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Republican Hiring Freeze Thaws for Paragon EmployeeSeptember 6, 2011 By mooncat

Alabama Republicans are serious about creating jobs … for a selectfew of their pals.

Remember when Gov. Bentley literally gave three of his aides twopaychecks to get around the cap on salaries? Now his administrationhas ignored its own hiring freeze to give former Paragon employeeThomas Nola an $86,000 a year state job.

Paragon was the no phone, no website, no business license companythat raked in $13 million in no-bid contracts with the State of Alabamaunder Bob Riley’s administration. And their work product was so poorand/or nonexistent that Bentley’s administration made a big show ofditching the whole Paragon mess …

“We have not worked with and do not plan to work with Paragon,” said [then Finance Director David] Perry. “I don’t haveany plans to use Paragon for anything during my term of office.”

Perry is now Bentley’s chief of staff and he’s changed his tune a bit …

“We had an urgent need,” said Perry. “He (Nola) has a tremendous skills set and he gets results. He’s got tremendousexperience in the private sector.”

So the Bentley folks publicly ditched Paragon, but have now quietly hired a Paragon worker in the middle of a state hiring freeze?

The whole Paragon thing stinks. What do these people know and, more importantly, who do they know it about?

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Alabama Politics, News, & Culture With A Progressive Perspective

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Riley Looking Less Ethical as More Paragon Info Comes OutNovember 25, 2009 By mooncat

Bob Riley, champion of ethical government.

Well, maybe not. It's beginning to look like he's just a champion of hidingthe business as usual. First there was the $13 million no bid computerservices contract to Paragon Source, a company with no phone listing,no website and no business license — after Riley made a big deal ofstopping all no-bid contracts. Now we're hearing of a former stateemployee, Sandra Porter, who retired, then was brought back as a contractemployee first for AUM, then for Paragon Source — at a hefty pay increasewhile drawing state retirement — and now has been hired back to workdirectly for the state — again at a much larger than expected salary.

The contract wasn’t with the Finance Department but with Auburn

University Montgomery, which suggests the money traveled a circuitous

route for a particular reason.

Sandra Porter retired from the Finance Department on a $30,516 pension in 1998. Former Finance Director Jim Main brought her back

on a $60,000 contract, apparently to work on the computer system.

After a year she went to work for Paragon Source but returned to the state payroll at $66,000 and suspended her retirement.

Her highest salary as a 24-year state employee before retiring was $34,724.

Riley's spokesman is desperately trying to deflect the double-dipping charges …

“Actual double dipping,” he said, “is when an elected official holds two or more taxpayer-funded jobs and faces potentialconflicts of interests or can't devote needed time to each job. Being retired isn't a job, and merely receiving retirementbenefits isn't a conflict of interest.”

… with a definition that might as well be “double dipping is only when a legislator is also an educator.”

Riley and his spokesman have more to worry about than double dipping, I expect. Who is Sandra Porter and why does she merit thiskind of attention and money from the state? Ditto for Janet Lauderdale and what exactly have they been doing to earn compensation ofthis magnitude. Riley and the Finance Director (it's no longer Jim Main, he's a state judge now) need to release some details of thisParagon Source contract … like a statement of work, list of work products, completion dates, etc. Otherwise why should we believe it'sanything but a sweetheart deal?

And did anyone else notice how quickly all the judges in Montgomery County recused themselves from the Paragon Source lawsuit?

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Hot, hot, hot! Ouch!

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Riley No ParagonOctober 29, 2009 By mooncat

“Do as I say, not as I DO!!”

A mere seven years into Bob Riley's tenure as Governor, Alabama officials are told to bid all state contracts:

A memo signed by state Purchasing Director Isaac Kervin was sent Oct. 19 with the directions from Gov. Bob Riley andActing State Finance Director Bill Newton. It said no purchasing requests from state agencies would be processedunless a competitive bid process had been completed.

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The memo was dated a day before the governor said he would sign the extension of a controversial no-bidcomputer contract with Paragon Source LLC that has no business phone listing or Web site.

[emphasis added]

“Do as I say, not as I do” doesn't work with your kids and it won't work with state agencies either. If you're going to call yourself aleader, you damned well ought to lead by example, Mr. Governor.

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Governor Bentley Becomes A Fan Of No-Bid ContractsMarch 16, 2016 By countrycat

Has Governor Bentley forgotten about the Paragon Source contract debacle he inherited from former Governor Bob Riley? Paragon, acompany with no phone, Web site, or business license, raked in $13 million in state money before Governor Bentley made a greatshow of canceling the contract.

The Paragon contract was the poster child for shady, no-bid government dealings, but it “only” cost us $13 million. Now, GovernorBentley is asking for an $800 million bond issue to build new state prisons. Those facilities would be designed and built by a singlecompany and a no-bid contract.

Contractors, architects and engineers have concerns about one aspect — a plan to let one company handle both designand construction of the prisons.

John Hilyer, a vice president with Bear Brothers in Montgomery and member of the Alabama Contractors Association, toldthe House Ways and Means General Fund Committee that taxpayers are better protected by keeping the design andconstruction separate.

Scott Williams, a Montgomery architect and contractor, said it’s beneficial to have multiple contractors competing for aproject after the design is approved.

The bill authorizing the bond issue for the prisons would carve out an exception to the state’s competitive bid law.

The Bentley administration believes it can save money by awarding a single contract for both design and construction.

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Well, what could possibly go wrong?

The Alabama Political Reporter’s Bill Britt uncovered some interesting tidbits about this proposal:

Katherine Lynn, former head of the Alabama Building Commission, now the Director of the Finance DepartmentConstruction Management Division, has been aggressively pushing the no-bid, design/built prison project according tothose close to the project. Lynn’s husband Freddie is an architect with Goodwyn Mills and Cawood.

There is wide speculation among insiders that Goodwyn Mills and Cawood will be chosen to serve as architect andengineer on the prison project.[…]An article from CommonWealth, Politics, Ideas & Civic Life in Massachusetts, cites a study by the Associated Builders andContractors of Massachusetts (ABC) which found traditional design-bid-build projects had savings four-times greater thanthe CM at risk projects.

Besides the incredible potential for corruption and shoddy work, the size of the bond issue should give everyone pause. Typically,voters prefer a bond issue to a tax increase because it’s money that’s earmarked and people think of it as the “bondholders” paying forthe projects.

That’s true, up to a point. However, the bondholders eventually get paid back – with interest. We pay interest on bonds from themoment people buy them, and this bond issue would cost approximately $50 million/year in interest. That money would come out of theGeneral Fund.

Remember: the General Fund is so short of money already that legislators threatened to turn prisoners loose and kick Grandma out ofthe nursing home if voters didn’t approve a “loan” from the state savings account to balance the budget. Then, when the first repaymentof the the “loan” was due, the legislature postponed it.

So where’s the extra $50 million that floating around in the General Fund?

Clyde Marsh, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, told the committee today he was concernedabout the possible loss of revenue from a one-mill property tax.

The tax generated about $50 million in revenue last year. Portions of it go to Veterans Affairs and the Departmentof Human Resources.

Under the bill, the revenue would be pledged to pay off the bond debt.

Finance Director Bill Newton told the committee that was a secondary pledge to obtain a lower interest rate on the bonds.

Newton said he was confident that DOC could cover the cost of the bond debt through the reduced operating costsand there would be no money diverted from the one-mill tax.

Why, what could possibly go wrong there as well? Bentley’s budgets have already eliminated veterans’ service centers in 17Alabama counties. What’s a few more?

Let’s remember that these were the same government officials who were “confident” that the GOP supermajority would be so great atmanaging the budget and boosting the state’s economy that they could “easily” pay back the money they borrowed in 2012.

We desperately need to do something about antiquated prisons and the dangerous overcrowding. We need newer buildings,sentencing reform, and a greater emphasis on rehabilitation. Still: a huge no-bid contract is certainly not not the way to go about it.

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That lacks transparency, invites shady dealing, and could end up costing the state a lot of money that it just doesn’t have.

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“Open Alabama” Is Closed Until Further NoticeDecember 3, 2015 By countrycat

One of the state’s best transparency tools – the searchable state checkbook called “Open Alabama” – hasn’t been updated since inover a month due to a “software update” that’s still in progress. State officials aren’t able to give any estimate of how long this “update”will take.

Here’s how the checkbook works (in theory, anyway):

Our checkbook contains a searchable database of unaudited expendituresby category, payee and agency. The searchable database allowssearching and drill down capability. You can view the results online, ordownload the data as a report or Excel spreadsheet. The searchabledatabase is updated nightly Tuesday through Saturday.[…]Open.Alabama has not been updated since September 30 due to asoftware update. 2016 data will be added as soon as it is available.

Note: Some information from October 2015 is available, but nothing at all from November. Looks like the software isn’t the only thingthat the state is having problems updating, LOL!

While this may seem like a minor inconvenience – and yet another example of general state government incompetence – it’s actually apretty big deal.

How much is the state spending on outside attorneys?Which, if any, crony contractors are getting fat no-bid contracts to do stuff like build a WordPress Web site?What is the state paying for outside consultants and legal fees?

You have to wonder if Paragon Source has snared another lucrative state contract to build… nothing of value.

Paragon was the no phone, no website, no business license company that raked in $13 million in no-bid contracts with theState of Alabama under Bob Riley’s administration. And their work product was so poor and/or nonexistent that Bentley’sadministration made a big show of ditching the whole Paragon mess.

If the state officials spent less time and money fighting the federal government (and losing), they might have the time and money tohire competent IT professionals. (Not whomever designed the Legislature’s “new and improved” database this year.) In most cases,a major software revision or upgrade would be thoroughly tested offline then installed during off-hours to minimize downtime – worst

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case, a site might be down overnight or for a weekend.

A month or more of downtime for a software upgrade to an existing system is simply unacceptable. It would be nice to know how muchthe state is paying for this service and who’s getting the money. Unfortunately, by the time the checkbook is back up and running,surely those checks will already have been cashed.

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SB-502 Will Use Education Money To Bail Out The General FundMay 23, 2015 By countrycat

Let's call it this bill what it really is: “Leave Every Child Behind.” Don't like the Draconian budget cuts that the House passed? SenatorGerald Dial has the solution: raid the Education budget to prop up the General Fund budget. It's just one more desperate attempt tofund state government by draining the state's resources and savings accounts.

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How far do you trust the Alabama Legislature? The text of this bill asks for quite a bit of trust on the part of voters, while giving allthe power to the Legislature. Sound familiar?

This bill specifically states that “all appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of thestate, for interest on the public debt and for public education may be made in the general appropriations bill“. They want us to trust thepeople who pushed through the Great Private School Giveaway Plan in the middle of the night to do what's best for public education.Right.

Gerald Dial, the guy who once told constituents that he was too busy to meet with them during the legislative session, is now presentinghimself as a paragon of political courage, calling on fellow legislators to “stop worrying about reelection.” Note that it's easy for Dial tosay that. As chief architect of the last redistricting plan, he gerrymandered his 2010 opponent out the district by running the district linethrough the opponent's back yard.

It's interesting to note that Dial had this to say about the Governor's 2012 proposal to merge the budgets:

But Dial said voters prefer locking in some taxes for certain purposes, such as using most income-tax collections to payteachers' salaries. ''They don't trust the Legislature to just give us … money to spend wherever we want to,” Dial said.

Does he actually think voters trust the Legislature more after the antics of the past few years?

Let's not even pretend that this is a serious attempt to reform Alabama's budget process. Call it for what it is: proof positive thatRepublicans can't govern. Their claim of “fiscal responsibility” is complete and total fiction. Let's look at how “fiscally responsible”they've been since taking power in 2010:

Raiding the state's saving account to balance the budget by threatening – almost literally – to throw Grandma out of thenursing home and turn state prisoners loose to run the streets. Nice little state you have here… be a shame if somethinghappened to it. That little stunt cost the state over a million dollars for a special election.Using Homeland Security money to give Governor Bentley's cronies cushy state salaries well above state salary caps.In other crony payouts, this year Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh gave his chief of staff a $40k annual raise.Siphoning $99k from the Education Trust Fund to build a WordPress Web site for the Dept. of Commerce.Asking the state for a payment plan because they aren't able to repay the money they borrowed from the trust fund.Handed out a $72,000 no-bid to a Bob Riley-connected company. The task? Look up stuff on Google.

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Speaker Mike Hubbard increased the speaker's office budget by 82.6% (to $892,492) over the previous (Democratic) speaker.That number includes $135,000 paid to political consultants, six-figure salaries to formerly part-time staffers, & a lavish re-decoration of Hubbert's office.In 2014, Alabama legislators spent $1.2 million to redecorate their chambers. Allowed 17 state Veterans Services Offices to close in 2012 because the state “couldn't afford” to fund them.

Now, once again, we're faced with the possibility of prisoners in our basements and our options are limited.

Take a bribe from the Poarch Creek Indians! In exchange for $250 million, we give them exclusive gaming rights. Forever.Throw the most vulnerable citizens overboard, lay off state troopers, shut down jury trials, and close state crime labs.Raid the education fund for a one-time shot of cash and kick the ever-growing can one year farther down the road.

They'll do anything but admit that there simply isn't enough revenue coming in to fund their corporate welfare projects and provide forthe general welfare of the poor schmucks paying the bills.

The committee hearing on this bill is scheduled for Tuesday, May 26 at 1pm in Room 727.

Note: that's pretty quick action, given that Dial just dropped the bill at the end of last week. But Senator Del Marsh has signed on as aco-sponsor, so you safely assume the leadership plans to fast track it.

If the legislature passes the bill, the plan then goes to the voters as yet another constitutional amendment. We could have anotherexpensive “special election,” where the voters will be asked to once again bail out a legislature incapable of doing its job.

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What’s Going On With The Legislature’s Database & State’s IT Accounting System?February 25, 2015 By countrycat

As Kyle Whitmire noted today, the Alabama Legislature has “upgraded” ALISON, the online tracking tool for legislation, and theupgrade rollout, “makes Healthcare.gov look good.”

It's no surprise that people have problems navigating ALISON: the originalsite had been a joke for years, with a clunky design, totally non-intuitivenavigation structure, and browser compatibility problems. It was designedwith Internet Explorer-only functions, and last session, I still had problemsaccessing the site using Firefox.

And now they've made it worse! Whitmire noted his experience with the“Find your Legislator” function:

According to the site, my lawmaker could be Dickie Drake, DavidFaulkner, Jim Carns, John Rogers or Patricia Todd (Could I just

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pick?) Click on any of those names, and you'll get a 404 Error, which according to Google Translate means, “I don't know.Go to hell.”

That isn't to say the site isn't packed with useful information. If you want to read what constitutional amendments will be onthe 2014 ballot, the Legislature's website is there for you. (Time machine not included.)

You want to laugh, but the 2015 legislative session starts next Tuesday. Bills will be dropping like bombs, and if ALISON is non-functioning, citizens and the media will have lost a crucial tool to track bills, public hearings, vote counts, and the progress of legislation.

You have to wonder if this is a feature, not a bug. Indeed, the GOP super-majority's leadership has given good government advocateszero reason to trust their motives or give them the benefit of the doubt. Witness the midnight passage of the Alabama Accountability Actwith no notice, no public hearings, and almost no opportunity for debate on the floor. Even Republicans who voted for it said they'dhave voted no if they'd “had a chance to read the bill.”

But before we put on our tinfoil hats and concoct a grand conspiracy theory, let's remember the state's history of IT screw-ups broughtabout by crony contracting:

Paragon Source built… nothing the state could use.

“Bob Riley gives $13 million no bid contract to Paragon Source, a company with no business license, no phone listing andno website, with a resulting work product so irrelevant the Bentley administration has thrown it out.”

This was an important contract to some in the Riley Administration, and they fought tooth and nail to keep it going, even as legislatorsdemanded specifics:

The joint Legislative Contract Review Committee, which could only delay the contract for 45 days, went through severallegal battles with the Riley administration before Riley signed the contract in November 2009.

The committee subpoenaed Janet Lauderdale, CEO of Paragon Source, but she refused to appear. The committeesought the names, addresses, job descriptions, salaries of people and subcontractors hired by Paragon since2007, but the Riley administration blocked the committee by going to court.

BIG Communications used $99k in education money to create a WordPress site.

The Web site is built around a single template page, so after the initial layout was designed, there wasn't a lot of“programming” involved. It's a matter of filling in the blanks in the template and saving the new page. A quick glance atthe underlying code shows that the site uses WordPress for its content management system (CMS) and relies onWordPress plug-ins for specific site functions. Hmmm…. sounds like a lot for “programming” that was actually off-the-shelf plug & play code.

And now we have a new group of hogs at the IT trough who have managed to render ALISON almost useless. Who are they? Yourguess is as good as anyone's. Indicted Speaker Mike Hubbard's office is no help & all the state helpline can offer is:

According to Angela, there are lots of vendors (people the state pays to do stuff) that have to work together (which theyaren't).

So I headed over to the Alabama Checkbook, thinking it shouldn't be difficult to figure out who got awarded what must be a pretty large,

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complex project. Somehow, BIG Communications missed out on this opportunity: the state paid the company over a million dollars lastyear, but it was all for “advertising.”

Next, I searched by category, planning to look through all the payments made for IT-related contracts. Let's just say that it's about aseasy to track state contracts as it is to follow legislation.

While I still have no idea who the contractors are, I did find some really bizarre entries that total over a million dollars – just from thismonth.

If our State Auditor can stop filing lawsuits long enough to do his job state job, he might have meaningful work at last.

For instance, what's up with this expenditure?

Open Alabama's glossary defines “Journal Entry – No Payee” as:

Transactions had no payee on them. Usually corrections of original payments or recording of payments made in mass.

If it's an error, how can it be that nobody questioned an error of almost half a million dollars or a “recording of paymentsmade in mass?” If you've erroneously entered something under the wrong category, you back it out & apply it correctly. Youdon't do a journal entry with no explanation. At least I don't think so: I have had an accounting class in over a decade, but surelyGAAP rules haven't changed that much.

But it's probably NOT an error: the bulk of the amount is a transfer of money to the Education Trust Fund, but for what? For datamanagement/processing contracts? IT services? There's no detail.

And did the Transportation Department really pay itself $838k for Data Processing-Professional services?

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That transaction looks even more odd when you access it via a different search term. The transaction number is the same, but the fundthe money is coming out of is different.

The upshot? I still have no idea which contractors are responsible for ALISON, but I do have a lot less confidence in the state'saccounting system.

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Former Governor Bob Riley Has a New Job!August 11, 2011 By countrycat

Governor Bob Riley is now Bob Riley the Lobbyist! The former governor announced this week that he had registered as a lobbyist. Because… well… maybe we don't have enough in Montgomery?

He said he set up his lobbying effort, Bob Riley and Associates, “to be a partner with, or help when I can, thisadministration, the governor, and the Legislature” especially in economic development and education reform.

We're sure that Gov. Riley will be paying a lot of attention to “education,” since that's one of the big lobbyist loopholes in the billspassed during the Ethics special session last December:

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There would be no limit on what a lobbyist or principal couldspend on transportation, hospitality, meals and lodging expensesfor lawmakers and their spouses to attend “an educationalfunction” sponsored by a lobbyist or principal.

An educational function, according to the bill, must be organizedaround a formal program and “could not reasonable be perceivedas a subterfuge for a purely social, recreational or entertainmentfunction.”

There also would be no limit on what a lobbyist or principal couldspend on a “widely attended event,” such as a dinner or receptionat which more than 12 people “with a diversity of views orinterests” were expected. Also exempted are “work sessions,” but the bill does not define what qualifies as a work session.

When we blogged about it at the time, we noted that this provides loopholes big enough to “drive a TEA Party Express” bus through. Itseemed odd that the Governor would have signed the package of bills with scarcely a peep of protest. Well, it seemed odd at the time. Now it appears that the governor future lobbyist knew a good deal when he saw it.

This new career choice raises a conflict of interest issue as well. One of “Bob Riley & Associates” new clients is a state grant recipient:

He said his clients include Austal USA, which is building warships for the Navy at its shipyard in Mobile.

The state in 2005, when Riley was governor, gave Austal USA a $5 million economic development grant, a state financedepartment official said.

Who's the next client? Maybe Paragon Source? They got a $13 million no-bid contract from Riley's Administration for work product thestate isn't using:

Finance Director David Perry and his predecessor, Bill Newton, who helped push the contract through, confirmed inseparate interviews that the Virginia-based company's work is not being used. Paragon Source didn't have aphone number, fax number, website or email address.

It's always good to see new businesses opening up in the state, but does the state really need another ethically-challenged lobbyist?

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There Are No Bid Contracts and Then There Are No Bid ContractsMay 30, 2011 By mooncat

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Some no-bid contracts are outrageous, wrong and obviously deserving of prosecution.

Others are just fine.

Here are two examples, I leave it to the reader to figure out which is which:

1) Bob Riley gives $13 million no bid contract to Paragon Resource, a company with no business license, no phone listing and nowebsite, with a resulting work product so irrelevant the Bentley administration has thrown it out.

2) Bullock County Commission awards $85,000 in no-bid contracts to feed inmates. (Hint: Four of the five commissioners are blackand Bullock is one of the poorest counties in Alabama.)

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What a man, what a hero, what a mensch!April 22, 2011 By piggieheart

“While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought toprove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation,depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings,” the statement said. “For my family and me, this continued personalcost is simply too great.”

With these words, Senator Jon Ensign (R-Nev), announced that he will resign his Senate seat, effective May 3.

What else could this brave, conscientious man do, in the face of ongoing persecution from fellow senators, seemingly intent onenforcing the cold, hard language of ethics regulations, instead of considering the whole man- this paragon of Family Values- and histotal contribution to our nation's better self – our national conscience?

Of course, he had to resign, although, as he pointed out, he has not violaated any law, rule or standard of conduct. What else couldhave been expected? Is it reasonable to expect him to put up with (in his words) “investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, orespecially public hearings”? No, no a thousand times no! His actions that led to this unhappy pass are alleged to have been egregious,it is true.

From a legal standpoint, there is some considerable fragrance of criminal conversion, misuse of donated election funds, and othertrifles. But to subject him to depositions, in which he would be required to testify under oath about his actions would be so wrong andso hurtful to the family that he loves and has always tried to protect and respect above all.

Now, there are those who believe that, as a man who has consistently run for office as a paragon of morality and a battler for FamilyValues, Senator Ensign's particular mis-step suggests the possibility of hypocrisy. But, let us remember that the Senator was notbonking his aide's wife in public, nor procuring the aide a job as a payoff in public, so why should he be subjected to public hearings?

And so, due to the entirely unreasonable demands of his fellow senators, this gentleman, this good Christian gentleman will no longerbe able to serve his constituents and the United States of America in the way that he has in the past.

And so another great Republican lawmaker joins Senator Larry Craig, as he slip-slides away down the slime-covered slope of publicdegradation. And he only accepted this fate because of his great love for his family. What a guy!

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Details of the Half Million Dollar Loan Story Continue to Bubble UpMarch 25, 2010 By countrycat

Reporters keep asking questions about the half million dollars the Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks donated to his campaign.

As Mooncated posted on Sunday, Sparks addressed the issue recently at an appearance in Huntsville, blaming the story on theBirmngham News:

I want to be the governor of Alabama to help Alabama, to help the school children, but Birmingham News will not say onegood thing about Ron Sparks.

In fact, the Mobile Press Register has dug into the story more than any other traditional media outlet, and reporter George Altman hasanother story today about it:

Ron Sparks loan: Bank board members tied to casino owner, agriculturedepartment

The bank that lent Ron Sparks $500,000 for his gubernatorial campaign has on its board of directors a person withbusiness ties to casino owner Milton McGregor — a Sparks campaign donor — and two supporters of an airportrenovation that Sparks helped fund as agriculture commissioner, records show.

The Sparks campaign did not respond to requests for comment, and Sparks has declined to answer Press-Registerquestions about the loan from Montgomery-based River Bank & Trust.

Now, while I find this interesting, I don't think it's a smoking gun – although I still have questions about the loan.

In this lending environment, I can't imagine a small bank writing a no-collateral, signature loan for half a million dollars to someone for apolitical campaign. If River Bank did this without a co-signer, then I wonder about the long-term health of it as a financial institution. Ithink that's what Altman is getting at: someone may have intervened to help push this loan through or co-signed it. If so, voters shouldknow who it was.

Still, keep in mind that Alabama is a relatively small state and the politically involved, the “movers and shakers,” and the financially well-connected move in the same circles, socialize together, etc. It's the “old boys network” on steroids.

Remember when Bill Clinton went to DC, the Washington press corps went nuts over how “everybody knew everybody” in Arkansas? Alabama's the same way.

I think it's unfortunate that the Sparks' campaign has bungled this so badly that it's remained a part of the news cycle for over a month.There's a litnay of “ifs“

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IF Sparks had only filled out his financial report correctly in the first place and shown the source of the loan….IF Sparks hadn't reported January 2010 loans and contributions on his 2009 report…IF Sparks hadn't stonewalled and been defensive about the source of the money for weeks after the questions started….

It's a self-inflicted political wound. There's no better way to arouse a reporter's interest in a topic than for a politician to refuse todiscuss it. Avoidance didn't work for Riley with his no-bid Paragon contract and stonewalling isn't working for Sparks.

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