November 13, 2024 - 2026 Governor’s Race Has Begun
Over the past year, I have been on a speaking tour throughout the state – especially leading up to the General Election on November 5. The reason for my visiting and speaking to civic organizations was to discuss the national Presidential Race and its evolvement, as well as how the race for the White House affects Alabamians.
It was one of the most unusual, interesting topsy turvy Presidential contests I can remember. It was entertaining to say the least. After my talks, I left time for questions from the audiences. You would think that the first, and most important questions would pertain to the Presidential contest. However, that was not the most prevalent inquiry. In almost all 30 venues, the most asked question was who will follow Kay Ivey as Governor and who is running for Governor in 2026.
My answer is that it will indeed be one of the most interesting and entertaining Governors Race in decades. With Kay Ivey unable to run for another term, there will be no incumbent.There are three obvious successors to the throne that are immediately brought to the forefront: Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, Attorney General Steve Marshall, and AgricultureCommissioner Rick Pate. They all three must go somewhere else, because all three are term-limited in their current posts.
Will Ainsworth is considered the prohibitive favorite by all Montgomery insiders. He has indeed been doing his homework and has been campaigning non-stop for Governor for the past six years, as Lt. Governor. He has locked up the Montgomery political lobbying money. This, in and of itself, probably puts him miles ahead of Marshall and Pate.
Ainsworth does not need any of the big lobbyists’ money. He has enough money on his own. His Daddy’s money is enough to fund several Governor’s races. His father has already shown thathe will help his boy as much as he needs. He bought him the Lt. Governor’s office and can buy him the Governor’s office. However, Ainsworth’s move to garner the big Montgomery money is an astute political maneuver because it prohibits his competitors from gaining access to these donors. Afterall, money is the “mother’s milk of politics,” and this is Ainsworth’s calling card.
Marshall and Pate cannot compete with Ainsworth financially. Marshall has built a following among the ultra-right-wing, social conservative base but these folks do not have any money, and the ones who do, do not give. Again, money is the “mother’s milk of politics.” Therefore, Pate and Marshall are relegated to being also rans in the brass ring race. However, they would be big dogs in the Lt. Governor’s Race, which looks to be drawing quite a crowd.
My response to audiences early in the year was Ainsworth is the early favorite because of his family money, but there is a big vacuum for an unknown candidate. 2026 could be another 1978 where a Fob James-like candidate comes out of the dark and buys the Governor’s office. A 60ish businessman who built his or her own business and made their own money is more attractive than a 40-year-old boy whose daddy has a lot of money.
The most popular and successful mayor in the state, Tommy Battle, would be a major player for governor. However, being mayor of the largest and most prosperous city in the state, if not nation, is a better job than being Governor of Alabama.
However, in the past month or so, a name has surfaced in the 2026 Governor’s Race that will turn the tide and change the landscape of the race. Coach Tommy Tuberville is rumored to be considering a run for Governor in 2026. His Senate Seat is also up for election in 2026. He got to the Senate at age 65, which is not the best age to arrive in the U.S. Senate and attain any power under the seniority system. He is 70 and looking at another six-year term as a 70ish back bencher.
He has his detractors, but polling reveals he is very popular in Alabama. He has over 75% name identification with high positives. Whereas, Ainsworth, Marshall, and Pate only have 20% name identification. Tuberville would automatically become the favorite and Ainsworth and Marshall would probably look hard at Tuberville’s Senate Seat.
Coach Tuberville needs to decide and move quickly because,folks, the race has begun.
See you next week.
November 6, 2024 - Alabama is a One-Party State
Alabama is a one-party, ruby red Republican state. This is a given in both state and national political races – especially presidentially, as you saw earlier this week.
The proof is in the pudding. With Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s triumphant conquest of our state on Tuesday, that makes 12 straight Presidential races in which the GOP candidate has carried our state. Trump has carried Alabamaby more than 60% in the last three Presidential cycles – 2016, 2020, and now 2024.
Prior to the Civil War, conservatives in Alabama were Whigs. The Whigs were well-heeled former Virginians and were slave owners. They settled in the Black Belt around the Alabama river. These gentlemen, even though small in population, monopolized and controlled state politics.
The Republican Party came to power as the party that abolished slavery. They enacted an extremely vengeful and devastating reconstruction upon the white people of the South, both rich and poor, slave owner or yeoman farmer. The radical Republicans did not discriminate. They took their vengeance out on all white people. Reconstruction lasted 11 years, 1866-1876. It cemented an inherent hatred towards the national Republican Party. Alabama and our sister Southern states swore allegiance to the Democratic Party. Alabama became and remained a totally Democratic state for almost 90 years, 1876 to 1964.
This Democratic loyalty was instilled by the yoke of Reconstruction. This loathing towards radical Republican rule was handed down from one generation to the next. Many a dying southern grandfather told their children and grandchildren on their deathbed, “One, don’t ever sell the family farm, and secondly, don’t ever vote for any damn Republican.” That is why you would hear old people saying, “My grandaddy would roll over in his grave if I voted for a Republican.” That is how the term “yellow dog” Democrat began. It was said that if a yellow dog were the Democratic candidate, he would win. This Democratic solidarity really made Alabama a no party state because all the activity was in one party and primary.
Alabamians cared very little about national politics or presidential elections between 1876-1964. They just voted for the Democrat in a perfunctory manner. The Democratic candidate for President carried Alabama in every election during those 90 years, but that all changed 60 years ago, today.
It changed presidentially and congressionally in the 1964 Southern Goldwater Landslide. We started voting Republican for national offices that year and have not looked back. The GOP captured the Governor’s office in 1986. It has been that way for now close to 40 years.
Folks, when we change, we really change. We do not do things halfway. Sixty years ago, every statewide official was a Democrat. Every state judge was a Democrat. Our entire congressional delegation was Democratic, and our legislature was unanimously Democratic. We were a Democratic state more out of tradition than philosophy.
Today, we are arguably one of the most Republican states in America from top to bottom. Since 1964, there have been 16 presidential elections, and Alabama has voted for the GOP nominee in 14 of those 16 contests, including this year’s Trump win in our state.
Jimmy Carter is the only Democrat that has carried Alabama in the last 60 years, and that was by a very slim margin in 1976,almost 50 years ago. George Wallace and his American Independent Party won the state in 1968. Therefore, the American Independent Party has won as many presidential contests in the Heart of Dixie as the Democratic Party has over the past 60 years.
Our Congressional delegation reflects a Republican dominance.Every statewide elected official in Alabama is a Republican. Republican control of Alabama politics today is so dominantthat we can safely be called a one-party state, again.
The Republican Party nomination for statewide office, today, is tantamount to election. This Republican dominance of Alabama will continue unabated in the Heart of Dixie for the foreseeable future.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
See you next week.
October 30, 2024 - Presidential Election Next Week
America will elect its 47th President next week. At least 99% of the votes will be cast by American citizens. With millions of illegal immigrants having poured through our country’s southern border over the past four years, there will be some illegal ballots cast by non-citizens. The opening of the border by the Democratic administration was permitted to allow these illegal immigrants to vote Democratic.
Fortunately, most of these illegal votes will be cast in California, because Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott had the foresight to steer the flow of illegal immigrants to California or bus them to other liberal Democratic sanctuary cities. Thus, any illegal immigrant votes will not affect the bottom-line result, because these states are left-wing, blue Democratic states anyway. The illegal votes will merely run up the score in the national election total votes for the Democrats, which is irrelevant.
As you know, we do not elect our president by popular vote but by an electoral college system, whereby each state casts the same number of electoral votes as they have members of Congress. The magic number of electoral votes is 270.That’s the magic number you should be watching for as you surmise the election results next Tuesday night.
As late as six decades ago in the 1960 Presidential Election between Republican Richard Nixon and Democrat John Kennedy there were 40 states in play that were not predetermined by party preference. People voted for the person and not the party. Therefore, Nixon and Kennedy had to campaign in all 40 states and their appearance and campaigning made a difference. That is why John Kennedy selected his enemy Lyndon Johnson to be his vice-presidential running mate in order to carry the State of Texas.
Today, the election is exactly diametrically the opposite as 1960. In next Tuesday’s Presidential Electoral College Election, there are only seven states in play that really matter. The hay is in the barn in 43 states. The country is divided along party lines like never before in history. That’s why the polling reveals a 48/48 split and has since the move by the Democrats to swap Joe Biden for Kamala Harris. If Mickey Mouse were the Republican nominee, he would carry Alabama and Kansas. By the same token if Donald Duck were the Democratic nominee, he would carry California and New York.
Again, as you are watching Tuesday night, ignore the national horse race numbers. A Democrat will get the most votes because there are more voters in California and New York than there are in Alabama and Kansas. As soon as the polls close the news channels will color 43 states either red or blue, because the exit polls will tell them what everyone knows and that is that these states are in the bank or as we would say in red states, “the hay is in the barn.” Most of the country, geographically, including most of the less populous states, will be covered in red. The blue will stick out on the left coast of California, Washington and Oregon. One blue state in the middle of the country, Illinois, and the other end of the country New York and New Jersey.
The battle for the White House will be waged in the seven pivotal, swing battleground states where the partisan divide is especially divided. Those states, which will decide the election, are Georgia and North Carolina in the South, Arizona and Nevada in the West, and the three rust belt midwestern states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The Democrats were going to lose with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket. Younger Democratic voters were not going to vote for a decrepit senile old white man. They were not going to vote for Trump either and would have just stayed home.
However, the orchestrated maneuver to replace Biden with Kamala Harris was a brilliant ploy. She, being a liberal Democrat of mixed origin and of color, has brought the younger Democratic base Black voter into the fold and they will turn out to vote for Kamala Harris. That is what has made this a 48/48 percent horse race, which leaves the 4% undecided vote in these seven states – the golden circle of voters. Although Kamala Harris brings home the young, Black Democratic voter, polling shows that this golden circle of undecided voters made up of white, middleclass suburban women, may not be solidly in her corner. These women – probably in Michigan and Wisconsin – will more than likely decide who is the 47th President. However, turnout is the ultimate key to this race and in any close election.
Is the Trump older, conservative Republican base more enthused and motivated, or does the liberal Democratic base get their voters to the polls for Harris?
We will see next week.
October 23, 2024 - Contest for New Second Congressional District is the Race to Watch
We are down to the final days of our 2024 Presidential Year. We go to the polls Tuesday, November 5, to elect the next President of the United States.
We have no good statewide races in Alabama this year. All our important state offices are up for election in 2026. However, thanks to the federal courts, we have one doozy of a congressional race in the newly drawn Second Congressional District. It is not only the most interesting, important, entertaining contest in Alabama, it is one of the premier, pivotalcongressional races in the nation. It may well decide which party has the majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The federal courts designed this district to elect a Democrat to Congress from the Heart of Dixie. They blatantly overruled the Alabama Legislature’s constitutional power to draw congressional lines for the state. The federal court hung their hat on the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
The new seat is comprised of all of Montgomery County, as well as most of the more rural counties surrounding Montgomery including Macon, Lowndes, Bullock, Pike, Butler, Crenshaw, Barbour, and Russell. It continues through the Black Belt counties like an arrow towards Mobile and gathers most of the Black voters in Mobile. The district goes from the Georgia line to the Mississippi line. The lion’s share of the votes are in Montgomery and Mobile.
Although this gerrymandered district was created by the federal courts to implement a new Democratic Black district, as soon as the new lines were drawn, Republicans said, “not so fast” and, “over our dead bodies.” “You ain’t taking it without a fight.” As the beginning of the race began, there were 11 Democrats running in the Democratic Primary and nine Republicans seeking the GOP nomination. When the dust settled after the April primaries, two surprising candidates emerged from the 20 aspirants.
The two stellar horses that emerged are thoroughbreds. The Republicans nominated Caroleene Dobson, and the Democrat’s stallion is Shomari Figures. Voters may have subconsciously chosen two young combatants. Youth is an omnipotent advantage in Washington. Dobson and Figures are both in their 30’s and could build generational power under the seniority driven power structure in D.C. They are both sterling candidates who are genuinely representative, philosophically, of their respective party. Figures is a real liberal Democrat and Dobson is a real conservative Republican.
Shomari Figures has a Democratic pedigree a mile long. He grew up in Mobile as the son of two legendary state senators. His late father, Michael Figures, served 18 years as a leader in the Alabama Senate. His mother, Vivian Figures, followedMichael, Shomari’s father, in the same Senate seat when he died early. She has become an icon in Mobile and the state senate in her nearly three decades in the upper chamber.
The Figures name has been at the forefront of Mobile politics for over four decades and it paid off in the Primary. Shomari received an amazing 92% of the vote in Mobile County. He also carried Montgomery County. It also did not hurt that he was able to outspend all 10 of his opponents combined with the bulk of his money coming from crypto currency groups. Figures has a law degree and has spent his entire career in Washington working for the Obama and Biden Administrations.
Caroleene Dobson is a sensational, sterling, young Republican candidate. She is a homegrown Monroe County girl. Her ancestral home is in the heart of the new district, perfectly nestled between the two metro voting centers of Mobile and Montgomery. She received 88% of the vote in Monroe County.She outdistanced the other major GOP contender, former State Senator Dick Brewbaker, in the Republican Primary by an amazing 59% to 41% to capture the Republican nomination.
Caroleene is a 37-year-old lawyer, mother, and wife. She is poised and exudes class and integrity. Her family has deep roots in the cattle industry in the state. She has been helped immensely by ALFA. She has worked hard and left no leaf unturned.
Regardless, the Republicans and Caroleene will need some help to secure this seat. A low voter turnout among Democratic voters may be the key to victory. This race is the ultimate purple, swing, congressional race in the south, and one of the most important races in the country. It could go either way.
See you next week.
October 16, 2024 - 1948 Was the Only Year Political Party Leadership Mattered in Alabama
All politics is now nationally partisan driven in most of the country and definitely in Alabama. Alabama is a one-party state when it comes to national and state general elections. For about 80 years, we were a one-party Democratic state. For the past 60 years we have become a one-party Republican state in presidential elections.
Republican candidates are always going to win state offices in Alabama and the Republican nominee is always going to carry Alabama. It is because of the philosophy of the two parties regarding national affairs. All politics are national.
George Wallace used to run around the country running for president when he was Governor of Alabama. On his Don Quixote quests as an Independent, he would often say there is not a dime’s worth of difference in the Democratic and Republican parties. Even in his demagoguing rhetoric, he couldnot say that with a straight face today. The Republican Party is very conservative. The Democratic Party is very liberal, and most Alabamians are very conservative. It is that simple.
Some naïve political writers want to place blame or give credit for election results on the backs of the Alabama Democratic Party leadership or the Alabama Republican Party leadership. The Alabama political parties have about as much relevance or influence on the results of the elections as an elephant or a donkey does. They have no power or influence on elections. Their only substantive purpose is to set the qualifying dates and rules. It is irrelevant who the Chairman of the Democratic Party or Republican Party is in Alabama, and it has always been that way. To criticize the party leadership in Alabama is like criticizing the PTO. They are doing a thankless, irrelevant, powerless job, and for someone to think they have relevance in a political campaign is revealing a naivete in the understanding of Alabama politics.
There has been one presidential contest in Alabama history where party leadership made a difference. The year was 1948. Race was the issue. Alabama and the South had voted straight Democratic for President for 80 years. However, the Democratic nominee for President, Harry Truman, had come out strongly for a pro Civil Rights platform. The solid South was about to become unhinged.
Mississippi and South Carolina were floating the idea of taking the South into a party called the Dixiecrats. Even though most white Democrats in Alabama were for segregation, they were not enamored with the idea of bolting the Party. There were two distinct groups in the state politically in 1948. There was a strong progressive contingency that was emboldened by and loyal to the national Democratic Party of Jefferson, Jackson and Roosevelt. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) was revered in Alabama. All our congressional delegation were FDR New Deal Democrats.
However, the Democratic Party machinery was controlled by the conservative Black Belters who were allied with what would become the Dixiecrats. The Alabama Democratic chairman was the racist Gessner McCorvey. McCorvey enacted a policy that no Democratic elector or delegate from Alabama could support a candidate pledged to Civil Rights. It was enforced by a signed pledge. Alabamians selected a mixed bag of delegates to the Democratic Convention, who were elected because of popularity or name identification. So, when the national Democratic convention nominated Truman and adopted the civil rights plank in the platform, about half of the Alabama delegates followed McCorvey and walked out of the Convention, and the other half, who were progressives, stayed.
The racist group of McCorvey joined with the other Southern states and founded the Dixiecrat Party. They met in Convention at the Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham and nominated Strom Thurmond from South Carolina. Thurmond and the Dixiecrats would carry the five Deep South Southern states.
McCorvey and his racist Dixiecrats cleverly stole the rooster symbol of the state Democratic Party. In 1948, the candidates’name was not on the ballot. One could only vote for the Party. Your choice was to either vote for the Republican Party or for the Democratic Party. Alabamians had been pulling the rooster for the Democratic Party all their lives. Whoever they voted for, Truman or Thurmond, will never be known. The state Democratic Party, controlled by McCorvey’s Dixiecrats, had basically hijacked the Party label. I suspect that more than a few Alabamians helped by the New Deal felt like they were voting for the national ticket and Truman. But the Alabama Democratic Party machine controlled by McCorvey voted in the election in Alabama’s Democratic Primary for Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond.
See you next week.
October 9, 2024 - The 1964 Goldwater Landslide
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1964 Goldwaterlandslide which was the tidal wave that swept the deep south into the Republican party.
Alabama and the South had voted solidly Democratic for President for over 80 years prior to 1964. Every constitutional officeholder in Alabama and every congressman and senator representing Alabama in Congress ran under the Democratic banner.
Lyndon Johnson was the Democratic nominee for president. Johnson carried 44 states and won the presidency by a landslide. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona carried only his home state and the five deep south states, including Alabama. Goldwater carried Alabama overwhelmingly, thus the label given to the Republican victory in the south was ironically the Goldwater Landslide.
The so called “Solid South” had been Democratic more out of tradition and protocol than philosophy. Both national parties took the south for granted in national elections. The Democrats ignored us because we were in the barn and the Republicans ignored us for the same reason.
The 1964 election was the turning point when the deep south states voted for Barry Goldwater. The south has never looked back. It was the race issue that won them over. Goldwater and the Republican party captured the race issue.
George Wallace had ridden the race issue into the Governor’s office in 1962. Early in 1964 Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson passed sweeping civil rights legislation, which white southerners detested. Johnson had used every ounce of muscle he could muster and brutally ran over the filibustering block of powerful southern senators, a group he was a leading member of less than three years earlier. The only non-southern senator to oppose civil rights legislation was Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. When the Republican party met at the old Cow Palace in San Francisco, they nominated Goldwater as their 1964 presidential candidate. Goldwater’s southern landslide was monumental. Alabama had been totally Democratic from president to coroner for more than eight decades. There was no Republican party to speak of. There was no Republican Primary. Republicans chose their token candidates in backroom conventions.
A good many old timers in Alabama had called their children and family around them on their deathbed and admonished their descendants, “Don’t ever sell the family farm and don’t evervote for a damn Republican.” However, Goldwater and the Republicans had become identified with segregation, and the white southern voter fled the Democratic Party enmasse. As the Fall elections of 1964 approached, the talk in the old country stores around Alabama was that a good many good ole boys were going to vote straight Republican even if their daddies did turn over in their graves. There were a good many papas turning over in graves on that day.
Alabamians not only voted for Barry Goldwater but also pulled the straight Republican lever out of anger toward Lyndon Johnson’s civil rights agenda.
Alabama’s eight-member congressional delegation with more than 100 years of seniority was wiped out by straight ticket Republican voting. If either of our two venerable senators, Lister Hill or John Sparkman, had been on the ballot that day they would have also been thrashed. Hill had barely escaped a defeat in 1962 and would not run again in 1968.
Johnson annihilated Goldwater nationwide in 1964, butGoldwater gave the tough corrupt, amoral Texan a good old fashioned country whipping in the South. Johnson had bulldozed the Civil Rights Bill through the Senate over the southern senate cardinals. The leader of the southern block was the great Richard Russell of Georgia who had been Johnson’s mentor. Johnson worshiped Russell. All of Johnson’s former colleagues in the southern senate block knew that Johnson did not give a hoot about Negroes’ Civil Rights. They knew he passed the civil rights bill to enhance his race for president. Johnson, being a southerner, understood southern politics. Senator Russell stared coldly at Johnson when he signed the Civil Rights Bill. Johnson looked back at Russell after he signed the Bill and with tears in his eyes, he prophetically said I have just signed the South over to the Republican Party for at least the next 60 years.
Johnson’s prophecy has proven true. There have been 15 presidential elections since that day in 1964 and Alabama has voted for the Republican nominee in 14 of the 15 elections.Trump will also carry Alabama this year, which will make it 15 out of 16.
It all began with the Goldwater Landslide of 1964.
See you next week.
October 2, 2024 - The Association of County Commissions Has Been Power in Alabama Politics for Close to a Century
The Alabama Association of County Commissions has been a powerful organization in Alabama politics for almost a century. County Commissioners are an integral part of governing in our state. Over the years they have been thought of as simply road commissioners. They are that, they do oversee all of the county/rural roads in the state. You might say they are where the rubber meets the road. However, they are much more than that.
County governments are big business. In many of our 67 counties the county government operation is one of the largest employers in the county. Therefore, the chairman and other county commissioners have to be good business managers and stewards of very large county budgets. In the past three or four decades, Alabama has been transcending from a rural to a more urban state. Our larger counties, especially the big three of Jefferson, Madison and Mobile are really big businesses.
Randall Dueitt is doing a good job as Chairman of the Mobile County government. The Chairman of the Madison County government, Mac McCutcheon is working closely with Huntsville Mayor, Tommy Battle, to oversee the amazing growth of the Madison/Limestone/Morgan area of our state. The Jefferson County government led by Joe Knight and Jimmie Stephens is a tremendous and integral ingredient of the state’s largest county. Jefferson County government is one of the largest employers in Birmingham.
The aforementioned Joe Knight has served as President of the Alabama Association of County Commissions (ACCA) for the past year. The Association held their annual meeting in late August. Commissioner Knight handed over the gavel to Calhoun County Commissioner Lee Patterson. He plans to focus on rural health care. Lee hails from the Jacksonville/Piedmont area of Calhoun County. Patterson is smart, personable, and politically savvy. He will have a good year as President of ACCA. He has a bright future in Alabama Politics.
Other rising stars in the ACCA are Houston County Commission Chairman Brandon Shouppe, Baldwin County Commission Chairman Billie Jo Underwood, Justin Sawyer a Monroe County Commissioner, and Fayette County Probate Judge Mike Freeman, who is the former owner of an automobile dealership. He has quickly turned around Fayette County financial condition and is now actively involved in economic development in the area.
Colin Daley is doing an excellent job as chairman of the fast-growing Limestone County. His father served as chairman. Colin, now in his second term, is becoming a major leader in economic development in that area.
Desirae Lewis Jackson from Elmore County is a star on the rise in the Association. She is a young Republican lawyer to keep your eye on.
A superstar is set to arise on the scene of the ACCA in January from Lee County. Jere Colley, Jr. will become Probate Judge of Lee County, who will also serve as Chairman of the County Commission. He will do a great job of leading this important and booming county.
Sonny Brasfield is the Executive Director of the ACCA. He is a mainstay of the organization. Sonny is a Tuscaloosa native and graduate of the University of Alabama. He has been with the Association since 1988 (36 years) and Executive Director since the retirement of Buddy Sharpless in 2009 (15 years). His long tenure reflects his dedication and significant contributions to county governance in Alabama.
The Association of County Commissioners has long been a power on Goat Hill. Sonny Brasfield has sustained and advanced that power immensely. Governor Ivey’s 2019 Rebuild Alabama Road Program was fostered by Brasfield and the ACCA. The Act allotted almost 25% of the proceeds of the 10-cent increase in gas tax going to counties for road and bridge improvements.
Brasfield and the ACCA played a significant role in the development of Alabama’s internet sales tax (SSUT), that produces almost a billion dollars a year.
When the ACCA talks, legislators listen. The ACCA, established in 1929, concluded their 96th annual convention on August 22. It was a success with Senator Tommy Tuberville giving the keynote address.
An interesting note, Mac McCutcheon, the current Chairman of Madison County Commission, is a former Speaker of the Alabama House. His predecessor, Dale Strong, was elected to the Tennessee Valley Congressional District, and current Jefferson County Commissioner Mike Bolin is a former Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
See you next week.
September 25, 2024 - Dr. Marnix Heersink – Physician/Philanthropist
The Wiregrass region of our state has been known as an agricultural area for over a century. However, in recent decadesDothan, the center and heart of the Wiregrass, has become a medical mecca for southeast Alabama, as well as the panhandle of Florida and a large area of southwest Georgia. Dothan is now a medical center city.
The healthcare industry is Houston County’s largest employer and most significant economic factor. The economic impact of medical care far eclipses agriculture dollars in the Peanut Capital of the World. Indeed, Dothan is second only to Birmingham in medical care in our state.
One of the primary reasons for Dothan’s preeminence in healthcare has been Dr. Marnix Heersink, the founder of Eye Center South. Dr. Heersink is generally considered one of, if notthe most prominent physicians in Alabama. His expertise as an ophthalmologist has been primarily cataract surgery. He has more than likely completed more successful cataract surgeries than any physician in Alabama history.
Marnix Heersink began his ophthalmology practice in downtown Dothan in 1980, with ophthalmology partner Dr. John Fortin. They quickly outgrew their initial location and relocated to the intersection of Ross Clark Circle and Fortner Street where Eye Center South stands today.
Eye Center South is like a medical center hospital facility. It is one of the most impressive and encompassing medical facilities in Alabama. Heersink’s Eye Center South Surgery Center is the cornerstone of his medical tower, which towers over Dothan’s Circle. It also accommodates an optometric division.
In 1984, Eye Center South began with two operating rooms and has flourished into a state-of-the-art facility, boasting twelve fully equipped operating rooms. The distinguished Dutch-inspired architecture of the health center pays homage to Dr. Heersink’s Dutch heritage, earning it the affectionate moniker “The Castle” among locals and visitors traveling along Ross Clark Circle.
Dr. Marnix Heersink was born in The Netherlands and raised in Canada. He received his BA and MD degrees from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. While completing his residency in ophthalmology he also completed a fellowship in cataract surgery and intraocular lens implantation, which was unique in that era.
Dr. Marnix Heersink and his beloved wife, Mary Parks Heersink, have been married for 45 years. Mary’s father was a renowned ophthalmologist. Marnix and Mary have six adult children all of whom are in the medical field – five physicians, and one dentist. Two of Dr. Heersink’s sons, Sebastian and Marius, are practicing ophthalmologists with their father.Marnix and Mary also enjoy spending time with their 10 grandchildren. Dr. and Mrs. Heersink have been committed to their children, their profession, their community, and their state.
A few years ago, Marnix and Mary Heersink made one of the most magnanimous and transformative gifts in state history.They donated $100 million to the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical School. Last year the University ofAlabama Board of Trustees named the world famous UAB Medical School and Center for Dr. Heersink. Our state’s “crown jewel” is now named the Marnix Heersink School of Medicine.
The good doctor is a tall, towering, lean, distinguished gentleman who still operates every day at 77. To visit with him, you would never know that he has used his brilliance in medicine and business to become one of the wealthiest and most successful entrepreneurs in our state. His quiet, humble, and sincere persona exudes and exemplifies his caring and humility. After visiting with him, you feel that you are in the presence of a truly great, humble man who is sincerely interested and cares for you. There are thousands of patients who have felt that caring and healing demeanor over the past 45 years.
Marnix Heersink will go down in Alabama history as not only one of our great healers, but through his entrepreneurial skills, he is also one of the most profound philanthropists in our state.The Wiregrass and the State of Alabama will long remember the name of Marnix Heersink for generations.
See you next week.
September 18, 2024 - Jimmy Rane – An Alabama Legend
Abbeville’s Jimmy Rane has been heralded as the richest man in Alabama. Indeed, his wealth status has been documented in the Business Bible Forbes Magazine. He is a legitimate billionaire. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.2 billion.
Jimmy is the only billionaire I have ever met. However, you would never know he was a mega wealthy Forbes Magazine businessman. He is as down to earth as an old shoe. To talk with him is like visiting with your lifetime cousin, who lived down the road. He is as humble as the day he was born, 77 years ago.He not only remains humble but is one of the most benevolent and kind men in Alabama. His benevolence and philanthropic endeavors are incomparable in the annals of Alabama history.
Jimmy Rane grew up and still lives in Abbeville. He is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Great Southern Wood Preserving Company. It is the largest pressure treated lumber producer in the world. Rane has elected to keep the company headquarters in his hometown of Abbeville, Alabama, a city of 2,000 in Henry County.
There is no question that he loves his hometown of Abbeville. His father, Mr. Tony, was the son of Italian immigrants. Tony Rane was stationed at Fort Rucker as a military man in World War II. He met and married a beautiful Wiregrass girl, Libba, whose family had lived in Abbeville for over 200 years. Jimmy’s parents settled in Abbeville and his father was successful owning several restaurants and a hotel. It is obvious that Jimmy adored his parents. Portraits of Mrs. Libba and Mr. Tony adorn his office walls.
Jimmy Rane attended Marion Military Institute, where he starred in football. He then went to Auburn University, graduated from his beloved Auburn in 1968, and continued on to earn his law degree from Cumberland School of Law in 1971.Jimmy was practicing law in Birmingham when his wife’s parents were killed in an automobile accident leaving behind a small lumber treatment plant on the brink of bankruptcy. Unable to sell the plant, Rane returned home to Abbeville to manage it.Rane operated the plant and made it successful, while at the same time holding down a smalltown law practice. He would also later become a Henry County Judge.
He held down three full time jobs/professions for 15 years until the mid-1980s. He decided to make Great Southern his objective. He quit his law career, borrowed a million dollars and jumped in with both feet. As they say, the rest is history.
He invested heavily in advertising primarily through college football, but also using himself. He appeared in advertisementsfor the company portraying a fictional cowboy named the “YellaFella.”
Jimmy Rane’s benevolence and generosity has been bestowed on primarily three things: the preservation of his hometown of Abbeville, Auburn University, and his Jimmy Rane Foundation,which provides college scholarships for deserving Alabama students.
Jimmy’s parents, Libba and Tony, loved Abbeville as does Jimmy. He has revitalized his hometown. It started early when he restored the Henry County Livestock Company stockyard. His father, Mr. Tony, was one of the founders. Huggin Molly’s, a restaurant in downtown Abbeville, came about as a tribute to his dad’s years in the restaurant business. The renovation of the Archie Theatre is a reminder of Jimmy’s childhood of going to the movies.
Jimmy Rane has been an influential and dedicated leader, supporter, and promoter of Auburn University for more than 50 years. He has served as a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees since 1999. He provided the funds to construct the Anthony Rane Reception Center located in the Auburn University Athletics Complex. In recent years, Jimmy has given Auburn University a state-of-the-art culinary building. It is called the Tony and Libba Rane Culinary Science Center.
Jimmy Rane has a long history of supporting education. He established the Jimmy Rane Foundation in 2000 to provide college scholarships for deserving students. His goal was to help “the kids in the middle,” he said, “If you’re really poor, foundations and colleges have money for you. If you’re rich, you don’t need help. The people in the middle families who make too much money to get aid, but don’t make enough money to pay for college are the ones who need help.” By 2024, the foundation has awarded 680 college scholarships to outstandingand deserving students for a total of 7.2 million dollars in awards.
Jimmy Rane is not only an Alabama Legend, he is an Alabama Treasure.
See you next week.
September 11, 2024 - Remembering 9/11
It was 23 years ago on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked our country. It was a day in infamy and a wakeup call for America. Allow me to share some memories from that day from famous Alabama political figures.
The legendary Alabama political icon, Bill Baxley, was and is now one of the state’s top lawyers. He was trying a case in Guntersville at the Marshall County Courthouse. The lawyers were making their opening arguments, and someone came into the courtroom to tell them that a plane had flown into the New York World Trade Center. They adjourned court and the lawyers went back to an office in the courthouse and to watch. the developments on television. Baxley and the other lawyers actually saw the second and most devastating plane hit the buildings. They could not believe it. However, they returned to the courtroom and continued trying the case for the afternoon.
University of South Alabama President and former Mobile/Baldwin Congressman Jo Bonner was in a meeting in Montgomery. As the Congressman for the 1st District of Alabama, he was working with Alabama legislators on redistricting. He says, “It was a beautiful morning in Alabama’s Capital City. While meeting with the Alabama lawmakers over breakfast, I noticed an airplane flying into the World Trade Center in New York City on the big television that was set up in the Embassy Suites lobby. At about the same time, it seemed like everyone else had seen what I saw. Not surprisingly, quite a chatter arose in the lobby hotel. I was thinking ‘What kind of idiot would fly a small plane into the World Trade Center?!’ It became obvious that this was not an accident, but a terrorist attack. Our meetings were soon scrapped. America had been attacked and Americans soon began plotting a response.”
State Treasurer, Young Boozer, was a high-ranking executive with Colonial Bank. He arrived early at the Montgomery bankon One Commerce Street. He was in the process of managing and transferring funds with a New Your banker, who was in the South Tower. Someone told Young and his counterpart of the first plane hitting the tower. The New Yorker saw it out his window. He quickly and adroitly fled the office tower just in time. Young found a television and as he saw the second plane hit and the towers crumble, he prayerfully hoped his New York partner had escaped safely, which he did. At that time, Young had a horrific sickening feeling as he knew that his daughter was on a plane from London to New York. He sat somberly for several hours until he found out that his daughter’s plane had been diverted back to Heathrow in London.
State Senator Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) had just begun his career as a young lawyer. He was practicing in the Beasley Law Firm in Montgomery. His wife called him when the first plane hit. When he hung up. He could hear people congregating and talking loudly in the hallway outside his office. They all went into a lawyer’s office which had a television. They all watched as the second plane hit the tower. They were all stunned and astonished as was the entire world.
Former State Senator Jimmy Holley of Elba was in Montgomery. The legislature was in session. He was in his hotel room in downtown Montgomery. He had his television on and saw the second plane hit the tower. He proceeded down to the Statehouse and the Senate went into session. They stayed in session determined to not let the terrorist attack deter them or change the way American government works or prevails.
State Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate was in the landscaping business in Montgomery on September 11, 2001.He and his longtime associate, Jason Walker, were sitting in their small office planning their day of work. There was no television in their workplace. However, Jason’s wife, Montgomery County Commissioner Rhonda Walker, called to tell him about the first plane hitting the Trade Tower. They went on about their day’s business and worked a full 10-hour day in the field with their crew. It was that night before Rick realized the impactful horror that had occurred in New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C. and at the Pentagon. In looking over his personal journal that day, Rick was shocked to see that his then 9-year-old son had watched all of the events unfold on television at home all day.
See you next week.