FYI there will be a local radio station discussing the Pac-Pac transfers and local candidates that have ties to them today and tonight at 1200 on 91.3 FM. Listen in and make your own opinions.

For the record live free or die was the author of the following post by anonymous. I forgot to sign the block and did not want anyone to say I was trying to evade identification.

Thanks Sarah, I wondered if anyone cares about the facts anymore. It's boring stuff and our government hopes we will tire soon.

JSU 128

Well it's been almost 48 hours since I gave you a slow pitch over the center of the plate. You still have not come back with any facts or even any lame platitudes so I guess you are one of the lazy ones. I'll just have to do the work for you.

Mantra Governmental is not a PAC but a Governmental Lobbying firm in Montgomery that personally gave Ricky Whaley $500.00 on 11/19/09. Mantra's website states they are "Veteran political insiders with over thirty years of combined national and state governmental experience" political insiders? they also state "Mantra's expertise is knowing THE PROCESS, gathering the applicable information, knowing and having access to the key decision makers, appropriately leveraging the assets available to us and our clients with the resources and knowledge to succeed on a consistent basis in an ever-changing business and political environment." So these guys have special access to our politicians and "leverage" politicians to get their clients way instead of the voters way? Mantra also states " Navigating the labyrinth of the information society, Mantra Governmental methodically negotiates barriers of resistance to change mindsets, affect decisions, and to alter outcomes." So we realize that this bunch can change the mindset of our politicians, affect the votes of our legislators and alter the outcomes of the debate in Montgomery to get their way over the wishes of the voters? These reasons are why I am so adamently opposed to lobbyists and PAC's. If you just read their own words they control our politicans not us and unfortunately have paid Ricky in the hopes or assurance of controlling him.

Massey's influence does not stop at this lobbying firm. He is also tied to to the following PAC's: Mantra PAC, Economy PAC, Auto PAC, Hospice PAC, Reading Initiative PAC, Public Golf PAC, Seniors PAC, Tech Pac, Tourism PAC

and to Resoulution PAC where there is a heavy influence by the Alabama Indian Gambling Folks.

See www.sos.alabama.gov

This is just one more case where we need to ask ourselves, Do we trust Ricky Whaley's friends and associates and does his choice of associates make us feel more or less comfortable in his ability to serve us the individual voter? My vote is already in and it is no. Unfortunately there are more questionable associations to unfold.

I am highly encouraged by the number of people doing research and checking the facts on the candidates we have running for office. Our whole country needs to do this kind of fact-checking.

I went to Jacksonville High School and thought highly of Ricky Whaley at the time, but I have been extremely disappointed in him during this campaign. He may have meant a lot to many of his students, but that in itself does not qualify him to lead our state. We can't vote on him simply because we like him as a person.

As far as education goes.....I graduated just before JHS moved to the new school. We had an old building and were constantly told how the school didn't have money, but I got an awesome education -- partly because of the many wonderful teachers I had and partly because I put my best into it. Money alone does not result in a good education. I think a lot of the tax money for education doesn't really make it to the classroom. Competition and capitalism have made this country great. If we allowed schools (including charter schools) to compete for voucher money, we'd have a much better educational system.

I encourage everyone to keep seeking the truth about our candidates.

Why is it when the truth is told it is called slander? This is public record and not made up stuff. Maybe that is why America is going down hill because people don't want to know the truth and accepted it for what it is....they would rather stay dumb and stupid and be told what to think. No thanks..I am a smart person and I am able to make up my mind based on facts and not the good ole boy system..I am tired of bad teachers that are in the school system because of AEA and Paul Hubbert and I don't want another Paul Hubbert "buddy" in the system only to make it worse. Whaley has sold out to AEA and the gambling people and will not be for the citizens of Calhoun County. WAKE UP and look at the facts. I am assuming since you are tied in with JSU you are able to do research. Truth is truth and should be pointed out and not hidden behind closed doors because some are offended or threaten by it. By the way, what are the lies about Ricky....I keep hearing about them, but have yet to find out what they are so I can research them? I did get a call from Paul Hubbert expressing his concerns about Republicans trying to kick out President Obama and that is why Ricky needed to be voted in. I have yet to see proof that Mr. Brown is in this scheme as Whaley and Hubbert claims. Who is slandering who? This call came back in November. I received a mail out, yesterday, from Whaley saying the attack dogs are out to get him. What attack dogs? The one on his mail-out that came directly from his campaign office and not the Democratic Party? Or maybe he is talking about the citizens like me that know the truth and are trying to wake up the sleeping citizens of HD 40 to take an interest and check out the facts for themselves and not rely on misconceptions and lies put out by both parties. WE THE PEOPLE must take back control of OUR government and do the research and vote for the best man based on truth and not emotion as another person has stated before. By the way, I have connections to both of these men and I had considered voting for Mr. Whaley until the call came from Paul Hubbert and I started investigating and finding out who Mr. Whaley's "friends" are. They are not ones I would want to be associated with. My dad always told me be careful who you associate with and I think Mr. Whaley needs to pay close attention to this wise advice. And just for the record...the best man doesn't always win, but let us hope in this case he does. Which in this case is Mr. Brown.

JSU 128 you are passionate but have provided no facts to back up you claims. Many of the bloggers here including myself have given numbers, dollars, articles, web sources and government record sources. I actually got into this because I was wondering who was telling the truth and decided to find out for myself otherwise I would not have known the truth. Try to take the time to do some research. Maybe you will find something to counter our claims or maybe you will find out we are right. Either way you will know the truth. I am not afraid of the truth, ARE YOU?

P.S. Since you may not have the classes on writing and research yet I will make it easy for you www.sos.alabama.gov , be resourceful and use the school library, find other reputable sources, heck go visit them because all we want is the truth. Here is a contributor to one of the candidates that has not been discussed, Mantra Governmental 166 Commerce Street Suite 300 Montgomery Alabama. What dandidate did they contribute to? What do they do? Who are they? Are they for the little guy or special interests? Are they blue collar workers or white collar? Who typically contributes to them? Who do they typically contribute to? What specifically do they say they can do for their clients? You get to be the hero and be the first to tell us but remember be truthful because this is public information and everything can be verified so be careful. Sorry for being so rough on you, the first time I gave my commanding officer a half baked staff report he handed me my butt on a silver platter and I have been a stickler for details ever since. Just find the truth.....

The way in which the Alabama Republican Party has ran their campaign for House seat 40 has quite honestly made me embarrassed to call myself a republican. If the only way they can see themselves winning is by posting an onslaught of slanderous materials then they do not deserve to win. All it shows is how intimidated they are by Mr. Whaley, and like a stray dog backed into a corner they are lashing out as a last resort. So come February 16 I know who I will be voting for! Good Luck Mr. Whaley!

Josh

You have to think past the emotion. Maybe everyone is wrong using terms like Democrat, Republican, Conservative and Liberal. My Dad was a staunch Democrat thirty years ago which means he was anti abortion, a union president-pro union, pro church, pro death penalty, pro law enforcement, pro freedom of speech, anti gay agenda, anti big government. Now all those attributes have flipped in the last 30 years so that with the exception of pro union they most closely align with the Republican party. You have to realize that the AEA is not really trying to improve things for the kids, if it happens during their primary agenda it's a bonus. The AEA's sole purpose is to gain more power and control. Granted they have done some things good for the teachers but in the end the focus is on power, influence and money for the guys at the top and not the little guy. The thing that makes our system of government work is checks and balances and when any one cog gets too powerful it screws up the whole system. You say we need someone to fight for a way to better education, Ricky has told me he is against it and here is how. At the Piedmont forum Ricky came out against Charter schools saying they would take money away from the public schools. What ever happened to choice? If you as a parent or student are dissatisfied with the service you are getting from your school you should have the right to go to another public school, charter school, private school or home school. Ricky and the AEA are against this because it takes power and control from them. My son was having problems doing his coursework in what is recognized as one of the top two county schools here. The school was fixing to promote him to the next grade and we insisted that they hold him back a year so he could master the concepts but their response was don't worry about it we will put him in the corner where he won't bother the other students and he will pass! They did not want him held back because it hurt their performance score. We pulled him out of school, started homeschooling repeating the year that the public school failed on and now he is doing great still at home school. The AEA and some, not all teachers are afraid of competition. It's not the truly great teachers that would excell even more in a competitive environment but the marginal employee that is lazy and just wants to do the minimum and keep drawing the check. Ricky may or may not be a liberal or any other term but his big money supporters are supporting other agendas that even most teachers will have a hard time rallying behind. Josh, maybe an analogy will help here. If your best friend you have know for life starts taking Meth would you ignore the unhealthy influence of the meth and just keep on patting him on the back and telling him what a great guy he is while the Meth is killing him? No a true friend would have to point out that he has allowed something unhealthy into his life and you as a friend will not allow it to continue so as to save him. The AEA is the Meth in our schools and like a Meth mouth it ain't pretty.

If Ricky Whaley is a liberal, then so was Reagan and all of the other great conservatives we've seen over the past 25 years. I know him personally, and he is far from liberal.

I also don't understand the outrage over taking money from AEA. Yes, I know, they are a union, they fight political battles, they are politically involved. I get that.

But, in a state that spends so little on education and has an education system with so many needs, maybe we NEED someone to help fight the good fight for our schools.

Ricky is a good man and if he is half the state representative that he is a teacher, then he will do a great job!

Keep your head up Ricky!!!

Reading the comments regarding Gerald Willis' southern mansion, I recall some years ago reading an article in The Anniston Star concerning Mr. Willis' love for President Andrew Jackson's home called "The Hermitage" located near Nashville, Tennessee. Mr. Willis built his dream home, a replica of "The Hermitage" from lumber milled at his lumber business. I will stand corrected if I am wrong, but this was my recollection of the story behind the southern mansion. I do believe the ideals of the American Dream comes through work to achieve our dreams.

I can't believe that I am struggling to put food on the table and pay my taxes and theis person that is supposed to be a public servant is living high on the hog and paying no taxes. Don't accuse someone else of being a paid bigwheel, For the record I went to www.calhouncounty.org and videwed the records myself. There is even a photo of the plantation house. YOu would almost expect a bunch of slaves in the yard but I guess all us taxpayers are the slaves to the politicians.

Gerald pays no taxes on the big house? Man, I need to run for elected office. Working for a living sure don't pay

I am a local teacher who read the accusations and was furious until I checked the Secretary of State website.I had no idea that our association was using our money this way. It will take a lot longer for me to review all the records but I don't support these things and will reluctantly have to change my vote. Calhoun County K-12 teacher.

Calhoun Co Teacher, you are right, no one should be threatening you and you are entitled to your opinions. In fact I would recommend that each side refrain from the name calling as it gets us no where and as stated in another post is the lazy way out. We have some great teachers who honestly have the students best interests at heart. There is one thing that I would caution you on though, you cannot always trust the folks you are giving your money to as they may care more about their 3 bucks or their power than they care about you. It is far too easy to get the facts in todays online world. By my redimentary calculations Paul Hubbert has transferred over $3,162,401 from the A-Vote account to Joe Cottle's personal PAC's. Do the teachers approve of this and do they know what Cottle is doing with the money. There may be something to all this chatter about the money trail. Keep your eyes open, Semper Fi

Well everyone, Gerald and Frances Willis are being pretty clear that they think that the things being said about Ricky whaley are lies and he is throwing his full support behind Ricky. Gerald is a super nice person that everyone knows around here but being well known has its disadvantages. Gerald is currently living in a 8634sf house with 8 fireplaces, 6 bathrooms with dozens and dozens of acres of beautiful Al land. It is almost like it is a southern plantation. Well maybe old Gerald is a true plantation owner if you look, the calhoun county tax records confirm that his property is listed under the name The Alabama Hermitage Trust and he pays absolutely no property tax on this plantation due to someone being disabled. NO TAX! what about school taxes supporting our poor little kids? NO TAX! How much property tax did you pay this year? Gerald also ownes the Choccolocco and Oxford Post offices and is renting them to the Fed Govt. Look at all the property owned by the Hermitage Trust in addition to Gerald Willis, you would think he could pony up a few pennies for the kids. Heck When he lost the election as a democrat he managed to endorse Rogers a republican and get himself a Washington job for the trouble. We aint dealing with average folks here, do you think average joe can buy land, build a building and convince the post office to rent it without being connected? Or score a political job in Washington. WE have to get honesty and integrity back into politics Gerald is a nice guy, and looks out for his interests.Its funny that he is accusing the republicans of being "bigwigs". Man, I thought living in a 8634 southern plantation for nothing would have been in the "bigwig" definition. I only have 6034ssf left to catch up with Willis. He is definately one of US!

Voters, I too was unsure is the accusations flying were truth or rumor. The www.sos.alabama.gov official site revealed that Ridky's money is coming mainly from out of the voting district and over 96% is tied to Paul Hubbert and Joe Cottle of the AEA. I can't say anything bad about Ricky and from what I hear he is a good teacher but if you think anyone can take over $52,000 in donations from these two individuals and their cronies and not owe them you are clueless. Americans have become dumb and lazy and I am calling each of you reading this dumb and lazy if you have never personally called a politician to express your opinion or personally researched accusations rather than listening to the platitudes of the people telling you what they want you to hear. Research Ricky's donations and the other candidates. Here is a tidbit. Most of Ricky's money came from outside of the voting district, most of Brown's came from within. Brown spent all his campaign money in the voting district, ricky spent a sizeable portion out of the voting district- who does it look like is providing jobs for this district? One more tidbit, why would State Representative Marcel Black from Tuscumbia donate to Rickey? Just so happens that Black is the paid call girl for Hubbert and has submitted a gambling bill for him this session. Do your homework teachers, you will be appalled when you find out 10% of what we have found out. Don't be lazy take the time to find out the truth or stay home and take the table scraps.

Voter of HD 40,

Please do you research and trace the money trail to Ricky Whaley. He has sold his soul to AEA and its associates and can NOT represent the people of this district. We have researched Ricky Whaley and we are shocked by the money trail and where it comes from. Ricky is either being very naive or deceiving. You figure it out. Go to www.sos.alabama.gov. Clicked on elections tab and look under PAC resources and candidate records. Play close attention to the PAC's and who they all lead back to and research each PAC. Don't take its mission statement at face value. Research! I will never again vote based on the person's statements and claims. I will research my candidates and pick the best and lease bought candidate which in this case is K.L. Brown. It is public information and YOU as a voter have the right to it so use it.

Whew boy. This guy is, sorry, a liberal. AEA, United Steel Workers!!!!!!! Give me a break. These are ALL big money, big democrat, liberal, and as the person below said, union thugs. Sure at the rain is falling outside, big money, out of state democrat money, is paying the way for this guy.

The guy is a dimocrat, in the pocket of liberal dimocrats. He claims to be a conservative. He claims to be a religious man. He claims to be a family man. A man of the people. He calls himself a conservative. We all know that conservatives are not dimocrats. The dimocrat party is a LIBERAL, Socialist and communist controlled party. A party of union thugs, union hacks, big money dimocrats who claim republicans are big money. What a joke. This guy is nothing more than a liberal dimocrat saying he is conservative to get elected. If he were a conservative, a true conservative, he would be a republican or at the very least, an independent. Go against the big machine liberal dimocrats and get crushed. That is what would/will happen to him. He has to follow the dimocrat line or not get the dimocrat controlled big money to get elected. Dimocrats, the dimocrat party, support the murder of children through abortion. How does Mr. W feel about abortion? I am sure he will say he is against it since he says he is a religious man. But that is totally against a plank of his dimocrat party. No, Mr. W, if you were a true conservative, you would not be a dimocrat. Dimocrats and conservatism go together like oil and water. Nope, not in my book. You are simply another liberal, Obama type dimocrat. Lying to get what you want, elected.