Bonus Chapters On The Way

Starts of coming Bonus Chapters below

      Soon..and by that, I hope by later this week (as in, by April 13 or so), I will publish here or on my web-site (EddieCurran.Com) or both, five chapters that I cut from the book, as well as sections on the administration of Fob James and another section containing  thoughts about journalism and investigative journalism strategies. I'll publish them with photos and copies of various records that are cited in the chapters.
      As those familiar with the book know, each chapter begins with two quotes. Here are the names of the coming chapters and the accompanying quotes.

THE MATRIX MAN

       “He has extensive training in the use of ancient weapons and is an avid practitioner of Escrima and Kendo. He also has had extensive training in the use of light firearms … (He has) run more campaigns for more politicians in Alabama than anyone else.”

      -- Portion of short biography of Joe Perkins on an old Matrix Group web-site.

      “I’d be scared to death.”

      -- Perkins’ friend, Birmingham-Southern College politics professor Natalie Davis, when asked how she’d feel to be opposite Perkins in a political campaign.

The Governor’s Money Pot

     $483,935

   -- Amount of charges by Siegelman, his wife Lori, his "confidential assistant" Nick Bailey and others to a special pot of money called the governor’s contingency fund, and for which state auditors were unable to determine the nature of the expenditures and/or their public purpose.

     “Let me come to the defense of my wife this way: I ran for governor, Lori did not. If you plan to keep kicking someone around, kick me.”

    -- From Feb. 28, 2003 letter Siegelman sent Register publisher Howard Bronson, after our first story on the contingency fund.

The $761,000 Web Page

     “The contract states that Group One will redesign the (ADECA) web page for a cost of over $798,000. Web pages can be done for under $2,000!  What is going on here? The company is not in the phone book.”

     -- Anonymous e-mail from tipster identifying himself as, “Maxwell Smart.”

“$90,000”

-- Amount that former ADECA director Nick Bailey testified he was given by Jim Lane, a Montgomery businessman, Siegelman donor and co-owner of Group One. Bailey said he believed he’d repaid about $30,000 of that sum.

The Gadfly

      “Aside from the outburst, Mr. Andrews said, Mr. Curran had shown bias by ‘editing’ an ethics complaint filed against Governor Siegelman by a political opponent. Seeking comment, Mr. Curran had faxed the governor’s office a draft of the complaint, bearing two scrawled question marks and some highlighting. When the final complaint was filed, the governor’s staff contended that Mr. Curran had edited it.”

      -- From of Oct. 8, 2001, story in the New York Times bearing the headline, “Governors’ Limits on Press Raise Concerns.”      

      "I therefore request not only that Ziegler’s politically motivated allegations be summarily dismissed, but that the Commission consider investigating the circumstances that led to the filing of the complaint, and that it take all appropriate actions against the responsible parties.”

    -- Aug. 1, 2001, letter from Ted Hosp to Ethics Commission Director Jim Sumner, in which the governor’s lawyer asked the commission to consider investigating me for assisting Zeigler with his complaint against Siegelman.

Emelle Enabler Makes Mint

One day.

-- Period between Susan Kennedy’s final day as Revenue Department general counsel and when she started billing the department on contracts she’d helped award to Pam Slate, her law partner upon her departure from state service. The firm of Slate Kennedy was to be paid more than $4.6 million on the contracts.

“… someone, prior to making records available to me, had literally covered over the very portions of those records which they knew to be the subject of my inquiry.”

-- E-mail I sent to Gov. Siegelman's general counsel Ted Hosp and governor's office spokeswoman Carrie Kurlander after discovering that records  provided me by the Revenue Department had been doctored to conceal when Kennedy started billing the state and how much she and her firm had billed.

     Last but not least, in order to encourage "hits" on the blog, I've added what the Brits call a Page Three Lady. For a link to today's, go here.