You could run a full-time blog on corruption in higher education in Alabama.
Feb 1, 2008 - State Rep. Sue Schmitz, 63, was arrested on charges of mail fraud and fraud for taking over $175,000 from the Alabama college system for work she never performed. She will be in court Feb 11. (She was fired from the two-year college job in 2006, but claims fair dismissal rights as if she was a teacher. Chancellor Bradley Burnes responded to her arrest and the year and a half legal duel with the teachers' union.)
Rep. Bryant Melton, 66, who was the first black elected to the Alabama State Legislature since Reconstruction, was forced to resign after being arrested last year on fraud charges. He pleaded guilty to charges that included theft from programs receiving Federal money. Melton will be sentenced April 19.
Fired college system Chancellor Roy Johnson, 62, entered a plea deal arrangement with federal prosecutors last week to plead guilty to 15 counts of bribery, money laundering, obstruction, conspiracy and witness tampering. Johnson admitted to a scheme in which businessmen paid him kickbacks for his help in getting them lucrative contracts with the college system.
-------------------------------------
These arrests and convictions are only part of the story.
Alabama lawmaker Sue Schmitz arrested in two-year college probe
Schmitz is among 43 legislators The News identified who had financial ties to two-year colleges from 2002 to 2006. The legislators, their close relatives or businesses received work from the system during the period, in most cases after the lawmakers were elected.Schmitz was forced to leave her Madison County teaching job after the school district told her in 2002 she would have to take leave without pay for days she worked in Montgomery on legislative business.
TT - "Double Dipping" is the practice of legislators to have full-time jobs as well as their legislative positions. In New Jersey this practice of double dipping is called "dual office holding." It's a time-honored tradition. The legislator can be a sheriff, undersheriff, mayor, selectman or some other elected position. A 2004 report by the Center for Public Integrity found a third of New Jersey legislators received income from another government agency. By 2006, 43 New Jersey state legislators, or 36 percent, reported receiving income from another government agency. It is now illegal, or will be, in 2010.
In Alabama, there's a twist. It's working for higher education. Well, not actually "working." They're paid through the community college system. The state school board, after decades, banned the practice of paying legislators money to do nothing. Leading the battle on behalf of the legislators is Paul Hubbert, leader of the powerful Alabama Education Association, who denies there even is such a thing as "double dipping."
TT - previous coverage of the pigs and patronage.
FINDING: A newspaper investigation found 13 legislators who were presently employed in Alabama community college system. Another 40 legislators have direct or indirect financial ties with the community colleges.
