Alabama GOP House Speaker Goes on Trial After Being Caught in Trap He Set
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OPELIKA, Ala. — House Speaker Mike Hubbard was the general of the GOP offensive in 2010 to win Republican control of the Alabama Legislature, a legislative body that had been under the direction of Democrats since Reconstruction.
The 2010 campaigns were bolstered by a series of indictments and scandals involving Democrats, which provided easy campaign fodder for the GOP. After winning, Republicans, in a victory lap special session, passed sweeping new ethics legislation.
‘‘Ethics was a subject that set Republicans apart from the Democrats,’’ Hubbard wrote in his book, ‘‘Storming the Statehouse’’ about the 2010 campaign.
Six years later, Hubbard will go on trial under that same ethics law on charges that he used his political positions to make money and obtain financial favors from lobbyists and company heads with business before the Alabama Legislature.
Hubbard faces 23 felony ethics charges accusing him of steering GOP campaign work to his media companies and using his office to obtain employment, investments, and benefits for his companies.
Opening statements are expected Tuesday in what’s become a season of scandal in Alabama, with a trio of embarrassments facing three top GOP office holders. Governor Robert Bentley has faced calls for his impeachment following a sex-tinged scandal involving a former top aide.
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