Caution! Worley Ahead!

Looks like those highway message boards can be of some use!

Worley Watch: "Poor Management of Public Funds"

The Sand Mountain Reporter published this story today. It appears that yet another county is experiencing delays in getting reimbursed by Nancy Worley for their purchase of voting machines:

"The Justice Department gave the state $23 million to fix this problem and we did our part. But now we’re having a hard time getting our money back. We can’t get her to take our phone calls," Cannon said.

Worley Watch: "a 39-cent stamp would do just as well"

The Mobile Press-Register reported over the weekend about Nancy Worley's delays in paying counties back for the voting equipment they purchased this year.

It turns out that The Tuscaloosa News had the same issue in mind. It reported on Sunday that Bibb County submitted its claim for reimbursement on June 8th but still has not seen any check from Worley.

Mark Tyner, the Bibb County administrator, said the delay in being reimbursed may cause the county's general fund to go dry by the end of September. According to the article:

Tyner said the county has a line of credit that could be tapped to prevent the general fund from running on empty, but that would cost money to repay.

"As small a county as we are anyway things are awfully tight at the end of the year and it makes it difficult for us," Tyner said. Worley has been hand-delivering checks to counties as she drives around the state. Tyner said a 39-cent stamp would do just as well.

"We would be glad to see our check in the mail and the sooner the better," he said.

Opining on another issue of travel costs, even Worley's hometown paper, The Decatur Daily, questioned the practice of public officials traveling around the state to hand out checks:

Public officials also travel out of Montgomery to hand out money. Lester Sellers, legislative chairman of the Alabama Association of Boards of Registrars, filed an ethics complaint against Secretary of State Nancy Worley. It accuses her of traveling at state expense to present checks to counties so they can buy voting equipment, and of using these events to get publicity for herself.

Creditors wince when they hear "The check’s in the mail," but it ought to delight taxpayers when it staves off unnecessary travel.

Montgomery Advertiser: "Worley excuses now threadbare"

The Montgomery Advertiser offers this editorial today on Secretary of State Nancy Worley.

Money quote:

[M]any of her problems in office are clearly of her own making, and she needs to acknowledge that instead of constantly trying to blame the criticism on politics.

Worley Watch: 'My heavens, has it been that long?'"

The Mobile Press-Register reported yesterday that Nancy Worley, the incumbent Secretary of State, is just now delivering checks owed to the counties despite the checks having been printed in July.

Secretary of State Nancy Worley is personally delivering millions of dollars in reimbursement checks to counties across the state for voting machine upgrades required under federal law.

Worley, a Democrat seeking re-election to a second term, said she delivers the checks when she is in the area on business.

Worley's opponent in November, Beth Chapman, has stated that Worley could be serving the counties - and the taxpayers - better if Worley would mail the checks to the counties rather than waiting to present them personally as she travels the state.

Lester Sellers, a voter registration official in Coosa County, has filed an ethics complaint against Worley, alleging that Worley's state-paid trips to deliver the checks is an improper use of state funds. He has charged that Worley is staging the unnecessary trips with photo ops and other press coverage to boost her re-election campaign.

Worley blamed the delay in delivering checks on staff problems:

Worley said checks have been slow to arrive in counties, in part, because of the loss of key staff in her office, including an attorney and a finance director, who were working on reimbursements. She said her office is working to straighten out paperwork for the remaining counties.

However, that excuse doesn't explain the check that sat on her desk since July:

Worley said the check would not have arrived in her office July 20. That's the date the check was processed in the comptroller's office, she said. Worley said officials with Clarke County called earlier this month looking for the check and she responded promptly once she realized the check was sitting in her office.

Some counties have expressed concern about the delays in receiving the checks. They have expended large sums of money to purchase voting machines to comply with federal law, money that would normally go toward other county programs. The delays in reimbursements are apparently causing some counties problems with balancing their budgets for this fiscal year.

Worley's response, despite holding checks for months for her personal delivery:

Worley said she knows some counties are in a bind and are borrowing money. She said her office has tried to expedite reimbursement for those with the proper paperwork that are in a financial bind.

Worley Watch: Campaign Finance Revisited

With the Mobile Press-Register recently placing the spotlight on Jim Sullivan's and Jan Cook's campaign finance reports, it's probably a good time to revisit a past posting on this blog. Of course, it has to do with Nancy Worley.

You can read here about Nancy Worley's apparent failures to comply with similar reporting requirements as Sullivan and Cook.

Worley Watch: Blast from the Past

With Nancy Worley talking about witch hunts - and with Halloween not too far off - I was reminded of this article written by Elaine Witt of the former Birmingham Post-Herald.  It was originally published in October 2004. 

 

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Worley's tenure fit for Halloween

 

Yes, you're liable to see some creepy George W. Bush and John Kerry masks on the trick-or-treat trail this weekend. But with Halloween falling on the eve of an election in which both sides are spooked about ballot conspiracies, I'm planning to get a long black wig, wrap a wad of hair around my head, borrow one of
those Eddie Bauer SUVs and go as Alabama's scariest constitutional officer: Secretary of State Nancy Worley.

Only one of the state elections division workers who were on the job when Worley was elected in 2002 is still there. The others, as well as General Counsel Charles Grainger, have either resigned, retired or been fired, laid off or transferred under Worley. And the single remaining elections worker who was in the office when Jim Bennett was secretary of state, elections administrator Ed Packard, has a grievance pending against Worley with the State Personnel Board.

Few people outside Montgomery paid attention to these vanishings until Oct. 19. That's when Worley reportedly forced the resignation of Alabama's widely respected voter registration supervisor, Anita Tatum.

Now, Worley's own Democratic Party is abuzz with rumors about a primary challenge. And Alabama Republicans are smelling blood.

"The combination of the internal struggle she's having, even within the Democratic party, and then the controversy about the automobile has her pretty vulnerable," if she seeks re-election in 2006, state GOP chair Marty Connors said this week.

Oh, yeah, the automobile. That would be the special edition Ford Expedition Worley bought with state money during her first year in office. This shouldn't have been such a big deal — lots of public officials drive extravagant gas guzzlers at our expense. Worley just had the political stupidity to commit this gaffe in the midst of budget-related layoffs.

No political error, in any case, can match Worley's cumulative draining of the experience base in the elections division. If anything goes wrong on Tuesday — and if there's an election, anywhere in the world, you can bet there will be a glitch or two — Worley will get the blame.

Moreover, in the course of her various personnel actions, Worley has managed to tick off some key Democratic constituencies. One of the workers she ran off was on the board of the state AFLCIO. Stewart Burkhalter, president of the Alabama AFL-CIO, said Thursday he had no comment on Worley or her political future.

But Mac McArthur, executive director of the powerful Alabama State Employees Association, referred to Worley's behavior as "completely disturbing."

"I certainly believe Ms. Worley is in trouble, and her office is in trouble," said McArthur, who is seeking to have Tatum reinstated. You would think that Worley, a former president of the Alabama Education Association, would know better than to cross the state employees' unions.

But very little of Worley's behavior is making sense. The scariest possible scenario is that the brain drain in the state elections division will somehow affect the handling of election results from Alabama's 67 counties next week.

But that does not appear to be a great threat. Except for the advent of provisional ballots — part of a new procedure for handling ballots that have been challenged — this year's polling in Alabama is expected to be routine.

Scared you, didn't I?

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Worley Witch Hunt

The Gadsden Times reports this morning that the Attorney General's office has issued seven subpoenas to various institutions regarding financial transactions of Secretary of State Nancy Worley.

 

While not providing details of the information sought, a spokesperson for Attorney General Troy King said that the subpoenas are "are instruments that allow law enforcement agencies access to information".  The subpoenas were issued to Compass Bank, Wachovia Bank and Regions Bank as well as the State Comptroller's office. Additionally, a subpoena was served on the state's Information Systems Division, the agency that oversees the state's phone and computer systems.

 

Worley said she is unaware of the subpoenas. However, Worley claimed that King and Beth Chapman, her opponent for Secretary of State in November, want to use the subpoenas to hurt her politically.

 

Worley's rancor was not limited to King and Chapman.  According to the article, Worley accused a reporter for the New York Times Regional Newspapers and one of her staff members of being on a "witch hunt" to get her.

 

Worley, speaking to the reporter said, "You have been on a political witch hunt since the day I took office.  You have a special friend and totally have been on a witch hunt, you and (secretary of state elections division employee) Ed Packard."

 

Packard is reported to have responded, "Whatever that means, I'm not on a witch hunt out to get her. I've got a long record of public service, and if I've done anything, it is to assure the people of the state I'll assure accountability."

 

I guess it's natural for a politician to want to blame all of this on election year politics. It's a new twist, at least for me, to see that Worley is blaming a particular reporter and staff member of being in cahoots going after her.

 

As this blog has pointed out on multiple times, though, Worley has a pathetic record in office, a record that cannot be explained away as the product of mere partisanship, vindictive reporting, or a disgruntled employee.

 

It will be interesting to see how this development unfolds, to see what financial dealings the Attorney General is reviewing, especially since Worley has made proclamations of being a stern steward of public resources.

Which of these doesn't belong?

On September 12th, Governor Riley announced his team (see here also) for bringing Alabama into compliance with the federal mandate for a new statewide voter registration system.

 

The four members of this team include former Secretary of State Jim Bennett; Lawrence County Probate Judge Rip Proctor;  Sid McDonald, a former UA trustree and state finance director; and  Trey Granger, former legal counsel to Secretary of State Nancy Worley.

 

Jim Bennet was an excellent Secretary of State and promoted election reform the whole time he was office.  Judge Proctor is one of the best probate judges in the state and indeed is an expert on Alabama election law.  I'm not sure what Sid McDonald brings in the way of election experience, but as a former state finance director, he should have useful knowledge of the state purchasing rules.

 

In my opinion, the weak link on this team is Trey Granger. Although he's Montgomery County's director of elections, he has worked in elections for only 3 years. But, worse than that, he served as Nancy Worley's attorney during the entire period that Worley should have been working toward complying with federal law. 

 

There is no record that Granger worked to keep Worley and the Secretary of State's office in line with federal law. If anything, as Worley's attorney, we can speculate that he her on how to cover her abundance of behind the closer she came to being in violation of the federal mandate.

 

Worley was quite distraught at the prospect of Jim Bennett working with the governor on this project. I can only wonder if Granger, a former Siegelman appointee, was a bone thrown to Worley by the Republican governor.

Worley Watch: Unfinished Business - Attorney General Investigation

As reported by The Huntsville Times in May, Ed Packard, Nancy Worley's opponent for the Democratic nomination for Secretary of State, alleged that Worley had solicitated campaign contributions from her staff.

One would think that Worley, as the state's chief election official, would have known that such a solicitation is a violation of state election law. §17-1-7(c) says:

It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee to solicit any type of political campaign contributions from other employees who work for the officer or employee in a subordinate capacity.

To our knowledge, Attorney General Troy King has apparently not made a decision on prosecution of the alleged violation.

While we wait on word from King, you may wish to view this clip from Alabama Public Television's For The Record. The video clip is FTR's roundtable discussion of Packard's complaint and each panelist's take on Worley.

Worley Watch: Get Act Together

The Mobile Press-Register has some pointed advice today for Secretary of State Nancy Worley: Get your act together.

Back in Action

It's hard to believe it's been 7 months since I last posted. Time can fly when the world grabs you by the collar and makes you pay attention to things you have to as opposed to the things you want to.

Last time I posted, I noted that the Democratic Party finally had a challenger for Nancy Worley in the primary. Of course, that's all history now. Ed Packard, even with his long history of service to the state as an elections specialist, was no match for Worley, the incumbent.

Worley trounced Packard about 3 to 1. I don't know about you, but I'm wondering why Worley seems to have such a strong following among Democrats. Are they ignorant of mismanagement in office?

There's a lot of politics to catch up on, at the state and national level, especially on Worley. So, look forward to some new posts.

In the meantime, as a public service to your state, you may wish to take a walk down memory lane and refresh yourself on Worley's shenanigans. In the coming days, I'll comment on her more recent follies.

Worley Watch: Illegal Immigrant Edition

Worley Watch: Felony Follies

Worley Watch: New Year Edition