UPDATE: Sen. Mitchell on defensive, after the jump.

We’re adding a new feature here at Mixed Media. We call it The List. You can always access it from the link at the top of this page. You don’t want to be on The List. This enumeration is for the jackals and jackasses who have made Alabama and Birmingham a worse place in which to live, who have betrayed their constituents and fellow citizens. Their indiscretions border on the unforgivable. The list is short for now — only one name — but it will surely grow longer. Read and remember. The first name on The List is …

Sen. Wendell Mitchell

The first name on The List, Sen. Wendell Mitchell, D-Luverne, makes Sen. Lowell Barron look like Atticus Finch. When we saw that the PAC-to-PAC ban had passed out of the Alabama Senate’s Government Affairs committee, we got excited. Call it premature jubilation. We should have known better. Before the committee forwarded the bill to the full Senate, the committee members gutted it like a dead fish. Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, the torchbearer of the PAC-to-PAC ban and one of the few heroes in the Legislature, asked that the bill be carried over so it could be repaired to its former potency. Mitchell told McLaughlin that it wasn’t in his “purview” anymore. By personally gutting the PAC-to-PAC ban, Mitchell has left the capital door open for corruption and special interests to come inside, get comfortable and make themselves at home.

UPDATE

This morning we recieved a press release from the Alabama Democratic Party defending Sen. Mitchell’s betrayal of Alabama voters. Here’s the release:

News Release

Alabama Senate Deputy President Pro Tempore, Senator Wendell Mitchell (D-Luverne), was all smiles on Tuesday afternoon. Because of his tireless efforts, four House Bills (HB59, 118, 120, and 122) to reform Alabama’s flawed campaign and ethics laws cleared a major hurdle on Tuesday (April 10th) when the bills were approved by the State Senate Governmental Affairs Committee.

Senator Mitchell has repeatedly stated that he would do everything in his power to push the reform measures through the Senate. Senator Mitchell introduced similar legislation in the Senate but stopped his efforts on his own bills in favor of the House Bills once they cleared the House and were transmitted to the Senate. After the bills arrival in the Senate, they were assigned to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, which is Chaired by Senator Mitchell who then personally shepherded the four bills through his committee.

“I gave my word,” Mitchell stressed, “that if the bills were assigned to my committee I would make sure they received quick but fair hearings. I asked for the ball; I wasn’t going to let those who put their trust in me down.” The four bills address issues Mitchell has vocalized against for the past several years. “The legislative package isn’t perfect but it closes a number of the most egregious loopholes in our campaign and ethics laws.”

The four bills plug holes in the state’s campaign, ethics, and lobbying statues.

“B120,” Mitchell said, “limits PAC to PAC transfers. It allows the citizens to know where a candidate obtains their campaign funding. Now it’s a shell game; PACs (Political Action Committees) collect funds, and then they transfer the moneys among themselves before they finally divvy out contributions to the candidates making it impossible to know who’s actually giving the candidates money.”

HB122 expands the definition of who is a lobbyist to include anyone attempting to influence no bid state contracts.

HB118 requires any political advertisement to disclose who paid for the ad. “Now,” Senator Mitchell said, “a group can run a negative ad during the last days of a campaign and the voters have no idea who is paying for it. That’s not right; this bill fixes that problem.”

HB59 mandates the Ethics Commission to provide a training program on the ethics law for legislators, constitutional officers of the Executive Branch (Governor, Lt. Governor, etc.), cabinet officers, executive staff, and lobbyist. “This bill rolled some eyes,” Mitchell joked. “But it’s needed.”

The four bills now go to the Senate Calendar where they are in position for final passage.

“Mitchell joked.” Did you catch that? He’s hillarious! Just a friggen riot! We still think he can go to hell.

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