COLLEGE SCANDAL & Spring Practice roundup

T he Birmingham News continues its excellent reporting on the scandal involving state legislators and the postsecondary college system.

The Birmingham News story exposes the corruption involved in having legislators (the persons charged with passing budgets (giving money to schools) working for these same institutions. Basically, legislators are using taxpayer dollars to push partisan agendas. For example in one report state House of Rep. Majority Leader Ken Guin wrote:Riley’s view “of public education in Alabama is certainly not shared with those closely connected” with public schools. “I was very disappointed with his lack of knowledge and I believe he will not be as helpful to postsecondary as a continued Siegelman administration would be”

According to the News, Guin makes over $90K per year doing basically nothing: “College personnel interviewed by the committee indicate that this person has no office on campus, does not regularly appear at the campus and is of limited service to the college,” according to a report drafted by an investigative team sent to Shelton State by Thomas Corts when he was interim chancellor.” One state board of education member understands the issue: “We have a legislator drawing about $98,000 a year from two different schools for some pie-in-the-sky consulting job that I have no clue what they really do,” board member Randy McKinney of Orange Beach said at Thursday’s state school board meeting. “That may not be illegal. But it is morally unconscionable for that individual to be doing that. And as far as I know to this very day, he is tenured in that nonwork contract.”

The truth is the Alabama legislature is corrupt; it is filled with pawns of the education lobby: The Birmingham News disclosed last year that (Guin) was among 43 legislators, their relatives or businesses who have been paid by the system since 2002.

It gets worse if you include the legislators who work for or are retired from K-12 public schools. Any legislator who votes on education budgets who works for a public school or has a family member working for a public school is guilty of unethical conduct and to put it clearly: IS A CROOK. It is simply organized theft.

SPRING PRACTICE ROUNDUP
Watch practice video from tidesports.com. It shows Saban at work teaching players and many players at work.
Saban takes hands on approach to Spring Practice. Saban’s practice was up-tempo in the warm 80-degree weather: All in all, I was pleased with the way the players tried to respond to the tempo that we’re trying to practice with, the teaching that they are receiving from play to play,” Saban said. “We weren’t able to sustain that intensity throughout.”
Saban’s ability to coach any position is a big change from past seasons, according to Cecil Hurt. Hurt said the players seemed to respond well to the new demands.
All things considered, a good start to Spring.