Alabama Governor Uses BP Spill Money To Fix Up A Second Mansion For Himself

[n2doc]

BY ALICE OLLSTEIN

DEC 27, 2015 11:54 AM



As storms once again battered the state of Alabama over Christmas, Republican Gov. Robert Bentley moved to divert funding from the 2010 BP oil spill recovery effort to finance the renovation of a second Governor’s mansion on the Gulf Coast.
Yet that beachside mansion, which Alabama governors beginning with famed segregationist George Wallace have enjoyed, was not damaged by the BP oil spill. It was damaged more than two decades earlier by Hurricane Danny, and has sat empty ever since.
While Alabama’s oyster industry and coastal communities continue to suffer from the effects of the massive Deepwater Horizon oil well blowout, the repairs to the governors’ mansion are estimated to cost between $1.5 million and $1.8 million. Though Bentley says he will stay there only “on occasion,” the administration said the property would be “primarily” used to wine and dine corporate executives considering the state for investment.
While the funding comes from a grant, not taxpayer money, the state plans to divert other BP settlement dollars to cover the state’s General Fund shortfalls. Bentley has been widely criticized for prioritizing the far-flung beachfront property at a time when the state is struggling to provide basic services to its residents.

more
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/12/27/3735129/alabama-mansion-bp/?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=webfeeds

[sharp_stick]

1. Elections have consequences

Alabama seems to enjoy their choices.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

8. Freeedumb, Jaysus, Homoooos and Gunnnns

These are the people we're "out of touch" with.

[Stevepol]

14. Rigged elections have consequences too.

The AL aristocrats and oligarchs can also play pretty fast and loose with the results of electronic voting machine totals as they did with Governor-elect Siegelman back before he was wrongly convicted and sent to the pen.

[Baitball Blogger]

2. Scum.

[Initech]

3. Because... greed.

[ejbr]

4. And they'll vote for him again

because...gay marriage.

[madokie]

7. Gays, god, guns and abortions

are the wedge issues that republiCONs win elections with. One of these days people will wake up to being taken to the cleaners all these years, it is hoped they will anyway.

[trof]

22. Not this time. He's in his second term.

[packman]

5. That's the "mansion" in the background?

I guess I have a different version of what a "mansion" is in my head.

[Bryce Butler]

6. ...

"...governor's mansion that has been abandoned for nearly two decades."

"Work began earlier this month near Gulf Shores to rehabilitate the two-story, 7,500-square-foot gubernatorial mansion that wasn't fixed after Hurricane Danny in 1997."

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/alabama-renovates-abandoned-governors-mansion-with-bp-money/

[dhill926]

9. bless his heart....

[Dont call me Shirley]

10. Sounds like corporate America needs to pay for the renovations, not the people damaged by BP.

[Octafish]

11. Meanwhile, former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman rots in prison, railroaded by Karl Rove.

Of course, Rove, Bush, Gonzalez, Bentley and the rest of the Alabama GOP mafia are immune to prosecution.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. + 1,000,000

[Octafish]

24. Judge Fuller who put him there stepped down for wife beating.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/01/americas_most_heinous_judge_resigns_wife_beater_mark_fuller_leaves_the_bench_finally_but_not_easily/

[bvar22]

23. ...and Siegelman has sat in prison through 8 years of an Obama Administration...

...whose #1 PRIORITY after appointing Holder AG was to get corrupt Alaska Senator Ted Stevens out of jail and his record cleaned up.

...but Don Siegelman????
Never heard of him.

[Octafish]

25. Before she got on SCOTUS, Elena Kagan returned him to prison and extended his stay.

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2010/06/22/kaganaccomplice

[chapdrum]

12. His allotment from the "Mission Accomplished, Inc." coffers.

Well done.

[cindyperry]

13. So why no

Criminal charges

[valerief]

15. Let them eat cake. That's the oligarchs' philosophy. nt

[Dustlawyer]

16. Most of the victims of the spill, including the oystermen referred to, have been paid a fraction for

losing their livelyhood. Plus most are under investigation for filing subsistence claims. These are small claims for the loss of the seafood that they caught and ate themselves. They investigated almost every subsistence claim (former FBI director Louis Freeh's group). The week before Christmas we were all told that if they dropped their claim before they were put under investigation, their economic claims will be ok (any investigation of any of a victim's claims freezes all of their claims and could result in losing all claims and a claw back of any money paid.

At 9:00 Wednesday night before Christmas, when the settlement office closed for the holidays and so did all of the plaintiff's attorney's offices, they sent out thousands of FWA (Fraud, Waste, and Abuse) denials effectively wiping out these fishermen's claims. Merry Christmas mother fuckers!

This is another in a long line of corrupt, grossly unfair rulings in the BP oil spill case. We are almost 6 years from the spill and most have not been paid, nor will they be. The Plaintiff's Steering Committee (PSC) will son be making their request to be paid the $600,000,000 BP offered them if they agreed to this shitty class settlement. The settlement was designed to eliminate tens of billions of dollars in valid claims so BP had to sweeten the pot for the PSC, who were appointed by their friend the judge in the case, Carl Barbier. One of the big kickers for this bribe was that the PSC only gets the money if the settlement goes through to the end without being overturned. This, the PSC would never try to oppose this shitty deal or they could lose the $600,000,000 bribe. Steve Herman, the PSC liaison to all of the other firms who represent victims, firms like ours, has even admitted that the deal turned out really bad (just like we said in our brief in opposition at the beginning). At the beginning he said it was the best deal ever negotiated. It was, just not for the people he represented.

I will do a OP on this when I get back in the office. I hope someone can get it in front of Bernie Sanders and he can see for himself what big foreign corporations can do and shine a light on this corruption, the poster child for what his campaign I'd fighting against! The Alabama governor is just one in a long line of politicians BP fed at their money trough! Even Obama benefitted so BP could get him to bless their 20 billion dollar fund (there was never 20 billion in a fund), as well as the "Independant" Ken Feinberg who would oversee the first settlement program. BP hand picked the SOB who ran around the Gulf Coast in Town Hall meetings and on TV telling people not to hire an attorney because he was Independant. Even Judge Barbier had enough and ruled later that he had always been BP's representative. No one was punished for that either.

This shit makes me sick!!!

[Whiskeytide]

18. Please link your OP back ...

... To this post so I can get back to it. Very interesting. Thanks.

[Dustlawyer]

20. You can also follow on TheAmericanZombie.com. He hasn't written on BP for awhile, but

I'm sure he will have something to say about the Christmas bloodbath.

[Whiskeytide]

21. Thanks.

[Initech]

19. Yay, American greed!

[JonathanRackham]

26. SOB