Don't believe it's old news. Document rips Alabama Speaker Mike Hubbard legally, ethically and strategically
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on August 04, 2014
I keep hearing how we've heard it all before.
You know, shady and improper links between Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard and the
Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
Heard that.
Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard You know, the way cash was passed from the Indian gaming interests to a powerful GOP group nationally, and how that money was passed back to Hubbard and PACs he controlled so that nobody would know the anti-gaming Alabama GOP was financed by ... Indian opposition.
Heard that, too.
But we've never heard it like this. Not out loud, outlined in a damning document written by lawyers for the Republican State Leadership Committee itself, obtained by Politico and posted online (along with a pretty damning story by Politico's Alexander Burns).
Because what is outlined in the document written by lawyers for the RSLC is more than innuendo and political trash talk. It is a cover-your-butt warning to the RSLC itself.
What the group did in Alabama was shady.
What Hubbard did was designed to trick the people of Alabama.
And what they did together was – these are the words of the RSLC lawyers from the Washington firm of BakerHostetler – probably illegal.
"It is likely that a prosecutor in Alabama, after investigation, could argue that the routing of contributions from the Poarch Creek Indians to RSLC, then back to certain Alabama PACs controlled by Mike Hubbard does appear to violate Section 17-5-15 (a misdemeanor)," the lawyers wrote. "It is also common knowledge and wisdom in Alabama that taking a contribution directly from the tribe is political suicide for a Republican candidate or public official. Here RSLC appears to have served as both a recipient of the funds in question and as a donor of the funds back to Alabama, thereby permitting Mike Hubbard to do indirectly that which he could not do directly."
Oh snap.
Because there is a prosecutor investigating the activities of Mike Hubbard in a Lee County grand jury as we speak. Hubbard, by the way, has already used political contributions to pay lawyers at White Arnold & Dowd more than $170,000 for his defense. Which is legal but ... God knows why?
But I digress.
While all these words and phrases (Indians and gambling and PAC-to-PAC transfers) might seem – yawn, so 2010 – it's the actual concern from lawyers at this very Republican group that is thunderous.
I mean come on, Woodward and Bernstein made a lot of noise with talk about Watergate. But it was the tapes – and the confirmation -- that made a difference.
And while I know Matt Hart and other prosecutors investigating Hubbard don't need a roadmap, this one comes with GPS navigation.
But it doesn't just have legal implications. It confirms the worst of suspicions, that politically toxic Indian gaming cash was laundered through a powerful GOP group and sent back to Alabama, where the fight to shut down non-Indian gaming continues.
The memo notes that RSLC took about $1.11 million from Alabama donors from 2009 to 2011, and about $578,000 of it came from the Poarch Creek Indians and their lobbyists. During the election 2010 election cycle, Poarch Creek donations tripled the next-highest contributor.
Much of this stuff has been reported across Alabama and in the New York Times and elsewhere. But not like this. Not by people like this, protecting their own clients' legal and PR interests.
"This would cause a political firestorm in Alabama if made public," the lawyers wrote. "Both Hubbard and his ally, Governor (Bob) Riley, have made a political cause out of eliminating non-tribe gaming in Alabama. Now, it would appear to an outside observer that this has been a hypocritical effort funded by Indian gaming interest in order to keep non-Indian casinos out of Alabama. RSLC was reckless in making a contribution to a group historically affiliated with Jack Abramoff."
The Democrats have been screaming that for years. And that's why this document is more than old news.
It's not just the crazy Dems talking anymore. These are the prestigious lawyers for the powerful Republican State Leadership Committee itself, saying Alabama and Mike Hubbard are trouble.
Hear that.
http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2014/08/dont_believe_its_old_news_docu.html
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