https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10209368858120583
Knight, Bi-Partisan Coalition Stop Massive Bentley-Mason "Trojan Horse" Fraud Scheme
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 6, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on May 6, 2016
In the Facebook comment section for Tuesday's article titled, "From 'Storming the Statehouse' to Jail on Corruption Charges: The Incredible Rise and Fall of House Speaker Mike Hubbard", I wrote: "The proposed $800 million bond deal for new Alabama prisons is loaded down with graft and potential corrupt practices. If approved by the legislature today or on the last day of the session (Wednesday), this single transaction will result in a host of public corruption charges against key sponsors and supporters of the proposal".
My comment referred to a prison plan hatched by Governor Robert Bentley and his political advisor/"de facto" governor, Rebekah Mason, to build three new men's prisons and a new women's prison to replace Julia Tutwiler Prison. The plan required legislation authorizing the state to borrow the $800 million for this project. This legislation was introduced at the beginning of the session in February. This bill died a quiet death at midnight Wednesday.
The prison plan was problematic from the beginning. It was intentionally vague and lacked the customary checks and balances that promote financial accountability. It was also woefully inadequate on transparency. For example, there was no requirement for the disclosure of "insider" relationships and financial transactions involving legislators and other government officials who were associated with companies performing work on prison construction projects. There was no itemization for the use of proceeds from the bond deal authorized by the legislation.
Absent these protective measures, the plan provided a ready-made infrastructure for fraud and undisclosed financial deals for Bentley, Mason, their friends, political cronies, and others who have special relationships with the governor and Mason. Furthermore, the plan provided Bentley and Mason with enough cloud cover, haze and fog to conceal this sea potential fraud, undisclosed financial dealings, and "dark money" insider transactions.
The plan was a classic Bentley-Mason "Trojan Horse" fraud scheme. Without a doubt, Alabama needs new prisons. Alabama houses about 24,000 inmates in prisons designed for 13,000. The prison population is growing every year. However, the $800 million prison plan approved by Mason and submitted by Bentley was riddled with cavities for secrecy, fraud and deceit – the hallmarks of the Bentley-Mason relationship and brand.
Something about the governor's plan did not smell or feel right to veteran State Representative John F. Knight, Jr., (D-Montgomery). Knight, who is a decorated Vietnam War military hero and chairman of the House Black Caucus, has been a legislator since 1993. He was also chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee from February 1999 to January 2011.
I talked with Knight about the plan last Saturday afternoon and again on Monday night. He was deeply troubled by the plan's embedded potential for widespread fraud and undisclosed "insider" financial deals. The Bentley Administration could not adequately answer any of Knight's in-depth questions about (a) the precise nature and scope of the forecasted expenditures of this $800 million, (b) the debt servicing requirements and capacity to repay the borrowed money, or (c) the glaring deficiencies in the plan's framework for accountability and transparency.
After the Bentley-Mason "sex for power" and public corruption scandal exploded onto the public scene in March, Knight became even more concerned that Bentley, Mason and the undisclosed financial beneficiaries of the plan had found new and creative ways to spend this public money on their politically connected friends and cronies without going through competitive bids, proper financial oversight and accountability, and the heightened level of transparency that should accompany an $800 million bond deal for major capital projects. Widespread media reports in March and April regarding various "dark money" transactions for the benefit of Rebekah Mason, her husband Jonathan, and other Bentley cronies only fueled Knight's suspicion of potential fraud in the plan.
On May 4th, a legislative conference committee scaled the governor's original $800 million plan back to $550 million for two men's prisons and a women's prison. The new and reduced plan also included some token disclosure requirements for companies submitting proposals to work on the projects (e.g., the identification of lobbyists who represent companies submitting proposals for work and a listing of public officials who have been associated with them, among other things). These provisions did not provide enough disclosure, accountability, financial oversight, and transparency to satisfy Knight.
Led by Senate President Del Marsh (R-Anniston), the Senate quickly approved the revised plan on a 23-12 vote at 10:50 p.m. Wednesday night. This left enough time for the House of Representatives to pass the legislation before the session ended at midnight. To the surprise of many, the House did not take the bill up for a vote. As a result, the plan died in the legislature.
In an article published by AL.com yesterday, House Speaker Mike Hubbard stated that there were not enough votes to end debate on the bill in time for a vote before midnight. This is true, but there is a refreshing back-story here that is being told for the first time in this exclusive Facebook news article.
The real reason why the bill was killed had more to do with John Knight's aggressive protection of public money from potential fraud than anything else. As the prison bill snaked through the legislature on Tuesday and Wednesday, Knight used his mastery of parliamentary procedures and a bold political outreach to Republican fiscal conservatives and members of the House Black Caucus to run the clock out on the House's consideration of the bill.
Under House rules, opponents of the bill could extend the debate to midnight without a cloture vote, which requires three-fifths approval. Knight's bi-partisan coalition of legislators produced enough votes to block an attempt in the House to end debate on the bill. In a rare display of bridge-building, unity and courage, legislators who were Democrats and Republicans, liberal and conservative, and black and white banned together to protect Alabama taxpayers by stopping Governor Robert Bentley and "de facto" governor Rebekah Mason from breathing life into their Trojan House scheme to defraud taxpayers.
Marsh told AL.com that he supported the prison bill and thought the revised version that passed the Senate was "good" legislation. He also stated that lawmakers would try again to pass the governor's prison plan. Marsh said he was not opposed to Bentley calling a special session on prisons and funding for Medicaid, although he is not advocating for the Medicaid funding (which provides healthcare for poor Alabamians).
Knight told AL.com that there were too many unanswered questions about the prison plan. "I think they need to go back to the drawing board and come with a proposed plan that makes a little more sense," Knight said.
"I think there is no question that something has to be done. But there was not enough time, not enough effort for them to try to make this make sense to all the members of the Legislature.
"When you're talking about $800 million over a 30-year period, they need to answer a lot of questions."
Knight's common sense, extensive financial experience, detailed review of the prison plan, courage to ask the right questions, intimate knowledge of the House rules, and willingness to embrace and promote a bi-partisan political strategy to defeat the Bentley-Mason prison bill evidenced a monumental proactive effort to detect and prevent financial fraud in government.
On behalf of all Alabama taxpayers, I thank Rep. John Knight and all of the brave legislators who worked with him in a bi-partisan coalition to stop this massive Bentley-Mason "Trojan Horse" fraud scheme.
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