RSS Feed
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Alabama's Watergate?
Then came allegations by a Rainsville lawyer that she overheard a telephone plot to use the Justice Department to get the former Alabama governor. Next came the Justice Department's refusal to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee investigating the Siegelman prosecution and the firing of eight United States Attorneys. Now we learn that Justice is withholding 514 pages of documents pertaining to the recusal of the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, Leura Canary, from the Siegelman prosecution for "personal and privacy" reasons. Siegelman's lawyers asked Canary to step away from the prosecution of Siegelman because of her husband, Bill Canary's association with Karl Rove and the Republican Party. Canary recused herself from the case in May of 2002. These documents were requested under the Freedom of Information Act in May of 2006 and the Justice Department told Siegelman's lawyer that no documents existed regarding Canary's recusal. The lawyer, John Aaron of Alabaster, who had worked in the Siegelman campaign, appealed and the department admitted it had 516 pages that pertained to the recusal, but would release only two…Canary's press release announcing her recusal from the case which cited personal and privacy issues. Siegelman's lead attorney in his trial, Vince Kilborn of Mobile, told the Mobile Press- Register that he didn't bring up the recusal issue at the trial "because we didn't know what we learned later about these 514 documents." He said that problems with the recusal could potentially open new grounds of appeal for Siegelman. Aaron filed a second appeal for the documents in July, but Kilborn said he believes the quickest way to get them would be by subpoena from the House Judiciary Committee. Ethics training at ADEM… A committee of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management Commission has recommended that the department establish mandatory yearly ethics training for all employees, but particularly senior workers. The committee's chair, Anita Archie, then instructed the agency's executive director, Trey Glenn to lead the classes. Perhaps she thinks that Glenn will get more out of the classes by teaching them than merely attending. After all, it is Glenn, who is under investigation by the Montgomery DA for "probable violations" of the state's ethics law submitted for investigation by the State Ethics Commission. And it was Glenn who this summer accepted gifts worth over $300 from a company the commission regulates. A legislator suggested after hearing about the suggestion by Archie, wondered aloud if "this doesn't look like the Corporate Fox instructing other foxes on how to spot polluters." Bigger and smarter… Auburn University has announced that its fall enrollment has jumped by 4 percent and that its second largest freshman class in the school's history is potentially the smartest. The average ACT score and high school grade-point average for this year's freshman class is the highest since 1992…averaging 24.8 on the ACT, up from 24.3 last year and a 3.61 GPA, up from last year's 3.56. The total enrollment now stands at 24,137 students. A correction…
Don't always assume news reports are correct. Two weeks ago I wrote that former Lt. Gov. Steve Windom, who is close to Gov. Riley and his son Rob, successfully lobbied for a company which was awarded a $233 million contract for prison medical services. Steve probably wishes I was correct, but I wasn't. He lobbied for the company that lost. Also, a $3.8 million data services contract was bid and not just priced as I indicated…but the high, not the low, bidder, ACS Heritage Information Systems, a Dallasbased company, got the contract.
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
