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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

From the files of It's okay if you are a republican in #SweetHomeAlabama

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EYE am sure everyone is aware by now Governor Robert Bentley, EYE mean Ex-Governor Bentley negotiated a plea deal that required him to resign while dropping four possible felony counts to two misdemeanors. 
If Team Bentley had been required to turn over responsive e-mails, text messages, phone records, and financial records, how many GOP big-hitters might have been implicated? Our guess is "a lot." And that might have been the No. 1 driver behind the quick plea deal.
This much is certain: No deal should even have been considered until Bentley and his office had turned over all of the documents sought by the House Special Counsel -- and all individuals sought for interviews had testified under oath. I rarely agree with al.com on anything, but their editorial on the matter was right on target:

Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges. But the stakes are too high for the pursuit of justice to stop here. This impeachment investigative report creates as many questions as it does answers.
It implicates many people in Montgomery beyond the governor. At times, it seems like everybody knew everything but nobody did anything.
Allegations were made in the report that many surrounding Bentley were complicit in the cover up.
They too should be held accountable for their actions. We know from the commission report Bentley, Mason and others refused to cooperate with the investigation. Subsequently, we still do not know the extent to which their alleged actions constitute criminal behavior. What more would we learn from their private messages and emails?
And then there is THIS
Birmingham attorney Eric L. Welch Guster, a legal analyst on cable news shows, was on the same page. Here is Guster, from Facebook:

LAW, POLITICAL PARTIES and RACE -- ALABAMA STYLE: Bentley got probation and his side piece got protected. That's how this works and has been this way for generations.
The GOP protected their own even in the face of sex, thievery, lies & nationwide embarrassment. Robert Bentley will remain free WITH A MISDEMEANOR while other politicians similarly situated received prison sentences and NEVER had an offer of probation. There was enough evidence on Bentley that a 13-year-old could take this case to trial and win. There was no need for a plea, except to protect him and his beloved boo-thang.
They claim justice is blind but we know better. It sees color, political party affiliation and the ties that bind them all together.
I am done with this foolery.
EYE am done with it too.   

So let's compare the case of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D. Mobile), who is currently serving hard time in a federal prison in Louisiana because he was too liberal for Alabama, EYE mean, appointed a campaign contributor to a board.
The central charge against Siegelman, a Democrat elected in a heavily Republican state, boils down to this. As governor, Siegelman was looking to promote an election on whether or not the state should create a lottery. One generous contributor to the special lottery campaign fund was Richard Scrushy, the high-flying CEO of HealthSouth who wished to be appointed to a state hospital board. Bush-appointed federal prosecutors claimed Scrushy’s $500,000 contribution to the lottery campaign was the price to gain an appointment by Siegelman to the state board.
Meanwhile, the new Governor of #SweetHomeAlabama is the same as the Old Governor dressed in designer suits. 
As lieutenant governor, Kay Ivey has been strongly against the Affordable Care Act.
When the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare in 2012, Ivey released a statement saying that keeping the law in place could lead to the end of the United States as we know it.
She said, “The Supreme Court’s ruling today, upholding major portions of Obamacare, perpetuates the illusion that taxpayers can and should provide healthcare for every citizen, in spite of the fact that the country is broke! If our elected leadership in Washington does not overturn this law, it will bring America down.”
She went on to say that America would “spend and tax itself into weakness and, God forbid, collapse,” just like “the former great powers of Europe.”
Ivey said that she instead supports an Obamacare alternative that focus on “restoring state flexibility, promoting free markets and competition while empowering consumer choice.”
Sigh

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