By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
If tomorrow’s headlines read “Obama Charged with 23 Counts of Felony Public Corruption” the outrage voiced by Alabama lawmakers would be second to none. From Washington DC to Washington County, Alabama ’s Republican lawmakers would be calling for the President to resign immediately, without so much as a mention of being presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Speaker Mike Hubbard and ALGOP Chairman Bill Armistead would be the first to fire off a series of press releases with Hubbard taking to Facebook, to see how many likes he could accumulate by shouting “I told you, Obama was a crook.”
However, Hubbard is charged with 23 Felony counts of public corruption, and instead of calls for him to step down, there is rally held in his support, while the rest of the State’s GOP leaders remain conspicuously quiet.
The Latin word virulentus, meaning, “a poisoned wound” or “full of poison,” comes to mind when thinking about how our State lawmakers have reacted to Hubbard indictments.
Allowing Hubbard to remain in office, much less remain Speaker of the House, shows just how far the poison has spread.
Dante Alighieri observed that, “The darkest places in Hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”
Our State is in a time of moral crisis, and yet, even the State’s Democrats remain largely mute.
Not one newspaper editorial board has called for Hubbard to step aside, on the contrary, they have repeatedly allowed Hubbard to spin false statements with impunity.
Only this publication and the State’s highest ranking law enforcement office has dared to challenge the foul lies that Hubbard and his attorney J. Mark White have spewed like so much vomit from a dogs mouth.
How is it that former law enforcement officers like Republican Representatives Mike Ball, Allen Farley and Mac McCutcheon could stand cheering, as US Representative Mike Rogers accused the State’s attorney general of “Chicago style, gutter politics?”
If Rogers were charged with the same felony counts as Hubbard, he would have been required by the US House Republican Caucus to immediately step down from any leadership role.
Rogers is the lone voice coming from DC and he thinks that the State’s attorney general is crook, not his friend Hubbard.
What about the State’s other Republican Reps, Martha Roby, Bradley Byrne, Mo Brooks, Richard Aderholt and Gary Palmer? Do they think that the attorney general is engaged in a rogue prosecution?
Other than Rogers, there is only silence.
They will say that this is a State government matter, and that they should remain neutral. But, Rogers has already shattered that excuse. As Justice Brandeis said, “Neutrality is, at times, a graver sin than belligerence.”
However, if tomorrow, the headlines were about felony charges against the most powerful political figure in the country, the bonfire of indignation would rage like an inferno.
But when the most powerful political leader in the State of Alabama is charged with 23 counts of Felony public corruption, the silence from Washington DC, to Washington County is deafening.
