By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Wednesday June 28, 2017, Republican US Senate candidate Dr. Randy Brinson called Senator Luther Strange (R) “Mr. Corruption” at a news conference in Montgomery. Brinson claimed that Luther Strange’s actions, while Alabama Attorney General, delayed the impeachment proceeding against former Governor Robert Bentley (R) and prolonged the Bentley saga. Brinson suggested that Strange did this in order to get the US Senate appointment from the embattled Governor of February 9, to replace Sen. Jeff Sessions who became US Attorney General.
Dr. Brinson said in a statement: “In Alabama, we wake up every morning to news stories of graft, corruption and crooked deals from our city halls and county courthouses all the way to right here in Montgomery. In the last year, we’ve had the head of every branch of State Government: Executive, Legislative, Judicial–removed from office. None of the dirty deals Alabamians have gotten from their own leaders matches the corrupt bargain Luther Strange – ‘Mr. Corruption’ himself – made with Robert Bentley to get Alabama’s Senate seat.”
Brinson continued, “You all know the story. There is every indication Strange’s appointment was part of a corrupt deal. We know for a fact that Luther Strange stopped impeachment investigations by the Legislature into Robert Bentley’s misconduct not once but TWICE. First in November 2016, when the election of President Trump made an opening in the US Senate likely, and again in January 2017 when Luther Strange was being interviewed by Governor Bentley for the now-open Senate seat. Both times, Luther Strange said there was an ongoing investigation into the Governor’s actions by his office, and used this investigation by the Attorney General’s office as his justification for asking the Legislature to stop their inquiries. Then, by some amazing coincidence, just TWO WEEKS after Strange stopped the Legislature’s investigation for the second time, Bentley appointed him to the US Senate.”
Dr. Brinson said, “The rest, as they say, is history. Robert Bentley appointed Luther Strange to the Senate in February. The Legislature resumed their investigation into Governor Bentley in March, and in April, Governor Bentley accepted a plea deal and resigned his office in disgrace. As Attorney General, Luther Strange had a responsibility to the People of Alabama to prosecute Bentley for his illegal actions, but he didn’t.”
Brinson went further, “If it was just the appointment itself, Luther Strange might be forgiven for how it looked. Sadly for Alabama, his appointment to the Senate is just the latest in a series of questionable incidents involving Luther Strange over the years. My staff and I have just begun connecting the dots on a pattern of negligence in his duty and questionable financial dealings with Big Money interests throughout Luther Strange’s career. If anyone deserves the title of ‘Mr. Corruption’, it’s Luther Strange. Now he’s campaigning to keep the seat a shady deal put him in by saying he’s going to ‘fight corruption’. If that’s not irony, I don’t know what is.”
Brinson claimed, “Luther Strange failed to serve the People of Alabama in order to gain a Senate seat, and that’s the very definition of corruption. It’s exactly the type of corruption we get from career politicians in Montgomery and Washington.”
Brinson stated, “We’ve had enough of corruption from our career politicians like ‘Mr. Corruption’, Luther Strange. I’m not a career politician, and I’m tired of the corruption. When I’m elected to the US Senate, I’ll fight the corruption that infests our government.”
The Alabama Political Reporter said that the other side has told us that AG Strange did not press for indictments of the governor and asked the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Mike Jones (R-Andalusia) to suspend impeachment proceedings until after the Alabama Ethics Commission completed their investigation in April, knowing that a ruling by the Commission would kneecap the embattled Governor and allow him to be easily forced from office and that this was all part of Strange’s master legal strategy to remove Bentley.
Brinson scoffed at this suggestion and said that there was plenty of evidence against Bentley for Luther to get a conviction months prior to this.
The Strange campaign denies any wrongdoing and points to the fact that Strange sent his letter to Chairman Jones before.
On Thursday, June 29, 2917 ‘Alabama Political Reporter’s Josh Moon reported that sources are accusing Sen. Strange with being present at the time a bribe was offered to former State Representative Oliver Robinson (D-Birmingham) to oppose expansion of a EPA superfund site in Birmingham. The FBI, IRS, and the US Attorney’s office announced last Thursday that Rep. Robinson has entered a guilty plea to charges of bribery, corruption, fraud, and tax evasion and has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Dr. Randy Brinson is the former Head of the Christian Coalition of Alabama. He stepped down in April to run in Alabama’s special election for the US Senate. Brinson says that fighting corruption a major focus of his campaign. Brinson is a practicing Montgomery area physician, an Air Force veteran, a lay minister and businessman.
Ten Republicans are running for the US Senate race as Republicans. They include: James Paul Beretta, Joseph F. Breault, Randy Brinson, Mo Brooks, Dom Gentile, Mary Maxwell, Roy Moore, Bryan Peeples, Trip Pittman, and Luther Strange.
Karen Haiden Jackson was disqualified by the Alabama Republican Party because she had run as an independent in a judicial race last year.
Eight candidates qualified with the Alabama Democratic Party to run in the U.S. Senate Special Primary Election. Qualified candidates are Will Boyd, Vann Caldwell, Jason Fisher, Michael Hansen, Doug Jones, Robert Kennedy, Jr., Brian McGee, and Charles Nana.
The special major party primaries will be August 15. The special general election is on December 12, 2017.
