Mike Hubbard, speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, was indicted Monday by a Lee County grand jury and charged with 23 felony counts, including using his office for personal gains, according to Mike Cason of AL.com.
Hubbard faces a maximum penalty of two to 20 years in prison and up to $30,000 in fines for each count, Cason wrote.
As chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, Hubbard helped lead a Republican takeover of every statewide elected office in 2010 and gave Republicans a majority in both houses of the Alabama legislature for the first time in more than a century. Hubbard is considered by many to be one of the most powerful politicians in the state.
According to a copy of the indictment posted on AL.com, the 23 class B felony charges against Hubbard include the following:
Four counts of using his position of chairman of the Alabama Republican Party for personal gain; one count of voting for a piece of legislation with a conflict of interest; eleven counts of soliciting or receiving a thing of value from a lobbyist of principal; two counts of using his position as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives for personal gain; four counts of lobbying an executive department or agency for a fee and one count of using state property, time or other resources for personal gain.
According to the indictment, Hubbard solicited investments for his company, Craftmaster Printers, along with other goods and services from several prominent or wealthy Alabamians, including former Alabama Governor Bob Riley, Business Council of Alabama President and CEO Billy Canary, Hoar Construction President Robert Burton, Great Southern Wood President Jimmy Rane, former Sterne Agee CEO James Holbrook, Harbert Management Corp. Vice President Will Brooke and lobbyist Dax Swatek.
American Pharmacy Cooperative Inc., a group-purchasing organization; the Southeast Alabama Gas District, a utility owned by 14 cities in the southeast portion of the state; and the Auburn Network, which was founded by Hubbard, were all mentioned by name in the indictment.
Hubbard called the indictment “nothing but a political witch hunt” in a video posted Monday afternoon. He said the timing of the indictment – two weeks before statewide elections – shows the case is politically motivated.
“I’m sleeping well tonight because I know that the people of Lee County and this district are going to know that this is politics at its worst,” he said.
Monday’s indictment does not remove Hubbard from office or his position as speaker.
Compiled by Andy McWhorter
