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Mike Hubbard: Guilty on 12 Counts
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on June 11, 2016
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on June 11, 2016
Last night, twelve Lee County, Alabama jurors firmly stood against public corruption in the Statehouse. The jurors, who were strangers to each other and strangers to us, united to find House Speaker Mike Hubbard guilty of 12 of 23 felony counts of ethics violations. The guilty verdicts automatically removed Hubbard from the Alabama legislature. He is no longer the Speaker of the House. Hubbard is now a convicted felon who is headed to jail.
Hubbard will be sentenced on July 8, 2016. He faces two to twenty years on each count.
The voters of Alabama are reclaiming their government from the public officials who have corrupted it and tarnished the state's image in the eyes of the nation. With no elected official leading them, the voters began this reform movement with the removal of federal judge Mark Fuller from the federal bench in Montgomery. Fuller was a wife beater, serial marital cheater, and perjury. "People power" forced Fuller to resign from his lifetime judicial appointment on August 1, 2015.
Ten months later, twelve Lee County voters used their power as trial jurors to end Mike Hubbard's public career. In doing so, they reclaimed the Statehouse from the man who stormed it in 2010. By upholding the law, these brave jurors removed the "For Sale" sign posted in the lobby of the House Speaker's office.
Less than two years ago, Hubbard's fellow legislators crowned him as House Speaker. In a highly public display of their disrespect for Alabama voters, these legislators re-elected Hubbard as Speaker after he was indicted on 23 felony ethics charges. "F—k you", was the clear message they were sending to voters. Their message was accompanied by an arrogant disregard for minimal standards of transparency, accountability and ethical conduct in government.
Last Month, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission suspended Chief Justice Roy Moore from the Alabama Supreme Court for failing to follow lawful federal court orders on same-sex marriage. The Commission is the constitutionally mandated state judicial disciplinary agency in Alabama. It consists of nine members: one appellate court judge (from a court other than the Supreme Court), two circuit court judges, one district court judge, two lawyers and three members of the public. Moore's case will be heard in the Alabama Court of the Judiciary, which has a similar makeup.
Moore's suspension shows that "people power" is working in this voter-led, pro-democracy initiative to reclaim the Alabama Supreme Court from a Moore-led jihadist-like movement that seeks to turn Alabama into a theocratic form of government like the ones we see in Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen.
Governor Robert Bentley and his lover, Rebekah Mason, are under an intense federal criminal investigation for racketeering and public corruption. This investigation is a direct result of "people power", social media activism, and groundbreaking investigative reporting by online journalists Roger Alan Shuler and me.
Bentley and Mason are expecting their indictments this summer. Their chief law enforcement ally and protector, Montgomery U.S. Attorney George L. Beck, Jr., has been removed by the Department of Justice in Washington from all involvement in the case.
Like Hubbard, Bentley refuses to resign. In his mind, Bentley is on a Holy mission from God to serve the people of Alabama. The number of felony counts in Bentley's indictment is expected to set a record in federal criminal cases. Bentley will likely be arrested at his Capitol office as part of his "perp walk" ordeal.
Senate President Del Marsh has been speechless and paralyzed every since the "Trojan horse" prison construction fraud scheme he and Bentley were pushing through the legislature in May failed to garner enough votes for passage. Marsh, who has his eyes set on the governor's race in 2018, has failed to condemn the Bentley, Hubbard, and Moore trifecta of scandals.
In the midst of this vast sea of public corruption in Alabama, not one elected official has emerged to lead our voter-led movement toward accountability, transparency, and greater ethics in government. Not one of them has offered to reform state government. They all appear to be too compromised or tainted with corruption to do so. As such, the voters of Alabama are leading themselves and getting swift and positive results.
I predict that Bentley and Mason will be indicted, convicted and sent to jail for a long time. Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick received a 28-year prison sentence for the same racketeering and public corruption conduct.
I also predict that Moore will be convicted in the Court of the Judiciary and permanently removed from the bench. Voters gave Moore a second chance to serve them honorably on the Supreme Court bench and he blew it.
There is no stopping this voter-led movement to reform Alabama's state government. More public officials will be going to jail. The growth of online journalism will ensure that this happens.
The good news for Alabama voters is this: We have demonstrated that "people power" is stronger than public corruption. We now have a strong and effective voter-led cleanup of state government in progress. Things are changing for the better.
Donald V Watkins
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