CANNING CORRUPTION: Alabama GOP targets Democrats in ad campaign

MONTGOMERY — The Alabama Republican Party has a new campaign video filled with lots of Democrats — the convicted kind.

State Republican Party officials unveiled a video Tuesday that they plan to use in campaign ads and online during the campaign for the 2010 legislative elections as they push for GOP majorities in the House and Senate, which Democrats have controlled for more than a century.

The video includes images of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman; former state Reps. Bryant Melton and Sue Schmitz; former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford; former Democratic Party chairman Bill Blount; former Democratic Party executive director Al LaPierre; former state two-year-college chancellor Roy Johnson; and former state Sen. E.B. McClain. All are Democrats, and all have been convicted or pleaded guilty to government corruption charges.

The sound of jail doors closing can be heard in the background of the video, which then shows screens with the words “Alabama Democratic Party leaders. Scandal, corruption, crime.”

Alabama Republican Party chairman Mike Hubbard said the video would be used to emphasize Republicans’ promise to make Alabama government more ethical.

“People are concerned about ethics in government. For a long time Alabama government has been mired in corruption and that has to change,” Hubbard said. During next year’s campaigns, Hubbard said the Republican Party would emphasize efforts by GOP legislators to pass ethics reform.

Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Joe Turnham said corruption has not been limited to one party.

“Unethical behavior has been an equal opportunity employer in Alabama government. A lot of people in both parties have worked hard to make things better,” Turnham said.