By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
MONTGOMERY–Lawyers defending former Gov. Don Siegelman on charges that he sought to manipulate a Medicaid contract are howling in protest.
They contend federal prosecutors have no right to make any mention to the jury of some very expensive gifts Siegelman received while in office because it has nothing to do with the pending case.
They are right that the gifts are unrelated to the current trial.
But federal prosecutors take an opposite view–they have argued that in accepting the gifts–a motorcycle, an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV), guns…Siegelman showed a pattern of conduct which is in fact related to the other case.
Somewhat surprisingly, Siegelman's attorneys have argued that there was nothing wrong with the former governor accepting the gifts.
That will be a difficult point to sell to a jury.
In most instances, gifts of that magnitude are nearly always motivated by one of two reasons….in hopes of getting something in return or to avoid being punished.
A survey released a few days ago showed the cost of health insurance increased an alarming 11 percent last year and there is no let up in sight.
Gov. Bob Riley appointed a commission to look for ways to reduce the cost of insurance for some 200,000 teachers, state employees and retirees but thus far the group has not come close to any sort of remedy.
Riley had indicated he would call a special session of the legislature to address this crisis, but with no recommendations from the commission it now seems unlikely such a session will be called.
AU pollster Jim Seroka said he thinks the numbers in the poll clearly show that most Alabamians don't want religious beliefs to become a part of the agenda of office seekers.
Perhaps the most troubling numbers in the poll for ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore was that 58 percent of those polled felt the Ten Commandments controversy had attracted too much attention.
Carter was a younger brother of Asa Carter, who will go down in Alabama political history as the man who wrote Gov. Wallace's defiant proclamation in his 1963 inauguration address: "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."
Doug Carter made two unsuccessful statewide races, losing a bid for the GOP nomination for the U. S. Senate in 1984 and the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 1986.
Asa Carter not only wrote political speeches for Wallace but was a successful author as well. He authored a western novel, "The Outlaw Josey Wales," which became a hugely popular movie starring Clint Eastwood.
James Kenneth Marlowe of Demopolis has been buying Florida lottery tickets ever since it began in 1988…and….he has always played the exact same numbers: 1, 6, 8, 11, 12 and 37.
His persistency finally paid off. He won the Florida lottery last week. The total pay-off was $18 million but he opted to take his winnings in a one-time payment of $9.8 million.