State Representative Arrested Today
Rep. Sue Schmitz (D -Toney) was arrested today in the continuing fallout from the two-year college scandal.
The charges accuse Schmitz of setting up a bogus job with a two-year college program and receiving a salary for more than three years for work she never did with the Community Intensive Treatment for Youth Skills Training Consortium, or CITY program.
Should we be inclined to believe that this is related to Roy Johnson’s plea deal? The rumor mill has suggested that it will get worse before it gets better.
Update: The indictment is here in a pdf file.
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I’m thinking about reports on legislators who either turned in no reports or the same reports for various positions and Ken Guin comes immediately to mind.
Then there is EB McClain’s $4,000 per month from a $310,000 grant from the two-year system for an adult ed program that helped 13 people.
Those would be high on my list of nervous nellies right now.
Comment by Susan — January 31, 2008 @ 11:32 am
Danny, maybe the FBI will do what the GOP obviously cant do. That is drag a lot of these democrats out of the legislature kicking and screaming. On a side note I wonder how many GOPers will have their hearts skip a beat today when then they see that al.com headline “North Alabama Legislator arrested”. Ahh you gotta love Lowell. heh
Comment by iluvmesomelowell — January 31, 2008 @ 11:33 am
More legislators will make headlines, oh yeah.
This is, after all, the 2-year college house that George Wallace built; the same one Roy Johnson came upon and immediately starting adding another wing to!
I’m only surprised Roy didn’t start naming names sooner.
Full disclosure: I work in the 2 year system. Things are way better now with Bradley Byrne.
Comment by Jeff (no, the other one) — January 31, 2008 @ 12:14 pm
Byrne has made things much better in the 2 year system. MANY that work int he system have said so. I am glad these legislators and others that have lived off of taxpayers with no work whatsoever are being held accounatble. Republican or Democrat - Black or White - Male or Female - if the evidence is there - put their butts in jail. Go Byrne Go. But per usual, I am sure some dems will whine and say this is some sort of vast right wing conspiracy. I am sure bhmhomeboy will utter his usual blog trash. Facts are facts - arrest the jokers when they deserve it. Keep talking Roy - more arrests to come.
Comment by PikeCountyguy — January 31, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
You know the odd thing and one that has not really been discussed on this blog is the fact thall all of this took place under the noses of the very people we elected to protect us. I am talking about the State Board of Education. The chancellor is not an elected postion of the people. The chancellor is hired by the State Board of Education. It was their responsibility
to protect our tax dollars and they failed miserably.
Why did they not ask about legislators working for the college, and why did they not ask what their jobs were, and why did they not adopt a hiring policy for nepotism, and why did they not ask for fiascal accounting, and finally, I believe Gov. Bob has to share some of this blame as he was on the board the entire time Roy was stealing the state blind. I hear
he even had Roy hide some of his money in the post secondary budget. I hope everything comes out. There are some legislators that actually work for their money. I think it’s a shame that the board did not do it’s job and require all of them do theirs. The state of Alabama and the taxpayer would be so much better off if they had. 90% of all this should be laid at the feet of the State Board for failing to do it’s job. Govern the state agency they were charged to govern.
Comment by poljunkie — January 31, 2008 @ 1:18 pm
Good point poljunkie. Riley is actually the Chairman of the Board of Education.
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 1:31 pm
poljunkie–There were two school board members who have long been loud critics of Chancellor Johnson and his practices. Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters were the lone voices raising questions time and time again. For example, when the SBOE voted to give Johnson a raise in 2005. Stephanie Bell and Betty Peters were the only ones to oppose it.
It is interesting that Ella Bell, Sandra Ray and Mary Jane Caylor (or members of their families)seem to have benenefited personally from Johnson’s practices. It is also interesting that, in addition to E. Bell, Ray and Caylor, David Byers ( A Republican) has consistently voted to support Johnson’s policies. Randy McKinney finally joined S. Bell and Peters in calling for accountability, but until Byrne was appointed by Riley, they were pretty much stonewalled by E. Bell, Ray, Caylor, Hall and Byrne.
Comment by Susan — January 31, 2008 @ 1:40 pm
And Riley is the one to have stepped up to bring accountability to the system.
Comment by Susan — January 31, 2008 @ 1:42 pm
Let’s see…Riley has been Governor since 2003 and it’s 2008. Better late than never huh?
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
An indictment is not a conviction. Funny timing on this arrest. I seem to remember a black Democrat getting elected in a 98% white district two nights ago, but I didn’t hear much about it (other than here at the Political Parlor).
Her office was raided by the Feds about a year ago so I guess someone sat on this information until they needed to cover a gaffe. They (Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy) did not need Roy for this indictment.
Good thing they hustled up there to arrest her. Sue and her speed, she’s probably a flight risk.
Byrne has done a good job with the system.
Say Sue goes down, which she won’t, another Democrat will replace her.
The tide will eventually turn in this twisted saga, because Canary’s girls are not appointed for life. Then we’ll see who’s really screwing the taxpayer.
Comment by Gunney Highway — January 31, 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Q–I have heard that “A grand jury can indict a ham sandwich if it wants to.” Is this true?
A–Not at the federal level. At present, a ham sandwich can only be indicted in the states of Alabama, Alaska, and Hawaii. Since the precedent-setting case of Oscar-Meyer v. Meese, federal prosecution of ham sandwiches has become so difficult that it is rarely attempted.
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
With all the pork at the statehouse, there are a lot of ham sandwiches looking at indictments . . . .
Comment by Porky — January 31, 2008 @ 2:19 pm
If pork was illegal, sen. shelby would be in serious trouble ;)
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
The timing of this arrest is not a coincidence.
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 2:30 pm
It’s long overdue is what it is.
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 2:48 pm
[QUOTE]“We charge that Representative Schmitz’s only substantial ‘work’ was to work her official position in the legislature to land a job through the Postsecondary system,” stated U.S. Attorney Alice H. Martin.[/QUOTE]
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/aln/Docs/January%202008/JANUARY%2031,%202008%20STATE%20REPRESENTATIVE%20SCHMITZ%20INDICTED%20FOR%20FRAUDULENT%20SCHEME%20WHICH%20NETTED%20HER%20$177,251.82.htm
Comment by Reactionary — January 31, 2008 @ 3:43 pm
Payback for Cullman?
Comment by bhmhomeboy@aol.com — January 31, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
ahhh - homeboy at his best. what a nut case.
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 4:03 pm
Always entertaining to watch the various talking points get put into play.
Might be fun to start a talking points bingo.
Comment by walt moffett — January 31, 2008 @ 4:13 pm
Please homeboy. Everybody knows this was announced today by the pro-Romney Bush Administration DOJ to take the spotlight off the Schwarzenegger endorsement of McCain. Where have you been?
Comment by Anonymous — January 31, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
Everytime I read bhamhomeboy and the anti-Canary crowd on here. I think of a report I saw on one of the Birmingham TV stations back in the mid 90’s. WCW was in town that night at the BJCC. The reporter was outside the arena interviewing a group of people who seriously thought Hulk Hogans “New World Order rasslin gimmick” was part of a wider conspiracy by the globalists to take over every aspect of our lives. The reporter was doing the interview trying to be funny but the protesters were very serious.
Comment by looneylibs — January 31, 2008 @ 5:21 pm
Thank God that the Repubs don’t have any whacky conspiracy theorists in their ranks.
Comment by Roy — January 31, 2008 @ 7:03 pm
Homeboy can be out there, no argument there.
However as a Pub with my eyes wide open, you can cast me with the anti-canary lot.
A whole lotta smoke for there not to be a fire.
Comment by anti-canary — January 31, 2008 @ 8:23 pm
Call it a conspiracy and go back to sleep.
Call me names and go back to sleep.
Comment by bhmhomeboy — January 31, 2008 @ 9:32 pm
is that an attempt at a haiku?
Comment by Anonymous — February 1, 2008 @ 7:40 am
In # 7 the last name should be Byers. My bad.
Comment by Susan — February 1, 2008 @ 9:03 am
It would be a whole lot harder for conspiracy theorists to raise this if Alice Martin weren’t being investigated for perjury. Hell, it would be a lot easier to believe all of this if it weren’t Alice Martin in charge.
If this corruption and criminality is real, Republicans would be better served by an honest and trusted US Attorney taking the lead.
Comment by worth raising — February 1, 2008 @ 1:21 pm