State Rep. Wingo decries lack of transparency from Ivey administration on prisons; Says legislation could be ‘one of our only options’ for answers

Last month during a budget hearing before the Alabama Legislature began the 2021 regular session, State Reps. Rich Wingo (R-Tuscaloosa) and Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) called on Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn to reveal more details about Gov. Kay Ivey’s plan to lease three new mega-prison facilities.

At the time, just days before she signed two of the three 30-year lease agreements, Dunn had said the Ivey administration was working with legislative leadership to provide details, adding that the confidentiality of negotiations justified the current lack of transparency.

During an appearance on Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5 on Friday, Wingo discussed his frustrations with that lack of transparency. He said he wasn’t necessarily opposed to the Ivey administration’s method but noted the general fund would be the “backstop” on guaranteeing the lease payments.

“I had been asking for months, five or six months just a simple proforma just to provide me with return on cost,” he said. “Not that I am opposed to the developer — actually, I’m not opposed to the method at all, as far as spending private dollars, leasing it back. The concept, I’m not opposed to. But what I am opposed to is just the lack of transparency. I’ve asked for over six months numerous people that are in the position to give me the answers that I want — to just simply provide me what is the developer, what’s his profit, what’s his return on costs. Let’s build a proforma together and show — I’m all for the developer making a profit. I want them to. But I want to know what that is. Is it 7%? Is it 7.5%? Is it 8%? Is it 10%? Is it 15%? What is it? And just a simple return on costs. I haven’t gotten the numbers on the vertical. I haven’t gotten numbers for the soft or hard costs, the plans — anything.”

“My thing is that the general fund is going to be the backstop to this,” Wingo added. “If they can’t pay the rent, if they can’t honor the lease payment annually, the general fund is the backstop. They’re the ones that have to step up and find the dollars to pay the delta, the difference. You would think since we’re in that position, and I’m on the general fund — you would think in representing the people of Alabama, my goodness — you would think that we would at least be included so that we would have a confidence, or at least a fear or at least be setting aside money. That’s where I was. I asked for it from Commissioner Dunn in the general fund budget hearings a week or so ago. I’ve asked the Governor’s office. I’ve asked everyone there. I don’t need to name names. I can’t gather any simple information.”

The Tuscaloosa County Republican lawmaker said using the legislative process could be one of the only ways of getting answers from the Ivey administration. He added that he was a supporter of Ivey but said the handling of this issue “confuses” him.

“I think that’s probably one of our only options, to be honest,” Wingo added. “I mean, we’ll see. It doesn’t have to be like this. I want to know why at the end of 30 years, we don’t end up owning the facility. If we pay at a 30-year lease that satisfied the debt service on the prisons — I mean, we’re paying hundreds of millions of dollars, over a hundred a year — and we satisfy that debt after 30 years, then why doesn’t the state retain ownership in a fee-simple way? Why don’t we own it? That’s the way it is done in other places in the private sector. I’m so far out of the loop. I don’t know why that doesn’t work. I would like to know because I would like the state at the end of 30 or 35 years that the state would own it.”

“All we want to do is gather information,” he continued. “Listen, here’s the reality — it could be the best deal on the face of the earth. It could be a tremendous deal for the people of Alabama. And I hope it is. Believe me, I hope it is, but when you get pushed back, and you don’t gather the information you continue to ask for, it just continues to create skepticism. I hope and pray that this is the best deal. And listen, Governor Ivey — I think she is awesome. I think she is a warrior. I think she has done a great job. This one just confuses me.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.