Hubbard False Witnesses:

I suspect most of my readers are familiar with the Decalogue. I felt compelled to include text below from Exodus 20 (KJV) to highlight how many of the Ten Commandments were trampled upon in Judge Walker’s Circuit court before sentencing the completely impenitent felon Hubbard. Observations of these false witnesses will be of little surprise to those able to identify modern Nimrods (who’ve made govt. their god) and their minions as blind servants to mammon with such disregard toward their own souls much less the general welfare of others. Taking the Lord’s name in vain before taking the stand seems to come easy to those who covet the product of others’ labour and easily justify stealing from others (oft of meager means) to subsidize their folly. After stomping upon so many of the Ten, most barely notice a ‘public servant’ breaking the last bulwark of our civilisations’ firewall when bearing false witness. Such relentless fidelity to corruption on the witness stand is disheartening; I couldn’t help but think with a mustard seed of devotion to God and righteousness how different these past years may’ve been…

1 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

Hopefully this preface helps convey the surrealistic feel listening to Hubbard’s witnesses before sentencing. Brother Matheson (Auburn UMC, retired) was most frustrating to me to suffer as an orthodox Christian raised by a good southern Momma - i.e., still shilling “Belief in Mike Hubbard" was hard to swallow from someone who may better serve our community by advancing belief in God and shepherd a member of his flock toward being a penitent thief (as a correctly convicted felon) to save his soul. Kicking-off with more football talk was a poor start. Couldn’t the defense use a coach or some other Hubbard john’ blinded “blue & orange” to accomplish this long overused appeal to the gallery?

Next was Auburn Bank's Gene Dulaney sobbing on behalf of his friend Mike Hubbard. Getting unsecured loans at the expense of stockholders and other [actually] competent business people who could improve our general welfare over Hubbard's political theft and cronyism wasn't part of his diatribe. Sad the prosecution didn't provide some I know who have been harmed by Hubbard's reign. Banks, coaches, friends, et al who provide even more money to postpone thieves and manipulators of this sort from finally meeting an unbiased, righteous reckoning are most deleterious.

The well voir dired jury was undoubtedly a different sample than he’s accustomed to - i.e., more representative of the people than Hubbard’s hyper gerrymandered district, low voter turnout skewed result he’s so easily exploited. No straight ticket voting, uncompetitive ballot access laws, BCA big money subsidized ad campaigns, etc. to shield him under the scrutiny of this court. Hubbard was simply the most visible tip on one of the biggest ice bergs. They must be dissolved with more heat and light to provide safe sea lanes again. The amount of resources and talent required to discipline corruption under this terribly uncompetitive political result is a huge tax on our economy and collective Spirit and could be better done at ballot boxes than courts under a more competitive process. As I type the BCA is already maneuvering to install another crony as our State School Superintendent to keep the graft churning from education tax dollars. It is like weeding the garden… one of the largest destructive weeds has been removed as House Speaker, but the task of weeding is never done.

Mayor Fuller then took the witness stand also shilling belief in Mike Hubbard as a 'good man' reiterating Mr. Baxley's impetuous (dare I type contemptuous toward Judge Walker’s Court?) assertion Hubbard will be exonerated on appeal. When talking about ALDoT and other transfers to facilitate the cancerous growth and tax collusion in Lee County, one certainly wondered Fuller's criterion for "good." Too bad anti-trust laws are not evoked against colluding entities like Auburn and Opelika when raising taxes. Many locals were angered by Fuller’s witnessing on felon Hubbard’s behalf, but last I checked only one is running against this incumbent ‘public servant.’ Some think Mayor Fuller purposefully discourages pay increases so fewer competent candidates will consider the job to remain an arbiter of the largess to benefit himself. Fortuitous to get a corrupt county to use their equipment to clear and grub for the Mayor while rural (mostly poor, black) folks can’t get to their churches and jobs because of poorly maintained roads which result from misallocations of this sort.

Most vulgar of ‘unrighteous witnesses for the wicked’ in keeping with Biblical text in Exodus was Congressman Rogers reminding Judge Walker of this “first offender.” It was all the more laughable this dullard attorney lawmaker offered no discussion of Hubbard’s serial felony offender status. I’m sure he’d make the same argument for the rapist convicted on 12 counts if it served his self-interest regardless of others harmed. Mr. Hart did finally take this despicable witness to task as ringleader of the “I like Mike" PEP RALLY (even the memory of Ike is not safe in the hands of these Republocrat charlatans) impugning the grand jury immediately after handing down 23 felony indictments; now vindicated with 12 convictions. Shamelessly undeterred, Rogers went on to berate the jurors who correctly convicted this pollutant who has done so much damage to our economy, taxpayers, students, etc. Hubbard and Rogers political ‘graftmaster’ gaming is easy to follow as I wrote in: http://www.alabamagazette.com/story/2016/02/01/opinion/the-graftmaster-two-step-hubbard-doe-see-does-with-rogers/672.html Hart's most shining moment was to remind the defense their innocence rhetoric has no bearing on sentencing; Hubbard no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence once convicted on 12 of the 23 felony charges. Rogers was again an embarrassment to the citizens of 3rd District showing such great contempt for our legal system in open court - voters should be ashamed of re-installing him these past several elections.

Another glaring point of irony is the lack of ‘bluff and bluster’ on how great the system is and how well it works with the Hubbard result. One could see this ‘Noon Day Devil’ reveling when ‘public servant’ Rep. Moore was found not guilty of the well documented perjury charge. Perhaps it served the purpose of emboldening Hubbard all the more for the jury to see his true colours.

Four years in State Prison (dare I type our 'liberator' will be "Stormin' the State Pen" if righteousness continues to prevail?) followed by 16 years probation. Maybe someone who understands the practical meaning of Hubbard’s sentencing (perhaps fellow columnist Ronald Holtsford?) could explain it in terms a layperson would understand. Only felony count 11 followed consecutively and $210k in fines was noticeably below the $360k max I forecasted. Rather light by most accounts, last I looked 81% of respondents to the WSFA poll also thought it too light a sentence. Judge Walker cited limited data to offer much sentencing guidance. He clearly didn’t think the Stroud case 10 year sentencing for one who admitted guilt as a sound benchmark. The prosecution did an unusually poor job making a compelling case for restitution, which Walker denied without any case law in support - the reason I didn’t include it my “Michael Gregory Hubbard: the impenitent thief” column last month. Disappointed Judge Walker didn't give a sentence which sent a stronger message, but still enough to show we're serious about curbing corruption in our State and difficult to be called harsh on appeal. Perhaps the prosecution can remove more embarrassing 'public servants' like Messrs. Fuller and Rogers we witnessed before sentencing as our non-competitive election process keeps reelecting corrupt cronies of this sort.

Immediately following Judge Walker’s sentencing, Hubbard’s defense team dropped another dud (thinking a cry of juror misconduct would be received as a bombshell) after once again smugly asserting they’ll win on appeal. Perhaps most revealing was the ‘ho-hum’ reaction except among ‘bitter ender’ Hubbard minions. I did think it odd one of the most rabid Hubbard sycophants at the trial was recounting what jurors were saying as fact. While many want to remember Hubbard corruption and keep the BCA thugs in check; the frivolous litany of prosecutorial misconduct, wrongful jury empanelment, leaking confidential informants, etc. from felon Hubbard’s legal ‘dream team’ have folks fatigued. The biggest chuckle was the call for a ‘neutral’ entity (not the AG’s office or ALEA) like Lee County (I Believe in Mike Hubbard) Sheriff Jay Jones to investigate. I’ve made it clear I’ll personally file the ethics complaint if he unilaterally does so: http://www.auburnvillager.com/opinion/letter-to-the-editor-sheriff-should-not-get-a-pay/article_55d8aa04-0acd-11e5-9e87-47b5935ec322.html. Last I spoke with Sheriff Jones he said he’ll not pursue it without a request from Judge Walker. My understanding is Walker must be made aware of the juror accusation levied during the trial and would’ve ruled a mistrial at that time instead of proceeding if it was in fact a concern. I don’t know how this good Judge kept his patience given all he had to endure from the defense these past years to adjudicate these 23 felony charges, but he delivered the final result honourably.

For those really ‘tuned-in’ to Lee County news, I thought Sheriff Jay Jones did an outstanding job dealing with the Taco Bell flap explaining one bad employee is not indicative of all their employees, just as one bad officer doesn’t mean most officers are bad. Glad this employee was quickly terminated, wish we could fire politicians like Rogers after speaking so poorly to his ‘customers’ who served on our Lee County juries, albeit not in uniform.

I opened with one of the most well know excerpts of Exodus; I’d like to close with Exodus 23 (KJV) which I found most applicable to Hubbard’s sentencing witnesses:

1 Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many to wrest judgment AMEN!

Postscript: Four also appears to be the number for candidates in the mix for Hubbard’s now open District 79 House seat primary. Hal Walker dropped out claiming support for Lovvorn who appears to be the BCA candidate. Conner and Smith are in the mix with Toomer who ran in the 2014 primary against Hubbard. I’m unaware of any Democrat although there’s some discussion of others (most notable former State Senator Ted Little) considering an independent candidacy on the final (Nov. or Feb.) ballot along with Libertarian Gage Fenwick who is actively working toward getting ballot access.

Some further updates on independent candidacies for the November general election come from Chair of the Libertarian Party of Alabama Leigh Lachine explaining efforts to place Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld as Independents on our very restricted Statewide ballot. To be listed on our State ballot as a Constitution, Green, Libertarian, Reform, etc. Party candidate requires approximately 35,000 signatures to be submitted by March 1, 2016 - that’s prior to ANY convention or determination of candidates. Hubbard was even more effective at killing competition in politics to protect the duopoly than protection for his business cronies. It is less burdensome for Independents who must submit 5,000 valid signatures before August 18, 2016. They’ve already collected approximately 4,000 with another month to go.

According to Constitution Party of Alabama Chair Joshua Cassidy, they’re also working to qualify CP Presidential candidate Darrell Castle as their petitioners collect the required 5,000 signatures for the August 18th deadline. Already aggressively planning Statewide access for the 2018 cycle the CP could pick disaffected T.E.A. Party folks discouraged by the once ‘grassroots movement’ morphing into something little different from the traditional big government Republicans.

What a waste of candidates’ effort, money and time along with taxpayer money and resources for the SoS to verify so many signatures instead of using these expenditures to offset the expense of providing GENERAL elections. Parties should determine candidates for the general ballot on their own purse however they see fit. Primaries have become just another money-maker for the duopoly parties subsidized by State taxpayers. If you want more competition in Alabama politics (even if you’re a Reince Priebus believer in binary choices) consider going to these non-duopoly party websites to send in your signatures and learn more about the despotic process eroding the civil rights of candidates and voters in our State.