Read the whole thing at: Curran’s Governor of Goat Hill Blog

Bradley Byrne/his consultants, etc., have lately sought to make political hay out of the Orange Beach toll bridge built by Tim James and his partners, the bridge-building McInnis brothers of Montgomery…He said that “(James) profited because his daddy was governor at the time it was done.”

…Before getting into that business, let me say that I’m doing this because I want Byrne to beat Tim James, who from this point on will be referred to as Testosterone, reasons obvious…

I know Testosterone, and find him quite likable. He’s driven as all hell, and not one to take prisoners when someone gets in his way. He should stick with business, and if you ever find yourself on the opposite side of a deal with him or his Papa, hold on tight, and check the fine print. Jameses — they really really really like money.

Testosterone wants to be Alabama’s governor solely for egotistical reasons. Were he to win in June, then November, Alabama would find itself in the national headlines with great regularity, and for reasons that would make most of us want to dive under the table…

Is Bradley Byrne perfect? No, but he’s a lot better than Tim James. (One reason I’m voting in the Republican primary is because the most dangerous candidates — Testosterone, “Judge” Moore, Troy King — are Repubs and in need of being defeated.)
…The same Press Register story reported that James’s toll bridge partner, John McInnis, has made donations and loans to his campaign to the tune of a whopping $2.5 million; and noted that in 2005, Testosterone and his partners sold the bridge to Australia’s Macquarie Bank for — pause for effect — $70 million. Yes indeed, they did get rich.

Returning to Byrne’s words:
“The fair question all Alabamians should ask is: Was Tim James’ financial success with the bridge project built on his business skills or on his political connections?”

…”Many of my stories in the third year of the James’ administration focused on a Montgomery-based bridge-building company called McInnis Corp. After James became governor, his three sons partnered with the two McInnis brothers in a venture to build a toll bridge in Orange Beach. Since then, and as the stories showed, McInnis Corp., had repeatedly benefited from rulings by the highway department and, especially, its James-appointed director, Jimmy Butts.

…The stories, reported example after example of Butts — Fob James’ highway director — over-ruling his own staff and the federal highway folks by siding with McInnis time after time in disputes regarding the company’s slow and often shoddy work on bridge projects through south Alabama.
Butts did this at a time when the McInnis brothers were partnering with Fob’s sons (primarily, Testosterone) to build the Orange Beach toll bridge. McInnis Corp. was teetering toward financial ruin, and Jimmy Butts — tight as a tick with Fob — was using Alabama tax-dollars to save the keep the company afloat.

Quite frankly, I’m not sure the bridge would have been built, at least by Tim James’ group, were it not for Butts decisions regarding McInnis.
Here is one of those many stories, in its entirety.
Read the rest…