By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—Today, Deputy Attorney General, Henry T. “Sonny” Reagan will appear before his boss to determine if he will retain his position with that office.
According to Special Acting Attorney General, W. Van Davis, the man overseeing the investigation of Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, “Reagan, for a period of months, had undisclosed communications with individuals affiliated with people indicted or under investigation by the Lee County Special Grand Jury. Reagan also took other action to impede or obstruct the investigation.”
In September, the State’s Attorney General Luther Strange placed Reagan on administrative leave after the Lee County Grand Jury found that he had been leaking information to suspects or affiliates of those under investigation.
If Reagan is fired, he will have 10 days to file an appeal with the State Personnel Board, at which time a public hearing would be set to hear the reasons he should not be terminated from his position as Deputy Attorney General.
While Reagan’s current job is not a merit position, he was appointed to that office while a merit employee and therefore upon termination would return to his merit status, thus granting him the right for an appeal before the board.
On September, 14, the Alabama Political Reporter first published unsealed documents which reveal that Reagan unsuccessfully tried to quash his subpoena to testify before the Lee County Grand Jury on August 27, 2014.
Reagan was represented before the The Lee County Circuit Court and later before an Alabama higher court by Bill Baxley and Rob Riley, the son of former Gov. Bob Riley. Baxley at the time also represented indicted Republican lawmaker State Rep. Barry Moore.
The court rejected Reagan’s writ against his Lee County testimony, at which time Reagan sought to have the court documents sealed from the public. The court denied Reagan’s request and unsealed the documents.
In his petition, Reagan challenged the validity of a subpoena he was served, as well as the Grand Jury itself. He also argued the Grand Jury was illegally convened and is being illegally operated. Reagan sided against his boss, Attorney General Luther Strange, with Baxley in saying that Strange did not have the right to appoint W. Van Davis to act on the AG’s behalf in the Lee County Grand Jury (this was the argument put forward by Baxley in the Moore case, which was rejected by Lee Country Circuit Court Judge Jacob A.Walker III and an Alabama upper court).
The court once again found that Strange did have the authority to appoint Davis and that the Grand Jury is legal.
Also in the petition, Reagan argued that Hart was retaliating against him because he had filed a “personnel complaint” with Charla G. Doucet, Chief of the Attorney General’s administrative division. These types of complaints are the first steps in an administrative process which could see Hart reassigned or fired from his position as Chief of the White Collar Crimes Division. In his complaint to the AG, Reagan asked that Hart be reassigned.
In August, the Alabama Political Reporter revealed that sources from both within and outside of the Attorney General’s Office had confirmed that Luther Strange’s Chief Deputy, Kevin Turner, was orchestrating a plot to remove chief prosecutor Matt Hart from the Lee Country Grand Jury investigation. A plan was devised to have a “personnel compliant” lodged against Hart. Reagan, it appears, was the instrument used to deliver the coup de grâce against Hart.
Hubbard, who is also represented by Rob Riley, stands charged with 23 felony counts of public corruption.
Rob Riley’s father and sister, Former Governor Bob Riley and Minda Riley Champbell, respectively, are both named in the Hubbard indictments.
