Is the Alabama press finally waking up to the stench that regularly emanates from the Bob Riley administration?
Former Democratic Governor Don Siegelman sits in a federal prison on a corruption conviction, but the Alabama press seems to look the other way when Riley, a Republican, is caught in questionable dealings.
But perhaps that is changing somewhat. Scott Horton, of Harper's, notes that solid reporting by Bob Lowry of The Huntsville Times and Bob Johnson of the Associated Press uncovered the curious handling of a contract for computer services. The $3.7 million contract went to ACS Heritage, which did not present the lowest bid. Also, the CEO of ACS recently stepped down in the wake of an ethics investigation, and the company has less than a year of experience in contracting work.
So what does ACS have to offer? Well, it hired Toby Roth, former chief of staff for Riley. Roth also served as finance director on Harold See's campaign for the Alabama Supreme Court, which was managed by none other than Karl Rove. See's victory was a key step in giving Alabama an overwhelmingly Republican court system, one we will show here at Legal Schnauzer is corrupt from top to bottom.
Is this cronyism of the highest order? Will the Alabama press stay on the story? Should the Justice Department be looking into this kind of quid pro quo? If it isn't, is this another example of selective prosecution--not pursuing a case for political reasons--as practiced by the Bush DOJ?
You're not very factual here. Riley had nothing to do with selecting the contract winner. A screening committee of several physicians, Medicaid officials and Dept. of Senior Services representatives graded the bids based on a 40-page evaluation. The proposal with the highest score won. The press knows this.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll be amazed in the days to come at exactly what the press knows. They know that this one is as dirty as they come.
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