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Greeson probe confirmed

By Jared Felkins
The Times-Journal

Published February 20, 2008

Rep. Todd Greeson’s computer hard drive, taken by state Department of Postsecondary Education officials last week, was confirmed by two-year college system Chancellor Bradley Byrne to be part of a state and federal investigation.

Byrne said the hard drive was retrieved at the request of authorities conducting an ongoing investigation into the two-year college system.

“We can’t comment on an ongoing investigation,” Byrne said. “I can tell you an employee from the Department of Postsecondary Education received the hard drive from a Northeast employee. We are continuing to cooperate with the authorities conducting an investigation of the overall system.”

Greeson, R-Ider, is one of more than a dozen legislators who works or had worked for the two-year college system, which has been the focus of a long-running federal and state investigation.

Byrne said the request for Greeson’s hard drive is one of several pieces of information his department has received as part of the investigation.

“We get regular information requests for documents, etc.,” Byrne said. “There is an employee here who takes the requests and provides the information requested.

“That doesn’t mean we know what they are looking for. We are simply providing information when they ask for it. Of course, they are not at liberty to tell us what they are looking for or what they find.”

Byrne said postsecondary officials took the hard drive and replaced it with a new one rather than federal agents obtaining a search warrant for Greeson’s office.

“The hard drive belongs to the college, which is a part of the system,” Byrne said. “We certainly don’t want federal authorities to get a search warrant if we can give it to them. We feel it is appropriate to cooperate with them.

“The quicker we respond to these requests and help the investigation, the quicker the investigation can be completed and the better off our system is. We have no control over that. Hopefully by cooperating, we can make it go quicker.”

Byrne said both investigators with the state attorney general’s office and federal agents are working together on the two-year college system investigation. He could not say whether the request for Greeson’s hard drive came from the state or federal level.

Chief of Staff Chris Bence, with Attorney General Troy King’s office, could not confirm or deny Greeson was under investigation. Jill Ellis, a spokeswoman with U.S. Attorney Alice Martin’s office said the same.

“It is a longstanding policy of the attorney general’s office that we do not comment or acknowledge investigations,” Bence said.

Greeson has a contract for workforce development for Athens State University, an upper-level two-year college administered by the state Board of Education, but the contract is through Northeast Alabama Community College. He said he makes about $46,000 a year under the contract and is contracted to work about 37 hours a week on average.

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