The Fall of Michael G. Hubbard

Football is a hell of a drug

November 5th 2020 The Montgomery Advertiser opened an article with the sentence "Once one of Alabama's most powerful politicians, former House Speaker Mike Hubbard [R] is now one of thousands of prisoners incarcerated in state prison." New republic Magazine rhetorically asked in a headline "Is Mike Hubbard the Most Corrupt Politician in America?" [LINK] Ugly Judge.com actually had a good article on it as well. [LINK]

Hubbard's radio career starts at the age of 15 on 980 WKLY-AM in Hartwell, GA. But Hubbard's political career really started while he was still a student at the University of Georgia. There he led a successful a 1982 PR campaign for Herschel Walker’s Heisman Trophy. After graduating, the journalism major went on to work for Auburn University where he did the same for Bo Jackson in 1985. The South loves it's football.  Hubbard left Auburn U. to become the GM of Host Communications in 1990. Then he formed the Auburn Network in 1994 which won the exclusive broadcast rights for all Auburn Tigers sports. Hubbard rapidly became a millionaire off college football.

Hubbard took to politics like a hog takes to mud. In 1996 Hubbard managed PR for the congressional campaign of Bob Riley [R]. The former used car salesman was successfully elected to the U.S. House. In 1998 Hubbard ran for the Alabama House of Representatives and won in no small part due to the support of Riley. Riley in turn became Governor of Alabama in 2002. They were inseparable. Hubbard even named his youngest son Riley. After that his ascension was fast. The elder Riley named Hubbard the leader of the Alabama Republican Party in 2002, and he naturally became the House Minority Leader in 2004.

Felons are not permitted by the FCC to hold licenses nor sell them for profit. But Hubbard had owned the auburn network since 1994, and had only expanded it in the years since. So for the FCC the felony convictions of Hubbard were a major problem, despite the fact that he was the former Speaker of the House.  So in February of 2021 the FCC started a Hearing to Show Cause. This put the onus on Hubbard to demonstrate why they should not strip Hubbard of all six licenses and his CP. In short things looked grim for the Auburn Network Inc. The FCC wrote "Based on the record before the Commission, there is a substantial and material question as to whether Hubbard, and thus, ANI, possesses the requisite character qualifications to be a Commission licensee."

CALLS	FREQ	CITY	STATE	Facility ID
WANI-AM	1400	Opelika	AL	63796
WGZZ-FM	94.3	Waverly	AL	15283
W242AX	96.3	Auburn	AL	146140
W254AY	98.7	Auburn	AL	138347
W294AR	106.7	Auburn	AL	14119
WHBD-LD	CH 38	Auburn	AL	185816
NEW	103.9	Auburn	AL	201389

But by 2016, Hubbard was sentenced to four years in prison for felony violations of state ethics laws. In fact, Hubbard was convicted on 12 of the 23 Class B felony ethics charges brought against him by the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. WTVM did a nice job detailing them [SOURCE] but as long as we're on the topic, let's list off those charges:

• Four counts of using of his office as Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party for personal gain;
• One count of voting for legislation with a conflict of interest;
• Eleven counts of soliciting or receiving a thing of value from a lobbyist or principal;
• Two counts of using his office as a member of the Alabama House of Representatives for personal gain;
• Four Counts of lobbying an executive department or agency for a fee;
• One count of using state equipment, materials, etc. for private gain.

But the big money wins out. Despite showing no remorse whatsoever, his lawyers subsequently managed to get 6 of those charges overturned by 2020. With the total charges dropped from 12 to 6, Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker agreed to reduced Hubbard's sentence from four years to 28 months. So the Auburn Network Inc. asked the FCC for consent to assign ownership of the network to Auburn Networks, LLC; an entity wholly owned by Frank Lee Perryman. [SOURCE] Perryman has been operating the stations since October 2020 under an LMA. But this maneuver does not entirely resolve the issue before the bureau.

"The Commission’s Jefferson Radio policy generally prohibits the assignment of a license where character qualifications issues are pending against the assignor.  This is because, as the Commission has explained, “there is no authorization to assign” if the seller ultimately is found unqualified.  The policy’s underlying purpose is to prevent licensees from evading responsibility for wrongdoing by selling their stations."

So Hubbard had 20 days to file in writing his intent to appear at the hearing and present evidence. Should he fail to file and appear the presumption would be that he loses everything. He even loses his right to a hearing. So of course he filed. A virtual hearing was held on March 16th. That produced an order with the ground rules and a schedule. The matter is not yet resolved so this story ends on a bit of a cliff hanger.  What will happen to Hubbard the jailed Republican speaker? What will be the fate of the Auburn Network?  Who the hell is Frank Lee Perryman?

ACTION	DATE
Deadline for Completion of Discovery	May 14, 2021
Affirmative Case Due	Jun 28, 2021
Responsive Case Due	Aug 12, 2021
Reply to Responsive Case Due	Aug 31, 2021
Deadline to Request Oral Hearing	Sept 14, 2021
Deadline to File Motion to Accept Additional Pleadings	Sept 14, 2021