An Alabama Political Injustice: Bill Johnson’s Battle with Riley Republicans
Source: Huffington Post
Alabama republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Johnson, like many junior politicians, has a difficult campaign ahead of him. In Alabama, politics is a tough business and loyalties run deep among party members and supporters who pour millions of dollars into state elections. But what makes Johnson’s candidacy unique is that the Autauga County republican leadership has banned him from addressing republican voters in his home county.
Last December the committee passed a unanimous resolution blocking Johnson from campaigning, accusing him of publicizing “scurrilous charges” about sitting republican Governor Bob Riley.
Johnson has accused Governor Riley of receiving unreported campaign contributions from the Mississippi Choctaw Indians, who operate casinos about an hour away from the Alabama border. He also alleges Riley has violated a number ethics laws including funneling State contracts to his son Rob Riley and the law firm of his son-in-law Rob Campbell.
Johnson, a former Riley congressional staffer and grass roots and logistics coordinator for Riley’s gubernatorial campaigns in 2002 and 2006, was appointed by the governor as director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, a post he held before running for office.
Autauga County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Al Booth told the Associated Press there’s never been a resolution banning a candidate and is urging other committees to do the same.
“They’re working hard to shut me down,” Johnson says.
Meanwhile Booth is calling Johnson an illegitimate candidate. Johnson says Booth admitted the resolution was crafted because he was attacking Governor Riley:
“I told him I was required by law to report those issues and even though the Governor is not a candidate, he is still the Governor and accountable to the taxpayers of Alabama. He doesn’t get a free pass to get his kid on state and county payrolls. And to have republicans come out and say you should’ve broken the law and swept it under the rug and because you didn’t we’re not going to let you speak to us — it’s insane.”
Booth is also the county’s probate judge and county campaign chairman for republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne. While Governor Riley has not endorsed any candidate, he appointed Byrne as Chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. Bryne held this prior to announcing his decision to run for office.
The resolution banning Johnson from addressing members of his party not only violates free speech and freedom of association, it may violate Alabama election laws.
Johnson points out: “This is not what the GOP stands for and if they sanction me, what does it say about the party?”
Booth’s office was contacted on two occasions to determine if Autauga County Republicans support the censoring free speech but calls were not returned.
Inquiries were also made to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele without response.
Johnson says:
“Even though Bradley Byrne’s team leader did it, I think it was orchestrated by the Governor’s office. Governor Riley is trying to shutdown my raising issues with the public. But to me the story is that the Governor is so desperate to get resolutions passed to not have me speak to Republican groups.”
While Autauga County Republicans have nearly made it impossible for Johnson to run a campaign, no investigation has been launched as to why the republican leadership would so fiercely prevent him from speaking out against Governor Riley. Johnson notes:
“This is just another instance, like the New York Congressional election, [sic] that an elite group of republicans are trying to pick a successor and the Governor is involved. I think he’s trying to keep the gravy train going with his son’s contracts and he has some deal with Bradley Byrne.”
Riley adamantly denies receiving campaign contributions from the Choctaws, who were represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But according to a 2002 U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee report Abramoff bragged the Choctaws spent $13 million electing Riley in exchange for keeping gaming out of Alabama. The report further states convicted lobbyist Michael Scanlon, Bob Riley’s former congressional press secretary, received $4.5 million over two years to protect the Choctaw’s gaming interests through the scheme known as “Operation Orange.”
Johnson says in a 2002 meeting with Riley’s Chief of Staff Dan Gans, Gans told Johnson that he coordinating the Mississippi Indian contributions on behalf of Riley’s campaign. Johnson says he didn’t put two and two together until Governor Riley formed his anti-gambling task force and began raiding and shutting down bingo halls that he realized the Choctaw funds could be influencing the Governor’s decision to keep legalized gambling and ensuing revenues out of Alabama.
“I knew about the Abramoff stuff and knew about Mike Scanlon but it never seemed like it was getting close to the Governor until it started to become quid pro quo.”
Coincidentally, David Barber, the head of Riley’s Illegal Gambling Task Force, was compelled to resign in January after he was caught gambling at the Choctaw Indian tribe casino in Mississippi.
Gans denies ever meeting with Johnson and Riley’s office discredits Johnson as a low level employee, who never worked close enough to the Governor to have knowledge of his campaign. Johnson says:
“The Governor’s office coordinated a number of people saying I was lying, that the meeting never took place. Riley even had the current Chair of the GOP say I wasn’t in the position to know that – that it never happened. So I challenged Dan Gans and the Governor to take a polygraph on these issues. Then I figured I should take a polygraph test and I passed.”
It is interesting to note, many of Riley’s business associates and former staffers either worked for or have ties to the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Tribe. Dan Gans left Alabama to work for the Alexander Strategy Group, (ASG) alongside Jack Abramoff. The Mississippi Choctaw Indian tribe was one of ASG’s main clients. Riley’s former governor’s office chief of staff Toby Roth, took a lobbying job at Capitol Resources, which represented the Mississippi Indian casino interests and his former deputy chief of staff Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, also worked there.
Johnson says after he held a press conference regarding Riley’s alleged conflicts of interest, he began receiving threats:
“The first threatening letter that that I got was an old World War II poster. Saying ‘How about a nice big cup of shut the f— up. Think before you say anything stupid.’”
This letter was sent within one hour of Johnson’s announcing his decision to run for governor, which had not yet been made public. Directly after he publicized his campaign, Johnson received a number of threats including a death threat, which he believes came from people close to Governor Bob Riley:
“I got a series of harassing letters. The death threat came after I connected the governor to Indian Gambling [sic] and why he was trying to close down gaming operations here. Remember the famous execution picture from the Viet Nam war where the soldier is holding a pistol to a man’s head? I received that picture with my face superimposed over the head getting shot with the words ‘Say goodbye to Bill,’ and that picture was on the envelope.”
At that point he filed formal complaints against Governor Riley with Attorney General Troy King, a 500 plus page dossier detailing Riley’s alleged wrongdoings, along with press clippings, threat letters and payments made from the Office of Governor to Bradley, Arant, Rose & White LLP, his son-in-law Rob Campbell’s law firm.
Johnson is calling for an investigation on four separate issues:
Complaint #1 - Conflicts of Interest between Governor Bob Riley, his son Rob Riley and the Jefferson County Occupational Tax
The January 14, 2010 document states while Riley was the lead negotiator for Jefferson County sewer debts, the County Commission approved a $725,000 and $150,000 contract for his son, attorney Rob Riley to represent Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale. The funds for Rob Riley’s services would have come from a.05% occupation tax collected by non-licensed wage earners. In 2009 a judge repealed the tax, ruling it ruled was unconstitutional. But the ruling impacted the sheriff’s budget, including funding for Rob Riley’s contracts. Hale, represented by Rob Riley, then sued the Jefferson County Commission to block its attempt to cut the budget by $5.1 million. A local judge ruled in favor of the cuts to the sheriff’s budget. Hale then appealed to Governor Bob Riley for state financial assistance, making sure to provide a letter penned by Rob Riley outlining cuts faced by the sheriff’s office which included Rob Riley’s contract. Governor Riley then lobbied for support to reinstate the Jefferson County Occupational Tax, calling a special session of the Legislature. State lawmakers passed the new occupational tax legislation, which Riley signed into law in August 2009.
Complaint #2
” I thought at first there were a few million in contracts. But we’re talking tens of millions in contracts — $4.7 million in July 2009 going to Bradley-Arant.”
Complaint #3
Complaint #4
Johnson has yet to receive a response from King and says his lawyers had hoped the Alabama attorney general would have found probable cause and taken the complaint to a circuit judge who would then appoint a special grand jury to review the documents.
When reached for comment, King’s office responded, “It is a general policy of this office to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.” An odd response considering attorney generals across the country routinely hold press conferences to announce major investigations and indictments. The Alabama attorney general is no different. In December 2009, King publicly announced he was leading an investigation into Senator Ben Nelson’s trade off for health care reform vote. King also seemed to violate his office’s policy when he announced his ban and subsequent investigation of those using “immoral sex toys.”
But King has his own problems and was under federal investigation concerning an alleged relationship with gambling interests and selective prosecutions of some electronic bingo operators. Grand jury proceedings were held in Montgomery, home of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary while the investigation was run in Birmingham, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin’s district.
Johnson believes Canary’s decision to reopen the King investigation influenced King’s decision making with regards to Johnson’s complaints against the Governor. Last week a grand jury cleared King of all charges.
Johnson also turned over the documents last year to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Alice Martin’s office but never heard anything. He also met with the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity head Matt Hart. Hart was also former Alabama Assistant U.S. Distrtict Attorney and the lead prosecutor in former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman’s case. During proceedings, Judge U.W. Clemons reprimanded Hart for a lack of prima facie evidence to move forward with the case.
Yet there may be underlying reasons for Martin’s alleged inaction, her ties to Governor Bob Riley. Both Martin and Canary were identified by Siegelman whistleblower Dana Jill Simpson as Riley operatives. During congressional testimony, Simpson described a November 18, 2002 conference call between Karl Rove’s longtime friend Bill Canary (Leura Canary’s husband), Governor Riley’s son Rob and other Riley campaign aides. Simpson alleged Bill Canary said “Rove spoke with the Department of Justice” about “pursuing” former Governor Don Siegelman and advised Riley’s staff “not to worry about Siegelman” because “his girls would take care of” him.
The “girls” allegedly referenced by Canary were his wife, Leura Canary and Alice Martin. Simpson also testified she was told by Rob Riley that Judge Mark Fuller was deliberately chosen to prosecute the Siegleman case and that Fuller would “hang” Siegelman.”
Johnson thought things would change when President Obama appointed U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance to replace Martin:
“To be honest, Vance’s office seemed to be very disinterested in this information. I was actually more confident with the response by Matt Hart.”
The Department of Justice’s seeming lack of interest in Johnson’s complaints could be related to Governor Bob Riley and Karl Rove’s ties to Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder’s former law firm Covington Burling represented George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida recount and the Republican National Committee during the White House email scandal. Rove used the RNC email system for 95-percent of his email communication. This may also explain why Holder’s solicitor general Elena Kagan filed a petition, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny hearing Siegelman’s appeal.
Bill Johnson’s circumstance is not the first case of political injustice in Alabama and many critics suspect, won’t be the last. Johnson points out, not all Alabama republicans support such chicanery but few take action:
“Republicans are not holding other republicans’feet to the fire for ethics violations. Even if it was a conflict of interest, Governor Riley is on our team and he’s making us look bad. What I did is first of all, morally right and what I’m legally obligated to do. It’s an absolute injustice. It’s government for sale.”
- Governor Rob Riley received illegal campaign contributions during his 2002 gubernatorial campaign from the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Tribe. Johnson says according to Dan Gans, the campaign was to receive some $3 million dollars from
Choctaw gambling interests. – Governor Bob Riley’s attempts to revise state law to ethics statutes by altering clauses regarding “family members.” Riley attempted to change statute wording to “household” members, which would exclude his son Rob Riley and his son-in-law Rob Campbell from being considered conflicts of interest.- Conflicts of interest between Governor Bob Riley, his son-in-law Rob Campbell and the law firm Bradley, Arant, Rose & White LLP., where Campbell is a senior partner.
Documents indicate while Governor Riley was leading negotiations for the Jefferson County Sewer debts, he allowed Campbell’s firm to negotiate Jefferson County’s potential bankruptcy. The Governor also awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to Bradley-Arant while Campbell was senior partner at the firm. Bradley-Arant is also the law firm that coordinates much of the State’s litigation activity. Johnson says:
Alabama republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Johnson, like many junior politicians, has a difficult campaign ahead of him. In Alabama, politics is a tough business and loyalties run deep among party members and supporters who pour millions of dollars into state elections. But what makes Johnson’s candidacy unique is that the Autauga County republican leadership has banned him from addressing republican voters in his home county.
Last December the committee passed a unanimous resolution blocking Johnson from campaigning, accusing him of publicizing “scurrilous charges” about sitting republican Governor Bob Riley.
Johnson has accused Governor Riley of receiving unreported campaign contributions from the Mississippi Choctaw Indians, who operate casinos about an hour away from the Alabama border. He also alleges Riley has violated a number ethics laws including funneling State contracts to his son Rob Riley and the law firm of his son-in-law Rob Campbell.
Johnson, a former Riley congressional staffer and grass roots and logistics coordinator for Riley’s gubernatorial campaigns in 2002 and 2006, was appointed by the governor as director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, a post he held before running for office.
Autauga County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Al Booth told the Associated Press there’s never been a resolution banning a candidate and is urging other committees to do the same.
“They’re working hard to shut me down,” Johnson says.
Meanwhile Booth is calling Johnson an illegitimate candidate. Johnson says Booth admitted the resolution was crafted because he was attacking Governor Riley:
“I told him I was required by law to report those issues and even though the Governor is not a candidate, he is still the Governor and accountable to the taxpayers of Alabama. He doesn’t get a free pass to get his kid on state and county payrolls. And to have republicans come out and say you should’ve broken the law and swept it under the rug and because you didn’t we’re not going to let you speak to us — it’s insane.”
Booth is also the county’s probate judge and county campaign chairman for republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne. While Governor Riley has not endorsed any candidate, he appointed Byrne as Chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. Bryne held this prior to announcing his decision to run for office.
The resolution banning Johnson from addressing members of his party not only violates free speech and freedom of association, it may violate Alabama election laws.
Johnson points out: “This is not what the GOP stands for and if they sanction me, what does it say about the party?”
Booth’s office was contacted on two occasions to determine if Autauga County Republicans support the censoring free speech but calls were not returned.
Inquiries were also made to Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele without response.
Johnson says:
“Even though Bradley Byrne’s team leader did it, I think it was orchestrated by the Governor’s office. Governor Riley is trying to shutdown my raising issues with the public. But to me the story is that the Governor is so desperate to get resolutions passed to not have me speak to Republican groups.”
While Autauga County Republicans have nearly made it impossible for Johnson to run a campaign, no investigation has been launched as to why the republican leadership would so fiercely prevent him from speaking out against Governor Riley. Johnson notes:
“This is just another instance, like the New York Congressional election, [sic] that an elite group of republicans are trying to pick a successor and the Governor is involved. I think he’s trying to keep the gravy train going with his son’s contracts and he has some deal with Bradley Byrne.”
Riley adamantly denies receiving campaign contributions from the Choctaws, who were represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But according to a 2002 U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee report Abramoff bragged the Choctaws spent $13 million electing Riley in exchange for keeping gaming out of Alabama. The report further states convicted lobbyist Michael Scanlon, Bob Riley’s former congressional press secretary, received $4.5 million over two years to protect the Choctaw’s gaming interests through the scheme known as “Operation Orange.”
Johnson says in a 2002 meeting with Riley’s Chief of Staff Dan Gans, Gans told Johnson that he coordinating the Mississippi Indian contributions on behalf of Riley’s campaign. Johnson says he didn’t put two and two together until Governor Riley formed his anti-gambling task force and began raiding and shutting down bingo halls that he realized the Choctaw funds could be influencing the Governor’s decision to keep legalized gambling and ensuing revenues out of Alabama.
“I knew about the Abramoff stuff and knew about Mike Scanlon but it never seemed like it was getting close to the Governor until it started to become quid pro quo.”
Coincidentally, David Barber, the head of Riley’s Illegal Gambling Task Force, was compelled to resign in January after he was caught gambling at the Choctaw Indian tribe casino in Mississippi.
Gans denies ever meeting with Johnson and Riley’s office discredits Johnson as a low level employee, who never worked close enough to the Governor to have knowledge of his campaign. Johnson says:
“The Governor’s office coordinated a number of people saying I was lying, that the meeting never took place. Riley even had the current Chair of the GOP say I wasn’t in the position to know that – that it never happened. So I challenged Dan Gans and the Governor to take a polygraph on these issues. Then I figured I should take a polygraph test and I passed.”
It is interesting to note, many of Riley’s business associates and former staffers either worked for or have ties to the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Tribe. Dan Gans left Alabama to work for the Alexander Strategy Group, (ASG) alongside Jack Abramoff. The Mississippi Choctaw Indian tribe was one of ASG’s main clients. Riley’s former governor’s office chief of staff Toby Roth, took a lobbying job at Capitol Resources, which represented the Mississippi Indian casino interests and his former deputy chief of staff Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, also worked there.
Johnson says after he held a press conference regarding Riley’s alleged conflicts of interest, he began receiving threats:
“The first threatening letter that that I got was an old World War II poster. Saying ‘How about a nice big cup of shut the f— up. Think before you say anything stupid.’”
This letter was sent within one hour of Johnson’s announcing his decision to run for governor, which had not yet been made public. Directly after he publicized his campaign, Johnson received a number of threats including a death threat, which he believes came from people close to Governor Bob Riley:
“I got a series of harassing letters. The death threat came after I connected the governor to Indian Gambling [sic] and why he was trying to close down gaming operations here. Remember the famous execution picture from the Viet Nam war where the soldier is holding a pistol to a man’s head? I received that picture with my face superimposed over the head getting shot with the words ‘Say goodbye to Bill,’ and that picture was on the envelope.”
At that point he filed formal complaints against Governor Riley with Attorney General Troy King, a 500 plus page dossier detailing Riley’s alleged wrongdoings, along with press clippings, threat letters and payments made from the Office of Governor to Bradley, Arant, Rose & White LLP, his son-in-law Rob Campbell’s law firm.
Johnson is calling for an investigation on four separate issues:
Complaint #1 - Conflicts of Interest between Governor Bob Riley, his son Rob Riley and the Jefferson County Occupational Tax
The January 14, 2010 document states while Riley was the lead negotiator for Jefferson County sewer debts, the County Commission approved a $725,000 and $150,000 contract for his son, attorney Rob Riley to represent Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale. The funds for Rob Riley’s services would have come from a.05% occupation tax collected by non-licensed wage earners. In 2009 a judge repealed the tax, ruling it ruled was unconstitutional. But the ruling impacted the sheriff’s budget, including funding for Rob Riley’s contracts. Hale, represented by Rob Riley, then sued the Jefferson County Commission to block its attempt to cut the budget by $5.1 million. A local judge ruled in favor of the cuts to the sheriff’s budget. Hale then appealed to Governor Bob Riley for state financial assistance, making sure to provide a letter penned by Rob Riley outlining cuts faced by the sheriff’s office which included Rob Riley’s contract. Governor Riley then lobbied for support to reinstate the Jefferson County Occupational Tax, calling a special session of the Legislature. State lawmakers passed the new occupational tax legislation, which Riley signed into law in August 2009.
Complaint #2
- Conflicts of interest between Governor Bob Riley, his son-in-law Rob Campbell and the law firm Bradley, Arant, Rose & White LLP., where Campbell is a senior partner.
Documents indicate while Governor Riley was leading negotiations for the Jefferson County Sewer debts, he allowed Campbell’s firm to negotiate Jefferson County’s potential bankruptcy. The Governor also awarded millions of dollars in no-bid contracts to Bradley-Arant while Campbell was senior partner at the firm. Bradley-Arant is also the law firm that coordinates much of the State’s litigation activity. Johnson says:
” I thought at first there were a few million in contracts. But we’re talking tens of millions in contracts — $4.7 million in July 2009 going to Bradley-Arant.”
Complaint #3
- Governor Bob Riley’s attempts to revise state law to ethics statutes by altering clauses regarding “family members.” Riley attempted to change statute wording to “household” members, which would exclude his son Rob Riley and his son-in-law Rob Campbell from being considered conflicts of interest.Complaint #4
- Governor Rob Riley received illegal campaign contributions during his 2002 gubernatorial campaign from the Mississippi Choctaw Indian Tribe. Johnson says according to Dan Gans, the campaign was to receive some $3 million dollars from
Choctaw gambling interests.
Johnson has yet to receive a response from King and says his lawyers had hoped the Alabama attorney general would have found probable cause and taken the complaint to a circuit judge who would then appoint a special grand jury to review the documents.
When reached for comment, King’s office responded, “It is a general policy of this office to neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation.” An odd response considering attorney generals across the country routinely hold press conferences to announce major investigations and indictments. The Alabama attorney general is no different. In December 2009, King publicly announced he was leading an investigation into Senator Ben Nelson’s trade off for health care reform vote. King also seemed to violate his office’s policy when he announced his ban and subsequent investigation of those using “immoral sex toys.”
But King has his own problems and was under federal investigation concerning an alleged relationship with gambling interests and selective prosecutions of some electronic bingo operators. Grand jury proceedings were held in Montgomery, home of U.S. Attorney Leura Canary while the investigation was run in Birmingham, U.S. Attorney Alice Martin’s district.
Johnson believes Canary’s decision to reopen the King investigation influenced King’s decision making with regards to Johnson’s complaints against the Governor. Last week a grand jury cleared King of all charges.
Johnson also turned over the documents last year to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Alice Martin’s office but never heard anything. He also met with the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity head Matt Hart. Hart was also former Alabama Assistant U.S. Distrtict Attorney and the lead prosecutor in former Alabama Governor Don Siegleman’s case. During proceedings, Judge U.W. Clemons reprimanded Hart for a lack of prima facie evidence to move forward with the case.
Yet there may be underlying reasons for Martin’s alleged inaction, her ties to Governor Bob Riley. Both Martin and Canary were identified by Siegelman whistleblower Dana Jill Simpson as Riley operatives. During congressional testimony, Simpson described a November 18, 2002 conference call between Karl Rove’s longtime friend Bill Canary (Leura Canary’s husband), Governor Riley’s son Rob and other Riley campaign aides. Simpson alleged Bill Canary said “Rove spoke with the Department of Justice” about “pursuing” former Governor Don Siegelman and advised Riley’s staff “not to worry about Siegelman” because “his girls would take care of” him.
The “girls” allegedly referenced by Canary were his wife, Leura Canary and Alice Martin. Simpson also testified she was told by Rob Riley that Judge Mark Fuller was deliberately chosen to prosecute the Siegleman case and that Fuller would “hang” Siegelman.”
Johnson thought things would change when President Obama appointed U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance to replace Martin:
“To be honest, Vance’s office seemed to be very disinterested in this information. I was actually more confident with the response by Matt Hart.”
The Department of Justice’s seeming lack of interest in Johnson’s complaints could be related to Governor Bob Riley and Karl Rove’s ties to Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder’s former law firm Covington Burling represented George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida recount and the Republican National Committee during the White House email scandal. Rove used the RNC email system for 95-percent of his email communication. This may also explain why Holder’s solicitor general Elena Kagan filed a petition, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to deny hearing Siegelman’s appeal.
Bill Johnson’s circumstance is not the first case of political injustice in Alabama and many critics suspect, won’t be the last. Johnson points out, not all Alabama republicans support such chicanery but few take action:
“Republicans are not holding other republicans’feet to the fire for ethics violations. Even if it was a conflict of interest, Governor Riley is on our team and he’s making us look bad. What I did is first of all, morally right and what I’m legally obligated to do. It’s an absolute injustice. It’s government for sale.”
ohh…nice article but definitely?/?
I will tweet this specific thing yesterday All though you posted it. Ill mention your post.