The plaintiff in a lawsuit against Director Thomas Albritton and the Alabama Ethics Commission will have to wait a little longer to see if his complaint has standing, after a Montgomery County judge recused himself from the case this week.
Baldwin County consumer advocate Paul Ripp filed a writ of mandamus against Albritton and commission members in July, after Lagniappe reported how Albritton serves as director of a charitable trust that has paid at least $120,000 toward his children’s college tuition. Albritton explained away charges of unethical behavior by saying he abstained from any voting involving scholarships for his own children, but Ripp argued Albritton remains in violation of “self-dealing” provisions of the trust.
His lawsuit seeks to reopen three previously filed ethics complaints against targets in Baldwin County, alleging that Albritton “disregarded” the complaints “without investigation” after the subjects apparently “did the exact same thing, abstaining from a vote on the matter.”
More specifically, Ripp’s previous complaints implicate then-Fairhope Airport Authority members Jack Burrell and Ray Hix in a lease-rigging scheme; members of the North Baldwin Utilities Board for purchasing private property for the benefit of a board member; and Bay Minette Mayor Bob Wills, and former Fairhope City Councilman Robert Brown for a “no-bid” construction contract with the Eastern Shore Arts Council.
“Plaintiff believes these complaints were dismissed without investigation at the direction of [Albritton], where the alleged bad actor ‘abstained from voting on the matter,’” the writ reads. “Plaintiff prays the court will conduct an emergency hearing and issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the Alabama Ethics Commission to reopen these specific ethics complaints … and further order that Director Thomas Albritton have no input or supervision over these specific ethics complaints, the reimbursement of court costs and attorney fees, and for all such other, further and different relief to which he may be entitled.”
For its part, the state argued Ripp failed to make a claim and lacked subject matter jurisdiction. In a court hearing Monday, the state had a pending motion to dismiss. Judge Johnny Hardwick said he had read the complaint and was intrigued by the case, but cited his appointment to two other ethics cases as a reason for recusal.
“I’d like to delve into the issues; it’s a very interesting case,” he said. “But given the nature of this case, I think it might be a better practice for me to recuse myself and have it reassigned to another judge so either the Ethics Commission won’t feel like I slighted them or the plaintiff won’t feel like I slighted them so the public can be assured we have an impartial administration of justice.”
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