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Just over $177,000 - that's what Alabama owes ousted legislator and felon Sue Schmitz in back pay and benefits after improperly firing her from a state job.
Bradley Byrne, chancellor of the state's two-year college system, received the total Thursday, just days after a federal jury essentially ruled Schmitz's position was a sham job, one in which the former lawmaker did little to no work.
The system hired Schmitz in early 2003 after the lawmaker asked powerful political allies - Alabama House Speaker Seth Hammett and Paul Hubbert, the state's top teacher lobbyist - to help find her a job.
"It's crazy," said Byrne. "We're now under a court order to hand out back pay in that amount to someone who a jury has found did nothing to earn it. It's crazy."
Byrne said the system doesn't intend to pay it, at least not without a fight.
"We're going to do everything we know to do to keep from paying Sue Schmitz one more dollar," Byrne said.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Truman Hobbs Jr. recently ruled that Schmitz was improperly fired in late 2006 by the school that hired her, Central Alabama Community College. He ordered the school to reinstate her and give her back pay and benefits.
Byrne is appealing that order.
On Thursday, Byrne told the state Board of Education that under Hobbs' ruling, Schmitz was owed just over $177,000. The jury that convicted her Tuesday found that she'd done little or nothing to earn $177,251 in pay over 3½ years.
Hobbs based his ruling on the state's Fair Dismissal Act, a law the Legislature approved years ago at the urging of the influential Alabama Education Association. AEA contends the act over the years has protected the jobs of support workers who otherwise would be subject to the whims of administrators or school boards.
Byrne said the system desperately needs the dollars it is supposed to pay Schmitz. On Thursday - at the same meeting where Byrne learned how much the state would have to pay Schmitz - Byrne notified the school board that he has to cut 69 jobs from the Community Intensive Training for Youth program that once employed Schmitz.
"We have many more uses for $177,000 than giving it to someone who did nothing to earn it," Byrne said.
On Tuesday a federal jury found Schmitz guilty of three counts of mail fraud and four counts of fraud involving the CITY program, which receives federal dollars. In her trial, prosecutors accused Schmitz, a Democrat, of using political connections to help create a community relations job with the program, a job for which she did little to no work.
Schmitz, who is awaiting sentencing, was automatically removed from her legislative seat following her conviction.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/statebriefs.ssf?/base/news/1235726132174750.xml&coll=2
Bradley Byrne, chancellor of the state's two-year college system, received the total Thursday, just days after a federal jury essentially ruled Schmitz's position was a sham job, one in which the former lawmaker did little to no work.
The system hired Schmitz in early 2003 after the lawmaker asked powerful political allies - Alabama House Speaker Seth Hammett and Paul Hubbert, the state's top teacher lobbyist - to help find her a job.
"It's crazy," said Byrne. "We're now under a court order to hand out back pay in that amount to someone who a jury has found did nothing to earn it. It's crazy."
Byrne said the system doesn't intend to pay it, at least not without a fight.
"We're going to do everything we know to do to keep from paying Sue Schmitz one more dollar," Byrne said.
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Truman Hobbs Jr. recently ruled that Schmitz was improperly fired in late 2006 by the school that hired her, Central Alabama Community College. He ordered the school to reinstate her and give her back pay and benefits.
Byrne is appealing that order.
On Thursday, Byrne told the state Board of Education that under Hobbs' ruling, Schmitz was owed just over $177,000. The jury that convicted her Tuesday found that she'd done little or nothing to earn $177,251 in pay over 3½ years.
Hobbs based his ruling on the state's Fair Dismissal Act, a law the Legislature approved years ago at the urging of the influential Alabama Education Association. AEA contends the act over the years has protected the jobs of support workers who otherwise would be subject to the whims of administrators or school boards.
Byrne said the system desperately needs the dollars it is supposed to pay Schmitz. On Thursday - at the same meeting where Byrne learned how much the state would have to pay Schmitz - Byrne notified the school board that he has to cut 69 jobs from the Community Intensive Training for Youth program that once employed Schmitz.
"We have many more uses for $177,000 than giving it to someone who did nothing to earn it," Byrne said.
On Tuesday a federal jury found Schmitz guilty of three counts of mail fraud and four counts of fraud involving the CITY program, which receives federal dollars. In her trial, prosecutors accused Schmitz, a Democrat, of using political connections to help create a community relations job with the program, a job for which she did little to no work.
Schmitz, who is awaiting sentencing, was automatically removed from her legislative seat following her conviction.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/statebriefs.ssf?/base/news/1235726132174750.xml&coll=2
