Ethics Complaints Filed Against Candidate

This is the first “series” of articles written about ethics complaints and obvious violations of state law by the Candidate for Alabama Agriculture and Industry. It has been suggested that the writer is helping “another candidate,” “the writer is an AEA operative,” and the writer “is making this all up.” Threats have been made toward the writer of this series. However, under the First Amendment, the writer has the right to publish this and especially since it is all documented. We have made reference to Grace’s Campaign Contribution Form A (which can be found on the Secretary of State’s website) and anyone can go print it off, and verify the names and industries of those individuals who have donated to Grace who are in industries he would regulate. This is illegal according to state law. We didn’t make the law but it is obvious that even though there is a law, no one seems to care. The writer is being attacked, not the person who is breaking the law. The theory of the writer is that The Ethics Commission will sweep this under the rug until after the primary, hoping Grace will win the GOP. Then, he will either be elected or not but if he is, then “ethics complaints” may turn into violations and Zorn (Democrat) can take his place. Note: Zorn is Ron Spark’s assistant. There ARE Democrats on The Ethics Commission. Politics are a dirty game and especially now. Educate yourself but do not attack someone who is trying to get information into the hands of voters who must make the decision of who to vote for. There is another part to this story which involves EVEN MORE donations. This is an in-your-face, I-don’t-care-about-the-law action and aren’t you sick and tired of it?

ARTICLE ONE

We have NOT been able to interview anyone regarding this news but wanted to post this anyway. I received a very early morning telephone call today informing me that Dorman Grace, who is one of the GOP Candidates for Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner, has had two separate ethics complaints filed against him.

My call to the Alabama Ethics Commission yielded no information. I got the “standard” ” That is a grand jury matter and due to privacy laws I cannot discuss this. ” However, I know that someone is talking because I have the case numbers. I will spend the day tracking this down.

There are strict laws that govern campaign donations. Dorman Grace has been receiving money from the very people (business entities) he would be charged with regulating if he were to win the election. This is unethical, illegal, against state law. I have known about his money receipts for a while and have been waiting for this to come down. I am not a person to “print” anything unsubstantiated but one look at his FEC reports gives me enough information to make the above statement with a high degree of confidence.

The Montgomery Independent is supposed to run a story later today on this. Obviously they are in Montgomery and have quicker access to people/information than I do here in Huntsville, AL.

This matter will most likely NOT be settled before the primary. Please reconsider voting for Grace if that’s who you were thinking of. Refer back to my interview with Dale Peterson (who is also a candidate). This is the most powerful position in Alabama. The person in this job can obligate the state of Alabama for millions of dollars without the consent of the legislature. How many more crooks do we need in Montgomery? Haven’t we had our fill of them already?

Educate yourself, your family and your friends and neighbors on these issues. Please, let’s get the right people in office.

VOTE IN THE JUNE 1st PRIMARY! Let’s get our candidates voted in for the November primary!

ARTICLE TWO

As we reported yesterday, Dorman Grace, GOP candidate for the office of Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, has had at least two ethics complaints filed against him. Reliable sources say that both accuse Grace of accepting illegal campaign contributions. He is one of three candidates for the Republican nomination for agriculture commissioner in the June 1 primary.

Both complaints charge Grace with violating Section 36-25-12 of the Code of Alabama which states, “the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Industries and any candidate for the office of commissioner may not accept a campaign contribution from a person associated with a business regulated by the department.” Both complaints list a number of contributions on Grace’s most recent Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) financial disclosure report which they claim come from people associated with businesses regulated by the department.

The first complaint against Grace was filed by an individual whose name, to date, is not known to the public. The second complaint was filed by Mobile attorney and longtime political activist Jim Zeigler. The attorney for the Ethics Commission would neither confirm nor deny these complaints stating that divulging this information would be a violation of the law. However, we were told it was a “grand jury” matter by others within that office.

The provision of the law prohibiting agriculture commissioner candidates from accepting contributions from regulated businesses is relatively new and the commission has never investigated a case involving its provisions. Without
confirming the complaint against Grace, officials said any complaint against a candidate in the June primaries would be expedited and hopefully resolved before voters go to the polls June 1.
Zeigler’s complaint cites eight specific contributions to the Grace campaign, totaling $64,300 from businesses and individuals involved in the deer breeding industry, which is regulated by the Department of Agriculture and Industries. The contributions listed on Grace’s January 28, 2010 FCPA filing and cited by Zeigler include: Ricky Cleveland, $6,950; Long Antler Ranch, $4,000; Triple R Whitetail Farms LLC, $100; Hytop Whitetails Inc., $100; S&L Leasing, $11,150; Dream Ranch LLC, $11,000; Lookout Valley Whitetails LLC, $1,000; and Double J Whitetails LLC, $30,000.
Zeigler said he had no direct interest or involvement in the agriculture commissioner race.
“Alabama’s ethics laws and campaign disclosure laws are so very weak to start with that we don’t need to allow clear violations to go unreported. $64,300 in illegal campaign donations in a small campaign like commissioner of agriculture is a big deal,” Zeigler said.

Grace reported receiving $153,380 in itemized cash contributions on his FCPA annual report. Zeigler claims 42 percent of Grace’s contributions, $64,300, are illegal and Zeigler calls that a major factor in a down ballot race like agriculture commissioner. Zeigler’s complaint asks that the case be referred to the attorney general’s office for
prosecution.

The second, anonymous complaint against Grace, also cities the same eight contributions from deer breeders itemized in Zeigler’s complaint and lists another nine entities which contributed tens of thousands more dollars to the Grace campaign. Some of them include Montgomery and Birmingham political action committees. When contacted, Grace did not deny having received the contributions in question, but said he had just received the letter on Friday from the Ethics Commission informing him of the allegations against him. “We received the letter late Friday,” Grace said. “We’re going through it looking at the situation. I’ve never been in politics before, so we need to go through this. We
will be transparent,” Grace said. When asked if he would return the contributions if they are found to be illegal,
Grace said: “That’s possible. They (the commission) haven’t told us what to do. “Right now, it’s just an allegation. At this point I don’t have enough information. We have a week to respond, which we will do. “We’ve raised money all over the state. We’ll go back now and look at everybody,” Grace said. He added that he is talking with legal counsel and that he has talked with ethics investigators but no date for a meeting has been set.

ARTICLE THREE

The law states (Alabama Code Section 36-25-12) , “the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Industries and any candidate for the office of commissioner may not accept a campaign contribution from a person associated with a business regulated by the department.” The law further states, “No person shall offer or give to a member or employee of a governmental agency, board, or commission that regulates a business with which the person is associated, and no member or employee of a regulatory body shall solicit or accept a thing of value while the member or employee is associated with the regulatory body other than in the ordinary course of business. In addition to the foregoing, the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture and Industries and any candidate for the office of commissioner may not accept a campaign contribution from a person associated with a business regulated by the department.”

It is obvious from looking at Form 2: CONTRIBUTIONS which was filed by the candidate, Dorman Grace, that there are NUMEROUS contributions that are unacceptable and which violate the law cited above. The money doesn’t even matter. It is the fact that the law has been broken.

The Poultry Industry alone in Alabama receives untold amounts of money in grants. There are congressional and senatorial representatives who make it their business to help get them. Alabama is the #2 producer of poultry in the nation. In no way, are we suggesting that we are against poultry breeders/producers, etc. It is the fact that these people are knowingly contributing campaign money to a person who would be responsible for regulating their businesses. But, politics and politicians are rife with corruption. Dorman Grace is a past-president of the Alabama Poultry Industry.

As we look at the Tea Parties scheduled all across America next week, we have learned a few things in the last year. One of the things we’ve learned is that holding signs doesn’t work. We are not advocating any actions that would be deemed violent, intrusive or anything otherwise. Sometimes, an opportunity presents itself whereby we see an “opening” that can be a way to further a cause or bring attention to a problem. Such an opportunity has come about in this Dorman Grace Ethics issue.

The Tea Party Chapters in Alabama CAN stop this man in his tracks by filing Ethics Charges against him for what has been outlined above. Imagine if 100 complaints were received. Would someone notice that? Could it be a little harder to ignore?

For too many years, we have never looked at these contribution forms nor have many of us read the Alabama Code concerning campaign contributions and elections. That needs to change. Now. How many other candidates or politicians are doing the very same thing?

We can look the other way and leave it to someone else to stop this (and believe us when we say, they will find a way around it so that next time it won’t be so easy to spot), or we can do what we can do. We can take that Complaint Form, fill it out, and list what this person has done. There you have the Code violation in this blog. A link is provided below to the pdf file which is the Complaint Form. There is also a complete list of every donor’s name, address, date of contribution and amount, as well as the industry they are affiliated with. This is very useful to anyone filing a complaint. One use for this is one has all that information in hand that can be used to complete their complaint on Mr. Grace and also attach it to the complaint itself. Another reason is one can actually file complaints on EACH AND EVERY CONTRIBUTOR. They are also in violation of the law. A form would need to be completed for each respondent. If we don’t do this, we cannot complain.

We talk of term limits, lobbying restrictions and campaign contributions. We have term limits, they are called VOTERS. Don’t vote the people back into office who refuse to listen, make dirty deals, and forget the very people they are supposed to be representing. That would be the end of their term. Exposing campaign violations and those contributors who pay for special favors is also one way to stop this dirty practice.

We have provided information for anyone reading this who wishes to stop this. Please contact us if you have any questions. When you look at yourself in the mirror a month from now, or a year or ten years from now; ask yourself did you do everything you could to help change things? Be honest.

We are going through the Alabama Fair Campaign Practices Act reports line by line and are verifying each and everything. A person, if they are so-inclined, can do so as well. All things he reported were out in the open, perhaps he thought no one would look. It says a lot when in America, a 35-40% turnout on voting day is “great” and in Iran, where people risk death in order to exercise their right to vote turnout in the 68-70% range. Must we lose our freedom before we realize that we are really fighting here? We must check out every candidate, we must listen to what they say and look at what they’ve done. We must go vote.

Dorman Grace is prohibited, as a Candidate for Alabama Ag Commissioner, from receiving contributions or funds from ANY entity or person who is involved in any industry he would be responsible for regulating. This includes agriculture, poultry, the cosmetic industry (yes you read that correctly) and he has received money from all those industries.

Dorman Grace was President of the Surface Mining Committee for a number of months. It’s not clear if it is illegal to receive contributions from that industry while serving as an officer or board member but he clearly has received many, many donations which are directly tied to this industry. Recently, there have been issues with this Committee issuing permit after permit to strip mine. Grace was appointed to the board by a Democratic Governor. A very prominent family in Alabama is involved in the strip mining, and coal mining business. They are huge contributors to Grace’s campaign. Why? Note that Grace stepped down as president of that Committee before he announced he would run as Ag Commissioner but he still serves on the board.

The Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries is directly responsible for regulation of any animal kept in captivity in Alabama. Deer are animals that are kept in captivity, raised, fed and an industry is made up of these “ranches” or “lodges” where, for a fee, people can go and be “guided” to hunt these deer. Why would those involved in this industry want to donate $60-$70k to Grace’s campaign?

1. Deer breeders cannot import or export deer raised in captivity

2. They need a sympathetic commissioner to ease state restrictions and look the other way

3. Legislation has been discussed whereby this industry would be moved from the Conservation Dept. (which currently) shares regulatory duties with the Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner to the sole authority of the Agriculture and Industries Department.

4. Why should you care? Well, for those of you who like Bambi, think of what was written above and of what more damage a “sympathetic” and corrupt commissioner can do. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. These breeders want to bring in semen from other deer in order to cross-breed and get a deer with bigger antlers. What difference does that make? More money. The bigger the rack, the better the stack! You should care because this position holds many possibilities for all Alabamians, whether they are directly associated with the Agriculture Industry or not. Food is important. Industrial Development is important – it means jobs; something that is becoming scarce. Do we want our food to become scarce?

Dorman Grace is their man. Through Grace, who has sold out Alabama just to be Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, the easing of restrictions on all of the above will be accomplished. Grace was quoted in a previous article at this website (paraphrase) that he wasn’t aware of illegal contributions, etc. Why is he unaware? He is on the Alabama Agriculture and Industries Committee? He SHOULD know the law, the rules and exactly what is expected, especially if he is running for that office.

In fact, on his FCPA Form 2 which is dated December 2009, the following people/farms directly donated to his campaign:

Red Hill Farms $1,000; Dan Smalley, owner of Red Hill Farms $100; Lakeside Farm, L.T.D. $250; Bates Turkey Farm $300; Long Antler Ranch $4,000; Ricky Cleveland $6,950; Five Oaks Farm, LLC $150; Triple R Whitetail Farms, LLC $100; Hytop Whitetails, Inc. $100; Dream Ranch, LLC $11,000 (see photos); Lookout Valley Whitetails, LLC $1,000; Double J Whitetails, LLC $30,000. There are many more that have not been verified. This is the TIP OF THE ICEBERG.

Grace said he wasn’t aware of donations, but the following photographs (credit: Grace’s Facebook) clearly show a fundraiser held at Dream Ranch who is a contributor. This proves Grace is also a liar, which readers probably already concluded.

This story will continue. Please direct concerned citizens to this website for information. It is obvious that those newspapers such as The Huntsville Times, who praised Grace just three weeks ago, are ignoring this story. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. Demand that The Alabama Ethics Commission investigate immediately and refer this to the State Attorney General. You know what to do. We can let him and people like him get away with this or we can stop it. Which do you choose?

The things that have been written here on this website regarding the ethics complaints filed against Agriculture Commissioner candidate, Dorman Grace, are all factual. We have been investigating this and have found layer upon layer of corruption. This “story” can be subtitled, “Corrupt to the Core.” We the People have fought against all manner of political game-playing by holding Tea Parties, going to Washington, D.C., going to Montgomery, AL and talk of “November.” If we don’t vote the right people IN on June 1, 2010 in the primary; November will never come. I urge each person who reads this series to tell everyone they know about this. We cannot put another corrupt person in office. The power of the Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries is tremendous. This candidate has already proven he is not only unethical, but corrupt. Tea Parties: read this and take action! This is in your backyard. File complaints!

Here’s the link to the form:

http://ethics.alabama.gov/forms/Complaint-Form.pdf

Here’s the link to a form showing all contributions the writer was able to verify who are connected to industries not allowed to donate and amounts:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0Acc6UF7xdzsIZGRrdjRqNzJfNjRkZG5xdjZnOQ&hl=en

Contact us if you have any questions about doing this. After our research is complete we will have resources for all who wish to file complaints in order to make the process very easy. The reason we are doing this is because people must stand up! If we can help, we are going to do so.

The Ethics Commission will not investigate this unless we bring it to their attention and let them know that we are aware and make them aware. Fill this form out, have it notarized and mail it. The Ethics Commission will call you to verify you that you are a real person. If they ask why you did this, tell them! You are John Q. Public and you are fed up with this! This is how we stop this. The Ethics Commission may just sweep it under the rug until after the June 1 primary if they choose to. What will you do then? Anyone can file a complaint. A complete list of contributions, who made them and what industry they are connected to is available, contact us for that.

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