PACT 11: Felony Theft Coviction? No Problem. Welcome to the Board

So there I was, plodding along, when I came across a list of members of the Board of Directors in the “Report on the Wallace-Folsom College Savings Investment Plan, State of Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama, October 1, 2003 through September 30, 2006.” I decided to google a few names unknown to me, and started with the Hon. William H. Drinkard,  Member,  Cullman, AL, who resigned May 2005.

And guess what I found out? This “Bill” Drinkard, who served as Jim Folsom, Jr.’s campaign manager in 1990 (his father managed the senior Folsom’s two gubernatorial races), was once in the Alabama Senate, then he became a lobbyist (First Alabama was among his clients), and then he got into a little trouble with the law. In 1996,

… Drinkard pleaded guilty to first-degree theft for arranging a 15,000 grant in 1989 to the town of Altoona and distributing the money as legal fees to Pelham lawyer John Tanner, a former state legislator who served as a legal adviser to Lt. Gov. Folsom. Drinkard later acknowledged receiving 5,000 from Tanner. [Birmingham News, 2/11/2000].

For more details, here’s a report by the Birmingham News’ Philip Rawls [9/3/95], “Investigation of Folsom’s Friends Stems from ’88 Water Law”:

The indictments against two of former Gov. Jim Folsom’s closest friends stem from a law that was supposed to help rural Alabamians get public water systems to replace their unreliable wells.
No one got any water systems, but former Sen. Bill Drinkard and former Rep. John Tanner were charged with first-degree theft for their alleged roles.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who brought the charges, has said only that Drinkard used his position as senator to get a $66,000 state grant for the town of Altoona and then had $15,000 of it funneled to Tanner, a Shelby County lawyer, for legal work that was never done.
. . . The law also set up a six-member legislative committee that had oversight over the water authority. Folsom and House Speaker Jimmy Clark appointed the six committee members and Folsom named Drinkard as chairman of the group. Drinkard, a friend of Folsom’s since childhood, was a legislative ally when Folsom served as lieutenant governor.
Barron’s and Britnell’s hopes for expanding public water systems fizzled when the authority never got any money from the Legislature.
. . . Tanner’s attorney, Doug Jones, said Drinkard hired Tanner to do legal work for the Water Assistance Legislative Oversight Committee and paid him a $15,000 retainer. Drinkard was already employing Tanner at the time as attorney for the Senate Rules Committee, which Drinkard headed, he said.. . . Jones contends Tanner is innocent, but Graddick says Drinkard will admit he made one bad mistake that blemished “an otherwise outstanding legislative career.”

Well, we all make “mistakes,” — but is committing a crime quite the same thing? –, and Drinkard did serve five years’ probation, work 26 Saturdays at a work-release center, and perform 100 hours community service (among his gigs was playing Santa Clause) for stealing public monies, but still, I ask you, can you get your mind around his being appointed to a board that oversees millions and millions of dollars entrusted to the State of Alabama by taxpayers to prepay their kids’ college tuition?

Just one more thing. Things get stranger and stranger. I don’t know why Drinkard resigned. Maybe he wanted to devote more time to writing fantasy. In 2008 he published a novel, Elom, and I’ll let another blogger explain it to you:

Drinkard’s book Elom  is a sci-fi novel that introduces (according to Publisher’s Weekly):
“a low-tech world where human reproduction is controlled to concentrate desirable traits. Life is regulated by the scriptures of Geerna, a primitive human who long ago reached a covenant with the goddess Shetow. The wise women of the Medora Council interpret Geerna’s words and protect her secret prophecies, overseeing the competitions where adolescents demonstrate their skills and suitability for mating.”

Got that:  ”overseeing the competitions where adolescents demonstrate their skills and suitability for mating.”

I have nothing to add.