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Alabama Scene
Judge Fuller, in a meticulous, 57- page order, denied the two men’s request that their original conviction be set aside and a new trial held. While conceding that two members of the jury had acted improperly in getting material on the trial from the internet, Judge Fuller said that these actions…improper though they were…was not sufficient to grant the Siegelman/Scrushy petition. Siegelman said he was “stunned” by the ruling and left no doubt it would be appealed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. **** The prediction was made in this column a few weeks ago that Sen. Lowell Barron’s days were numbered as president pro tem of the Senate. My point was that he had become too much of a lightning rod and that even some of the strongest supporters of the Democrat from Fyffe felt he had to be replaced. Sen. Barron denied all this speculation, insisting he was confident he had the votes to be re-elected. But a few days ago he announced that he would not be a candidate for the powerful position. Barron gave no reason for his decision, but Sen. Steve French, RMountain Brooke, said it was because Barron knew he couldn’t win. “I guess he reads the writing on the wall,” French said. Who is likely to succeed him to this post…an office which has more perks than perhaps any other than the governor? If the uneasy coalition of 12 Republicans and the six (or maybe seven) Democrats stick together…and there is no guarantee it will…then Sen. Jim Preuitt, D-Talladega, appears to be the favorite. If so, that should make for some interesting collisions in the upcoming session. Barron funneled thousands of dollars into the campaign in a futile attempt to beat Preuitt in the recent election. To say that they don’t like each other is an understatement. **** This has to be one of the most bizarre stories of the year. A man was driving west last week on I-10 in Mobile in his 2006 F-350 Ford pick up when he was stopped for speeding. The arresting officer, a mite suspicious, had with him a drug-sniffing dog. The canine’s ears perked up at something he smelled…the truck was searched and $1,000,000 in cash…all in twenty dollar bills…was found in a hidden compartment. And before you calculate it yourself, I have done it for you. That is 50,000 twenty dollar bills. **** Perhaps it has something to do with growing old, but I can’t remember things that happened yesterday but I find myself remembering the oddest things from long ago. For example, when I went through Marine Corps boot camp in 1943 I was the only Southerner in a 60-man platoon. Most of the others were from upstate New York. It was from them that I was introduced to an expression I had never heard before…”enough already.” I had no idea what it meant but I finally found out. It meant to shut up, to drop the subject. Allow me to use that expression in addressing outgoing Secretary of State Nancy Worley and incoming Secretary of State Beth Chapman. They have been jawing at each other since the election. Chapman says Worley isn’t being cooperative in this time of transition…Worley says she has “extended an olive branch” to Chapman but she slapped it out of her hand. On and on it has gone for the past month. Frankly their conduct reflects on both of them. Enough already.
Bob Ingram has been covering Alabama politics for over 50 years.
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