OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Federal probe of Alabama attorney general no shock to bloggers

For the next several days, rumors of King's impending resignation flew around the Internet. King refused to comment on the story either way and the rumors gradually died down. However, they were reignited in October, when reports that King was preparing to run for re-election as attorney general in 2010 -- rather than for governor, as had been anticipated -- raised suspicions that his political prospects had been been damaged by the scandal.
Why is King being investigated now?

As news of the federal investigation spread, theories about possible political motivations proliferated.

One fact which has attracted notice is that the US Attorney investigating King is Alice Martin, a Bush appointee who was the first US Attorney to bring federal charges against former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Martin has expressed hopes of being kept on by the Obama administration, and a diarist at Daily Kos thought it possible that the investigation of King might be a bid for Democratic approval.

However, it's also conceivable that this could be Governor Riley's way of throwing King under the bus. When King was first appointed as attorney general in 2004, Alabama political columnist Steve Flowers suggested, "Most observers of the Governor's office and those who have dealt with the Governor come away feeling that Rob and Minda Riley are the powers behind the throne. The consensus is that these two Riley offspring make most of the calls and are the ones that Riley looks to for major decisions. A case in point is the recent appointment of young Troy King as Attorney General. Rob and Minda are said to be responsible for the choice of King."

One blogger who reported the rumor of a King homosexual affair last summer even wondered if Riley himself might have initiated the scandal, writing, "Some point the finger at Alabama Governor Bob Riley for starting the rumor. This makes sense seeing as Troy King is a potential gubernatorial candidate."

Filed by Muriel Kane http://rawstory.com//printstory.php?story=14752

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