Russia-based attack on Roy Moore's Twitter account is a glaring sign that Democrat Doug Jones is in bed with right wingers who use underhanded campaign tactics

Roy Moore
(From joemygod.com)

Just three days ago, we reported that Alabama pro-business elites -- including Jeff Sessions, Bob Riley, and Bill Canary -- have enjoyed long-standing ties to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a close ally of Vladimir Putin. Just nine days ago, we reported that Birmingham attorney Doug Jones, now a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, colluded with GOP operative Rob Riley to funnel damaging information about defendants in the Alabama bingo case to federal prosecutors.

Those two stories collided with a bang yesterday, with reports that the Twitter account of Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, Jones' opponent, came under a Russia-based cyber attack. The Moore campaign said more than 1,000 fake Twitter accounts, originating from Russia, started following him over the weekend. A Moore spokesperson promptly pointed a finger at the Jones campaign, and a prominent Alabama opposition researcher and whistle blower says they probably are on target.

Jill Simpson, who helped bring the Don Siegelman political prosecution to light, says TwitterGate is a sign that Jones is not running a typical Democratic campaign, the kind that normally focuses on issues that matter to progressive voters. Instead, many of Jones' influential backers are Republicans, who long have resorted to underhanded campaign tactics, such as the cyber attack on Roy Moore. Simpson said three weeks ago that if Moore beat Luther Strange in the GOP runoff -- and he did, handily -- Strange's pro-business supporters would fall in line behind Jones.

Well, that already appears to be happening, with the attack on Moore's Twitter account. From a post yesterday at Jill Simpson's Facebook account (with editing for clarity and brevity):

It appears Doug's Republican friends at the Canary and Riley camp thought they could dump a bunch of . . . Oleg Deripaska Russian spy bots on Moore's Web site and get away with it.

Well Roy has caught them and apparently reported those bots immediately. And the way he knew it was caused by Doug's sorry bunch is they had alerted the press within minutes of it happening. Everyone should watch closely as Doug Jones is not running the typical Democratic campaign in Alabama; even his ad says that he will work with Republicans to get stuff done. He does not say that about Democrats; in his ad, he specifically mentions working with Republicans.

[Jones] is the big Alabama Business Council and Chamber of Commerce candidate; they have let everyone know through the press in the past week they don't support Moore. Doug Jones is their swamp monster in the race, and both the religious right and the progressives know it -- and it is disgusting what a fast trick the Canary team has pulled on the true Democrats in Alabama, who ought to throw Canary and his gang out of Democratic headquarters. Doug has been the Riley-Canary pick all along.

How did Doug Jones come to be a Republican Trojan Horse? Simpson explains:

The corrupt Riley-Canary bunch love Old Doug Jones, the so-called Democrat who in his ad says he will go to Washington to help Republicans get things done. Democrats in Alabama are nuts if they vote for this very corrupt Riley-Canary Democrat. 

Why do the Republicans like Jones so much? Because he helped them send our beloved Progressive Democratic Governor Don Siegelman to prison -- and helped them harass Milton McGregor, a person they see as an opponent to their big casino donor, the Poarch Creek Indians. And I might add Milton always funded Democrats when they were winning, but Republicans have tied him up in court messes.

Doug is a snake in the grass. Just ask real progressives and grassroots folks in Alabama;  we have being dealing with his Rob Riley and Bill Canary bullshit for years. The problem for us is that Jones is big buddies with the Clinton and Biden DNC elites crowd. Doug must have them fooled and probably will snitch on them, as well, before all is said and done -- and yet, they came down here and told our state leadership to support him,  along with Canary saying this, so we are stuck with him, but he is not a good progressive Democrat.

If elected, how might Jones benefit from his cozy relationship with Alabama Republicans? Simpson spells it out:

Jones is going to go to Washington and do exactly what his ad says -- work with Republicans like Riley and Canary; we all know it, and Jones will help fill the Riley and Canary coffers with Senate lobbyist money from out of state, to be use against our true progressive candidates in 2018 and 2020, if we don't stop him. 

Hell, he has been working with them for years down here. They have given Jones one government-assignment job after the next, under the Republican administration, run by Karl Rove. 

Jones made his money working with Rob Riley in a $51-million civil case against Mr Siegelman's co -defendant, Richard Scrushy. All the while, Jones was screwing up  Siegelman's criminal defense. Jones is the famous dumb-bell lawyer who extended the statute of limitations for the prosecution. No lawyer you ask know would agree to extend a criminal statute of limitations, but Doug did, and it was for Bill Canary and Rob Riley. About six weeks before old Don's case came up, Doug got out of it.

As we've reported here, Jones charged Siegelman $300,000 for a criminal defense he did not perform -- and we've seen no signs that Jones ever returned a penny of that money. Evidence is overwhelming that Doug Jones repeatedly stabbed Don Siegelman in the back -- helping to support the most gross political prosecution in American history. Now, Jones apparently is counting on Alabama Democrats to be blind enough to think he actually backs their interests. Joe Biden already has come to the state, touting Jones' "integrity."

Doug Jones
(From wkrg.com)

Even the one positive on Jones' record -- his participation in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing case, resulting in Bobby Frank Cherry's conviction -- is tainted with grimy Republican fingerprints. Writes Simpson:

We now pretty much know when Jones started snitching [for Republicans]; it was when Canary gave the go-ahead to Bill Pryor [then Alabama's attorney general] to hire Doug on the Cherry case. Ever since then, he has been in the Republican's good graces, doing their bidding and selling out his own clients -- and it's our belief he did it for his personal benefit, to eventually run for office.

As for me, I have zero doubt -- knowing the Canary and Riley clan's connections to Oleg Deripaska -- they pulled a dirty trick on Roy Moore, to benefit Doug Jones. Most folks don't realize it, but Paul Manafort's partner was Rick Davis, and he is very good friends with Canary, Riley, and Sessions -- what we call the Alabama Gang. Got to hand it to them; they tried a very nasty trick and Roy called them on it.

What was the purpose of the attack on Moore's Twitter account? It apparently was designed to con the public into thinking Moore had support from Russia. The Jones campaign, Simpson says, is the one actually tied to Russian interests:

Most folks in the nation don't realize it, but the Russian problem in the Republican Party is rooted in Alabama's Riley-Canary bunch. They got in bed with Oleg Deripaska years ago, and we progressives in Alabama have been talking about Manafort for eight or nine years loudly -- and two years before that, when I came forward [in the Siegelman case]. Roy Moore has for years stood up against the corrupt Canary bunch, which is why they go after him so hard. I don't agree with Roy's views, as they are too conservative for my taste, but many Alabamians believe as he does, and they don't want a corrupt leader from the Canary-Riley team. And well, Doug Jones is corrupt to the core, and progressives know it, so what the heck do we do on election day?

Simpson suggests the best course of action for Democrats is to stay home on Dec. 12:

I know many of my friends are writing in progressive names, and some are writing in Don Siegelman. But folks really need to think here. We have to ask: Do we vote for Doug, who is supported by corrupt Republican wolves -- and they plan on sending him to D.C., so he can make them a bunch of money to run against our good progressive candidates we are grooming? I hope the answer becomes: We stay home and don't vote for a Republican snitch; after all, he is the very person responsible for helping ruin the Alabama Democratic Party, snitching for Republican masters like Canary and Riley. . . .  

[Republicans] made him rich enough to run, thanks to his HealthSouth case with Rob Riley, but do we want a Republican snitch representing Democrats and progressives in D.C.?

Simpson already has seen signs of threats coming in her direction for speaking out against Jones:

I, too, had an ugly trick played on me, in that I was called and told Doug Jones was going to be endorsed by Siegelman on November 2, which broke my heart. But then I learned it was not so and just a dirty Doug supporter trying to cause trouble. 

I also was told, when I confronted the person about it, that Doug, with his connections since being formerly connected to the DOJ, could have me investigated and harassed by all kinds of regulatory folks, like the IRS. So I think folks should know Jones and his people are up to no good, and one of his supporters warned me what was next if I don't shut up. 

I told the person who called me I am not scared of Doug Jones. Plus, I pointed out that when Jones offered, through the same person many months before, to get my law license off disability -- a trick Rob Riley and his Republican buddies came up with -- they could kiss my ass. I wasn't helping and would do everything in my power to beat the jerks, as I have known all along what they did. I missed a hearing for a broken neck, awaiting surgery, and that  never should have been a cause for threatening to disbar me, which is why I went out on disability. . . . 

By the way, I've enjoyed being away from the practice of law, as it has gotten so corrupt; if a fairy showed up and gave me three wishes, not one of them would be about practicing law in a corrupt system like Alabama, where Canary and the BCA rule the roost. 

On a positive note, Alabama Republicans are between a rock and a hard place -- with Roy Moore, who holds some way-out beliefs on the Christian-right fringe, and Doug Jones, who is basically the corrupt Republican running as a Democrat, who has been their snitch for years. 

My suggestion to progressives is stay home, don't vote for either, and send a message to D.C. to give us real progressive candidates. We can't let them make a bunch of lobbyist money to use against us in 2018, when we will have a great slate of real progressives. 

Doug Jones is not the answer for Alabama progressives. He will make a bunch of lobbyist money for Bob and Rob Riley and Canary. I might add they had their voters stay home in the Roy-Luther race, but will turn their folks out for Doug Jones. They think progressives will turn out for Doug, but we have to say no. Doug is not a progressive, and he will not help us. Watch his ad; he says he will work with Republicans.