Josh Blades, former chief of staff for House Speaker Mike Hubbard, shook the courtroom today when he gave his testimony Wednesday afternoon in the embattled speaker's felony ethics case.
According to Blades, the speaker's top political aide and right-hand man, testified Hubbard instructed him to use state resources and labor time to push through a patent for a company in his district, Capitol Cups.
Blades was emotional throughout the delivery of his testimony. His voice often cracked and he sniffled. He referred to Hubbard as a friend and the "best boss he ever had."
"He was a great boss," Blades said.
Capitol Cups is a cup and travel tumbler manufacturing company based in the Auburn area owned by CV Holdings LLC and Robert Abrams.
Hubbard was receiving a $10,000 monthly payment from CV Holdings for consultation services at the time when he instructed Blades to work to have the patent pushed through the Washington, D.C. patent offices.
Blade said he had to call his counterpart, chief of staff to the Mississippi House speaker, to get contact information for Mississippi U.S. Representative Gregg Harper. He asked Harper's office to help them get the patent through.
When prosecution asked why he went to all of that trouble to help a company with a patent he shocked the courtroom.
"[Hubbard] said he 'had 100,000 reasons to get this done,'" Blades said. "It made me uncomfortable because when I heard it I immediately thought the speaker meant money in some form."
Hubbard faces 23 charges of using his public offices as Alabama Republican Party chairman and House speaker to benefit his private business and for personal gain. Prosecutors continued outlining a series of contracts between Hubbard and several businesses and industry associations.
The prosecution says the $10,000 monthly payments from CV Holdings were for Hubbard to use his mantle as House speaker for lobbying and favors for the business.
Blades testified that while on state business headed to the airport in Atlanta, Hubbard had them stop at Chick-fil-A headquarters to push for the company to use Capitol Cups.
"That's literally on the way between Montgomery, Auburn and Atlanta," Hubbard's defense attorney Bill Baxley said. "You don't know … what he was doing at Chick-fil-A. Then y'all got back in, got on the plane and got back to business."
The speaker is accused of signing contracts with four different businesses and associations for monthly payments between $5,000–$12,000 per contract. The defense says all of the contracts, except for a contract with Southeast Alabama Gas District, contained clauses barring the speaker from working for the companies within the state of Alabama.
The prosecution claims Hubbard still used his offices for personal gain, even saying in their opening statement he wore his statehouse coat pins and introduced himself as Alabama speaker.
The monthly payments are well-documented through dozens of checks between the organizations and Hubbard's Auburn-based media and advertising firm Auburn Network Inc. This morning Baxley said Hubbard did not from the deals and worked hard to keep his public life and his private consultations separate.
Instead, the defense asserts the revenue from the contracts went to pay for employee's salaries and benefits.
Hubbard's only salary, aside from intermittent dividends, was $132,000 as of 2013. According to the defense, Hubbard brought in far more than that total.
Hubbard was also paid $5,000 a month by Alabama Pharmacy Cooperative Inc., a group of independent and local pharmacies in the state. During the 2013 legislative session, APCI lobbied for a bill that would have essentially provided them a monopoly as the state's pharmacy benefits manager.
The prosecution asserts Hubbard voted on a portion of the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget that would have greatly benefited APCI despite having a business relationship with the cooperative. Blades was Hubbard's chief of staff during the vote on the general fund.
Blades testified he didn't know about the contract until the night of the budget vote.
"He asked me 'what do you think I should do?' and I said, 'Don't do it,'" Blades testified. "[I told him] to not vote on the bill or abstain."
According to Blades and the prosecution, Hubbard voted on the bill anyway.
"He said it would raise too many red flags," Blades said. "I was upset that I didn't know about the contract [that Hubbard had with APCI]. I was upset because I played a role in what had transpired that day, and I played a role in what had transpired previously. I was afraid that there could be legal implications for what happened. I was afraid Mike may end up in some sort of legal trouble after all of this transpired."
The language ultimately did not remain in the budget. The defense
"It was a busy session, he looked at it and said go ahead," Baxley said when questioning Isbell.
Baxley repeatedly remarked throughout the day about how long the General Fund budget, how it affected every agency in the state and how small of a portion of the bill the language in reference to APCI was.
He said it was "only a few lines" of the 100-plus-page bill.
"You say it's a small portion of [page] 69," Baxley questioned. "This is a fairly thick bill. It appropriates billions of dollars."
Proceedings will continue in Hubbard's trial tomorrow morning. The prosecution is expected to continue calling witnesses including state Rep. Steve Claus, political consultant with Majority Strategies Randy Kammerdiener, Norris Green, Don Williamson, Rachel Williamson, Rachel Riddle and Mary Lawrence.
Read the article about this morning's proceedings
Read the article about yesterday's proceedings
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