Sen. Bishop answers an ethics charge

Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla, said the 18 Democrats in the Senate majority are talking to the five dissident Senate Democrats about returning to the fold. The Senate is divided 18-17 with five Democrats joining the 12 Senate Republicans in a minority coalition. Although 17 votes is not enough to pass legislation it's enough to block virtually any action. Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said, "all Democratic senators desire to move Alabama forward and emphasize commonalities rather than differences.'' Said Bedford of the five, "I want them all back, they're great guys.''

The state judge that dropped felony charges against former Democratic Secretary of State Nancy Worley was appointed by former Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman in the waning days of Siegelman's administration. Montgomery County Circuit Judge Truman Hobbs Jr. was appointed by Siegelman on Jan. 2, 2003, just days before Siegelman turned the office over to Republican Bob Riley. Hobbs has since won election as a Democrat. The charges stemming from Worley's 2006 re-election bid were dropped over the objection of Republican Attorney General Troy King. She was accused of soliciting campaign funds and votes from office subordinates. Misdemeanor charges remain.

A women's prison group said Gov. Bob Riley's decision to return female Alabama inmates from Louisiana prisons closer to their families was a good one. The Alabama Women's Resource Network said the 392 women at the J.B. Evans Corrections Center in Louisiana will return to Tutwiler prison for women near Montgomery by the end of November. "We applaud the decision to bring the women home where they can have contact with their family members as they prepare to re-enter society at the end of their sentences,'' Alexia Ward, campaign director of the Alabama Women's Resource Network, said in a statement. "The next step is to close Tutwiler Prison and replace it with a facility and a system that is better for all concerned.'' The Alabama Women's Resource Network's mission is to move women inmates to community programs that effectively treat drug addiction, help them escape domestic violence, develop job skills, and improve their physical and mental health, the network said.

Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph P. Borg told a congressional panel last week that appropriate regulatory protections are needed to protect investors when they consider public offerings of private equities and hedge fund management firms. Borg, president of the North American Securities Administrators Association, testified to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy. The hearing concerned possible risks for retail investors from recent Blackstone Group L.P. initial public offerings of management entities of hedge funds and private equity funds, the NASAA said. "Due to a lack of transparency, the level of individual and systemic risk attached to these investments remains unknown to the individual investor,'' Borg said. "Their fee structures and lack of full disclosure obscure real returns.'' Borg said the structure of the instruments place investors in vulnerable positions subject to the whims of controlling persons. Borg said the NASAA isn't against alternative investments as long as retail investors get appropriate and necessary investor protections, rights, and remedies.

Dana Beyerle is Montgomery Bureau chief for the New York Times Regional Newspapers. His e-mail address is dtb12345@aol.com.