I Defended Speaker Ledbetter — I Won’t Make That Mistake Again

Last Sunday morning, I broke the story about an alleged leak from the Republican House Caucus meeting in Montgomery. This will make more sense if you read it first—go to THIS LINK. I’ll wait.

Here’s the backstory: Last week a whole big mess blew up over a bill to change the members of the Public Service Commission from elected to appointed by the Governor, House Speaker and Senate President Pro Tem. It was part of a package of bills, the Alabama Affordability Protection Plan. These bills popped up literally out of nowhere, and with surprising, almost unprecedented speed, they seemed to be a slam-dunk to pass the legislature, be signed, and done.

Unfortunately for those who wanted these bills passed, the people of Alabama found out about it, and they weren’t happy — and they started telling their friends on Facebook and their Glorious Leaders in the legislature about their unhappiness.

Last Thursday morning, literally minutes before the House session was supposed to start at 9:00 AM, the three bills were pulled from the calendar.

Later that day, so I was told, there was an emergency meeting of the House Republican caucus to discuss…matters.

During that meeting, somebody allegedly made a recording of Speaker Ledbetter. You can hear this recording, and see the transcript, in my OpEd about it.

As I said, I couldn’t verify it was real. It did sound like Ledbetter to me — again, as I said.

Just to be clear: I wasn’t in Montgomery that day, so it’s impossible for me to have made the recording.

Since I didn’t make it, I couldn’t leak it.

Did I get it from a trusted source? Yep. I’m a reporter these days, it’s kinda my job.

Was my source in the meeting? Did they make the recording? Did they leak it?

No, no and nope.

Do I know where my source got it, or how many times it changed hands before it came to me?

Again, no and nope.

Take a minute and think about all that, and what it implies.

So, there I was with an “explosive clip” of the Republican Speaker of the Alabama House saying he didn’t give a defecation about the Republican Party.

I listened to it. I was underwhelmed.

Yes, he was frustrated. Yes, he said a bad word. What are you, five?

I had a very high index of suspicion that little old me and my little site weren’t the only ones to get the clip. And, knowing a little bit about Alabama politics and Alabama media, I was pretty sure at least some of the usual suspects would crucify the Speaker over his comment.

I didn’t think it really amounted to anything, so that’s what I said in my OpEd. 

That the Alabama Republican Party is a raging dumpster fire, while unfortunate, is NOT the Speaker's issue. I know there are a lot of people who are locked into the whole Red versus Blue struggle, and they’ve got their panties all in a wad about his language and lack of devotion to the Party — and some of his old enemies using this as their casus belli to come after him.

At any rate, it appears that defending Nathianel Ledbetter against a bunch of silly attacks was not the thing to do. I assure you, I won’t be making that mistake again.

Ever since the OpEd dropped, I’ve been getting hate — lots of hate. Not fun, but nothing really unexpected. I’ve also been getting lots of love from friends and readers, about the OpEd and the Energy Alabama — Alabama Power story I broke that Sunday afternoon.

For the record, I wasn’t overly impressed by that call, either. It’s just how the sausage is made, the kind of thing that happens every day in every State capital and DC regularly.

As the Man said: “It was Tuesday.”

Those two articles together have provoked a lot of interesting (over)reactions. All manner of rumors have been flying, several untrue accusations and flat-out lies have been spreading, and an number of nasty actions carried out that decent people should find disturbing.

Let me be absolutely clear on this:

Britney Garner was NOT my source for the Speaker clip. She had nothing to do with my OpEd. Anyone who says differently is a dirty lying liar who tells lies. She’s not paying me millions of dollars — I wish she was, but she’s not.

She’s not my source for the Energy Alabama — Alabama Power clip, either. She didn’t have anything to do with that article. No, I don’t know who leaked that call to WBRC-6, but they didn’t get it from me.

My source is NOT a member of the Alabama legislature, nor do they hold any elected or appointed governmental position in this State, so far as I know. I’ve talked to several legislators recently, and none of them are my source for these clips.

My sources for the clips are…

Protected under the Code of Alabama 12-21-142, which originally passed in 1935. That statute says that:

No person engaged in, connected with or employed on any newspaper, radio broadcasting station or television station, while engaged in a news-gathering capacity, shall be compelled to disclose in any legal proceeding or trial, before any court or before a grand jury of any court, before the presiding officer of any tribunal or his agent or agents or before any committee of the legislature or elsewhere the sources of any information procured or obtained by him and published in the newspaper, broadcast by any broadcasting station, or televised by any television station on which he is engaged, connected with or employed.

This is reinforced by Article 1, Sec. 4 of the Alabama Constitution, which states:

That no law shall ever be passed to curtail or restrain the liberty of speech or of the press; and any person may speak, write, and publish his sentiments on all subjects, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.

Alabama has some of the oldest and strongest protections for journalistic sources in the nation. You ain’t getting it. And no, I don’t know who made the recording in the first place—look to your own (burning) house, Mr. Speaker.

Here’s what really irks me: my friend is being attacked as well, as the Speaker lashes out. Ledbetter’s tail is caught in a crack, and he’s started an “investigation” (read: “inquisition”) to find out who leaked the video.

He’s going about it in exactly the wrong way, but he didn’t ask me how to handle it properly. Oh, well.

Britney is a good friend of mine. We go back years. We’ve worked together on some campaigns, and she’s very, very good at what she does. Now clients are being pressured to fire her, and I’m hearing she may be banned from the State House altogether. And let’s not even get started on the various lies being laid about, on her and me.

The last few weeks have been very bad for those who really run this State. They’ve been caught doing business as usual, and people aren’t happy with what has been exposed.

I’ve offered, through several channels — and that offer is still open — to talk with the Speaker. Like everyone else, he has the right to be heard, in his own voice, and I will let him do so.

I might have a few ideas about how he can get his tail out of this particular crack with a minimum of fuss — but for that, he’ll need to buy me a cup of coffee. Damage control is thirsty work.

All he has to do is reach out to me, and we can talk about this like adults, and see about making things better, and right.

And if he doesn’t have my number?

Britney does. Ask her.

And for no reason at all: I’m not suicidal. I feel pretty good. I’m a decent swimmer, and don’t paddleboard. My car is running fine, and the brakes are working. I generally avoid long walks in lonely woods, and I’m avoiding elevators and dark alleyways.

Just sayin’

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