Hubbard in calls described hopes of early release

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s emails and phone calls from prison described his hopes of winning release either through the courts or legislation, according to transcripts submitted this week by prosecutors.

Hubbard, who penned a letter apologizing for his 2016 ethics conviction as he seeks early release from prison, also told a friend Sept. 13 that, “I hope the folks there know that I didn’t do anything wrong and this is just a political hit job.”

The Alabama attorney general’s office submitted 438 transcribed pages of Hubbard’s personal phone calls and emails as they oppose his request for early release from prison. Prison phone calls are monitored and recorded, and state lawyers say Hubbard’s own words show he was “not truthful” when he signed the apology letter.

In the communications, Hubbard expressed hopes for his now pending application for early release from prison and also that legislators would approve community corrections legislation that could benefit him. He also lashed out at the Alabama Supreme Court, the chief prosecutor in the case and others.

The Alabama attorney general’s office says Hubbard referred to his effort to reduce his sentence as a “treatment plan.”

“If this fails, I suppose we just hope a Washington treatment plan come along at some point,” he said.

Hubbard also wanted Alabama lawmakers to approve community corrections legislation that could help him and expressed disappointment that it was not approved in the recent special session on prison construction, according to state lawyers.

In one conversation, his former attorney Lance Bell told him the proposal was not going to move forward because a lawmaker said a Senate member raised concerns. Hubbard responded: “Well, you know, what he needs to do is pitch a fit and say I’m going to try to block everything on building prisons in the House. That’s the way you — that’s the way you play the game.”

Hubbard also asked Bell to contact, or have someone contact a state senator, to urge a filibuster on the issue.

The former House speaker also referred to the lead prosecutor in his case as corrupt, suggested politics was behind his prosecution and was baffled that the Alabama Supreme Court did not completely overturn his conviction.

Hubbard described financial pressures and wrote in September to friend Billy Canary, the former president of the Business Council of Alabama, that because of other’s “lack of guts” he might “lose the business I built over 30 years in addition to everything else I’ve lost.”

Because of his felony convictions, the Federal Communications Commission in February called a revocation hearing for the licenses of Hubbard’s radio stations that he is selling.

A jury in 2016 convicted Hubbard of violating the state ethics law, including using his public office for personal financial gain.

Prosecutors accused Hubbard of leveraging his powerful public office to obtain clients and investments for his businesses, violating the prohibition against giving a “thing of value” to an elected official. His defense maintained the contracts were legitimate work and unrelated to his position as House speaker.