Fallout from $55M plant failure includes almost $1M in bills

So far, all he has received is a letter, dated Feb. 7, from state Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell disputing Auditor Phil Bryant’s findings that the Department of Agriculture and Commerce was involved heavily in helping the state acquire the plant, Fairchild said.

“(Hall) went to the commissioner of agriculture and was able to get past them. You look at that information when you’re considering credit. You get the idea that the state is standing behind you,” Fairchild said.

“It looked to me like this was a political thing. I noticed that everybody was for it when the word was good. And when it went south, it looked to me like Lester Spell and everybody was trying to cover themselves. There’s a lot more people out there hurt than us.”