Even though the administration of Gov. Robert Bentley claims whatever work, if any, done by a seemingly non-existent company that received a $13 million contract from former Gov. Bob Riley is not being used, the odor of that deal still permeates the halls of government in Montgomery.

Work done by Paragon Source, the company winning the no-bid state computer contract in 2009, is reported to be collecting dust in the state Finance Department. The company, which was operated out of a Montgomery residence, received nearly $7 million from the state before payments were halted after Governor Bentley took office.

There have been suggestions around the capitol that Riley should be required to reimburse the money out of his newly found lobbying fees.

State officials recently confirmed that the Virginia-based company’s work is not being used although the extent of whatever work was done has never been revealed. Also, no phone or fax number, website or email address for the company has ever been found.

Yet earlier this month, a subcontractor who earned nearly $250,000 under the Paragon contract, was hired by the Bentley administration and placed on the state payroll at an annual salary of $86,390. The hiring occurred despite a hiring freeze Bentley put has in place. The Huntsville Times’ Bob Lowry, one of the best investigative reporters in the state, wrote in one of his last articles before departing the newspaper.

The joint Legislative Contract Review Committee, which could only delay the contract for 45 days, went through several legal battles with the Riley administration before Riley signed the Paragon contract in November 2009.

The committee subpoenaed the CEO of Paragon Source, but she refused to appear. The committee sought the names, addresses, job descriptions, salaries of people and subcontractors hired by Paragon since 2007, but the Riley administration blocked the request by going to court.

A majority of committee members questioned the contract from the outset.

In his article, Lowry quoted former State Rep. Jeff McLaughlin of Guntersville, a committee member, as saying about the revelations: “In Gomer Pyle’s words, ‘Surprise, surprise, surprise.’”

In addition to the $7 million in tax dollars Riley wasted on the contract, he spent thousands on legal fees to blunt the committee’s efforts to get details on the contract and to fly around the state to meet with newspaper editorial boards to defend his actions.

Sen. Del Marsh of Anniston, a member of the committee in 2009, told Lowry he was disappointed in the outcome of the contract.

“Based on the meetings that took place, I thought the work was ongoing and the work was being done,” Marsh said. “That was the impression I had. It sounds like somebody has dropped the ball.”

Marsh, now the Senate’s top member as its president pro tem, told Lowry he plans to speak with administration officials about Paragon Source.

Bob Lowry’s tough, indepth reporting will be missed by a lot of us. A few, however, will not miss his presence in Montgomery.

Riley’s $4 million Anti-Gambling Task Force

News reports have placed the cost of Governor Riley’s Anti-Gambling Task force at $4 million for the two years it was in operation. However, in reviewing the information that was reported, I find there were no expenditures listed for the second and longest task force commander, former Mobile District Attorney John Tyson. Including Tyson’s tab would probably double the cost.

Riley’s first commander, former Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber, was removed after a few months on the job for frequenting the Indian Casinos in Mississippi.

Tyson used three or four corporate-type jets to fly around Alabama, including one state plane. He even once flew his wife with him from Mobile to Montgomery and back, but hasn’t, to anybody’s knowledge, reimbursed the state for the cost of her flight.

The unreasonably high cost of the task force was one of the reasons Bentley gave for shutting it down after he took office. The raids forced the closing of just about all gambling except for illegal football bookmaking in bars throughout the state and the operations of the Poarch Creek Indians, who now operate three casinos in the state.

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