Worley's contempt

Alabama's Democratic Secretary of State, Nancy Worley, is still holding up the process of ensuring Alabama's compliance with the Helping America Vote Act.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Gov. Bob Riley's attorney told a federal judge Monday that Secretary of State Nancy Worley hasn't supplied all the records needed to implement a statewide voter registration system, despite the threat of contempt of court.

Riley's legal adviser, Ken Wallis, gave U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins a list of eight types of documents that "would be helpful" but that haven't been turned over to the governor.

They included e-mails between the secretary of state and voter registrars about the procurement of the voter registration system and many documents involving communications between Worley's office and companies interested in developing the computerized system.

Wallis said he has "attempted to be polite, amicable and cooperative with the secretary" and even offered to go to her office with her former staff attorney, Trey Granger, to search for the missing documents.

"Subsequently, I have been informed that Mr. Granger would not be welcome in her office," Wallis wrote.

Mr. Granger is a Montgomery attorney who currently serves on the Governor's HAVA Implementation Committee. He is also the Director of Elections for Montgomery County. Formerly, Granger served as Worley's General Counsel before moving on to greener pastures. It appears that he would be just the right guy to help the Secretary of State locate the missing records needed to fully implement the state's obligations under HAVA. Why is it, then, that Nancy Worley has declared him persona non grata?