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Rep. Mike Hubbard is poised to become the next Speaker of the House as the House GOP Caucus today made him its nominee for the role.
The original motion (by Spencer Collier) was that Hubbard would be the Speaker and that Paul DeMarco would be Speaker pro tem. Governor-elect Bentley, among others, had suggested this as an alternative to a prolonged fight between the two for the Speaker role.
That motion was tabled. Mike Hill then nominated Hubbard for Speaker. No other candidates for the role emerged, and Hubbard became the caucus nominee for Speaker of the House. Expect him to be elected the next Speaker in the organizing session next year as Republican legislative candidates signed a pledge to support caucus nominees. (A legislator is expected to vote for GOP caucus nominees or could otherwise be prohibited from running again as a Republican.)
Multiple contacts indicate to the Parlor that Gov. Riley had been working the phones this week on Hubbard’s behalf – especially with newly-elected legislators – hoping to ensure that Hubbard had the votes for the Speaker’s role. One participant told the Parlor that Sen. Scott Beason hoped to pull a Hail Mary today by having Gov-elect Bentley come in and ask both caucuses (House and Senate) to wait on choosing their nominees. This would allow Beason on the Senate side and DeMarco on the House side time to work some votes for the top spot in each chamber. Word got to Bentley that neither side would go for that, and Bentley did not ask.
Does DeMarco want to be Speaker pro tem? One long time legislator explains that the role can be very important or it can be nothing. “The real power of the Speaker pro tem role comes from the relationship that the person has or doesn’t have with the Speaker of the House.”
The legislator explained that previous Speaker Seth Hammett made sure that Demetrius Newton had some responsibility in the Speaker pro tem role, at least partly because he wished to maintain good relations with the Black Caucus, but before that, House Speaker Jimmy Clark gave Speaker pro tem Jim Campbell little power in the role.
For these reasons, DeMarco might choose to pass on the title especially if he feels Hubbard is unlikely to give real responsibility to his one-time challenger for the Speaker role.
I agree with Mr. Jinks. This is water under the bridge.
[...] Hubbard is on track to be the next Speaker of the House. Who do you imagine might succeed him when the state GOP elects a new Chair in [...]
The new speaker of the house:
Hubbard spins a tangled web
By PAUL DAVIS
Owner/President
Updated Oct 28, 2010 – 06:22:39 EDT
State Rep. Mike Hubbard of Auburn – how do you say it?? Mike Hubbard didn’t tell the truth — no, err, Mike Hubbard misspoke, or didn’t understand the question, or something got confused, or lost in translation.
It happened when he insinuated to Joe Mcadory, an editor for the Opelika-Auburn News, for a front-page story, that only a couple of Republican legislative candidates from around the state had purchased advertising services and printing from his companies.
He said having only two Republican candidates use his companies was nominal.
Well, I’m not buying it, not the number of candidates or the number of dollars.
Hubbard is a powerful man, a rising star in the party who has his eye on becoming speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives. He heads the State Republican Party and is the minority leader in the Alabama House.
Since he became Republican Party chairman in February 2007, he has paid from party funds $176,826 directly to his own companies.
Huge payments to Craftmaster Printers date back to the days when the company was nearly bankrupt. He is a major Craftmaster stockholder, along with former AU Coach Pat Dye.
Since 2002, his companies have received at least $1,494,566 from the coffers of the State Republican Party.
Additional Republican Party funds monies flowed to candidates, and then to Hubbard companies and are not a part of total cited. He has made millions by using his connections, some of which seem questionable, at best. He has cut his deals with Auburn University, as a legislator and as chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.
His most lucrative venture thus far has been the acquisition of the exclusive no-bid contract to handle all of Auburn University’s broadcast and television rights. They include all printing for Auburn sports and Auburn merchandising for sports. The deal he negotiated is worth millions and it was all worked, for the most part, in secret; a deal surely not made in heaven, but made with the assistance of the University’s most powerful trustee, banker Bobby Lowder, and the most willing help of another key member of the board.
The University had decided to put out a request for proposals on the broadcast rights. Several companies made proposals, with Hubbard’s offering millions less to the University. Media companies guarantee a fixed amount of cash to universities for broadcast rights. The media companies make their money by selling TV and radio advertising, commercials signage, selling millions of dollars worth of Auburn merchandise and then add profits from printing all sports related materials.
Hubbard had all the necessary ingredients. He had his radio stations and massive state-of-the-art German-made Heidelberg presses. But he was still offering so much less than the highest bidder, Host Communications, that it looked like the lawmaker–entrepreneur might just lose everything if he didn’t get to retain his no-bid contract.
Despite his success in getting thousands upon thousands of dollars from the state for doing some of its printing, he was also raking in even more thousands printing Auburn’s football programs and other things related to Auburn sports — basketball, baseball —everything.
In 2003, he sold his multi-media sports division to International Sports Properties, but continues to serve as president of ISP’s Auburn project. Craftmaster is still doing all of AU’s sports related printing, although payments come from International Sports Properties. Hubbard represents ISP for the rights to corporate sponsorships, radio and television programs, publishing, printing, marketing, internet services, national advertising, signing and many other lifestyle and event marketing platforms.
His radio station is also used heavily for AU marketing outside the realm of sports.
As head of the AU Network for ISP he is given for each home game 547 football tickets, 100 reserved parking places, plus the use of two or three football stadium skyboxes. He also gets six seats on chartered aircraft for each away game. Although he campaigns against gambling, he and his associates worked out a plan this season to sell a large block of stadium advertising to the Creek Indians’ Wind Creek Casino & Hotel in Atmore.
Today, he also may be on the short list of the names of Auburns multi–millionaires. He is in his third term as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives. And he appears close to his goal of having his Republican friends take over the Alabama Legislature where Republicans have played second fiddle for more than 130 years. He’s been a vital part of a masterful plan by the Republicans to take back the statehouse.
He’s had a lot of help along the way. It was but a few years ago that he gave me a call and pleaded with me to write a column exposing how the rich and powerful on the Auburn University Board of Trustees and some bankers (Lowder) were out to ruin him.
He told the same story to almost anybody who would listen. He told me he was about to lose his media business, his home and almost everything else he cherished due to attacks from others seeking to bring him down.
I agreed to do the column because the same people who were attacking him were also making my life rather miserable, as I had described in the newspapers the dirty deals which had put Auburn University on probation and almost led it to loss of its accreditation. He wanted the inside scoop published.
Gov. Riley had to step in to save the University loss of accreditation.
I think it was just one day after his first call to me, that Hubbard called me back and said he did not want me to write the column. I told him it was rather difficult to put toothpaste back in the tube. He insinuated that he would deny quotes which I was going to attribute to him. I backed down because it would have been one of those “he said, she said” confrontations. I chose not to follow through.
I don’t intend to make that mistake again.
I now have firm pledges from people in high places and with close ties to the University who confirm that Hubbard, at one point, was in trouble with those in power, namely trustee Bobby Lowder, who was then owner of one of the largest banks in the South.
His bank, Colonial, has since been seized by the federal government.
Here’s the scenario to which insiders are willing to swear to and have signed their names to:
On several occasions and in private, secret meetings with Hubbard in his office and other places during late 2001 and the early part of 2002 the proposals submitted to the Auburn Athletics Department for the broadcasting rights were being questioned.
Hubbard pleaded his case and his need for help from high places and stated that his business would be in shambles and he would be facing financial ruin if he was unable to keep his contract with Auburn. Details of those meetings are mentioned in e-mails. I have copies. And the sworn oaths. I have tapes.
Hubbard complained that the athletics department had never asked for proposals prior to this time and he believed the athletics director (then David Housel) was attempting to sever Auburn’s relationship with his company, The Auburn Network.
Soon after those discussions and others, an emissary delivered Hubbard’s competitors’ proposals early in the review process and prior to any decision being made by the athletics director. The emissary says he believes the athletic director and a campus review committee were unaware that Hubbard had an advantage over the other companies because he had closely and secretly reviewed their proposals.
“Hubbard told me that having his competitors’ proposals allowed him to clarify/amend his proposal and he also sought to raise doubts within Auburn Athletics Department about the other companies, specifically, Host Communications. He indicated Host was in financial trouble. Hubbard told me that he had discussions with an Auburn trustee and that later he got a call from the trustee (Lowder) telling him that he would get the contract. The proposal process soon came to an abrupt stop and the Auburn Network was given the contract,” one source for this column said.
Lowder at one time owned a radio station in Montgomery, WLWI, which had the exclusive broadcast rights to all AU sports. Lowder received considerable criticism for alleged conflict of interest in that he owned the station and sat on the Board of Trustees, a post he has held for more than a quarter of a century. He also chaired the University’s Athletics Committee, a position which added even more pressure by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Auburn’s accrediting agency. He controlled AU sports and much of the University. He hired and fired coaches. Check with Terry Bowden and Tommy Tuberville.
Hubbard eventually purchased a cheap and weak little radio station, earlier known as WJH0 and located in Opelika. Its signal was so weak you couldn’t pick up a clear signal in some parts of Auburn. And he got the broadcast rights from Lowder.
Hubbard quickly jazzed up the station in its new Auburn headquarters and led it into a period of phenomenal growth as The Auburn Network, Inc.
Huge money, I mean millions of dollars, began to flow after he acquired Lowder’s exclusive broadcast and TV rights. Renewed criticism did, too.
Trustees came under even more pressure, deciding that they might make a few million additional dollars for the athletics department by seeking proposals from other companies for the broadcast and telecast rights.
Those proposals rolled in and the fight for the contract rolled on, even more heated than ever.
An advisory panel was set up on campus to look into the situation. Hubbard’s proposal did not even closely provide the extra dollars that the University expected. Those other proposals were from Host Communications, International Sports Properties (ISP) and Hubbard’s Auburn Network.
When the proposals came in and the numbers were on the table before the committee, Hubbard went berserk. Host Communications, offered a whopping $12.5 million, millions more than Hubbard.
At that point, Hubbard started seeking out friends in high places and anyone else he thought might be able to help him keep his sports contract. That’s also the time he called me.
He was almost tearful when we talked, saying over and over again that he was going to lose his home and his business.
He found a few allies, including one or more sympathetic ears among the trustees. Hubbard badly needed to make a thorough analysis of the other proposals. He, at the time, was on the outs with Lowder and he knew it. He even sought help from those at or near the top in the Athletics Department to find out what he had done to offend Lowder. And he wanted a sneak peak at the proposals offered by his competitors.
A University trustee offered to help. The trustee bundled up in a large manila envelope all the proposals from the companies involved, put them in the hands of an emissary, who personally delivered them to Hubbard for his review and to aid him in preparing a modified proposal.
The delivery was made to Hubbard in mid-morning. A secretary/receptionist showed the document-laden courier to Hubbard’s office. Hubbard was delighted about getting the proposals made by his competitors, agreeing that the delivery would be kept confidential. Hubbard, in suit and tie, had a pile of paperwork on his desk. His workload was increasing. He expressed his thanks for the assistance. With all the other proposals in hand, Hubbard reworked his offer in a last-ditch effort to keep the contract, his growing business and his home.
The new agreement was negotiated with Hubbard. The amended proposal went before a campus committee and, odd as it may seem, Hubbard’s proposal was accepted, even though it still was not the most favorable to the University. It was most favorable to Hubbard.
Auburn lost, it appears on paper, $789,000 per year or $3.945 million over the term of the five-year deal. Moreover, Host also offered to guarantee an increase of $100,000 annually to AU compared to Hubbard’s $25,000. Other studies have shown that the University lost between $4 and $7 million by dealing with Hubbard.
Hubbard’s contract was the major issue in one of his re-election bids, but he won easily. And he won again in 2006 when Athletics Director Jay Jacobs said AU was extending its contract for nine years. The first contract ended in 2007.
Hubbard made sure that would happen. He helped steer through the Alabama Legislature in 2000 a bill that exempted the athletics, food services and transportation departments from Alabama’s competitive bid laws. Another line in that new law allowed schools to extend their no-bids-required contract for 10 years. Hubbard did not sponsor this bill (It was introduced by George Clay of Macon County) and Hubbard actually abstained on the first vote. (He also made sure to have the House clerk insert in the official journal that he had abstained to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.)
When the controversial bill was amended, it was returned to a conference committee. Hubbard was named to that committee where the final version, shaped in his favor, was approved. Hubbard voted for the bill in conference and on final passage as it became law. He didn’t seem to be worried about a conflict of interest this time around.
Sen. Ted Little, also of Auburn, refused to sign off on the Hubbard-approved bill and voted against it while in the conference committee and on final passage.
Hubbard sold his company to ISP in 2003, after winning approval of changes in the law which would make the contract he was selling, gilded in gold, as precious as diamonds and as hard to break as steel. It was tailor-made for ISP.
Along the way he had to work extra hard to find a cure for the cancer that was growing inside the walls of Craftmaster. It was barely clinging to life. Hubbard knew that Auburn University was preparing to get out of the printing business. Sensing a business opportunity, he decided to jump into the printing business. Hubbard and friends moved rather quickly to purchase the printing company which had gotten a little too big for its britches, having moved into a huge new building and purchasing the best printing equipment on the market.
With just a year of legislative experience under his belt, he partnered with others to buy Craftmaster even though it was on the brink of bankruptcy. Hubbard’s group apparently hoped that the printing company would win more business quickly, especially with Hubbard’s ties with the state and the University.
In 2004, they incorporated Craftmaster Holdings Inc. which became the whole owner of Craftmaster Printers, Inc. Despite all the opportunities facing him with all his contacts, the company couldn’t move quickly enough to right the foundering ship. Craftmaster filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2005 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Montgomery.
In its filing, Craftmaster listed assets of about $1.4 million and liabilities of $3.4 million. Among the liabilities, according to court records, were a $1.7 million debt to the Heidelberg group in Germany for some of its top-of-the-line presses, $444,000 of a $756,000 loan from Southeastern Commercial Financial LLC of Birmingham and $4.8 million to Auburn bank.
The bank had threatened to sue Craftmaster before finally settling for $3.1 million, according to court records.
Craftmaster also received a break from one of its creditors — Heidelberg — which forgave $1.323 million in principal and/or interest.
Heidelberg arranged the financing through Print Finance, a British company. That action allowed the Auburn printer to revise its books for 2004 to show a net income for that year of $400,000.
Bobby Lowder’s Colonial Bank also played a key role in keeping Craftmaster afloat during some of its most troubling times between December 1, 2004, and the December 31, 2004, Craftmaster had more than $800,000 in a Colonial Bank account, using it to meet payroll and other expenses.
In October 2004, Hubbard formed Swann investments LLC, a corporation which included former AU Coach Pat Dye, Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller and Ike Scott of Opelika, a major highway and bridge contractor.
Later that year Hubbard and his partners began transferring major assets from Craftmaster Printers to Swann Investments LLC, Craftmaster buildings and all printing equipment. Then they leased back to Craftmaster its building and equipment.
Few details on any of these moves, such as being able to review all the other proposals, have ever been made public. Hubbard was paid handsomely by ISP for the broadcast right and was hired as ISP’s Auburn president.
It’s nice to have friends in high places.
(Paul Davis is owner of The Tuskegee News. He can be reached at Paul_Davis@charter.net )
To all Alabama folks,
I am a tea party Guy, you know, one of those “We the People’ People!! Well this has been a great success for the TEA PARTY RIGHT UP TILL 1 DAY AFTER THE ELECTION When Mike Hubbard or should I say Bob Riley INC. made a power grab for the speaker position and guided the Senate to nominate Dale Marsh for Pro tem. All, Be Advised this is nothing more than a power grab! “1st act,” next, lets have a Special session to bring ethics reform, for, Bob going out, Let’s make Bob look Good as he leaves. He wants to be in Shelby’s position so bad. He has had 8 years to do something about etics reform. The legislature voted NOT to have ethics reform this past year. Why do we need to have a special session now? Cost will be in the HUNDREDS of thosands of dollars. (Do you have a few bucks you can spare for a session for mike and Lowder and associates?) I am told they are going to do it with out pay. If you think for ONE minute that it will not cost, you are drinking the coool aid.
Alabamians should realize this is nothing more than a Fix that was in from at least a month before the election maybe more. Dr. Bentley either NEW about it and was more worried about his election and was fixated on the campaign or is Blind. In either case he does not have the vision to be Governor. AND I VOTED FOR HIM “Sorry” Peoiple we need to flood the Capital with phone calls 205 334-242-7100 Tell them NO SPECIAL SESSION and NO TO MIKE HUBBARD AS SPEAKER Call Dr. Bentley at 205-345-1090 and tell him that we do NOT want a special session! Call each and every Senator and every Representative. You can get their number off of the state list website. PLEASE call!! This will be a travesty to allow this to happen.
.Mike the Crook and bandits Lowder, Dye and associates, to steel the Speaker position. ( It sure would be good for the printing company though)It is Crazy! That is NOT what I worked for or will allow if at all possible.
Folks The FIX was in and I owe a lot of people an appology because I never thought Dr. Bentley would roll over so easy. But Gee who new he was such a great guy and so Honest Right! “LOOK ME IN THE EYE and know I will do the right thing” And don’t forget I owe it all to GOD! When do you draw the line ? I guess it does not matter to some.
Harold Mathews
Bid Rigging/Conspiracy are Civil and Criminal Sherman Act Antitrust violations. I’m sure the U.S. Attorney’s Office is looking at Hubbard and the AU Athletic Department, by now.
Lee, that is just pure BS.
Lee: Do you mean the US Attorney’s office headed by Leura Canary, wife of BCA head, Riley advisor, Bill Canary? Surely you jest.
Reagan Republican: Reagan wouldn’t have put up with the kind of cr*p Hubbard has been pulling. Do some fact checking before you call BS.
BS? Really? Reagan Republican sounds more like an AU Booster or paid apologist for Hubbard. Below are the money quotes from Paul Davis’ story that substantiate bid rigging and conspiracy claims along with the damages suffered by AU, ie the taxpayers. That’s me, a taxpayer, and you too. If you are not offended and outraged by this, you probably belong in the Siegelman wing of the Democrat party.
“A University trustee offered to help. The trustee bundled up in a large manila envelope all the proposals from the companies involved, put them in the hands of an emissary, who personally delivered them to Hubbard for his review and to aid him in preparing a modified proposal.
The delivery was made to Hubbard in mid-morning. A secretary/receptionist showed the document-laden courier to Hubbard’s office. Hubbard was delighted about getting the proposals made by his competitors, agreeing that the delivery would be kept confidential. Hubbard, in suit and tie, had a pile of paperwork on his desk. His workload was increasing. He expressed his thanks for the assistance. With all the other proposals in hand, Hubbard reworked his offer in a last-ditch effort to keep the contract, his growing business and his home.
“The new agreement was negotiated with Hubbard. The amended proposal went before a campus committee and, odd as it may seem, Hubbard’s proposal was accepted, even though it still was not the most favorable to the University. It was most favorable to Hubbard.
Auburn lost, it appears on paper, $789,000 per year or $3.945 million over the term of the five-year deal. Moreover, Host also offered to guarantee an increase of $100,000 annually to AU compared to Hubbard’s $25,000. Other studies have shown that the University lost between $4 and $7 million by dealing with Hubbard.
First, Mike Hubbard’s questionable contracts now another Riley lap dog getting a no bid contract.
http://blog.al.com/live/2010/11/senators_company_awarded_63900.html
The noose is closing around Lowder’s neck. The FBI has arrested Geddie. It is only a matter of time before they get Hubbard.
I told you slack jawed groupies back in November that the clock was ticking on their little operation.