Accountability or sleight of hand by governor's office?

It's not proper in polite company to make fun of the infirm or afflicted. Yet, one may fairly wonder what it is that afflicts members of Gov. Bob Riley's press office. It can't be Alzheimer's, they're all too young.

Is it dementia or delusion? What would cause an apparently otherwise rational spokesman for the governor to utter such a disingenuous statement?

"We all take pride in the fact that the governor is running the most open, transparent and accountable administration in the state's history," the spokesman is quoted as saying. It's a good bet that if the governor doesn't know what accountability is, and if he doesn't, then members of his staff probably don't either.

If the administration is really interested in transparency and accountability, why is it stonewalling efforts by the Joint Legislative Contract Review Committee to find out how some $13 million awarded in a no-bid contract is being spent by a company that appears to be operating out of the trunk of the owner's car?

The company, Paragon Source LLC., has no listed phone number, no e-mail address, no Web site, no business address and no license to do business in Montgomery.

The president of Paragon is Janet Lauderdale. Her east Montgomery home and her husband's personal residence in Virginia are listed as the company's headquarters.

State Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, the chairman of the Contract Review Committee and other members of the committee have become so frustrated with their inability to learn more about the company from the administration and Lauderdale, that they issued a series of subpoenas last week.

The committee wants to know the names of every person or subcontractor paid under the contract, how much they were paid, their addresses, descriptions of the work performed and copies of invoices and supporting documents. The documents were due to be delivered to the committee this week....