Banner Calling for Riley's Impeachment Flies Over Rose Bowl
January 8th, 2010
by Glynn Wilson
While most of the country and the states of Alabama and Texas were taking a break Thursday from the mundane affairs of business and government to revel in the national championship between the Crimson Tide and the Longhorns, a Tuscaloosa businessman with a vendetta against Bob Riley used the Rose Bowl as an unlikely setting to attack the Republican governor.
A banner with the words “Impeach Corrupt Alabama Governor Bob Riley” was towed through the air over the Rose Bowl before the game (see photo above).
Officials with a banner-towing company told the AP they were hired for about $3,000 to fly over the Rose Bowl stadium for about four hours before the game. A longtime Riley critic, Tuscaloosa businessman Stan Pate, took credit for the sign, saying he wanted everybody to see that “Bob Riley is a phony.”
Riley flew to Pasadena for the game ostensibly on an industry-recruiting trip to California, according to the AP, although it was not reported whether he took the state plane or flew commercial.
Press secretary Todd Stacy blamed the banner on the governor’s opposition to electronic bingo operations in Alabama. Pate denied it, saying his business has no connections with electronic bingo and is not invested in Country Crossing or other gambling operations.
Riley’s anti-gambling task force has been involved in a legal battle over efforts to raid electronic bingo operations at the Country Crossing development at Dothan, where country music star Ronnie Gilley and others have attacked Riley as a hypocrite for taking Indian casino money and then opposing gambling.
Pate, who believes electronic bingo should be regulated and taxed, but claims that had nothing to do with why he paid for the banner, said Riley used economic development as a convenient excuse to get a free trip to California for the game.
“I wanted everybody in the nation to see how I feel about this governor,” Pate said.
Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley denied having anything to do with the banner, saying he found out about it from news reports.
“While I disagree with almost everything Governor Riley has done over the past year or so,” Gilley said, “I would not go to these lengths to discredit or embarrass him.”
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Tags: Alabama, Impeach Corrupt Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, Rose Bowl, Texas
January 9th, 2010 at 11:07 am
I love this!!! Go Mr. Pate…I admire you for the guts!!!
Gov. Riley needs to think about the ethics laws that he and his party always preach about!
That’s just one of the issues. Why all of a sudden use a state plane & fly to the Alabama game? Sounds like we gave you a flight with tax-payers money.
One more year and we people of Alabama need to vote Democrat!!!
January 9th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Perhaps this is a good way to maintain visibility of high profile arrogance. I’m thinking that this means of delivering the message is worth the effort and money. i plan to send it around to the nat’l orgs on prosecution of torture by Cheney and gang.
I suspect that it will take a lot of airplanes to pull the ads on the thousands of Repugs who should be barred from US Citizenship forever.
Perhaps even WALLS and Monuments engraved with the heinous Repugs dirt would be propitious.
This would have been a great venue for the project if it were National but a ‘Gov’ is state agent and i doubt it will connect with the plethora of Alabama voters who didn’t see what the million or so spectators in CA saw. But effective in some way I’m sure.
Maybe even a sign that says “God wants Riley to confess” or similar, like the wack and nut job Xians on the opposing football teams, engulfed in who’s god is better tripe.
William in Montana
January 9th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Funny that none of the mainstream press photographers noticed enough to get a decent picture and break this story, or the TV news folks for that matter. If any of the Alabama fans who attended the Rose Bowl national championship game happened to snap a better picture, send it over. We would appreciate it.
January 9th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
It’s about time Alabamians like Stan Pate stand up against Gov. Riley. For to long Gov. Riley has not listened to the voters. What Stan Pate did was OPEN the eyes nationally to the fact that the voters of Alabama are NOT HAPPY with Gov. Riley and how he is trying to dictate what we the voters want or do. THANK YOU STAN PATE!!!! Albamaian’s UNITE! IMPEACH GOV.BOB RILEY..
I’m sure I and all those whom talk against Bob Riley will get a visit from his boys for talking bad about him. All I have to say is bring it on and I’ll leave the light on for ya.
January 9th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
Not many people care, I suspect, and impeachment ain’t going anywhere.
Best I can tell, Riley is a mostly invisible lame duck headed back to the farm…
January 9th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Does Stan Pate have an email address where I could contact him? I want to offer my support and encouragement. We need to expose Riley’s illegal and unethical behavior to public scrutiny. Thank you, Stan Pate. Cockroaches scatter when you shine the light on them, and I think Riley will do the same. Thank you for shining the light on that crook.
January 9th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
I’m sure he does, but I don’t have it…
January 9th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Thanks alert reader for the better photo…