Indicted House Speaker to hold press conference today
today. patagonia guide jacket design2(Montgomery Advertiser reporters Josh Moon and Brian Lyman will be live tweeting from the event.)
The sweeping indictment, issued Friday, stems from more than a year of jury proceedings that became the great known unknown in Montgomery political circles. The Auburn Republican is charged with using his role as House Speaker and prior position as head of the Alabama Republican Party to steer business to companies under his control and solicit investments in those firms.
The Speaker, who helped engineer the Republican takeover of the state Legislature in 2010, is also accused of soliciting help with his business from some of the most prominent names in the state. The list includes former Gov. Bob Riley, now a lobbyist; his daughter Minda Riley Campbell, a prominent lobbyist; Billy Canary, Business Council of Alabama president, and Jimmy Rane, owner of the Great Southern Wood Company, Auburn trustee and a major political contributor.
Hubbard has said for months that tpatagonia better sweater reviewhe charges are politically motivated, a sentiment he repeated in a statement Monday.
If there was any doubt by anybody that this is a political witch hunt, it became crystal clear today when these allegations were brought two weeks before an election, the statement said.
The Alabama Attorney General s Office did not have an immediate comment Wednesday on the indictment. The indictment appears to have been signed Friday by the grand jury.
Mark White, an attorney representing Hubbard, said the Speaker wapatagonia australia discount codes allowed to turn himself in.
This is a day where finally we can start beginning to tell our story, White said. The speaker is confident, comfortable and ready to go.
The charges faciinexpensive patagonia fleeceng the Speaker fall bpatagonia hiking shoe reviewspatagonia hiking shoe reviewsroadly into four areas.
Craftmasters: The indictment accuses Hubbard, who served as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party from 2007 to 2011, of steering business to and soliciting investments in Craftmasters, an Auburn based printing firm in which Hubbard owns an interest.
According to an audit commissioned by the Alabama Republican Party, the Alabama GOP in 2010 paid a total of $800,000 to Craftmasters. The party paid $83,524 to Craftmasters directly. Another $752,262 was paid to Craftmasters by Florida based Majority Strategies, a direct mail firm that the party hired to do work.
The audit report led to sharp divisions between Hubbard and Bill Armistead, the current party chairman, who ordered the audit. Armistead, who initially kept the report under wraps,patagonia special edition said Hubbard did not do anything illegal with the Craftmasters contract, but that he felt it was improper for the party to enter the contract without the GOP steering committee being informed. Hubbard, however, said he wanted the report circulated, insisting that the Craftmasters deal saved the party money.
The attorney general s office subpoenaed the audit and other party financial records in December, 2012. Armistead, who had said he did not want to embarrass Hubbard, released the report after the subpoena came in.
Hubbard, along with Gov. Robert Bentley and Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, backed Montevallo attorney Matt Fridy in an attempt to unseat Armistead as party chairman in February, 2013. Fridy and his supporters said fundraising had declined under Armistead s leadership; Armistead said the challenge was punishment for commissioning the audit report. Armistead ultimately prevailed.
In addition, the indictment accuses Hubbard of soliciting or receiving $600,000 in investments in Craftmasters from four individuals: Great Southern Wood s Rane; Robert Burton, CEO of Hoar Construction; former Sterne Agee CEO James Holbrook and BCA board member Will Brooke. Hubbard is also accused of soliciting an investment in the business from Montgomery lobbyist Dax Swatek.
Medicaid: The indictment accuses Hubbard of voting for a version of the FY 2014 General Fund budget that included language that would have made Bessemer based American Pharmaceutical Cooperative, Inc. (APCI) virtually the only firm that could obtain a pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) contract from the Alabama Medicaid Agency. That language was ultimately struck out.
The Auburn Network, a company owned by Hubbard, had a consulting contract with APCI. Hubbard said in 2013 the contract was focused exclusively on out of state issues.
Former Rep. Greg Wren, R Montgomery, who inserted the language into the budget, said in a plea deal in April patagonia guide jacket design0that subsequent to Hubbard endorsing the languapatagonia everlong review mazdage, Wren was told about Hubbard s ongoing financial relationship with APCI. The Speaker of the House had not informed Wren, or others Wren interacted with, in those meetings, of that ongoing relationship, the agreement says.
Wren. later received a $24,000 consulting contract from a firm partly owned by APCI. As part of his deal, Wren pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor ethics charge, resigned from his House seat and cooperated with investigators.
Consulting contracts: The Auburn Network had a $12,000 a month consulting contract with thepatagonia guide jacket design Southeast Alabama Gas District, aimed at supporting marketing efforts. The contract won the approval of the Alabama Ethics Commission in 2012, but the indictment says Hubbard used his office to obtain payments from SEAGD, and represented them before the Governor of Alabama and the Alabama Department of Commerce. The indictment also saysHubbard s firm represented CV Holdings before the Governor and Departmepatagonia guide jacket 64nt of Commerce, apparently in consulting postures.
The Speaker canceled the contract with SEAGD ipatagonia guide pants girdlen August, 2013. The relationship between Hubbard and CV Holdings is not clear.
The indictment also accuses Hubbard of soliciting or receiving checks fpatagonia guide jacket design3rom Edgenuity, an online education firm.
Clients: Hubbard is accused of using his ofpatagonia guide jacket design1ficial position to obtain help from former Gov. Riley, the BCA s Canary and BCA Board member Brooke to help solicit new clients for the Auburn Network. In addition, Hubbard is accused of obtaining financial advice regarding Craftmasters from Brooke, and of seeking consulting assistance and support for the Auburn Network from Minda Riley Campbell.
