ALABAMA ETHICS → SELF DEALING → IMMUNITY

Alabama Ethics Commission is an organization that doles out immunity from prosecution to politicians seeking legal graft.

The Ripp Report has filed numerous complaints with the Ethics commission in the last dozen years. Complaints ranging from the BP Oil Spill and our, last State Senator, boom boom Pittman, who skimmed a cool $750.000.00 for his personal company, while being the trustee of the funds. Pittman’s Bible buddy, Jack Burrell, and the lawyers and judges, who all were involved with the “alleged” bid-rigging at the Fairhope, “Jack Burrell Airport.” Former councilman Robert Brown who at the same time was on the Fairhope Art Center board, awarded himself a 300,000 plus contract. The Ethics Commission found nothing wrong, everyone just collected his money and kept on trucking.

The Ripp Report filed a complaint against the Ethics Commission itself for not enforcing it own rules. They had no sense of humor and dismissed the complaint citing they were immune from complaints against themselves, Ha. We are aware of dozens of complaints, filed by numerous people, that have either been dismissed or batted around like something was being done only to have the complaint fall into the Ethics black hole file.

The Ethics Commission has now reached a milestone in hypocrisy. With every complaint they have dismissed, they provide either a simple dismissal or some jackass ignorant explanation why, what may appear to some people as illegal or unethical is actually perfectly legal and ethical. The Ethics Opinion they issue guarantees, the individual,”politician,” that he has been granted immunity from prosecution. I am not making this up.

Get ready to hear how Regions Bank and the Head of the Alabama Ethics Commission, Mr Tom Albritton, are going to spread enough bullshit to fertilize the entire state.

Please get a Lagniappe and read this article. It explains why corruption flourishes through the entire state, especially Baldwin County.

Self-dealing? — Ethics director’s kids’ tuition paid from trust he oversees

Lagniappe | Posted by Rob Holbert | Jun 29, 2021

As director of the Alabama Ethics Commission, Tom Albritton is the state’s policeman for conflicts of interest and ethical breaches that can arise throughout all levels of government, but having a private charitable trust he helps oversee pay more than $100,000 for his kids’ college tuition is r…

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Source: https://ethics.alabama.gov/directors-welcome.aspx

Please read the second sentence of the above website statement: the mission of the Alabama Ethics Commission, and then keep in mind that the Director Tom Albritton, of the same Ethics Commission is skimming a trust for the underprivileged for his personal gain.

“The Internal Revenue Service Section 4941(d) description of self-dealing would appear to prohibit a trust from paying tuition or other expenses for a trustee’s child or children, as that would directly benefit the trustee, referred to in the will as a “disqualified person.”

“(1) In general for purposes of this section, the term “self-dealing” means any direct or indirect — (A) sale or exchange, or leasing, of property between a private foundation and a disqualified person; (B) lending of money or other extension of credit between a private foundation and a disqualified person; (C) furnishing of goods, services or facilities between a private foundation and a disqualified person; (D) payment of compensation (or payment or reimbursement of expenses) by a private foundation to a disqualified person; (E) transfer to, or use by or for the benefit of, a disqualified person of the income or assets of a private foundation; and (F) agreement by a private foundation to make any payment of money or other property to a government official (as defined in section 4946(c)), other than an agreement to employ such individual for any period after the termination of his government service if such individual is terminating his government service within a 90-day period.”

“Richard Fording stumbled upon the Mabel Amos Scholarship that was being awarded each year in the Department of Political Science.

Fording, who is the Marilyn Williams Elmore and John Durr Elmore Endowed Professor in that department, said a colleague told him the department had a scholarship named after Amos. Well, sort of.

“We had it on our website as Amos Mabel Sanders, so we had it backwards — it’s supposed to be Mabel Sanders Amos, and she was the first female secretary of state in Alabama,” Fording said.

He looked her up and noted that she had been the first female secretary of state, and the personal secretary to six governors, but also that her time as secretary of state coincided with Gov. George Wallace’s attempts to thwart integration.

Fording first found no evidence the trust was doing anything to target and help the African American community in Alabama, having donated just $500 to a Historically Black College or University — Tuskegee University.

He also noticed Regions Bank had received what he considered an inordinately large amount of money for managing the fund — more than $1 million since its inception.”

“So it turns out one of the board members, I discovered, their two children had received a total of $105,000 through 2018 to attend the University of Texas. That board member was Tom Albritton, the director of our State Ethics Commission.”

The African American Community gets $500.00 and the Director of Alabama Ethics gets $105.000.00 while Regions Bank gets a cool million! What is Ethical about this?

The Ripp Report will keep you updated as to where and when you need to bring your wheelbarrow for free manure provided by the Director of the Ethics Commission, who personally will shovel you a “load”.

Mr. Albritton should resign immediately.