the bill.

A public hearing is usually called when an entity has concerns about a bill, and wants to slow it down. Sen. Little told me that when he got the request for the public hearing, he pulled the bill to schedule the hearing. Dr. Hubbert later withdrew his public hearing request and Sen. Little said he never got a chance to get the bill out of committee in time for a second reading. So the bill died. Sen. Little was emphatic that he likes the bill and assured me that he would help get the bill passed during the next session and that he intended to push a similar bill in Cullman County.

That’s the facts, but the facts still don’t explain everything that happend. Did AEA have objections to the bill or we’re they just helping someone out? If so, who? Why did they withdraw their request for a public hearing?

I used to be pretty good at solving murder cases, but I’m afraid I’m losing my touch. The killing of HB5 is another unsolved mystery with multiple suspects. I’d like comments that might help solve it.

On the latest 10-day report, I noticed a $1,000 contribution from Rep. Ken Guin to House District 6 nominee Jenny Askins.

With the impending retirement of Speaker Hammett, Rep. Guin is now going wide open to line up votes to become the next Speaker.

I doubt any legislator epitomizes business as usual in Montgomery than Rep. Guin. For 7 years, he took a $100,000 annual stipend from the two-year college system for doing almost nothing and neglected to report it on his ethics form until it was exposed.

For the past 3 years, I’ve introduced legislation to require all elected officials and their spouses to report all public money they receive from any source. Each year, the Democrat Majority Leader and Rules Chairman Ken Guin single-handedly blocks the bill from moving. (Link here) Of course this is but one example of reasonable reforms that he keeps from getting to the floor for a vote.

Like everyone else when first elected, both Jenny Askins and Phil Williams would have a lot to learn in a hurry about legislative politics. When I was first elected, Howard Sanderford was my mentor. I’ll always be grateful for the time and effort he gave helping me get acclimated to the legislative processes.

Phil Williams has asked me to be his mentor, if elected. I wonder who Jenny Askins’ mentor would be, if elected. Ken Guin? I hope we never have to find out.

I sure would be disappointed to see another vote for Ken Guin and the Montgomery status quo.

Yesterday Governor Riley came to the Morgan County Courthouse and recognized Sen. Orr and I for the passage of transparency legislation. As I was mulling outside the courthouse, my mind wandered back to why I got involved in politics.

In 1986, I wasn’t a Republican, I considered myself an independent. Other than voting, I left the politics to the political hacks. That all changed because of Patrick Jordan Smith.

In the summer of ‘86, 8-week-old Patrick Jordan Smith was secured in his car seat behind his mother on Vaughn Bridge Road in Hartselle, when a car driven by Johnny Wayne Campbell barreled through a stop sign and broadsided Smith vehicle, killing the infant. It was the last wreck I investigated as a State Trooper, before my transfer to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

When I got to the scene, the ambulance had already arrived and was treating the victims. I first saw Campbell sitting on the ground, cussing at Patrick’s mother. During my investigation, I discovered items in Campell’s car that I later determined had been taken in a burglary of a residence .6 of a mile from the intersection.

I charged Campbell with murder because the death was caused while in immediate flight from a felony and 1st Degree burglary. A Morgan County jury heard the case and he was convicted on both counts. Because he was a habitual offender, Campbell received a life without parole sentence on both charges. Jeri Grant, from the AG’s office did a great job prosecuting the case.

During Campbell’s lengthy criminal career, he became quite adept at manipulating the justice system; but I was fairly confident that he was off the streets for good. The case was upheld by Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, but evenually overturned by the Alabama Supreme Court, citing “insufficiency of evidence”. It is rare that an Alabama appellate court thumbs their nose at a jury and overturns a case for that reason. They reversed the case in a manner that did not provide for a retrial.

I was, and remain to this day, outraged; particularly since I am convinced (and the jury agreed) that the evidence was there. I believe the court made their decision primarily because they just didn’t want Campbell doing life without parole for a traffic death. My blood still boils when I think about how the Alabama Supreme Court let the Smith Family down. A couple of years ago, I bumped into Jeri Grant on a State House elevator. Her blood still boils over this travesty, too.

At the time, the Supreme Court was unanimously left-leaning Democrats and I became interested in the state judicial races. That happens to be about the same time the Business Council of Alabama brought the “evil genius” Karl Rove to challenge the Democrat domination of the Alabama appellate courts. I have been politically active ever since.

The most important legacy we can leave is how we influence others. Patrick Jordan Smith only had 8 weeks, but he left his mark. I am among those affected by his short life, and I’m glad that as I was being recognized for the biggest victory of my legislative career (so far), I remembered Patrick Jordan Smith.

Since my election to the legislature, I have enjoyed making wisecracks about the folks in the upper chamber of the Alabama Legislature.  With the antics on the 7th floor of the State House, there’s always an abundant supply of material.  Four years ago, when Sen. Tommy Ed Roberts retired from Senate Distict 3, a lot of folks approached me about running for that seat.  I guess it was because the district is comprised of my old home in Morgan County (where I lived most of my life) and my new home in Madison County (where I’ve lived since 2001).  After some thought, I came to the conclusion that I had no ”fire in my gut” to be a Senator, but I agreed to do it if a solid Republican candidate didn’t emerge.  Then I met Arthur Orr.  After our first meeting, it was obvious to me that this was a man who was running for office, not because he needed to satisy his ego, but because he had a servant’s heart.   I had “fire in my gut” for him to be my state senator. 

Three years into his first term, he has lived up to my expectations.  Last year, we began collaboration on a series of ambitious  transparency, campaign finance, and ethic reforms.  On the last day of this session we’ve actually passed two of them: SB204 (requiring candidates to file finance reports whether or not they have an opponent) and SB205 (requiring state expeditures and contracts to be posted on a searchable database).

Gov. Riley liked the idea of the searchable database and signed an executive order a few months ago beginning the process of opening the state checkbook for all to see. It should become much more user-friendly in a few months. Although the passage of the bill has received little attention, the searchable database is the most significant move toward transparency that Alabama has made in many years. Citizens, watchdog groups, journalists, investigators, and prosecutors should have easy access to the final destination of our tax dollars. Though Gov. Riley has taken action on the database, it was important to pass the law so that future administrations would not shut down the website. I don’t expect his hand to hesitate when he signs this bill into law.

Since Arthur Orr’s election to the Senate, I’ve become optimistic that we can nudge Alabama in the right direction, rather than just making noise. I hope he’s indicative of the type of representation Alabamians want on Goat Hill.

He’s my favorite on the 7th floor, but there’s other rising stars, including Cam Ward who’s running for the Senate in 2010.