March 5, 2025 - Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March
This Sunday leaders from throughout Alabama and the entire country will commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March and the infamous Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was a momentous occasion and needs memorializing.
Make no mistake about it, this event led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which gave the vote to Black Americans throughout the country and primarily in the South. It is probably the most important event in the Civil Rights movement. The march on Washington was big and led to the 1964 Civil Rights Bill, but the Bloody Sunday Selma massacre that was seen on television throughout the country was the impetus for the passage of the Voting Rights Act.
The 1964 Civil Rights Bill had just been signed into law. It was a major historic Act. It had been decades in the making. There had been hundreds of marches and murders, with the most horrific being the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, where four little innocent girls were murdered. However, it took the quiet but persistent demands of Dr. Martin Luther King, the hero of the Civil Rights movement, cajoling President Lyndon Johnson to use his legendary legislative prowess and power to pass this monumental 1964 Civil Rights Act. Johnson used all his powers of persuasiveness and political capital to pass the Act.
Johnson felt like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was his mountain on a hill, his coup de gras. He had no appetite for another battle a year later. However, Dr. Martin Luther King was not through. He knew that the Right to Vote was the brass ring. He was persistent with Johnson. LBJ would tell him yes, but he really did not intend to fight another fight. Johnson was foremost a pragmatist and political animal. Johnson was only advocating for Civil Rights for political reasons. Dr. King’s heart and soul were in the battle.
As 1965 dawned, the king of the Civil Rights movement was Dr. Martin Luther King. Alabama’s pugnacious governor, George Wallace, had become the titular symbolic leader of the segregationist white south. They were both astute adversaries. King won in the end.
King and Wallace both knew that if violence occurred on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma that people throughout the country would lean in favor of giving Black people in the souththe right to vote. Wallace had given his Public Safety Director, Al Lingo, direct orders to not allow violence to occur. However, King and his people knew that they had an ace in the hole in the racist vile Dallas County Sheriff Jim Clark. They knew that Clark would ignore Wallace and Lingo. King knew that his people would be beaten. King had already fled to the sanctuary of his Atlanta church out of fear for his safety and life.
The scene that unfolded that day was beyond barbaric. As the Civil Rights leaders advanced peacefully, Clark and his posse of hundreds attacked them, viciously, with billy clubs, guns, and tear gas. They beat everyone, including women, savagely. The first to be attacked was a young leader, John Lewis, who was immediately knocked unconscious by a brutal blow to the head,which most people viewing thought had killed him. He later survived with only a concussion. Clark and his posse continued to beat and maul innocent people in their homes. It was truly a brutal massacre of peaceful Civil Rights marchers. The Wallace-Clark segregationist team may have won the battle by beating innocent people, but they lost the war that day. King and Wallace, both knew it. The entire nation was watching this horrific event on television, including one Lyndon B. Johnson in the White House. The Voting Rights Act passed later that year.
Bloody Sunday was properly named. It was truly that, a Bloody Sunday. Selma was the impetus for passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Law. Bloody Sunday deserves commemorating.
See you next week
February 26, 2025 - Governor Jim Folsom Jr. has a Legacy
Our Alabama Public Television system was one of the first public television networks in the nation. Today it is one of the best. They continue to produce premiere documentaries, especially surrounding Alabama history.
Under the auspices of Director/Producers Pete Conroy and Seth Johnson, they are set to release “A Legacy of Progress. The Jim Folsom Jr. Story.” The premieres of the documentary on Folsom will be February 27 at the Stone Center at Jacksonville State University, Folsom’s alma mater, and a second on March 6 at the Hoover Library. The Folsom documentary will air statewide on APTV those same nights.
Conroy established Longleaf Studios at Jacksonville State in 2009, as a partnership with APTV. He brought in film genius Seth Johnson in 2018. To date, they have produced eight documentaries that have aired statewide. So far, they have earned five Emmy awards. This Folsom documentary is a jewel and well worth watching.
The film, “A Legacy of Progress. The Jim Folsom Jr. Story,” highlights Jim Folsom being the Father of Automobile manufacturing in our state. Indeed, Governor Jim Folsom Jr. has a very definitive legacy as a Governor due to his being the impetus in bringing Mercedes to Alabama.
Folsom had been Governor for less than a year when he spearheaded the Mercedes coup. He had ascended to Governor from Lt. Governor in 1992, after the removal of Guy Hunt from office. In early 1993, Mercedes announced that they were going to build their first plant outside Germany, and it was going to be in the United States. Rumor had it that the world’s premier automaker was looking at the south for a conservative non-union environment.
Folsom seized on the opportunity and went after Mercedes with a determined focus. He was going to bring Mercedes toAlabama at all costs, and that’s exactly what he did. He put together an incentive package that was extremely generous. Other states followed suit. We would counter.
I was a Folsom floor leader in the House of Representatives and a co-sponsor of the Mercedes incentive package. We had to come back and rewrite it several times to sweeten the pot. We were starting to get strong pushback from the state’s most powerful lobbyist – The King of Goat Hill, Dr. Paul Hubbert. The tremendous incentives we were offering were going to be taken from his Education Trust Fund. Finally, we offered the Germans such a generous package of incentives, they could not turn it down. Folsom had landed the Big Fish.
The Mercedes victory for Alabama was chronicled in every major national business periodical. Fortune magazine lambasted us and said we bought the Mercedes plant. They were right, we did. However, as you look back 30 years later, it was probably the best economic development win in Alabama history. Alabama landing the largest Mercedes plant in the world was the lynchpin and impetus to enable Alabama to bring Honda and Hyundai to our state.
The incentive package we offered these manufacturers has paid dividends in spades for Alabama. Automobile manufacturing has become our largest economic engine. With these major plants, come spinoff subsidiary auto parts manufacturers. We are now the second largest automobile manufacturing state in America and poised to soon surpass Michigan as number one.
Representative Chris Pringle, the Speaker Pro Tem of the Houseof Representatives and longtime Mobile Representative, recently told me that the incentive package we offered to Mercedes in 1993 was used and was the reason Airbus came to Mobile. Airbus is now Mobile’s future economic allure and king.
We may have been laughed at by Fortune magazine, but we have had the last laugh. We are laughing all the way to the bank.
Jim Folsom, Jr. was born to be Governor. He was the first-bornchild of Legendary Governor, “Big Jim” Folsom and First Lady Jamelle. Little Jim was born in a Montgomery hospital in 1949,while Big Jim was Governor, but they brought Little Jim home to Perry Street to the Governor’s Mansion. Therefore, he grew up in the Governor’s Mansion.
Little Jim has movie star good looks as does his brilliant wife, Marsha Guthrie Folsom. Both are from Cullman. Jim Folsom, Jr. was first elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission while in his twenties, undoubtedly helped by having the same name as his father, Big Jim. He had a prolific career. He was elected to the PSC three times and served two terms as Lt. Governor. However, his legacy was built during his two and half years as governor, 1992-1994.
Not every Governor has a legacy. However, Jim Folsom, Jr. definitely has a legacy as the Governor who brought Mercedes to Alabama and built the foundation for Alabama to be the Automobile Manufacturing Capital of America.
See you next week.
February 19, 2025 - Legislator Votes to Abolish His Own County
Our Alabama Constitution is very antiquated. One of the flaws inherent in the document is that it does not allow local county governments much authority or power.
Therefore, the county governments must channel most changes or actions into local acts, which must be advertised in their local paper for four weeks and then taken to the State Legislature to be enacted. Thus, the entire state legislature has to act on a localbill for Fayette County that might involve something as mundane as to whether to pave a road or buy a tractor.
As a legislator I dreaded this procedure because it took most of every legislative day. We would sit for hours every morning and vote on these local bills from all over the state, which had nothing to do with state government.
Furthermore, these local acts were not noncontroversial, either for those of us from rural counties or from urban areas of Jefferson, Mobile or Madison. In fact, the Jefferson County delegation could be embroiled for hours if not days on local issues that should have been determined back home in the Birmingham City Hall or among Jefferson County commissioners.
Those of us from rural counties were often the only resident legislators from our county. In essence, if you wanted the power, you could become the czar of your local county government. Ifyou did not want some act to pass, all you had to do was not sign it out of committee, because you were the committee.
Legislators, out of what is known as local courtesy, would not vote on another county’s local legislation. So, in essence a legislator from a rural county could often thwart road paving or whatever local matter they objected to. Invariably, a disgruntled county commissioner, who was not getting his way, would come to me to kill his rival county commissioner’s bill to get a new road. However, early in my legislative career I made an ironclad policy that I would not be involved in local county business. I insisted that all local bills be voted on in public by all county commissioners in their open meetings before being presented for passage. The recorded vote would have to be attached to the bill before I got it. Therefore, my only participation would be as a perfunctory messenger or a conduit for the local issue.
A legendary dirty trick played on a legislator by a fellow legislator still reverberates over 60 years later. It occurred during the second Folsom administration in the late fifties. Legislators Emmett Oden of Franklin County and Jack Huddleston of Colbert County despised each other. These two counties adjoin each other in northwest Alabama. These two men were constantly at odds.
Oden introduced a local bill for Franklin County that repealed another local bill passed in December of 1869. His brief explanation to the House of Representatives when the measure came up for a vote was that it was simply a “housekeeping bill…It corrects an error made when the original bill was passed.” Through the custom of local courtesy, the local bill passed unanimously. Even Representative Jack Huddleston voted for the bill.
After the passage of the measure, Representative Oden told the Press what the bill actually did. The 1869 law, which he was repealing, was the law that had created Colbert County out of part of Franklin County. Representative Huddleston had just voted to abolish his own county. That one vote ended Huddleston’s career. His constituents in Colbert County could not forgive that he had voted to abolish his own county.
There have been some legislative changes and additions within the past year. When Senator Clay Scofield left to go with the Business Council of Alabama, there was an open Senate seat in the Sand Mountain/Marshall County area. Wes Kitchens won this Senate seat in a contested primary special election and moved from the House to the Senate. Jeanna Ross won Kitchens’ House seat in a special election.
Tuscaloosa attorney Bryan Brinyark won an open seat in the House when popular representative Kyle South took a job in economic development. Brinyark is poised to have a lengthy tenure. He is very well thought of in his area.
Marilyn Lands, a Huntsville Democrat, won one of the few swing seats in the legislature. She flipped the seat from Republican to Democratic.
Travis Hendrix was elected to House District 55 in Jefferson County.
Kelvin Datcher was elected to take the Jefferson County seat of veteran John Rogers, who served over 40 years in the House.
State Representative Matt Woods of Jasper is expected to ascend to the State Senate in March. Woods is running unopposed for this Republican seat being vacated by Senator Greg Reed, who is joining Governor Ivey’s cabinet.
See you next week.
February 12, 2025 - The Big Blue Bully
A bit of country wisdom came to mind, recently, as I watched the news about a high-roller insurance giant. The old saying goes, “Pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered.” This adage, of course, speaks to the consequences of excessive greed.
Recent news, which most of you might have missed, likelybecause it was suppressed, is that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama was part of a $2.8 billion settlement in a lawsuit brought by the insurance company’s customers. That settlement is the largest health-related antitrust case in history. Of course, Big Blue never admitted to any bad behavior, which is par for the course when a case settles, but $2.8 billion is a lot to pay if you are innocent.
It is a safe bet that most of you reading this column are insured under a BCBS policy. That is because this insurance behemoth has 95% of Alabama’s individual and group health insurance market. It is also a safe bet that about one-third of you with BCBS policies have had at least one claim rejected.
When a company has cornered almost the entire health insurance market and is rolling in enough cash to pay a huge settlement in a lawsuit brought by its own customers, why in the world would it fight a proposal to provide health insurance coverage to farmers and small businesses? A proposal that, if entirely successful, would not make a dent in your insurance business.
BCBS premium costs for policies under the Affordable Care Act have doubled since 2015. Yet, Big Blue is fighting tooth and nail to stop a legislative proposal allowing Alfa and Alabama Farm Bureau to offer healthcare coverage to families and small businesses that would save these folks 30% to 60% on insurance premiums. That could result in as much as $1,500 a month back in a family’s pocket.
It is no surprise that Big Blue is running ads and lobbying the legislature with horror stories about what will happen if the Alfa plan becomes a reality. However, legislators and the public should consider the source.
The truth is these Farm Bureau health insurance plans have been around since 1947, and today, 10 states have passed similar legislation. The horror stories just do not exist in these states. The only story that is consistent is these plans provide big savings for people who cannot afford insurance or who are paying more for health insurance than for their mortgage.
Ironically, Blue Cross Blue Shield actually partners with Farm Bureau in three of the states that offer these more economical Farm Bureau plans. Despite this partnership in other states, BCBS of Alabama is fighting this health care benefit in our state. Most of you are probably thinking, isn’t that hypocritical? Well, folks, it seems 95% of the market is not enough for this insurance giant.
Big Blue is using one of the oldest tactics in the political toolbox to attempt to kill the Alfa plan – they are trying to amend it to death. A kind of death through a thousand cuts.
One amendment is the very picture of the big hog at the trough. Big Blue is trying to make it a crime for a family to cancel a BCBS policy to enroll in the Alfa program. At some point, arrogance begins to feed the appetite. Surely, a Republican-led legislature is not going to make it a crime for consumers to choose the product they think is best for their families.
This year’s legislative session is just underway, and there will be a lot of drama and political theater to entertain us. However, the spectacle of Blue Cross Blue Shield pretending it is defending working families, when in reality it is defending a 95% monopoly, will be something to watch.
To the average Alabamian, it seems untenable and almost absurd for BCBS to attempt to thwart the farmers in Alabama from having their own health plan. Young farmers in this state are striving to keep their family farms afloat and the high cost of health insurance is hurting them. All these farmers are asking is to be given a fair shot at bringing down their families’ health insurance costs and getting out from under the thumb of the Big Blue bully.
See you next week.
February 5, 2024 - Garlan Gudger – New Leader of the Alabama State Senate
As the Alabama Legislature convenes for their 2025 Regular Legislative Session this week, the State Senate will have a new President Pro Tem. Forty-nine year old State Senator Garlan Gudger of Cullman will ascend to the top leadership post in the Alabama Senate.
He will succeed Senator Greg Reed of Jasper, who has moved into Governor Kay Ivey’s Cabinet as head of the new Department of Workforce Development. The State Senate has a solid super Republican majority. There are 27 Republicans and only eight Democrats in the 35-member upper chamber.
Senator Gudger was chosen by the Republican caucus in a December meeting and will be affirmed and elected officially this week. He is a solid Republican but is liked by the Democrats. They believe that he will be as fair as Greg Reed.
Garlan Gudger is a well-liked young Senator, he is very gregarious, welcoming, and sincere. He has been a superstar since his arrival in the Senate in the 2018 class. His 2018 class isspecial. Included in that class were two other superstar Senators, Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) and Dan Roberts (R-Jefferson). Gudger and Barfoot bonded and were suitemates. Three other veterans came to the Senate after successful tenures in the House of Representatives, Senator Donnie Chesteen (R-Geneva/Houston), Senator David Sessions (R-Mobile), and Senator April Weaver (R-Bibb/Shelby). Former successful State Senator Tom Butler (R-Madison/Limestone) came back to the Senate after a leave of absence and has added a lot. Also in the class is Senator Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville), who is a State Senate legacy. His grandfather, Walter Givhan, was a legendary Black Belt Senator from Dallas County. There are several other sterling Senators who were in that 2018 class, Senator Andrew Jones (R-Cherokee/Etowah), Senator Chris Elliott (R-Baldwin), Senator Randy Price (R-Lee), and Senator Jack Williams (R-Mobile). They are outstanding and seemed to be bonded and stick together.
Gudger is young enough to be a lifetime Republican. He is a solid mainstream Republican and not relegated to a right-wingcorner, which bodes well with working with the eight Democrats. He represents the counties of Cullman, Marion, and Winston. It is one of the most Republican areas of the state. In fact, one of his counties, the “Free State of Winston,” was Republican when the other 66 counties in the state were voting Democratic. Garlan is close with his popular conservative Congressman, Robert Aderholt, who represents this same neck of the woods in Washington. These two gentlemen work well together for their constituents. You could say these counties are well represented in Montgomery and Washington, especially Cullman.
Garlan Gudger is Cullman through and through. He was born and raised in Cullman. His daddy passed away seven years ago and was Dean of Students at Wallace College in Cullman. His mom, Dot, is beloved in the county and is a big influence in Garlan’s life. She is a pillar of the First Baptist Church and remembers the days when legendary Governor “Big Jim” Folsom, who was from Cullman, would attend First Baptist. He had gotten old and deaf and would talk aloud during the sermon over the preacher talking to his wife, Mrs. Jamelle.
In 2004, Garlan Gudger became the youngest member in the history of the City of Cullman to be elected to the Cullman City Council. He served on the Council for 14 years and was elected to serve as President of the Council for the last ten years. He was elected to the State Senate in 2018.
In 1999, Senator Gudger became the second-generation owner of the architectural salvage business that was established out of a garage in 1969. Since that time, Southern Accents ArchitecturalAntiques has grown into one of the top five architectural salvage companies in the nation. Southern Accents was awarded “Best Antique Store” in Alabama by Alabama Magazine in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Garlan is a graduate of Cullman High School. He played football awhile at Samford University before transferring to Auburn. He graduated from Auburn with a BA in Building Science. Senator Gudger is married to Heather Pierce Gudger of Cullman. They have two sons, Tripp and Pierce.
Garlan Gudger will make a good President Pro Tem of the Alabama State Senate.
See you next week.
January 29, 2025 - Alabama Has a Premier Prison Education Program
It is no secret that Alabama’s Correctional system is a nightmare, especially when it comes to our disregard for civil and human rights of the incarcerated felons in our state prisons. That is why we have been under the wrath of the federal court system. A new mega prison is being currently constructed, which will help to comply with the federal mandates.
What many Alabamians do not realize is how successful our Alabama Community College System (ACCS) has become over the last decade under the guidance and leadership of Chancellor Jimmy Baker. Most state colleges and junior colleges have seen the numbers of enrollees decline in recent years; however, not in Alabama. Our Alabama Community College system has seen analmost double digit increase in enrollment. This is primarilybecause the Chancellor and system have adopted a modern-dayapproach to teaching Alabamians skills and crafts that lead to their graduates attaining high paying jobs in Alabama, which are in demand in today’s workforce. Ninety-seven percent of all Alabama Community College attendees and graduates are from Alabama and almost all graduates have jobs awaiting them in our state. The much-heralded Working for Alabama program, advanced by the legislature last year, would not have been possible without the Community College system. It was the integral ingredient. There is no question that the funds appropriated by the legislature to the Community College system are the most valuable investment made with higher education dollars in our state.
These education trust fund dollars are not only the best and most valuable funds for Alabamian’s future and job growth in our state, these education expenditures are helping the state general fund extensively. The best example is in the area of prison education. Alabama had one of the first prison education programs in the country. Today, Alabama’s prison education program is one of the most premier and successful in the nation.
J.F. Ingram State Technical College and Skills Training Center is the ACCS affiliate that provides prison education in Alabama.Ingram State is headquartered in Deatsville but has locations all over Alabama where there is a prison. Annette Funderburk is President of Ingram State, and she is doing an outstanding job. She is devoted and passionate about her role spearheading prison education.
J.F. Ingram State Technical College offers 21 different programs. The highest demand and most degrees are forklift operator, cabinet making, carpentry, horticulture, HVAC, masonry, plumbing, tree trimming, automotive repair, automotive and diesel mechanics, welding, and barbering and cosmetology. Twenty-seven hundred students are served, annually, with six hundred and sixty-six graduates last year. The highest enrollment is welding with the highest retention being barbering. It is estimated that for every dollar spent on correctional education, there is a four-to-five-dollar savings in correctional costs. The most impressive statistic and most important for Alabamians is that offenders, who participate in correctional education, are 48% less likely to return to prison.
The Community College system has recently initiated a correctional officer training school. It is documented in all of the federal court intervention decrees that the lack of correctional officers or prison guards is the reason for rampant crime in the system. Chancellor Baker and Adult Education Vice Chancellor David Walters have joined with Prison Commissioner John Hamm to create a program to train and educate correctional officers.
ACTIVATE is a joint initiative between the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) and the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) that offers a no-cost pathway to a career as a correctional officer. This program helps individuals meet the physical and educational standards necessary to join the profession.
The program is part of ADOC’s larger recruitment efforts which has bolstered starting salaries for correctional officers from $52,000 to $58,200 annually plus benefits. The program is based out of Jefferson State Community College in Birmingham and Reid State Technical College in Evergreen. Twenty-three Alabama residents took advantage and graduated from the first classes last year.
John Hamm is doing a good job as ADOC Commissioner. He is a lifelong Alabamian and former Sheriff of Barbour County. He understands Alabama law enforcement and the Alabama Penal System.
The ACCS-ADOC prison education partnership is paying dividends for Alabamians.
See you next week.
January 22, 2025 - Jabo Waggoner – An Alabama Political Legend
When the 2025 legislative year begins in February, State Senator Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia) will begin his 52nd year in the Alabama Legislature. He is the longest serving state legislator in Alabama history. Jabo Waggoner is more than the senior member of the State Senate, he is one of the most accomplished senators in state history.
Jabo Waggoner has done a lot for Alabama, but especially for his native and beloved Jefferson County. I said words to this effect in a column in May of 2023, and stated that it would take a book to chronicle his legislative accomplishments. Some people came to me afterwards and asked me to write Jabo’s biography. I accepted the challenge and have written Jabo Waggoner: An Alabama Political Legend.
A ceremony and book signing event will be held at the Capitol,commemorating the biography, at the beginning of the 2025 legislative session. It will be attended by every major officeholder in the state, including Governor Ivey, all members of the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives, and numerous judges, along with throngs of lobbyists and admirers.
In all my years of following Alabama politics, I have never seen a more modest or amicable leader than Jabo Waggoner. I have never seen or heard of anyone who has ever met Jabo that did not like him. He will be recorded as not only the longest serving legislator in state history, but also the most beloved and greateststate senator in Alabama history.
Therefore, it goes without saying that Jabo Waggoner is the greatest and most accomplished state senator in the history of Jefferson County, Alabama’s largest and most populous county.The theme of this book, Jabo Waggoner: An Alabama Political Legend, is that over his five decades of leadership, his influence is inextricably tied to the transformation of Birmingham and Jefferson County from a blue-collar steel city to a high-tech international UAB medical mecca and economic center of our state.
He is not the only reason that Jefferson County has been transformed into one of the nation’s premier medical economic centers, but there is a distinct correlation between Jabo’s 51 years of legislative leadership and the transformation of Birmingham since 1966.
In the 1970’s, Waggoner sponsored legislation that spearheaded the purchase of 45 blocks in downtown Birmingham for UAB’s expansion. UAB purchased this property, which was valued at $8.5 million at that time. That land is worth well over $300 million today. That legislative act has enabled UAB to grow into one of the premier medical and research institutions in America,and the “Crown Jewel” of Alabama.
Jabo Waggoner served 17 years in the Alabama House of Representatives before being elected to the Alabama Senate in 1990. During his 35 years in the Senate, he has held most major leadership posts, including his current chairmanship of the powerful Rules Committee. Jabo was the Minority Leader of the State Senate from 1999, until the Republicans gained the legislative majority in 2010. He was the first Republican Majority Leader, then relinquished that role to be the Rules Chairman where he currently serves.
Jabo is revered in Jefferson County, but his popularity extends beyond Jefferson and Shelby counties. When Kay Ivey was running for Governor for her first full term in 2018, she asked Jabo to be her titular campaign manager. He introduced her as she announced her candidacy.
Jabo is adored by his senate colleagues, especially the younger state senators. He has mentored dozens over the years.
Jabo is married to his high school sweetheart, Marilyn. They have been married for more than 66 years. I have never met a more beautiful or sweeter lady than Marilyn Waggoner. She and Jabo have lived in the same home in the heart of Vestavia for 58 years. They raised their four children there. They love Vestavia and Vestavia loves them.
The Mayor of Vestavia, Ashley Curry, and city fathers have built a showcase museum of Jabo Waggoner and his achievements for Vestavia in the City Hall administrative building on Highway 31, which is adjacent to the magnificent Civic Center. It is worth viewing. In addition, the city recently named the Vestavia Hills High School baseball field, “The Waggoner Family Field.” There is a chapter in the book titled, “Mr. Vestavia.”
Jabo and Marilyn are ardent members of the Homewood Churchof Christ. They attend almost every Sunday and sit with their best friends, Dr. Swaid and Christy Swaid. Some of Jabo’s and Marilyn’s children attend the same church. Jabo is a devout member of the Church of Christ. He is on the Board of Trustees of Faulkner University.
Jabo Waggoner’s over 50 years of legislative service will probably never be matched. He has served with eleven governors.
Jabo Waggoner is an icon of Alabama political history.
See you next week.
January 15, 2025 - Robert Aderholt Dean of Alabama Congressional Delegation
As the first session of the 119th Congress convenes this month, and we begin this Presidential quadrennium, Alabama’s power on the Potomac has gravitated to the United States House of Representatives.
Our Seniority in Washington is settling into the House. Mike Rogers (R-Calhoun) is the King of the Armed Services Committee. Gary Palmer (R-Jefferson) is becoming the go-to guy on policy in the House. Terri Sewell (D-Jefferson) is becoming one of the most respected and powerful Democrats in Congress.
The king of our delegation is Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville). He has represented the 4th Congressional District with honor and distinction for 28 years, which puts him in the upper echelon of Seniority in the U.S. House of Representatives. He got to Congress at the ripe age of 30. That is the way to do it. Get to Congress at an early age and stay there a long time. He is not even 60 years old, which is the age when most folks first get elected to Congress. He was elected to his 15th term in November by over 80% of the vote. He gets that high approval vote standard every time.
Robert is a staunch supporter of his district and the State of Alabama. Aderholt has proven that the Federal government serves a critical role in assisting with state and local projects regarding economic development. He has brought barrels of federal dollars to his beloved 4th Congressional District. Congressman Aderholt believes his top priority is constituent service. Every year the powerful Congressman helps hundreds of people in his North Alabama district with issues they have with Social Security, Veterans’ benefits, passports, and other federal agencies.
The primary reason that Congressman Robert Aderholt is the most prominent member of the U.S. Congress is because he is the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, which has jurisdiction over funding the operationsof the federal government. Aderholt serves as the Chairman of the Appropriations Sub-Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. This sub-committee is responsible for the largest non-defense portion of spending in the entire federal budget.
Aderholt is a strong man of faith. His life is exemplary. He is the epitome of what a true husband and father should emulate. He is a true blue, conservative, Republican Congressman, as well as being a Christian family man.
Robert Aderholt was born and raised in Haleyville. His father was a revered Circuit Judge in his traditionally Republican bailiwick. He graduated with honors from Birmingham Southern College and got his law degree from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. He and his wife Caroline have two children. Robert Hayes is a Junior at Auburn University and Mary Elliott is an outstanding young Lady who works as a consultant and has recently gotten engaged to be married to Grant Whitt, the son of Huntsville State Representative Andy Whitt.
Caroline Aderholt, Robert’s wife, is quite an Alabama success story herself. She, like Robert, is a graduate of Birmingham Southern. She is a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees. Caroline McDonald Aderholt has quite an Alabama political pedigree. Her father, Albert McDonald, was a long-term State Senator from the Huntsville/Madison County area. He went on to be elected to two, four-year terms as Alabama Agriculture Commissioner. Albert was the ultimate gentleman and a very successful farmer. He had vast land holdings in Madison County.
In October, the Richard Shelby FBI headquarters was dedicated in Huntsville. I rode with Robert and Caroline Aderholt on a bus to the private, secure, FBI facility dedication. As we rode to the Rocket Center location from a shopping center, homes and shopping centers continued for miles. I looked over at Caroline and asked, “Is this your family land?” She said, “Yes, I used to ride on a tractor with my daddy over all this land as a little girl.” Now, it is all shopping centers, homes, and the Redstone Arsenal.
The proof that Congressman Aderholt is a power in Washington was evident when we arrived at the event. The FBI had reserved the two front row seats for Robert and Caroline Aderholt.
See you next week.
January 8, 2025 - Richard Shelby FBI Headquarters Comes to Alabama
On Friday, October 4, 2024, the FBI Campus in Huntsville hosted a small audience for the dedication ceremony at the Richard Shelby Center for Innovation and Advanced Training.
The audience included retired-U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), FBI Director Christopher Wray, U.S. Senator Katie Boyd Britt (R-Ala.), current and former-Members of Congress, four federal judges, business leaders from across the State, family and lifelong friends of Senator Shelby, and dozens of former Shelby congressional staffers – which included five of his former Chiefs of Staff.
The dedication started with all audience members boarding buses to drive through the FBI’s north campus. While on the bus, the scope of the investment secured by Shelby soon became a reality.
The full campus is much like that of a large university. The visitors were only able to see the North part of the campus. Currently, the South Campus is being expanded. It will soon host hundreds of millions of dollars in additional investment, all of which was secured before Senator Shelby’s retirement.
The FBI’s Huntsville Campus, which provides innovation and advanced training for the entire agency workforce and the world, was characterized well by FBI Director Wray, who said the campus is a “vital organ” to the entire agency.
The dedication ceremony started with remarks from Senator Katie Britt, who presided over the ceremony and did a fabulous job. You could tell by not only her words, but with her eyes, how much she admired her mentor, Senator Shelby. She mentioned that during Senator Shelby’s years in the U.S. Senate, he served as Chairman of four Committees – Select Committee on Intelligence, Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Committee on Rules and Administration, and Senate Appropriations Committee. Being chairmen of four primary committees in the U.S. Senate has never been replicated in U.S. history.
Britt also touched on Senator Shelby’s ability to make a strong deal and work in a bipartisan manner to get things done. This led to his success securing the $3 billion investment for this project. It took 14 years to secure these funds, and the resulting facility will bring nearly 5,000 jobs to Huntsville with an additional 2,500 employees anticipated to travel for training on an annual basis. This will bring an annual payroll of over $500 million per year to Alabama and the Huntsville/Madison metropolitan area.To give you some comparison, this Richard Shelby FBI facility in Huntsville will have a payroll and economic impact of two to three times what the Mercedes plant near Tuscaloosa generates.
During Director Wray’s remarks, he noted that none of this would have been possible without Senator Shelby. Director Wray said that with increasing and more sophisticated threats, the innovation and advanced training center situated at Redstone will ensure the FBI’s workforce is properly trained to continue to protect the American people.
Senator Shelby provided the closing remarks. Although he is retired from office and is 90 years old, Senator Shelby spoke as strongly as he had when he represented the State of Alabama in the U.S. Capitol. Shelby noted he was humbled for the campus to bear his name, but said names go away but buildings and missions live on into the future.
This FBI Alabama compound is appropriately named the Richard Shelby Center for Innovation and Advanced Training. He singlehandedly garnered the appropriation for this magnificent complex. As Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee his last six years in the Senate, he brought home more bacon than any Senator in U.S. history brought to their home state. We Alabamians will reap the benefits of Shelby’s prowess for generations to come. Richard Shelby is unquestionably the greatest United States Senator in Alabama history.
See you next week.
January 1, 2025 - Two of Alabama’s Legislative Giants Passed Away in 2024
My tradition is to make my year end column a tribute to major political figures that passed away during the year. My column last week did that, however, there were an inordinately large number of political leaders who passed away in 2024. Therefore, this week, I have a second tribute to two of the giants in Alabama legislative history. I had the honor of serving in the House of Representatives with these two icons, and they were two of my favorite legislative friends.
State Senator Jimmy Holley of Coffee County and State Representative James Buskey of Mobile, both passed away in November. They were not only legislative legends and lions, but they were also good men. They were ultimate public servants and gentlemen.
Jimmy Holley was the most effective and well-versed legislator in my lifetime. Holley’s legislative career began in 1974. He served 20 years in the House from Coffee County. After five terms in the House, he transitioned to the State Senate servingsix, four-year terms in the Senate. His District 31 was comprised of Coffee, Covington, Pike, and part of Dale counties. He retired in 2022, as his health was beginning to decline. He passed awaya month ago, at age 80, in Elba.
Jimmy loved Coffee County, and he adored his wife, Mary, and his two sons and grandchildren. Both of his sons, their wives, and grandchildren live on the same land where he and Mary lived. He was the ultimate family man. He went to a lot of ball games.
Jimmy had become known as the premier parliamentarian in the senate. He was a master of the rules and was quietly, extremely effective. During his last decade in the senate, he had become a mentor to new, younger state senators, including Senator Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville) and Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road). In fact, at the beginning of each quadrennium, there was a struggle to seek the seat next to Jimmy Holley, so that they could learn the intricacies of the Senate Rules and gather his institutional knowledge and wisdom.
Jimmy Holley was a trusted friend. We sat next to each other for 16 years in the House of Representatives. We represented adjoining counties. I have never seen a more diligent and capable legislator. Jimmy worked at it. He did his homework. When most legislators would simply show up to vote and enjoy the nightly social events hosted by lobbyists and associations, Jimmy would go back to his hotel room and study legislation and sharpen up on the rules.
One day, Holley and I were sitting at our desks working on a myriad of legislation put out by the Rules Committee. I looked at the calendar and was unfamiliar with a looming bill about three bills down on the agenda. I asked Jimmy about the bill. He calmly told me all about the bill and then proceeded to tell me I probably was not going to vote for it since it was a trial lawyer bill. He knew my pro-business propensity. It occurred to me that he had read the bill in its entirety, as well as all the bills on the calendar the night before.
Governor Kay Ivey directed all flags flown at half-staff within the Capitol Complex in Montgomery, and throughout State Senate District 31, on November 7 and 8 in honor of Jimmy Holley as he was laid to rest. Reflecting on Holley’s legacy, Governor Ivey said, “Senator Holley’s remarkable 44 years of combined legislative service not only ensured he was a strong and effective representative of his constituents, but also allowed him to accumulate a vast knowledge of the process which afforded him great influence. During my time as Lt. Governor, Senator Holley always made his presence felt in shaping legislation. It was an honor to work with him for the people of Alabama. He was a true statesman.”
James Buskey, one of Alabama’s longest serving lawmakers, died November 8, at age 87. Buskey was a Democrat andrepresented Mobile in the legislature for 42 years. When he retired in 2018, he was the second longest serving member of the Alabama House of Representatives.
Buskey was one of the best legislators I ever served with. He was an educator by profession. He was passionate about education issues and his city of Mobile. The entire Mobile legislative delegation relied and depended on his astute legislative knowledge and leadership. He was the glue of the Mobile delegation.
Buskey was very witty and fun to be around. He was brilliant and always had a positive and happy demeanor. However, he could be a lion when somebody wanted to mess with Mobile. He truly was someone who worked across the political aisle. He was a friend. James Buskey was the consummate gentleman.
See you next week.