August 4, 2021 - Governor Ivey Should Coast to Reelection
For over a year I have been touting the fact that the 2022 election year in the Heart of Dixie was going to be the busiest and most monumental in history. Folks, it looks like it is not going to be as eventful as anticipated. Yes, everything is on the ballot, but the power of incumbency is thwarting the drama. It appears the U.S. Senate race is going to be the marquee event.
Most states have their big election years in the same year as the presidential contest. Not so in Alabama, our carte blanche election year is in between presidential elections in what is referred to nationally as off years.
All our constitutional officers are on the ballot next year as well as all 105 state house seats, 35 state senate seats, all 67 sheriffs, all state school board members, along with all seven of our Congressional seats.
Historically, the biggest race in Alabama is governor. In fact, throughout history the governor’s race year has been the largest turnout year in Alabama. That is probably because it was not until the 1970’s that could a governor succeed themselves. Therefore, there was an open governor’s race every four years.
The inherent advantage of incumbency has cut down on the every four years gubernatorial circus and theater. This incumbency advantage is playing out to the nines as we head towards next year’s May 24 election day.
All four of our top tier Constitutional offices are held by popular incumbents and all four are running for reelection virtually unopposed. All of our statewide elected offices are held by Republicans. A Democrat cannot win a statewide race in Alabama. They can get 40% but that appears to be the ultimate threshold. Therefore, winning the May 24 GOP Primary is tantamount to election.
Governor Kay Ivey is the prohibitive favorite to win a full second term next year. She has done a good job as governor despite the gigantic obstacles of having to fight through a once in a lifetime COVID pandemic, which completely shut down the world’s economy for over 15 months. She did a good job of steadying the ship of state during the crisis.
It was thought and even anticipated that Kay Ivey would run for only one four-year term when she was elected in 2018. She, herself, probably thought she might only run one time because, coupled with her serving as governor the last two years of Robert Bentley’s tenure, would give her a six-year reign. That mindset of striving to govern for four-years rather than run for reelection has made her a successful governor. Kay has rolled up her sleeves and tackled the job and diligently governed. She has gubernatorially addressed many of the problems that have plagued the state and been swept under the rug or kicked down the road for decades. Addressing the problems of repairing the state’s roads and infrastructure and the prison problems has not been an exciting agenda, but she has been a workhorse governor rather than a show horse governor.
She will coast to reelection. It would be difficult for a candidate to run negative ads against your grandmother. The only thing that could prevent Kay Ivey from serving another term is if she changes her mind. She relies a lot on her Chief of Staff, former Mobile/Baldwin Congressman, Jo Bonner. There is speculation that Bonner may accept the position of President of the University of South Alabama. Gov. Ivey would very much miss her “little brother” from Wilcox. However, she has a brilliant and loyal youthful staff that have been with her all four-years. She will probably stay the course and be reelected.
Speaking of youthful, our young Lt. Governor, Will Ainsworth, is poised to win reelection to a second four-year term essentially unopposed. He is waiting in the wings, ready to run for governor.
Attorney General, Steve Marshall, is also going to coast to reelection with only token or no opposition. Marshall has tackled his job well and diligently over his first four-year term. He like Ivey has strived to delve into his job rather than politick full time. He has staked out a position as being a bona fide conservative Alabama Republican.
Rick Pate has done an excellent job as Alabama Agriculture Commissioner and will deservedly win a second four-year term as the head of this important constitutional office. He is perfectly suited and qualified for this job.
So, folks, it looks like it may be a dull year. However, don’t fret, we have 67 local sheriff races and all 140 legislative seats all running under new lines.
See you next week.
July 28, 2021 - Governor Kay Ivey Second Governor from Wilcox County
Kay Ivey is doing a good job as governor. She is a strong and decisive leader, who has done more than steady the ship of state. She is getting things done. She is making her mark as a good governor.
She did a good day’s work when she got Jo Bonner to be her Chief of Staff. They make quite a team. This duo from Wilcox County were cut out to be leaders.
Kay Ivey is only the second governor to hail from Wilcox County. Benjamin M. Miller was the first. The Black Belt region of Alabama has spawned an inordinate number of governors and legislative giants.
The Bonner family has deep roots of leadership in Wilcox County. Bonner served in Congress with distinction for over a decade. His sister, Judy, was president of the University of Alabama. His father was Probate Judge of Wilcox County. He was related to the late, great State Senator, Roland Cooper, who was referred to as the “Wiley Fox from Wilcox.” Bonner’s grandfather practiced law with Governor Benjamin Miller, and they were related by marriage.
Benjamin M. Miller was probably one of the most conservative men to ever be Governor of Alabama. Miller served as governor during the worst years of the Great Depression (1931-1935). He was a large, bespectacled, dignified man who had a long legal career before and after his term as Governor.
B.M. Miller epitomized the governors of that era. From 1901 through 1946, Alabama’s governors were wealthy men. They were rich Birmingham corporate lawyers or businessmen, or Black Belt planter lawyers like Miller. Some would say that the Big Mules of Birmingham and the Black Belt planters would meet in a board room in Birmingham at either a big bank or U.S. Steel’s offices and get together and decide who they were going to back for governor. They would select someone at that meeting and pool their money and pay for their man’s race. Many times, the man selected was so wealthy that he could self-finance their own race. In some cases, they would buy off some rabble rouser who wanted to run against their anointed candidate. They would pay him to get out of the race. It would actually save them money to practice this theory. They were wise, smart, prudent businessmen.
Two of the Bourbon Governors of this era, Braxton Bragg Comer (1907-1911), and Charles Henderson (1915-1919), were concurrently also the richest men in the State while they were governor. Comer owned most of the textile mills in the state and Henderson owned a good many corporations, banks and a utility.
Most of these governors as well as Miller were anti-Ku Klux Klanners. Miller’s opposition to the Klan like that of other wealthy white supremacists had very little to do with racial liberalism, but more to do with maintaining political power. This planter-industrialist coalition of which Miller belonged rejected the Klan because it represented a threat to their power over poorer whites who were members of the Klan. These Bourbon planter-industrialists governors were vehemently anti-union, as might be expected.
Governor B.M. Miller was also similar to wealthy men of that era. They were very frugal even miserly as some would say, and they felt the State government should be frugal like them. Miller would actually campaign on his personal frugality as a virtue. He was not embarrassed at all when it became known that he still used oil lamps to save money instead of electricity on his Wilcox County plantation.
Governor Miller’s parsimony became one of the hallmark aspects of his administration. His inaugural parade featured only two automobiles in order to conserve gasoline, and he brought his favorite cow to the Capitol from Wilcox County to provide the governor’s mansion with milk and butter.
Since he was governor during the Great Depression, he accordingly cut State government spending dramatically. Miller eliminated hundreds of state jobs, as well as the use of state automobiles. Governor Miller was indeed a very conservative, Bourbon, Black Belt governor.
See you next week.
July 21, 2021 - Bibb Graves the Education Governor
Most states have one General Fund Budget. We are only one of five states that have two.
Some of you have asked why we have two budgets – one for the General Fund and one for Education. Here is why.
During the era of the Great Depression and even afterwards, education in Alabama was woefully underfunded and that is really being generous to simply say underfunded. Our schools were similar to a third world country. We had two separate systems, one for white students and one for black students. Many rural schools were one room shanties like folks used in the 1800’s, like Blab schools, no air condition, wood burning stoves for heat. There were no buses to transport children, so they really did walk to school, barefooted, many times miles to and from. This was for the white schools. You can only imagine what an abysmal education was afforded black kids. Many times teachers were not even being paid. They were given script notes in hopes of getting paid in the future.
We had a governor come along named Bibb Graves that made it his mission to make education a priority in Alabama. He and the Legislature created the Special Education Trust Fund Budget. They earmarked two tax revenues to be used for the new Education Budget. Education was to be the recipient of the state sales tax and the state income tax, which was a new tax system idea just created by the federal government.
Little did Governor Bibb Graves know that today, these two revenue streams would be the largest source of revenue for the state. That little Special Education Fund Budget now dwarfs the General Fund by over a two-to-one amount.
When I was first elected to the Legislature in 1982, the General Fund and Education budgets were 50/50 dead even. Today, the budgets the Legislature will pass are at least 75% Education and around 25% General Fund.
Governor Bibb Graves built an indelible legacy as the Education Governor. His efforts also enhanced higher education in the state. He established teacher’s colleges at Troy, Florence, Jacksonville and Livingston along with enhancing funding at the State’s two flagship institutions.
The University of Alabama and at the time the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, were recipients of new education dollars.
Every university in the State has a primary building usually in the center of the campus named after Governor Bibb Graves. That is quite appropriate because Governor Bibb Graves left an education legacy as governor.
He may very well be Alabama’s greatest Governor. In fact, he was our only two term governor between 1901 and 1954. Alabama law did not allow governors to succeed themselves. Therefore, they would have to wait out four years to run again. Graves was governor from 1927 to 1931 and again 1935 to 1939.
The only other two term governor in the no succession era was James E. “Big Jim” Folsom. He also had an indelible legacy. Many of the rural roads in the state were dirt and impassable when the rains would come. Most folks in the state farmed for a living. When the roads washed out they could not get their crops to the market, so their year long work was washed out. Big Jim knew the plight of these farmers, he was the little man’s and rural man’s big friend. Big Jim paved almost every rural road in the state with his legendary Farm-to-Market Road Program. Ole Big Jim has a legacy as Governor.
His son, Jim Folsom, Jr., has a legacy as governor. Even though he was only Governor two years, he brought Mercedes to Alabama. The German company now builds more of their luxury automobiles at their Vance-Tuscaloosa plant than anywhere in the world. This initial Mercedes coupe by Folsom was the impetus for Hyundai, Honda and now Toyota-Mazda making Alabama the home of automobile manufacturing.
With these facilities come major spin-off accessory manufacturing plants. We are now the second largest automobile manufacturing state in America and are poised to supersede Michigan and become number one in the next few years.
Some Governors have left a legacy. Bibb Graves, “Big Jim” Folsom, and Jim Folsom, Jr. are three that have left their mark on Alabama history. Bibb Graves has a legacy as Alabama’s Education Governor.
See you next week.
July 7, 2021 - John Patterson
Alabama lost its oldest past Governor when John Patterson passed away last month. He died on the same land where he was born in rural Tallapoosa County.
Patterson was 99 years old, and he would have been 100 in September. He was the epitome of the greatest generation. He was a veteran of World War II. He volunteered for the Army as a private and left the Army at the end of the war as a major. Patterson then came home and obtained his law degree, then joined his father in the practice of law. He soon thereafter became Attorney General of Alabama, then Governor, then spent several decades as a Justice on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Patterson’s involvement with state government spanned half a century.
John Patterson served as Governor from 1959 to 1963. He holds the distinction of being the only person to ever beat George Wallace in a governor’s race.
Patterson and Wallace were both making their first race for governor in 1958. Patterson beat Wallace, soundly. Wallace never stood a chance. It would have been hard for anyone to beat a man in a race for Governor of Alabama, who had both the race issue and sympathy vote.
Patterson had the Ku Klux Klan endorsement in that race. Wallace was actually considered a progressive and softer on the race issue than Patterson. Patterson had become Attorney General of Alabama at a very young age after his father, Albert Patterson, was assassinated just 16 days after winning the race for Alabama’s Attorney General in 1954.
The elder Patterson had run with the promise to clean up Phenix City, which had been the most corrupt, sinful city in the South if not the nation. It was the redneck version of Las Vegas. However, unlike Las Vegas, everything they did in Phenix City was not legal or condoned.
The east Alabama town near Ft. Benning and Columbus, Georgia was run by a corrupt rural mafia. This mafia gunned down Albert Patterson in an alley behind his law office. The younger Patterson was then picked to replace his father as the Democratic Attorney General nominee. John Patterson became Alabama Attorney General at age 33. Just days after his election, a movie was made about the Phenix City saga. Between that and his well-publicized anti-civil rights actions, by the time John Patterson got ready to run for Governor of Alabama, he was a folk hero to Alabamians.
Wallace thought he was going to win the governor’s race in his first try in 1958. However, when he got into the heat of the campaign, he realized that he was running against a legend. It seemed like everybody in the state had seen the movie “The Phenix City Story.” The sympathy for Patterson was too much to overcome. In addition, the race issue had become paramount, and Patterson owned it.
After Wallace lost, he was in a deep depression for a few weeks, but finally got out of bed, shaved and looked in the mirror and said aloud, “I got out segged and I will never be out segged again.” A governor could not succeed himself at that time. He knew Patterson could not run again in 1962. He grabbed the race issue and ran nonstop for four years and captured the Governor’s office in 1962.
Patterson did a good job as governor. He was governor during the beginning of the volatile first movements towards Civil Rights. A lot of it played out in plain view of his Governor’s Office looking down on Dexter Avenue. He took a very adamant, stringent position against integration and all of the protests.
Governor Patterson wrote his biography published by New South Books in 2008 entitled Nobody but the People, which was by the way his campaign slogan in his 1958 race for Governor.
We visited at length during the year he was touring the state with his book. During our visits, he revealed remarkable stories surrounding the era when he was Attorney General and Governor of Alabama.
In the last few years, we visited at his farm home in Goldville. He was amazingly sharp. His friends and relatives were surrounding him when he passed away. John Patterson has a special place in Alabama political history.
See you next week.
June 30, 2021 - Privatization of ABC Stores Fails Again
Alcohol was on the minds of many Alabama lawmakers this year as the legislature considered an abnormally high number of alcohol-related bills. Several of the bills passed. Most notable was legislation that made it possible for Alabama businesses to deliver beer, wine and liquor to customers’ homes, and separate legislation that allows state residents to order wine directly from wineries, even if those producers are out of state.
One piece of legislation that did not pass was Senator Arthur Orr’s perennial bill to privatize ABC liquor stores. There are a number of reasons for Alabamians to be thankful this legislation did not pass.
First and foremost, the State’s General Fund Budget will benefit from the failure of this legislation. The proposed legislation would have resulted in higher prices, lost tax dollars, lost jobs and less enforcement of alcohol laws. For example, last year alone the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, contributed $314 million to the State General Fund and state agencies, according to information provided by the ABC Board. This is from taxes and the markup on liquor.
If you privatize liquor sales and close the ABC stores, much of this revenue goes away, even after considering the taxes generated by private stores. An analysis of the ABC Board shows a net loss of $95 million a year.
Another reason to be thankful the legislature refused to privatize liquor sales, is the fact that hundreds of state jobs were saved by the failure of this legislation. The ABC stores and the state warehouse are run by more than 875 state employees. Most would have lost their jobs, their health insurance, and their retirement had the bill passed.
These employees go through hours of training to keep stores safe and prevent the sale of liquor to minors. Dollars and cents aside, if you look at this from a health and safety standpoint Alabama is better off with state regulated ABC stores controlling liquor sales than private retailers.
Speaking of private liquor stores, you can expect a big jump in their numbers. If you consider all the grocery stores, convenience store, and other retail chains, such as Walmart and Target, along with the additional package stores that will pop up if liquor sales are privatized, liquor outlets in the state could increase from around 850 currently to more than 2,100. While there would not literally be a liquor store on every corner, it sure might feel like it.
Furthermore, studies and common sense indicate that the more stores you have selling liquor, which will come with privatization, the more liquor you are going to sell. More sales mean more consumption, and more consumption means more health and safety problems. Alcohol is not just another commodity and buying it should not be as easy as buying milk and bread. Data from the CDC says 95,000 people die annually due to excessive drinking. No drug kills as many people each year as alcohol.
The good news is that under our current alcohol control system, Alabama fares much better than most states when it comes to alcohol consumption. As a state, we are among the lowest in liquor consumption and among the highest in revenue from liquor taxes.
Lastly, even if you look at privatization from a consumer’s standpoint, it does not benefit Alabamians financially to privatize liquor sales. As anyone who has gone into an ABC store and a private package store knows, private store prices are much higher. If you close the ABC stores, Alabamians are only left with the higher prices of private stores.
While the legislation to privatize liquor sales was well intentioned from a philosophical standpoint, we should be thankful our legislature looked at the bigger picture. The state has little to gain, but a lot to lose by closing ABC stores.
The ABC Board is a valuable state agency, and the ABC stores provide a great benefit to our state in tax revenue, hundreds of state jobs, and lower prices for Alabamians.
I have known ABC Board Administrator Mac Gipson a long time. I know he runs a tight ship and it would be a shame to wreck it, so let’s hope privatization of liquor sales is dead for good.
See you next week.
June 23, 2021 - Legislative Session Essentially Successful
The 2021 legislative session ended last month with an impressive slate of legislative accomplishments.
A goodly amount of the credit for the success of the session goes to the leadership of the new President Pro Tem, Senator Greg Reed of Jasper, who just completed his first session in this role.
The Senate was deliberate, effective and efficient as it took up a longer than usual list of issues given the legislature’s early departure from Montgomery last year due to the pandemic.
The Senate’s accomplishments include successes that range from economic development incentives, COVID-19 relief, legislation to support military families, election security, broadband expansion and more.
The Senate was also able to pass a constitutional amendment to allow the people of Alabama to vote on whether the state would finally legalize, cap and control gaming and a lottery. Although this bill did not make it through the House, it was an impressive feat to move this hotly debated topic through the Senate.
The legislature dealt successfully with the state’s budgets, which is the legislature’s number one responsibility. While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to many states across the country having to cut their budgets, the state of Alabama’s two budgets – the General Fund Budget and the Education Trust Fund Budget – were the largest ever passed in state history.
Senator Reed and the budget chairmen in both chambers where successful due to years of conservative budgeting by the legislature, as well as the resilience of the Alabama economy. Alabama’s conservative budgeting approach has given the state the resources needed to provide funding to support Alabama students, public employees, and to give our government agencies the resources they need as they work to improve our state.
The Education Trust Fund Budget, the state’s largest budget in history, provided a record-breaking $7.67 billion in funding. The budget provides a substantial amount of funding to address critical educational needs across the state, the most noteworthy of these being meeting the high demand for certified math and science teachers.
There are around 7,500 secondary level positions for math and science teachers statewide, and only 4,300 of those are filled with properly certified individuals. Science and math are critically important subjects for the educational success of Alabama students, and to excel in these areas, it requires our state to be able to recruit and retain credentialed teachers.
To address this concern, the budget included the Teacher Excellence and Accountability for Mathematics and Sciences (TEAMS) Act program to raise the salary schedule for math and science teachers so that they will make more money moving forward. Starting in the 2021-2022 school year, well-trained and educated middle and high school math and science teachers could earn up to $15,000 in additional pay each year.
The budget also provides funding for Governor Ivey’s recommended 2% across the board pay raises for all teachers, support workers, and transportation workers. The budget allocates about $80 million for these raises that go into effect on September 30, 2021. The budget also funds the school nurse program to ensure there is a nurse in every school system and sets up a retiree trust fund to present teachers with bonuses.
It is not only educators who will see pay raises as a result of these budgets. In the General Fund Budget, the largest ever passed by the state, the legislature included a 2% pay raise for all state employees. The budget also includes a 7.2% increase for the Department of Mental Health and a 12.5% increase for the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
While the regular session has come to a close for the year, there are still several potential special sessions that could be called by the Governor. These could include special sessions to deal with issues ranging from gaming, to prison reform, to redistricting.
See you next week.
June 16, 2021 - Prison Issue Unresolved
There were two major issues not resolved during the just completed regular legislative session. Gambling and prisons were left on the table and up in the air.
It is foolish to not address a resolution to get some revenues for the state from gambling which currently exists in Alabama. However, it is not imperative that the problem be solved.
The prison problem is another question. It has to be addressed. The federal courts will take over Alabama’s prisons and tell the governor and legislature what to do to alleviate the crisis. The federal courts will win that fight every day of the week. They will act and give the legislature the bill for the expenses.
It is happening now in California, and the same scenario happened in Alabama five decades ago during the George Wallace versus Frank Johnson era. Judge Johnson prevailed and told Alabama what to do with prisons and sent them the bill.
The legislature, governor and U.S. Justice Department are all in agreement that Alabama has to have three new prisons to alleviate unconstitutional overcrowding.
The governor proposed privatizing leasing three new men’s prisons. Governor Ivey and the Alabama Department of Corrections proposed a lease project as the solution to replace many of Alabama’s aging overcrowded and understaffed prisons. In February, Ivey signed a 30-year lease agreement for two of the three new prisons, unilaterally, without legislative authority or input. The national firm, Core Civic, was chosen to receive the lease agreement and to build new prisons in Elmore and Escambia counties.
However, the privatization plan has been thwarted by the Private Prison Firm’s inability to garner financing. In May, Bloomberg News reported that all three banks that were to finance the venture were backing out completely.
The lease plan expired on June 1. Therefore, the route that legislative leaders prefer is that the state own the prisons and pass a bond issue to pay for them.
Legislative leaders primarily and importantly Finance Committee Chairmen, Steve Clouse of Ozark and Arthur Orr of Decatur, believe that there needs to be a Special Session called by Governor Ivey to address the building of three new men’s prisons and floating a bond issue to pay for them with the state owning the prisons.
Representative Clouse has brought up another valid reason for there to be a Special Session regarding prisons. The state received guidelines in the waning hours of the session from the Treasury Department on using the four billion dollars Alabama is expected to receive for state and local governments under the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress. The legislature will be the appropriator of that money. It may well could be used by the state for prisons.
Another factor that will be on the table are the locations of the prisons. A change from the lease plan to a prison bond issue would probably alter the locations to land already owned by the Department of Corrections. This land is available and was actually purchased adjacent to the current prisons at the time new prisons were last built over three decades ago during the last Wallace Administration.
This land around the prisons was purchased for future expansions. During the planning a blue ribbon study commission was hired to determine the best locations for the prisons. The commission suggested that they should be near the metropolitan areas of the state. Wallace looked at the proposal and said that looks good, but I think we will probably put those prisons in Barbour County. Gov. Wallace’s home county was Barbour.
The bottom line is that the prison lease plan proposed by the governor is dead. The other given is that new prisons have to be built to address a myriad of problems that have been outlined in the Justice Department suit.
This issue has to be addressed. Therefore, it looks imminent that at least two Special Sessions are in store for this year – one on reapportionment of legislative and congressional districts and one on prisons.
We lost our oldest past governor, Gov. John Patterson, on June 5. Gov. Patterson passed away at his ancestral home at age 99 surrounded by his family. Patterson was governor from 1959-1963. He defeated Gov. Wallace in the 1958 Governor’s Race, which featured a field of 14 candidates. Patterson was attorney general of Alabama prior to be elected governor.
See you next week.
June 9, 2021 - Politics Never Ends in Alabama
We are all looking forward to next year’s gigantic political cavalcade. The 2022 elections in Alabama will be momentous. We will have an open U.S. Senate seat along with seven congressional seats, all running under new district lines. We have a Governor’s race along with all the other Constitutional offices. All 105 state representatives and 35 state senators will be running for reelection under new district lines. All 67 sheriffs in the state will be on the ballot, as well as all 68 probate judges. All these races are on the cusp of beginning or have already begun.
However, we will have a mayor’s race in Birmingham this summer. The August 24 mayoral race in the magic city is shaping up as a Donnybrook. It is shaping up to be a rematch from four years ago between former mayor William Bell and current mayor Randall Woodfin.
Four years ago, young Randall Woodfin defeated then mayor, William Bell, the old fashion way. He outworked him. Woodfin went door-to-door in one-on-one campaigning in every precinct in Birmingham. He appears to have done a good job as mayor. He will be tough to beat. However, if anyone would do it, William Bell would be the one. He looks very distinguished and mayoral. In fact, I have often thought that if Hollywood were scripting a movie of a mayor of a city like the movie “Boss” with Kelsey Grammar, who played a Chicago mayor, that Bell would be the perfect actor.
There are at least two other significant candidates vying to be Birmingham’s mayor, LaShunda Scales and Chris Wood, which may place Bell and Woodfin into a runoff.
We have already had several special legislative elections throughout the state this year. Former Alabama House Member, April Weaver, won the Republican State Senate Primary for Senate District 14 on March 30. This senate seat was vacated when Cam Ward departed the Senate to become Director of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles. The district encompasses a good portion of Shelby County and all of Bibb and Chilton. It is a very Republican district. Therefore, Ms. Weaver’s victory is tantamount to election. She will face a token Democrat in the July 13 general election. Her triumph was extremely impressive. She garnered 82% of the vote against two opponents. She will be an effective senator for Central Alabama.
In an open state House seat in Shelby County, U.S. Army Veteran, Kenneth Paschal won the GOP Primary for House District 73, winning the Republican primary for a State Legislative district in a special election in Shelby County. Paschal won a close race over Leigh Hulsey, 51% to 49%.
There is a special election for state House District 78 in Montgomery to fill the seat being left vacant with Kirk Hatcher moved up from the House to the Senate.
There are several low-profile constitutional offices beginning to percolate for 2022. State Representative, Wes Allen, has announced and is running hard for Secretary of State. He is perfectly suited and qualitied for that office. He is in his first term as a State Representative from Pike and Dale Counties. However, prior to that he served 10 years as Probate Judge of Pike County, where he successfully oversaw elections. Wes is a native of Tuscaloosa where his daddy serves as a State Senator.
A successful Birmingham businesswoman, Laura Johnston Clark, is eyeing the State Auditor’s race. She was born and raised in Dothan and began her business there. She has deep and extensive family roots in the Wiregrass. Her father and mother and older brother are legendary and revered. She has been extensively involved civically in Birmingham for close to two decades. She is an integral part of next year’s World Games, which will be held in Birmingham.
The current occupants of the Secretary of State and state Auditor’s offices, John Merrill and Jim Ziegler are term limited. So, these two offices are wide open. 2022 is going to be an exciting election year.
See you next week.
June 2, 2021 - Session Ends: Gambling Left on the Table
The 2021 Legislative Session is in the books. I would rate it a success. When you pass budgets that are balanced, any session is a success. In fact, the only constitutional mandate given to the legislature is that they pass the two budgets.
The amazing revelation that is almost difficult to comprehend is the fact that both the General Fund and the Educational Fund budgets were not only status quo but were flush with growth coming out of a year of the COVID pandemic. State employees and teachers both received raises in the budgets.
Alabama is one of the few states in America that has not been devastated financially by the pandemic.
A lot of credit for this good fiscal stability goes to the Chairmen of the Budget Committees in both the House and Senate. They have worked and strived diligently to pass conservative budgets with reserve accounts that have allowed the state to avoid rainy days.
The state owes a debt of gratitude and a tip of the hat to House Budget Chairmen, Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa) and Steve Clouse (R-Ozark) and Senate Finance Chairmen, Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) and Greg Albritton (R-Escambia).
The Legislature dealt with a lot of high-profile issues. Not the least of which was the perennial issue of allowing doctors to prescribe medicinal marijuana for pain for their patients. This prescription has been allowed for years in many states. Now, Alabama doctors will be able to prescribe this medication to their patients.
The gambling issue dominated the entire session. The state Senate passed the gambling proposal to send to the people for a vote. However, it failed in the House of Representatives. It is a Constitutional Amendment and therefore needs 21 votes in the 35-member State Senate and 63 votes in the State House of 105 member representatives. It does not even go to the governor for a signature but goes straight to the ballot. The governor is very much for this initiative. However, it probably needs to be dealt with in a special session in order for it to pass. Governor Ivey needs to really promote the issue in a special session where it is the only issue dealt with and focused on. She has plenty of time. The Amendment if approved by legislators is not set to be voted on until the November 2022 General Election.
This proposed constitutional amendment is a very all-encompassing gambling plan. It institutes a lottery, authorizes sports betting and legalizes casinos around the state. It is a constitutional amendment that will also be exact and detailed and with authoritative gambling policy enforcement procedures. This regulation of gambling has been needed for years because we already have gambling in Alabama.
The new state gambling regulatory commission would oversee the lottery, as well as the five existing casinos in Macon, Mobile, Greene and Jefferson counties, and one yet to be determined in Northeast Alabama. This new location would be in the pristine Northeast Alabama mountains and would be given to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. It would have the potential to be a destination tourist attraction.
The Poarch Creek casinos would continue to be regulated by federal statutes, but the state would be enabled to enter into a compact with the tribe for Class III table games.
All lottery revenue would be directed to education, including scholarships for higher education and trade schools and a loan forgiveness program for graduates who locate back in Alabama. The annual revenue from casinos and sports betting would be divided for several uses. Almost 50% would be up to the legislature to appropriate toward capital or other non-recurring expenses. Forty percent would be earmarked for “enhanced health care services,” and 10% would be divided among counties and cities for “Capital or other non-recurring expenses.”
Under the legislation for all gambling revenue up to 5% would be set aside for initiatives to help problem gamblers.
This legislation pretty much tracks the recommendations of Governor Kay Ivey’s proposal and actually does not even require her signature. She was very prominently lobbying for its passage and will endorse its ratification by Alabama voters. It will reap a significant amount of revenue for the State of Alabama.
You may very well see it come up again this year in a special session.
See you next week.
May 26, 2021 - George Wallace Stories
A good many of you enjoyed the George Wallace story I shared with you a few weeks ago. Allow me to reminisce and share two more funny Wallace era stories.
I became acquainted with Governor Wallace when I was a young Page in the legislature.
I was elected to the legislature in 1982. Ironically, my district was comprised of my home county of Pike and also the portion of Barbour County that was Wallace’s home, including Clayton and Clio.
Gov. Wallace thought that was the most remarkable story that he had first met me as a 12-year-old Page and now 20 years later I was his representative.
He would often ask me to come down to his office and he would reminisce and tell me stories. He would always begin with the remembrance of my having been a “Page boy” when we first met. He had aged prematurely and was confined to a wheelchair due to having been shot running for president. Therefore, on our visits he would tell me the same stories over and over.
Well, one day I was visiting, and he told me the same stories. He then stopped and got a faraway nostalgic look on his face and looked at me intently and asked, “Steve, how old are you now?” I said, “Governor, I am 32 years old. I am grown and your representative,” He replied, “Huh. I guess I’ve been governor all your life.” He had indeed been governor most of the 20 years between my 12th and 32nd birthdays. My reply was, “Yes sir. I guess you will be governor all my life.”
I will share another story that I remember well with you.
Since I was Gov. Wallace’s Representative, he had made me a Floor Leader. As I mentioned earlier, he had known me since I was 12 years old and a page in the Legislature during his first term as Governor. My relationship gave me access to him, so one Fall day I ambled down to the Governor's office. I walked into the office and the secretary whisked me back to his office pretty quickly. They said he would love to visit with me as he was not having a good day with his health and would like to reminisce with me about his younger days and first term. It would cheer him up.
Well, he seemed to be in good spirits when I went in, and he had his ever-present cigar in the corner of his mouth. Wallace’s health had deteriorated badly from the effects of the bullet wounds he had endured, and his hearing was really bad because he had been assigned to work around airplanes during World War II. My mission that day was to get $10,000 out of his Discretionary Fund for the Pike Pioneer Museum in my district. He controlled all of the extra pork money we appropriated, so we had to see the Governor for our pet project money. I knew we had put money into the tourism budget for projects like my museum. After listening to his story about politics and earlier days, I got down to business.
He led in by asking, “Steve, what did you want today?” I had to shout so Wallace could hear and began by selling the fact that my Pioneer Museum was located on a well-traveled four lane highway which was a corridor and travel route for northerners traveling to the beaches for their winter escape, and that they would stop at our museum and spend tourist money in Alabama. Therefore, $10,000 of tourism funds for my museum was a wise stewardship of Alabama taxpayer money.
Wallace still seemed like he did not hear me well, so I almost shouted that we were catching the snowbirds as they traveled north or south. I had just heard the term snowbird and was loudly and proudly using it. Well, Wallace had not heard the term, but he heard me and said, “Steve, what kinds of birds are y’all catching down in Pike County?” I knew he was confused so I dropped my snowbird terminology and said, “Governor, we have a lot of Yankees that come through Pike County and we want to stop them at our museum and get them to spend tourist dollars.” He looked even more puzzled and looked at me aghast and said, “Steve, what in the world are y’all doing to the Yankees down there in Pike County?”
The poor fellow thought I was asking for money to set up a speed trap of some sort for unsuspecting Yankees traveling through Alabama. He finally gave me the money for the museum, but I still think he was a little concerned about how it was going to be spent.
See you next week.