Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Press Release From Aide Jessica Medeiros Garrison Reveals Luther Strange's Hypocrisy On Gambling


Luther Strange and
 Jessica Medeiros Garrison 
Many of us probably thought no one could top former Alabama Governor Bob Riley when it comes to political hypocrisy. After all, Riley is the guy who spent the last two years of his administration conducting a crusade against gambling, even though GOP felon Jack Abramoff revealed in a 2011 book that he helped funnel some $20 million in Indian gaming cash into Alabama to boost Riley in the 2002 governor's race.

Luther Strange, Alabama's current attorney general and one of Riley's closest allies, is making a serious run for the title of "World's Biggest Political Hypocrite." Since Luther stands 6-8, he is a big hypocrite in every sense of the term.

At the heart of the storm is Jessica Medeiros Garrison, who was campaign manager for Strange's 2010 attorney general race and remains one of the AG's closest confidants.

All of this comes to mind because of a recent report from Montgomery Independent publisher Bob Martin, whose work appears in the Atmore News and a number of newspapers around the state. Martin reports that the Alabama Ethics Commission recently ruled that Strange can keep a $100,000 campaign contribution from the Poarch Creek casinos. Writes Martin:

Shortly after The Montgomery Independent reported last October that Mr. Strange accepted the money, an ethics complaint challenging the contribution was filed by Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford. 
Ford accused Mr. Strange of threatening raids on the VictoryLand in order to seize its electronic bingo machines, an event that occurred a few months later. 
The commission’s general counsel, Hugh R. Evans, has written Mayor Ford that the commission has now closed the case, telling Mr. Ford the commission has carefully reviewed the notebook of information he provided.

How closely did the commission examine the material that Ford submitted? Probably not all that closely. In fact, Martin writes that evidence suggests only Evans, and not the entire commission, reviewed the material.

What grounds did Evans give for rejecting Ford's complaint? He says there is "no nexus between the Poarch Creek Indians' contribution and General Strange." No nexus? Here is an online definition of the word "nexus":

A means of connection; a link or tie

Evans admits in his letter that both Luther Strange and the Alabama Republican Party received money from the Poarch Creeks. In other words, money went from Point A to Point B--and from Point A to Point C. I would call that a pretty serious nexus.

How does Jessica Medeiros Garrison enter the picture? It comes from a press release she produced on March 11, 2010, in the midst of Strange's primary contest against incumbent Troy King. (See full release at the end of this post.)

Garrison takes King to task for accepting gambling money in his campaign. From the press release:

Public records show that at least $190 thousand in campaign contributions from gambling operators, slot machine manufactures and their lobbyists were funneled to the Troy King campaign through a series of PAC to PAC transfers.

On February 18, 2010, Mr. King told radio listeners that he would return contributions made to his campaign if it were shown those funds came directly or indirectly from gambling interests. Research of public records clearly shows the trail of money from gambling interests to political action committees to King.

Garrison goes on to call for King to return the gambling funds, which she claims add up to at least $190,000. She says King might need to return as much as $400,000.

Let's see if we have this straight: In March 2010, Jessica Medeiros Garrison was exorcised over the fact that public records showed Troy King accepted campaign funds from gambling interests. But we now know that just a few months later--between July 15 and August 4, 2010, to be precise--Luther Strange accepted at least $100,000 from gambling interests, specifically the Poarch Creek Indians.

Is Jessica Medeiros Garrison calling on Luther Strange to return funds that he received from gambling interests? We haven't heard a peep out of her. As for Big Luther himself, it appears he intends to keep every dime that the Alabama Ethics Commission says has no "nexus" to the Poarch Creeks.

Jessica and Big Luther have some serious "splainin" to do. They also should be proud that their hypocrisy rivals that of Bob Riley. That, indeed, is quite an achievement.





28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post LS,

In Alabama politics the Fox's are definitely watching the hen house. The GOP tribe is in control and fear no repercussions for their actions. They think the citizens of Alabama are out of the loop, to naive and ignorant to catch on. Keep up the good work LS!!!

Anonymous said...

Jessica couldn't 'splain her baby to her husband . . .woncder how Big Luther 'splains it to his wife ?

Anonymous said...

A lot of people in Montgomery are aware of Strange's affair with Medeiros-Garrison and the fact that he has gotten her jobs with money paths for gambling. WHY ISN'T MSM REPORTTING THIS??? Or at least asking questions?????

Anonymous said...

I think they make a cute couple!

Anonymous said...

Look like tribe cash help Luther bag cute squaw. That make for happy teepee

Anonymous said...

Buying influence with Luther Strange--$100,000

Catching Luther Strange as a phony--priceless.

Anonymous said...

Love the pic, LS. You can bet that's going to make the rounds.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Luther have a couple of sons who would be more age appropriate for young Jess?

Oh wait, how many sons does Luther have?

Anonymous said...

I wonder how much Jessica herself has benefited from tribal wampum.

That jewelry and those threads look mighty snazzy.

Anonymous said...

That looks like the kind of privacy fence many houses have in the Crestline section of Mountain Brook.

Anonymous said...

Tonto say:

"Big Luther speak with forked tongue. Big Luther gettum Big Wampum to keep white man from taking casino from our people. Now Big Luther have Big Problem - one too many Squaws and a Papoose to boot!"

Anonymous said...

Where was Jess' husband when that picture was taken? I'm sure he could have taken time out from duties with Tuscaloosa City Council to pose with a distinguished gentleman like Big Luther.

Anonymous said...

Never thought I would yearn for the good ole days of Trojan King.

Anonymous said...

Jess divorced her husband while working under Big Luther . . .now she and the young Strange . . .er GARRISON . . .live in Mountain Brook where they are frequently visited by proud daddy . . .er UNCLE . . .Luther . . .

Anonymous said...

Who is more worthless, Eric Holder or Robert Bentley? Nate Silver says that race is way too close to call.

Anonymous said...

I hear Jess' son already has been made partner at Bradley Arant. Passed bar exam on first try!

Anonymous said...

2010 Luther says bad bad Troy King took gambling money...shameful...return it all!!! 2010 the OTHER Luther accepts 100K from PCI...won't admit or return it and does it with an "in your face" attitude. You think it's a co-wink-a-dink that Jessica now works for RSLC the group that laundered the $100k PCI contribution? She also works "of counsel" at a B'ham law firm. I think that title means she makes big bucks for little work. Probably another Strange-Riley arrangement.

Anonymous said...

The 'South' has a legacy that continues to follow along behind the old dirt, the new dirt same story.

Gambling, sexual encounters of the hot and steamy clime, climb, and whatever rhymes.

Brains maybe boiled in the sun caused more damage than what was already done to the lineages after its fall, fate same in China.

Lots of low hanging fruit.

The Rove Tribe was not going to lose betting on the ignorant people in the South, see his conquering of so many.

Can't Rove be sued by the people in the South? Some law says he can't do what has been done, but it is going to take curiosity greater than Rove's mendacity.

jeffrey spruill said...

Anon@ 8:51 AM

Eric Holder:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/05/us-drone-strike_n_2813857.html

legalschnauzer said...

Anon at 9:43--

You make a number of excellent points. It appears that JMG's appointment at Balch & Bingham is little more than a front. Not sure why Luther didn't set her up at Bradley Arant. But Team Riley might have figured that would be a bad move, drawing attention to the fact they funneled some $8 million in public money to Bradley Arant during the Riley admin. Balch & Bingham is filled with a bunch of corporate toadies, just like Bradley Arant, so they decided to pinch hit by putting JMG on their roster "as counsel."

Anonymous said...

I know it may seem funny to make light of the child born into this mess, but he had no choice. He's going to have a difficult enough time with this when he gets older. Let's show a little humanity please.

Anonymous said...

News Flash!

Just this morning, Jessica Medeiros Garrison has decided to start working on a press release, calling for Luther Strange to return his gambling money.

Our sources say Jessica is a painstakingly slow writer, and an exceedingly cautious proof reader, so the statement is not expected for immediate release.

The target date for release is sometime in early 2087. Her son's grandson is expected to make the announcement.

Anonymous said...

I watched a video the other day of Luther and his wife.She was praising Luther for being a man of integrity,I wonder how she feels about him now?

legalschnauzer said...

Is it possible that Melissa Strange is in the dark about this?

Anonymous said...

I don't see how Melissa Strange could not know about Luther's illegitimate child. Everyone in the Alabama GOP seems to now be aware of that.

Anonymous said...

LS that would have to be an affirmative. After all, she married Lerch so she can't be very bright. However, on the other hand, she could be supportive because she's just happy she gets her free time. If I were Melissa, I'd welcome him having an affair. Lucky for her it's hard for folks to figure. Maybe an insider could enlighten?

Anonymous said...

6:47 we need to call Dana.. Dana don't lie (DNA)

Anonymous said...

6:47 we need to call Dana.. Dana don't lie (DNA)