By Bill Britt
Alabama Political Reporter
MONTGOMERY—The day after the 2015 legislative session ended, newly re-elected Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard took to the air waves of his radio station WANI, again, attempting to drive home the idea that his indictment on 23 felony counts of public corruption was little more than a political witch hunt perpetrated by a rouge prosecutor. As proof that his indictments were nothing more than politics, he offered that he had been re-elected by the voters of his district, and was overwhelmingly re-elected speaker by a bi-partisan coalition.
“…It really was no surprise. I was, of course, honored to be re-elected. The fact that the vast majority of the Democrats only one voted against me. It was 99-1 and Alvin Holmes of Montgomery voted for himself. Yeah, Alvin, I think, does that stuff just because he’s Alvin,” said Hubbard on Thursday.
In the lengthy interview conducted by Andy Burcham, who is the station manager at WANI and Hubbard’s employee, Hubbard talked about how “heartwarming” the “outpouring of support from both sides of the aisle” had been for him. He also told the listening audience, “I’ve been Speaker of the House and, of course, with all the things that have been going on with me, I think people realize that it could be them in it’s political nature and the attacks that are coming it could be anybody in the House and from that standpoint I think everybody is kinda rallying around me which is really heartwarming. I really appreciate it.”
Recently, Hubbard’s attorney J. Mark White filed a motion with the Lee County Circuit Court to have the charges dismissed against him because the prosecution had tainted the jury pool in Lee County. But here, Hubbard is speaking directly to many of the citizen’s of Lee County, saying his indictments are politically motivated.
Hubbard continues the conversation by recounting how difficult his indictments have been on his family, “Well, it’s been stressful. I’m not gonna lie about that, it’s always stressful. And I really hate it for my wife and two boys because they really don’t deserve it. And it’s been very stressful for them. And I don’t wish this upon anybody.”
Hubbard then repeats the theme that the investigation that led to his arrest was political, saying, “They know that it’s political, it’s a witch hunt, we’ve got a rogue prosecutor and, unfortunately, we have an absentee Attorney General. And it is all tied to politics.” Once again, he points to his re-election in the District and as Speaker as proof that the his felony charges are simply politics. “You know, it’s stressful to have to go through it, Andy, but, you know I’m confident, not worried about the outcome, because, at the end of the day, the truth will come out, so…I’m not concerned about that, it’s just, it’s concerning the level to which people will go, certain entities, and what they will do in the name of politics when they’re trying to change the leadership,” Hubbard said.
Hubbard goes on to tell the listeners in Lee County that he is looking forward to his pre-trial hearing at the end of January. “I’m just anxious to get it going because I’m anxious for us to start exposing all the things we have and all the facts that we have and up until now have been unable to even talk about,” said Hubbard. “And I’m anxious to get that going for people to understand what’s going on even more than they suspect now and I think that their suspicions are going to be validated and hopefully we’ll put this behind us.”
On Jan. 1, 2015, Hubbard filed a motion to have, “any pleading or document which contains or includes any allegation of any extrinsic evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts…,” placed under seal, because it might prejudice a jury pool and yet here on WANI, a broadcast station he owns, he is giving a large audience of potential jurors “his side” of the story.
Hubbard concludes this portion of the interview be reminding listeners that Rep. Barry Moore was acquitted of his perjury indictments. “You know Barry Moore? He was a House member who was implicated in some part of it. They had his trial. It took two days and it took just a little bit of time for that jury to figure out exactly what was going on with that. And, of course, found him completely innocent and the same thing is gonna happen here, it’s just the matter of the time.”
Hubbard would have the public believe that rouge prosecutors, loosed by an absentee Attorney General, have led to the felony criminal charges against him. He would also offer as evidence of his innocence, his re-election as Representative in District 79 and Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives.
