Deliberating on the Hubbard jury deliberations

As ready as I am for this damned trial to be done, especially after all the delays, I’m starting to think about how I’ll feel once it’s over. Writing helps me think and I figured it can’t hurt to share. I might as well try to get some use from my webhosting spending. So here goes. I’m hardly a pro on writing but do hope it’s not absolutely awful. I can always say it’s a first draft. I usually do links and/or footnotes but I’m just not taking the time right now.

Whether Mike Hubbard is acquitted or found guilty, I’m going to be doing pretty much the same thing I’ve been doing in recent years. I can perhaps even make big strides on some academic work that often gets pushed down. Even if he’s convicted, he and his will be working the press as they carry out various appeals and related efforts so I’ll not have to quit cold turkey. I’ll stay tuned to watch the man work. He’s as brazen as they come.

I’ll also be watching the opposition party and other groups which Mike Hubbard has savaged over the last decade or so waste opportunities and flounder. The ineptness and flawed strategy/organization is a sight to behold. It’s like a wreck that you can’t look away from.

I’m also wondering if he’s convicted how Auburn University (AU) and that research park foundation will handle the $28 million “Mike Hubbard Center for Advanced Science, Innovation and Commerce” or if the road into the airport can be renamed. Should they wait for the appeals to run out or just go ahead and make the changes?

And I sure hope some reporters put microphones in front of and cameras on the High Sheriff of Lee County and the City of Auburn Mayor after they appeared in ads about how honest Mike Hubbard was. The same goes for locals and politicians appearing at Mike’s post-indictment presser. Paging Rep. Mike Rogers.

If Mike is convicted, surely whomever the usual suspects have lined up to take his place will be slightly less odious, smarmy, dissembling, opportunistic …

If the Graftmaster walks, however, I can stomach it. If nothing else, being an Alabama history/politics junkie prepares a person for pain and disappointment. I’m sure there are still some true believers in Mike but I expect merely those who might usually consider him a useful ally will be watching him quite carefully from here on out. Folks who might have given him the benefit of the doubt previously are going to have a hard time trusting anything he says or does. I don’t even think Mike could play the Christian card and rehabilitate himself.

I’ve also heard talk that the Feds are watching. If Mike walks, that might be very bad news for the “friends” of Mike Hubbard.

This trial has been a chance to look back. I’ve been bashing this fellow for at least a decade or so. It’s been pleasurable to watch reporters who’ve covered him file their stories. Bill and Susan Britt are due a special salute as they were taking on Mike and his minions well before others started digging. I’ve also enjoyed watching some personalities who parroted Mike’s message and piled on his critics step away. They’ll still tote water for whomever else has/gets power but at least the Hubbard hagiography has probably become too heavy.

I first laid eyes on Mike way back in 1985 or thereabouts. The only time I spoke with the man was when I bought his book and that was just to get a picture taken with him. Three decades ago, I got the slippery, sycophantic vibe off him when he and Coach Dye walked over to the baseball diamond one afternoon to talk with Bo or Coach Baird or maybe just to try to see if PD was safe to drive home.

I’d also heard chatter through the years about Mike maneuvering to buy Craftmaster just as AU closed its in-house print shop. There was always talk about how he scored media deals with AU in processes that might have been at least a little sketchy. There was the “Learning Through Sports” secret millions Joe Morton was spending at ALSDE starting just after Mike swears he’d sold out. I watched Mike and his posse operate in the 2010 “storming” and then pull 2013’s 90-minute switcheroo yielding the so-called “Accountability” Act. Everybody pretty much knew how he and his were washing PCI money through the RSLC but that memo coming out in early 2014 showed just how much faith his co-conspirators had in Mike being able to say and do the right things if any questions later came up.

Mike is a piece of work. His chickens may have finally come home to roost. Bob Riley’s still haven’t it seems but that can be another post for another day.

However, and here’s where I might be breaking some new ground, I could see how stretching this mess out a little more should the jury hang up might be just what the doctor ordered. And I don’t just mean that in the sense that the “Luv Guv” might like the Graftmaster’s saga to continue so as to distract the electorate and journalists from his own troubles. A hung jury in the Hubbard case might give citizens, at least those who’ve not already given up on representative government in Montgomery, an opportunity to ponder on and discuss what’s expected from our “public servants” and those surrounding them.

Fixing the ethics laws so such as this can be perhaps avoided in the future is the main thing the Goat Hill Gang needs to do – at least assuming they’ll not tackle Medicaid and other hard stuff. They’ll, of course, have to be forced to clean up their own nests. I’m guessing an acquittal might fire up citizens and columnists. However, if Mike remains in office – especially as Speaker, he and his will probably be forced to continue brazen things out. He’s supposedly a vindictive and ruthless rascal who’ll unleash hell on anyone he thinks has wronged him. That reality will make any reforms oriented toward what Mike and his “friends” got away with a heavy lift.

A conviction, even just on one count, will let the politicians and principals say things are working just fine and tamp down efforts to tighten up the super-awesome ethics laws Riley, Hubbard … crowed over until Mike got caught. There are few politicians as crafty and bold as Mike Hubbard but if he felt he might get away with his various schemes then others of the politician species will surely try their own luck. That’s perhaps especially true in our state.

Politics in Alabama, whether it’s around widely praised “economic development” down to gambling, seems to be criminogenic. Whether corruption or just cronyism, something almost always stinks. Hell, there was testimony of Bob Riley lobbying a year or so before he even registered. Minda Riley Campbell’s law firm was paid $72,000 to essentially Google the median income so the “reform” to the pay raise on a voice vote could be nailed down.

Part of the reason things might be so jacked up is how that damned 1901 Constitution concentrates power down in the Gump.

Filling the loopholes in our law which Mike Hubbard says makes his “consulting” kosher and making it where citizens, especially those in the Fourth Estate, are aware of when a politician is scoring lucrative side deals is something that needs to happen regardless of whether Mike skates or is slammed.

As to disclosures and transparency that Statement of Economic Interests (SOEI) are supposed to provide, I still don’t understand how a politician, especially one in a powerful position like Speaker, can hide his or her “consulting” behind a closely-held corporate entity. Mike and Susan Hubbard’s SOIE forms seem significantly incomplete in several instances.

In the trial, there was some testimony about other politicians doing consulting deals like what Mike said he’d be doing for the SEAGD. I want to know more and hope the press will press for answers. Politicians using the Ethics Commission to secretly paper over their side deals is another facet to the Hubbard trial. There’s been testimony about a press release on when the SEAGD hired Mike but apparently few, if any, folks saw it. If journalists saw it and didn’t see fit to pass that along to the citizenry then that’s another can of worms.

My understanding is also that there’s supposed to be a searchable database of lobbyists and principals. I can get an Excel list of each but that’s not anything close to what’s needed. The Ethics Commission’s website frankly makes the Legislature’s ALISON look good. Stephen Jackson’s OpenBama site, which is no longer with us, was an example of what’s needed. And it ought not to be left up to citizens to do the damn work for free – especially when the likes of Mike Hubbard was cashing big checks for his hustling.

A hung jury might also keep the reality of how law gets made in the public’s eye. The way the Business Council of Alabama (BCA) had their hooks into Mike was even worse than this long-time critic of the man and machine imagined. I believe it was Will Brooke who testified about something to the effect of how the BCA board discussed making sure Mike was taken care of and kept in place. Even if we never heard from Ferrell Patrick, he was I suppose representative of how many lobbyists maneuver and massage the process. Billy Canary, of course, had his very own specially scheduled audience with the Speaker.

Whether we call them ‘Big Mules’ or just special interests, there appears to be some relative wealthy principals with money to spend. And that money hasn’t just been going to Mike Hubbard. From cash in campaign coffers to paying for PR, business seems to be booming. Mike and his fellow travelers have been for years talking about making Alabama more “business friendly.” I’ve about decided they’re willing to do that by making it downright unfriendly for everybody else.

A hung jury might even force the members of the Alabama House to act – especially if there’s a special session in the works. Word is that the testimony isn’t lining up with what Mike has told his members and other denizens of Goat Hill. Even if the jury were to cut him loose, on reasonable doubt or whatever else can impact a deliberation, surely few folks in this benighted state can think what Mike’s been up to is proper. Politicians and the voters who put/keep them in office need to also remember the aggressive and dismissive way Mike and his crew couched this investigation as a “witch hunt.”

A hung jury gives the other politicians another chance to step up and tell Mike he can’t remain Speaker. As arguably the most powerful person in the Legislature, the impact he may have had on Dr. Don Williamson and others hauled in to testify is another discussion worth having. I’m also looking forward to hearing Rep. Pebblin Warren down into Macon County explain why she was supposedly sitting there with Team Hubbard as that jury was being struck.

Lastly, a hung jury might be a chance for the state and Mike to cut a deal. I’m still not sure what happened with Greg Wren but his plea had him agreeing to talk. Getting Mike to lay it all out there still might be worth a generous offer. Mike would need to step down and take some time getting his businesses in order before being allowed to jump into presumably lucrative lobbying and political consulting. Mike could perhaps try to offer something up if he’s convicted and to try to get a lenient sentence I suppose. I’ve always thought that once a tipping point was reached that there might be a chance several secrets would be revealed. Then again, Mike might not want to go deep sea fishing. He might also need to be careful if he’s operating a tractor around his fish ponds.

Another potential positive from a hung jury is that it might force citizens and the press to ponder how in the hell this mess happened. I’ve gone back and read coverage where Mike flat out lied to journalists but more often got away with dissembling and deflecting. Access journalism from a harried and leaned out press pool is an unfortunate fact of today’s media world. Still, some old-school aggressive questioning and investigative journalism might have rooted out some of these schemes way back when. That Mike would have never put himself in this position had these deals been out in the open is a thought I’ve kept having over the last few months.

James A. Baldwin supposedly said, “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” Mike sneaking around seems to have been certain. And he was surely allied with power. Then again, I’ve been thinking that some of the folks behind the scene will be glad to see him go or at least have his sails trimmed. I’ve thought some might have started seeing Mike as a monster they couldn’t control or at least that he got too big for his britches. Still, Reddy Kilowatt, Alfa, Big Timber and … could have surely reeled Mike in if they’d wanted to.

So that’s it. But I’ll make a prediction. I’m expecting convictions on at least a few counts. That jury might hang up, however.

If they cut Mike loose, which I just don’t see based on what all I’ve read and heard about the trial, I’m hoping some journalists can get to some members of the jury to see how the deliberations went. Where the jurors found it proper to acquit might provide some good information about how to improve the ethics laws so future shenanigans can be avoided.

Steve Flowers predicted a sophisticated jury with professors and such so it might also be interesting to see how that panned out.

One last comment, at least until I closely read this missive and start doing edits and updates, is that I think Baxley and the defense did as good a job as they could with the facts and the law. I’m guessing Mike insisted that he ought to testify and there’s not much a lawyer can do with a client like Mike Hubbard. Maybe they’re hoping the appellate courts will save Mike if he’s convicted and he felt like testifying might be worth the risk. Then again, Mike just might be a narcissistic sociopath who started believing his own lies.

Feel free to straighten me out in the comments or just add to the ideas I’ve conveyed. I can’t promise I’ll be always where I can approve or moderate comments but I’ll try.