Fences to mend among Republicans after vote over party chairmanship

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama Shortly after he was re-elected Saturday as Alabama Republican Party chairman, Bill Armistead pledged to "mend fences" to unite the party.

But in the moments before ballots were cast in the heated race for the state GOP's top job, Armistead was criticizing one of the party's most formidable figures: Rep. Mike Hubbard, the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives who opposed Armistead's bid for a second term.

"...They say there is disunity in our party but I don't believe that," Armistead told Executive Committee members minutes before they would cast ballots to choose between him and challenger Matt Fridy. "Let's be honest. Divisions in this party have been caused by one person."

Armistead didn't call out Hubbard's name. He didn't have to because he then launched into a strong defense of his decision to seek a financial review he calls it an audit of the party's spending in 2010, Hubbard's last year and his most successful year as party chairman.

It was a year that saw the party sweep to overwhelming control of the Legislature for the first time in 136 years and much of the credit for the victory went to Hubbard who had recruited candidates and raised millions of dollars to give Republicans control in the state Senate and the Alabama House, which would select him as the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction.

The so-called audit found what Armistead and his closest supporters inside the party believe was questionable financial moves by the party then under Hubbard's control which resulted in an Auburn printing company that Hubbard has part ownership in earning over $800,000 through a contract to print political flyers mailed to voters across the state in 2010 supporting GOP candidates.

Hubbard has said he had no involvement in awarding his company the contract and that the $9,000 in profits he made from the deal he invested back into the company. Hubbard has also pointed out that in 2010 he donated $40,000 of his own money into the GOP's efforts to win control of the Legislature.

Armistead told committee members Saturday that his decision to seek the audit was the right thing to do but that doing it had angered powerful elements in the party who only became angrier after The Birmingham News/AL.com in November reported the findings after having been leaked a copy of the audit.

"I didn't release that audit ... but its release is why we are here because some decided that 'we've got to bring that chairman down.' That's what this is about," said Armistead.

If Armistead has fences to mend with Hubbard, he also has them to mend with Gov. Robert Bentley who personally recruited Fridy to run against Armistead. In a strongly worded letter this week Bentley urged committee members to support Fridy and reject Armistead.

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Fences to mend among Republicans after vote over party chairmanship