Eight of the nine members of the Alabama Supreme Court have refused to “stand up for Alabama,” based on their decision to cover their eyes to the fraud inflicted on Alabama taxpayers by the huge, money-hungry foreign drug makers.

The court even refused to allow lawyers for the state to argue their case before them. It is the worst judicial abuse I have seen in my adult lifetime. Only Justice Tom Parker stood with the people against these drug manufacturers who, based on jury verdicts in Montgomery County, have stolen the state blind by defrauding our Medicaid Program to the tune of many millions of dollars.

The court last week overturned verdicts against drug makers AstraZeneca, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, three European drug manufacturers. The state had accused the drug companies of manipulating prices and causing Alabama’s Medicaid program to pay too much for prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients.

Over 70 lawsuits were filed in 2005 by the state against drug companies. The state has settled its lawsuits against 16 of the drug manufacturers for more than $124 million.

“It is extremely difficult to see how the Alabama Supreme Court could side with the drug companies and against the citizens of Alabama who are in the Medicaid program and against all Alabamians who pay taxes that support the Medicaid program. These folks are the losers today and the politically powerful drug companies are declared winners by the Alabama Supreme Court and it is a sad day for the Alabama Medicaid Program and all Alabama taxpayers,” said Montgomery lawyer Jere Beasley, the state’s lead attorney in the lawsuit.

“We will ask the Court to reconsider what they have done. We will also again request an opportunity to appear before the Court and argue the State’s case. Hopefully, the Court will grant oral argument to the State so that the people of Alabama can find out exactly what has happened to them,” Beasley said.

Just hours before the Alabama high court’s decision, a Kentucky jury hit British drug maker AstraZeneca with a $14.7 million verdict in a case that claimed the company inflated its prescription drug prices for Medicaid reimbursements, a case identical to the fraud claim in Alabama. Kentucky’s Attorney General Jack Conway said in a statement he’s pleased the office was able to recover money for Kentucky’s Medicaid program.

I suggest the AG for the bluegrass state should not speak too soon, but hopefully, unlike in Alabama, he has a court-of-last-resort that understands fraud when it sees it and rejects the lobbying efforts of corporate lawyers and former members of their court.

A pretty good two-word description of what the Alabama Supreme Court did in this case is two words, bringing back memories of the O.J. Simpson trial: “jury nullification.”

Poll on issues has

Ag Commissioner smiling

In a poll conducted recently by the Capital Survey Research Center, an arm of the Alabama Education Association, Alabama voters give a clear preference for gambling over increased taxes.

That, of course, is not a huge surprise, but it has certainly given a huge boost to Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks, who is running for governor as a Democrat. Sparks is basing his campaign on allowing additional gaming in Alabama, but also taxing and regulating it in order to capture huge tax dollars to shore up the state’s sagging general and education budgets.

In the poll, 62 percent said that if the choice becomes whether or not to further cut the budget for public schools or to allow, regulate and tax gaming, they would opt for the gaming option. Thirteen percent were unsure, and 25 percent would either cut school funds or raise taxes.

Sparks has proposed that to keep the state solvent we permit gaming, but also regulate and tax it to shore up ailing public funds and to keep the state from having to raise taxes.

I suggest the Ag Commissioner go to the barn and shuck a few ears of corn after digesting those polling numbers. He is in a very tight race with Congressman Artur Davis for the Democratic nomination for governor.

In the race for governor, over 50 percent say they definitely or more likely would vote for the candidate who “supports allowing, regulating and taxing gaming, including a lottery and casinos, as a way to prevent further public school budget cuts without raising taxes.”

Republican Gov. Bob Riley continues to maintain a high job approval rating, with 68 percent saying they are very or somewhat satisfied with the job he is doing.

Bob Martin is editor and publisher of The Montgomery Independent. E-mail him at: bob@montgomeryindependent.com.