Author: Birmingham Mike

Long time no see, good people. I just have one quick thing to share with you this morning. A bill sponsored by Sen. Vivian Figures (D-Mobile) is in the works that would ban smoking statewide in pretty much every public place imaginable. She’s introduced this several times in the past, but this go-round she has the backing of 20 of the Senate’s 35 members.

I’m going to hold my tongue so that my seething rage doesn’t cause me to say something I might regret. I’ll simply share with you the response by Sen. Steve French (R-Mountain Brook) which I echo wholeheartedly (albeit with much more graphic language):

“I think that’s more appropriate to let the market forces affect things than to have government regulation that says people can or cannot do certain things in certain places,” he said.

“It infringes upon the personal rights of business owners and people who are out making a living,” French said. “If their clientele wants them to continue the policies they have, they ought to have that ability.”

In a 7-to-1 decision today, the state Board of Education voted to forbid state legislators from holding a position in the two-year college system. Ella Bell-D, Montgomery, was the only dissenting vote. Beginning in 2010 - when current terms are up - lawmakers will no long be allowed to hold both jobs.

Until then, lawmakers in the two-year system will have to use paid vacation time to serve in Montgomery. Once it is exhausted, they’ll have to seek approval from Chancellor Byrne for additional unpaid time off, which he has suggested he will not be apt to give.

Paul Hubbert and emotional members of the AEA have pledged to explore legal options to challenge the vote.

I wanted to help Dan out since I have a few minutes to spare this afternoon, but there’s not a whole lot of state news worth talking about today (unless you get jazzed up about record temperatures and warm, fuzzy back-to-school stories.)

Instead, I’m just going to plug a link I found today: The Terminal. It’s about all things Birmingham, and is shaping up to be an insightful resource during the 2007 mayoral election. They also offer news and opinions about all things going on here in the Magic City.

So, if you live in my neck of the woods and you’re interested in keeping up to date about what’s going on in the neighborhood, drop by and check them out.

Yeah, I know there’s a lot of important news right now, but I’ve been too busy today to investigate it and add my own cynical commentary. I can’t help noting, however, that today’s the day that the new Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows arrived in book stores. According to the Birmingham News, the delivery to the Hoover Books-A-Million was made by “two armored service technicians.”

No word yet on how Hoover’s SWAT team and mobile command center are preparing to deal with the powderkeg that’s sure to be brewing at the book’s midnight release.

Contrary to yesterday’s update, Siegelman was actually moved to the Oakdale Correctional Facility in Louisiana. He arrived at some point yesterday, and officials are tight-lipped about whether this will be his home for the next seven years. Meanwhile, his attorney, Susan James, is jetsetting across the mid-west in search of him, apparently worried he’s going to have to endure a real life Con Air experience.

In all the hubbub of his sentencing and the holiday, I missed this story about the break-in at James’ office last week. Someone rummaged through her files, but stole only a set of commerative coins. She says the files pertaining to the Siegelman case were with her at the time.

Because I enjoy a good controversy, I’m going to add fuel to the conspiracy theory fires that have been burning lately with a baseless and wildly speculative question: Was someone hoping to sabotage Siegelman’s appeal with a poor knock-off of Watergate? (Fox News, eat your heart out!)

UPDATE: Susan James had the right idea after all. He’s now stopped off at a federal transfer center in Oklahoma City. If she’s correct again, his final destination will be the Texarkana FCI alluded to in earlier reports.

Since everyone loves a visual aid, here’s a map of Siegelman’s post-trial tour provided by Google Maps:

According to The Birmingham News, Siegelman has been transferred from his cell in the Atlanta federal penitentiary. There will be no official word about his destination until he safely arrives, but the speculation among Siegelman supporters is that he’s being moved to a minimum security facility in Texarkana (home of Buford T. Justice!)

Scrushy remains in their shared Atlanta cell.

According to The Birmingham News, Siegelman will not have to pay $181,000+ in restitution after all. That portion of his sentence was handed down by Judge Fuller as punishment for his part in a “bogus warehouse deal” which a jury acquitted him on.

Look, I know emotions ran high in this case, but why was he sentenced based on a charge that the jury cleared him on?

Siegelman: 88 months to be served concurrently. $50,000 fine. $181,325 in restitution.
Scrushy: 82 months to be served concurrently. $150,000 fine. $267,000 in restitution, due immediately. He must also pay the costs of his prison stay.

Upon their release, both will be under supervised probation for three years and must complete 500 hours of community service. No word yet on where Siegelman will serve his time.

According to the Birmingham News, Senator Charles Bishop punched Senator Lowell Barron in the face this afternoon.

Splendid!

• Birmingham Blues links to this post with Bishop Smacks Barron 

As we reported yesterday, the AEA was hoping Montgomery County Circuit Judge Gene Reese would grant a TRO barring Sen. Bradley Byrne from taking the reins of the two-year college program. According to the Birmingham News, he has refused the request.

Senator Byrne will begin his new job as chancellor tomorrow while the court determines whether the Alabama Board of Education and Governor Riley violated the Open Meetings Act and secretly conspired to hire him. WSFA-12 in Montgomery has a much more information regarding the details of the suit.

Sure, we thought this issue was settled, but it’s just not a genuine Alabama political story unless someone decides to drag out more controversy.

The Alabama Education Association has filed a complaint with the Montgomery Circuit Court to block the hiring of Senator Byrne as chancellor of the two-year college program. According to a statement from Paul Hubbert, this move has nothing to do with Byrne personally but rather the process by which he was hired.

Paul Hubbert, AEA’s executive secretary, said Monday that the state board was warned by AEA lawyers just before it voted to hire Byrne that it was breaking its own rules and state law.

“They set themselves up for this to occur,” Hubbert said.

The suit claims the board violated the Open Meetings Act through an alleged phone conversation between board members on May 9, and that the vote precluded the possibility of naming a female or minority candidate to the position. They are seeking to have Sen. Byrne’s appointment withdrawn. Unless Judge Gene Reese grants the temporary restraining order, Byrne is expected to begin his job on Thursday.

According to The Birmingham News, Sen. Bradley Byrne is officially taking the reigns of the two-year college system, as expected. He’s estimated to begin in about two weeks after contract negotiations are completed.

In the mean time, the board tapped general counsel Joan Davis to serve as the interim chancellor.

In a statement to CNN this afternoon, Sen. Jeff Sessions suggested that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales consider making sure his resume is up to date:

“I think the attorney general ought to take the weekend and think about this and ask himself whether he can effectively reconstitute the attorney general’s office and I’ll be thinking about the same thing,” said Sessions, who serves as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “If he feels like he cannot, then it would be best for the president and the country to resign.”

This comes after predictions from some administration officials that he - like so many cabinet members before him - may be persuaded to take one for the team.

I’m sure you’ve probably heard the story of Angel Raich, the terminally-ill woman in California whose doctor says marijuana is the only thing keeping her alive. The latest news is about her failed appeal in the 9th Circuit, but the real contest was decided in the Supreme Court in July of 2005.

By a vote of 6 to 3, the Court ruled that the federal Controlled Substances Act of 1970 superseded California’s Compassionate Use Act. Their reasoning was that medical marijuana grown and consumed in California fell under the jurisdiction of the Commerce Clause of the constitution. Despite the fact that Angel Raich’s activities were neither interstate nor commercial, the majority opinion concluded that growing marijuana for personal consumption means you’re not buying it from a dealer, so you’re effecting his market prices and - because he does business across state lines - you are effecting the interstate commerce of dealing pot.

Try wrapping your head around that one.

Now, regardless of your personal beliefs or proclivities, from a purely Constitutional standpoint, you’ve got to admit this is just a tad on the ridiculous side. I started digging through briefs looking for more information. Surely, everyone didn’t just buy in to this nonsense, right? As luck would have it, I found the amicus curiae of a public figure who, in October of 2004, felt compelled to take a stand and cry Shenanigans:

The question presented here is not whether vigorous enforcement of the Nation’s drug laws is good criminal policy. It most assuredly is. The question, rather, is whether the Constitution permits the Federal Government, under the guise of regulating interstate commerce, to criminalize the purely local possession of marijuana for personal medicinal use. It does not.
…
Where do States, counties, and municipalties fit into the Government’s theory of this case? Regrettably, the answer appears to be that they don’t. The Government’s assertion of federal power over local activity seems rather plainly to rest on the assumption that absent federal regulation, anarchy would reign at the local level. The Government’s assumption of local law enforcement’s irrelevance is (to say the least) unwarranted.

Is this obvious and much-needed rationality the work of a long-haired commie deadhead? Nope. It’s from Troy King. Yeah! Troy King. Despite the fact that our attorney general is often a much maligned figure in this space, never let it be said that we won’t recognize the positive aspects of his career. It’s a shame this one stayed under the radar. Bravo, Mr. King.

Former Secretary of State Nancy Worley has been indicted by a grand jury on five felony and five misdemeanor counts after being accused of soliciting campaign funds from her staff in the last election. Her attorney, James Anderson, remains optimistic:

Anderson said Worley cooperated fully with the attorney general’s investigation, including talking to investigators and supplying documents without a subpoena, and he is not worried about the indictment.

“It’s much ado about nothing. If there was anything I was worried about, I wouldn’t have had her meet with them,” Anderson said.

More information will be available from Troy King’s office once she’s been formally served.

Do you think her felony charges include a certain degree of moral turpitude? What if a conviction cost her the right to vote? Is the real world capable of that level of irony?

• Politics in Alabama links to this post with Breaking News: AP Reports Worley Indicted 

Yesterday, CNN promised we’d see a softer side of President Bush during his trip to Latin America.

Mission Accomplished, sir.

To wrap up this story from last fall: In addition to being blind, Justice is also terrible at math.

A federal judge today sentenced Dedrick Griham to life plus 84 months in prison for his conviction on charges stemming from the abduction of a Birmingham lawyer from a downtown parking last year.

I’ve always wondered how that works - Life plus some time. Do they just keep your corpse around for a while longer? Are they trying to make sure you’re still not freed in the event of zombification? These are questions that concern me when I’m doped up on DayQuil and trying desperately to fill Dan’s shoes.

After all that has just passed — all the lives taken, and all the possibilities and hopes that died with them — it is natural to wonder if America’s future is one of fear. Some speak of an age of terror. I know there are struggles ahead, and dangers to face. But this country will define our times, not be defined by them. As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror; this will be an age of liberty, here and across the world.

–President Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People (9/20/01)

It is outrageous, in a post 9/11 world, that a company would use this type of marketing scheme. I am prepared to take any and all legal action against Turner Broadcasting and its affiliates for any and all expenses incurred during the response to today’s incidents.

–Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (1/31/07)

God Bless America