February 3, 2021 - Legislative Session Begins
As the 2021 Regular Legislative Session begins, you will see new leadership in the state Senate. Republicans dominate both chambers, overwhelmingly. They have a super majority and dominate all issues and the budgeting process. They acknowledge the handful of Democrats , but really never give them any say in decision making. Therefore, the leadership is determined within the Republican caucus.
President Pro Tem, Del Marsh, decided in late November to step down from the all-powerful position of President Pro Tem of the Senate. Marsh had announced a few months earlier that he would not run for reelection to his Anniston based Senate Seat in the 2022 Elections. Many Montgomery insiders had foreseen this change in leadership for a while. The succession of state Senator Greg Reed of Jasper to the Pro Tem leadership of the Senate post was expected, as was the ascension of Senator Clay Scofield of Marshall County to the Majority Leader position.
Greg Reed’s anointment to the omnipotent President Pro Tem position is a natural transition for the Alabama Senate. He is a real leader and well respected by his colleagues. This progression has been in the works for a while. Reed is a perfect choice to lead the Alabama State Senate. He is very organized and meticulous with excellent planning and organizational skills.
Senator Clay Scofield is one of the most likeable people in the Senate. He is very jovial and friendly but deceptively effective. He is a young, prominent farmer from Sand Mountain and he will be a great Majority Leader.
First-term State Senator Donnie Chesteen of Geneva/ Houston is doing a yeoman’s job working to expand rural broadband in the state. He served eight years in the House before moving to the Senate in 2018.
The Democrats may have a superstar emerging in the Senate with Kirk Hatcher of Montgomery. Hatcher is in his first term in the Alabama House. When Senator David Burkette left the Montgomery Democratic Senate Seat last year, an open race to fill the seat began. Hatcher entered and led a six-person field with an impressive 48%. Second place finisher, veteran former Representative, John Knight, could barely muster 20%. Hatcher finished Knight off in a December runoff.
Kirk Hatcher joins his fellow Morehouse graduates, Mayor Steven Reed and Probate Judge J.C. Love, as the new, young leadership of Montgomery. This triumvirate cadre of leaders all grew up together in Montgomery. All three went off to Morehouse and came home to lead their city. They are an impressive threesome.
Democrats in the House and Senate would like to see early voting and absentee voting made easier in Alabama. However, their efforts to allow early voting or no-excuse absentee voting faces a dismal outlook in the GOP controlled legislature.
The state saw an amazing record breaking 318,000 absentee ballots cast in the November election. The previous record was 89,000. The rules were loosened by Secretary of State John Merrill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a dozen counties opened courthouses on Saturday for people to cast in person absentee ballots.
State Representative Chris England, who also chairs the Alabama Democratic Party, has opined that the long lines and extensive absentee ballot voting shows that people want opportunities to vote early. England and House Democratic Leader Anthony Daniels of Huntsville will push for change in the state voting laws that give Alabamians the opportunity to vote early, permanently. Daniels and England are young superstars to watch.
Chris England gets his leadership abilities honestly. His father is legendary Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge and former State Supreme Court Justice and University of Alabama Trustee, John England. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Chris is also a prominent Tuscaloosa lawyer in his own right.
The House leadership will remain intact and continue their well-organized operating procedures. Speaker Mac McCutcheon is mild mannered, gentlemanly, and well liked. He and the popular Republican Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter from DeKalb County work well together in organizing the super Republican Majority House of Representatives. Veteran Mobile Legislator Victor Gaston is steady as Pro Tem. The glue that holds the House together and makes it successful are the two Budget Chairmen Steve Clouse of Ozark and Bill Poole of Tuscaloosa. Clouse and Poole have chaired the House Ways and Means Committees for almost a decade. They do an excellent job. Both budgets originate in the House.
See you next week.
January 27, 2021 - Outstanding Class of Freshman State Senators
The 2021 Regular Legislative Session begins next week. Over the years I have observed some outstanding classes of freshman legislators. Some standout more than others and occasionally you have a very stellar class. My observation is that this freshman class of state senators is a class to remember and watch.
There are two Democrats and 10 Republicans in the freshman class of state senators, who were elected and sworn into office in November of 2018. The ten-member class of Republican state senators is a sterling group and includes Sam Givhan of Huntsville, Will Barfoot of Pike Road/Montgomery, Dan Roberts of Mountain Brook/Jefferson/Shelby, Andrew Jones of Cherokee/Etowah, Garlan Gudger of Cullman, Chris Elliott of Baldwin, David Sessions and Jack Williams both of Mobile, and Randy Price of Opelika, along with veteran state senator Tom Butler who has returned as a freshman after a decade hiatus from politics.
This group may stay together in the Alabama State Senate for years to come. They are wise enough to realize that being one of 35 members of the state senate is more powerful and has more effect over public policy than aspiring to Congress or a secondary statewide office - especially, if you are one of the 10 Republican senators mentioned above. You are one of 25 who literally can control the mechanizations and budget of Alabama government. The only post more powerful is governor.
One of the leaders of this 10-member Republican freshman state senate class is Sam Givhan. He is witty and has dubbed the class in football recruiting terminology. According to Givan, there are seven true freshmen, Barfoot, Roberts, Gudger, Jones, Elliott, Price and he. Two junior college transfers, Jack Williams and David Sessions, who moved from the House to the Senate, and one Red Shirt, Tom Butler.
Senator Givhan is a lawyer by profession and served as chairman of the Madison County Republican Party prior to being elected to the senate. He could be considered a state senate legacy. His grandfather, the late Walter Givhan, Sr., was a legendary state senator from the Black Belt in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Senator Will Barfoot won his seat convincingly in 2018. He worked his Montgomery/Elmore/Crenshaw district the old-fashioned way with diligent one-on-one politickin. It paid off. He carried every box in his state senate district. He can stay in that district until the cows come home. He was actually born and raised in Pike Road before it ever dreamed of being the fastest growing town in Alabama. Will is a lawyer by profession and a dedicated family man. He and his wife, Kathy, have five children.
Senator Dan Roberts of Mountain Brook is personable and honest. He has had a successful career in business and is serving in the state senate for the right reasons.
Senator Andrew Jones is one of the youngest members of this class. He has tremendous potential and is doing an excellent job. Similar to Barfoot, Andrew really worked his district and knows his constituents well.
Garlan Gudger is also young. He represents Cullman and a large part of northwest Alabama. He knows his folks in Cullman well. He has the potential to be a powerful senator. Cullman has produced some influential senators over the years, especially the St. John family.
Senator Chris Elliott may have the most promise and ability of this group. The Baldwin County area he represents is very different from the one he grew up in. He knows the needs and problems inherent in representing the fastest growing county in the state. He was a very effective County Commissioner in Baldwin County prior to ascending to the senate.
Senator David Sessions of Grand Bay in Mobile County was one of the most popular members of the House before moving to the Senate. He and his brother operate a successful farming business. He knows his area of Mobile County and represents it well.
Senator Jack Williams of Mobile is quietly effective. He is unassuming and may be the most successful businesswise of this illustrious group of freshmen.
Senator Randy Price of Opelika/Lee County represents a sprawling East Alabama district. He is a former Lee County Commissioner. His wife, Oline, is the Revenue Commissioner of Lee County.
Senator Tom Butler from Huntsville is the red shirt member of this class. Tom served for decades in the legislature during the 1980’s and 1990’s. We served together in the legislature during that era. I have never served with a more diligent and respected member. Tom is a pharmacist by profession and has not aged much over the years. He looks the same as when we were freshmen together in 1982.
This group of senators is not only outstanding, they are also affable and congenial.
See you next week.
January 20, 2021 - Prison Issue still a Tar-Baby
As the 2021 Regular Legislative Session looms, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is the prison issue. The situation has grown more dire and imminent because the U.S. Justice Department has now filed suit against the State of Alabama.
When Kay Ivey took office in January of 2019, she and the new legislature knew that they were going to have to address the prison problem in the state. Fixing prisons is not a popular issue. It wins you no votes to fix a broken prison system. Prisoners do not vote. However, victims of crime generally are voters, and they are adamant and vociferous in their beliefs that those who committed crimes should be put behind bars, locked up, and the keys thrown away.
Judges also believe in strict prison sentences, especially in Alabama. Our judges are elected in the Heart of Dixie. Therefore, our prisons are overcrowded.
Our men’s prisons are currently at 157% capacity. Governor Ivey and this legislature did not cause this problem. It has been building up and festering for years. The chickens have just come home to roost under their watch.
Alabama prisons have been overcrowded and understaffed for years. Ivey’s predecessor, former Governor Robert Bentley, proposed legislation that would have built new prisons with a bond issue. Lawmakers considered several courses of action but never came up with a solution.
The major obstacles to finding a remedy through legislative action is the cost factor and the location of any new prisons. Having a state prison in your district is a political plum for any legislator, especially those in rural districts. A prison is an economic boom to locals. It not only provides a host of jobs, but also has peripheral economic benefits.
The state realized the seriousness of this problem in April of 2019 when the Department of Justice stepped in and said Alabama has to do something or they will. The Feds have in the past taken over Alabama’s Prison System during the George Wallace vs. Judge Frank Johnson era. In recent years the federal government has taken over California’s prison system due to overcrowding. The ultimate leniency threshold seems to be 150% capacity.
When the Justice Department sent the warning, we were at 175% capacity. During the 2019 legislative session the legislature, led by Senator Cam Ward, took some actions toward recidivism that has had an immediate impact. The Justice Department edict not only called Alabama out on overcrowding, they also addressed the excessive violence and the lack of mental health treatment among the inmates. However, they hung their hat on the constitutional rights that Alabama’s prisoners are not being provided adequate human conditions of confinement.
Therefore, the cornerstone solution is three new mega men’s prisons. Governor Ivey took the bull by the horns and made an executive decision to proceed without legislative approval or input. She made the decision quietly and without discussion or hesitancy to go with private developers to build three men’s new correction facilities. The proposed sites are in Bibb, Elmore and Escambia Counties. The Department of Corrections already has major prisons in all three of these counties, which makes it a logical decision. Three separate prime developers have been chosen by the governor to finance, build and maintain the three prisons that the state would lease and operate.
The states’ cost for leasing these facilities would be capped at a total of $88 million a year. The Department of Corrections and the Governor say they can pay for the leases on new prisons through cost savings.
A good many legislators do not like Governor Ivey’s unilateral decision to proceed with contracting for new prisons without their consent. This is a big-ticket item that the legislature would like to be involved with since they are responsible for the funding and balancing of the state’s budgets.
The legislature will also need to address other issues outlined in the Department of Justice edict. This major issue of overcrowding seems to be a big tar-baby that the state legislature and governor have to focus on and resolve in the year 2021.
See you next week.
January 13, 2020 - Alabama May Lose A Congressional Seat, but Maybe Not
It has been speculated for several years that Alabama could lose a congressional seat after the 2020 Census. It was thought to be a foregone conclusion. However, in recent days, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates indicate that we might dodge that bullet. They say we are on the cusp and if we have had a good count, we could keep our current seven seats in congress.
This will be extremely beneficial for Alabama if this miracle occurs. We have a very heavy laden Republican congressional delegation. We have six Republicans and one lone Democrat. We have two freshmen Republican congressmen, Jerry Carl in the 1st District and Barry Moore in the 2nd District. Both of these men will be reliably Republican votes.
Congressman Robert Aderholt is our most powerful and senior member of congress. He is entering his 25th year in the House of Representatives and is the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.
Congressman Mike Rogers is beginning his 17th year in the House and has just become the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee. If the Republicans win the majority in the House in the 2022 elections, then Aderholt and Rogers will become the chairmen of these two prestigious and important committees.
Our lone Democrat Terri Sewell could be our most important member as we enter 2021. She is in the House leadership and is widely admired and respected within the Democratic caucus. The Democrats hold the majority in congress as well as the White House, which puts her in the catbird seat.
If we do lose a seat, it will be difficult task to reshape the state’s districts. If that occurs, this is how I see it shaking out.
Let us begin with our Democratic district held by Congresswoman Sewell. Our state population is over 30% African American. Therefore, the U.S. Justice Department will not allow you to terminate our dedicated Democratic African American district. In fact, they would like to see two, but it cannot be accomplished.
Ms. Sewell’s 7th District will become the 6th District and will encompass a large portion of the state. It will begin with Birmingham and get the metro African American areas of Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Montgomery and will also have to pick up the rural counties north of Mobile, which have traditionally been in the 1st District. She will represent the entire Black Belt and will pick up the counties of Clarke, Washington, Wilcox, Monroe, Escambia and Butler.
The Black Belt is losing population. The population of the State of Alabama is moving northward toward Huntsville. The current 6th District, held by Republican Gary Palmer, will become the new 5th District. It will basically remain unaltered, as the strongholds of Jefferson and Shelby Counties have kept pace with the national population growth.
The Huntsville 5th District of Republican Mo Brooks is where the growth is in the state. It will shrink geographically to essentially be a Huntsville/Madison County, Limestone County, Morgan County and GOP district.
Our Senior Congressman Robert Aderholt will retain his northwest and north central Alabama core constituency, including Walker, Cullman, Marshall Counties and all the Sand Mountain area. He may go into Huntsville. He may also like to retain his 4th District number.
Mike Rogers’ 3rd District will become the new 2nd District. It will keep his home area of Anniston and Calhoun County, as well as the growth areas of Auburn, Opelika and Lee County.
This is where you start dissecting the current 2nd District. The populous counties of Elmore and Autauga, along with the suburbs of East Montgomery/Pike Road, must go northward to Mike Rogers new 2nd District. The 1st District of Mobile and Baldwin remain the 1st District. Baldwin has grown extensively, and these two counties make up a congressional district. Therefore, new Congressman Jerry Carl will be safe.
I guess you folks in the Wiregrass, and especially Barry Moore, are wondering where you go. The counties of Houston, Dale, Coffee and Covington either go into the new 2nd District by drawing an arrow through Henry, Barbour, Macon, and Russell and making a super east Alabama district; or, depending on the census count, you draw an arrow through Escambia and pull Dothan and the Wiregrass into the Mobile/Baldwin 1st District.
Wherever the Wiregrass goes, it will make that district even more super Republican. It is the most conservative Republican area of the state. It will be interesting to see. This, of course, is just my prognostication. The state legislature will draw the lines next year after all the census figures are counted and revealed.
See you next week.
January 6, 2021 - Reapportionment Will Be Paramount Issue with Legislature
As we close the book on 2020, we will close the door on national politics and get back to the basics, good old Alabama politics. That’s my game. It is what I know and like to write and talk about. Some say my prognostications and observations on Alabama politics are sometimes accurate. However, not so much so on the national level.
About a decade ago there was an open presidential race and a spirited Republican battle for the nomination had begun. One of the entrants stood out to me. U.S. Senator Fred Thompson from Tennessee looked like the real thing to me. He was tall, tough, articulate, a movie star, and major player in the Watergate hearings. He looked like a president. He had a deep authoritative voice and gravitas and he had done a good job as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee. He actually had been born in Alabama.
So I wrote a glowing column about how he looked like presidential timber. I went out on a limb and boldly predicted that he was going to win the Republican nomination and would go on to win the presidency. My profuseness was so pronounced that soon after the column was printed it was picked up by his campaign and his wife called me from Nashville and thanked me for my comments. A week later Thompson dropped out of the race. So much for my presidential prognostications.
The Governor and Legislature have a myriad of issues to tackle as the new year begins. A good many issues have to be addressed in the upcoming regular session, which begins in less than a month. The most prevailing problem is the fact that the U.S. Justice Department has sued the state for our overcrowded prisons. They convene in Montgomery the first week of February.
Many of the leaders of the legislature were hoping and somewhat expecting the governor to call a Special Session or two prior to the Regular Session. There are a lot of issues that have to be addressed and are delinquent due to COVID cutting the 2020 Regular Session in half and there is concern that COVID could kill part of this year’s session. It will indeed make a precarious environment inside the Statehouse. There are economic development bills that need passing and a ton of local bills legislators need to pass for their districts and then there are big ticket items like the prison problems.
Regardless of how important all of the substantive state issues are, nothing will be as paramount to legislators as reapportionment or the redistricting of their own districts. Self-preservation will prevail. The United States Census is taken every 10 years for a reason. The U.S. Constitution, and concurrently all state constitutions, mandate the count for one reason – to make all congressional and legislative districts have the same number of people. Thus the saying, “one person, one vote.” The power of the pencil is granted to the state legislature to draw their own lines and the power rests with them to draw the congressional lines for the state. If indeed, we do lose a congressional seat, then that task becomes exponentially more difficult than if we had our current seven districts.
Drawing their own lines will be their primary interest. All 105 House members and all 35 State Senate districts will be drafted and designed by the legislature. Being on the Reapportionment Committee is a plum position at this time. Like most pieces of a legislative puzzle, the resolution to a large degree is accomplished by and within a committee. Every district will be reconfigured to some degree because people do move around and some locales change more than others. Therefore, there becomes a ripple effect all over the state. The Republicans have control of the majority and will use the legislative pencil to retain their super majority. However, protecting their own incumbency will supersede party loyalty. Although, both can probably be achieved.
This 2021 reapportionment is much more pressing than 10 years ago in 2011. They had the luxury of casually passing congressional lines for the 2012 elections. However, legislators did not run until 2014. So the Legislature passed a congressional map in 2011, and legislative map in 2012 at a leisurely pace.
They are under the gun to get both done this year, because the legislature and congress run in 2022. Indeed, they will have to get both done by June of this year, because fundraising for the June 2022 primaries begins this June.
Look for there to be two Special Sessions between now and June – one for congressional redistricting and one for legislative reapportionment.
Let the games begin.
See you next week.
December 30, 2020 - We Lost Some Good Ones This Year
As is my annual ritual, my yearend column pays tribute to Alabama political legends who have passed away during the year.
Sonny Cauthen passed away in Montgomery at age 70. He was the ultimate inside man in Alabama politics. Sonny was a lobbyist before lobbying was a business. He kept his cards close to his vest and you never knew what he was doing. Sonny was the ultimate optimist who knew what needed to be achieved and found like-minded allies with whom to work. When he had something to get done, he bulldozed ahead and achieved his mission. Sonny was a yellow dog Democrat who believed in equal treatment and rewarding hard work. He was an avid outdoorsman and hunter and mentored a good many young men in Montgomery.
Another Montgomerian who will never be forgotten was Representative Alvin Holmes, who passed away at 81. Like Sonny, Alvin was born and raised and lived his entire life in his hometown of Montgomery. He, too, was a real Democrat and an icon in Alabama politics. Alvin represented the people of Montgomery for 44-years in the Alabama House of Representatives. He was one of the most dynamic and outspoken legislators in Alabama history, as well as one of the longest serving members.
I had the opportunity to serve with Alvin for close to two decades in the legislature. We shared a common interest in Alabama political history. In fact, Alvin taught history at Alabama State University for a long time. He was always mindful of the needs of his district, as well as black citizens throughout the state. Alvin was one of the first Civil Rights leaders in Montgomery and Alabama. He helped organize the Alabama Democratic Conference and was Joe Reed’s chief lieutenant for years.
Ironically, we lost another Civil Rights icon this year. John Lewis was born in rural Pike County in the community of Banks. After graduating from college, John joined the Dr. Martin Luther King as a soldier in the army for Civil Rights. John was beaten by Alabama State Troopers near the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the infamous Bloody Sunday Selma to Montgomery march. He became a Civil Rights legend in America. He was one of Dr. King’s closest allies. John became almost as renowned worldwide as a Civil Rights leader as Dr. King. John moved to Atlanta with Dr. King and was elected to the U.S. Congress from Atlanta and served 33 years with distinction. Even though John was a national celebrity, he would take time out of his busy schedule to drive from Atlanta to rural Pike County to go to church with his mother at her beloved Antioch Baptist Church. John died of pancreatic cancer in July at age 80.
Another Alabama political legend, John Dorrill, passed away in January at age 90. Ironically, John Dorrill and John Lewis were both born and raised in rural Pike County near Troy. John Dorrill went to work for the powerful Alabama Farmers Federation shortly after graduating from Auburn. He worked for the Federation for 43 years. For the last 20 years of his career, he oversaw and was the mastermind of their political plans and operations as Executive Director of the Federation. He retired and lived out his final years on his ancestral home place in Pike County. John Dorrill was one of my political mentors and friends.
Another Montgomery political icon, former Republican State Senator Larry Dixon, passed away only a few weeks ago from COVID-19 complications at age 78. He served over 20 years in the state legislature. Larry epitomized the conservative Republican, and his voting record was right in line with his Montgomery constituency. He was known as “Montgomery’s State Senator” but his ultimate legacy may be as a great family man. Larry was a devoted husband to his wife, Gaynell, and father to his two daughters. Larry was a good man.
Former Alabama Supreme Court Judge Hugh Maddox recently passed away at age 90. Judge Maddox served 31 years on the Alabama Supreme Court before his retirement in 2001.
One of my favorite fellow legislators and friends, Representative Richard Laird of Roanoke, passed away last week from COVID-19. He was 81 and served 36 years in the Alabama House of Representatives. Richard was a great man and very conservative legislator.
In addition to Richard Laird, Alvin Holmes, and Larry Dixon, several other veteran Alabama legislators passed away this year including Ron Johnson, Jack Page and James Thomas.
We lost some good ones this year, who will definitely be missed as we head into 2021.
Happy New Year.
December 23, 2020 - Republican Majority in the U.S. Senate is more important to Alabama than the Presidency
As this 2020 Presidential election year comes to a close, allow me to share some final thoughts on the results with you.
As you might expect, with this being the year of one of the worst pandemic viruses in human history, it would have an effect on politics. Surprisingly, given the fact that people were told to not go out and be around others, you had a massive turnout nationwide. In Alabama, the voter turnout was unprecedented and record breaking, especially among Republican voters. Donald Trump’s popularity in the state drove the turnout. He eclipsed his 62% landslide against Hillary Clinton. He garnered 63% of the amazing vote and provided coattails for Republican Tommy Tuberville and allowed the Coach to annihilate Democrat Doug Jones by a whopping 60 to 40 margin.
This year’s vote confirms the fact that a Democrat cannot win a statewide race in the Heart of Dixie. If Democrat Doug Jones can outspend Republican Tuberville $25 million to $7 million, a 4 to 1 advantage, but only manage to get 40% of the vote, that ought to tell you something. Forty percent appears to be the maximum threshold for a well-financed, articulate Democrat in the state. Currently we have 38 elected statewide officeholders in Alabama and all 38 are Republicans. Therefore, winning the Republican nomination for a statewide office in Alabama is tantamount to election.
The nation is divided politically in a deep chasm. Most of rural, middle America in the Heartland of the country is colored Republican red. The East and West coast metropolitan states, primarily New York and California are liberal blue states. If you take out the large runup of votes in California for Democrat Biden, then the race was close to being 50/50 between Trump and Biden. However, the national popular vote is irrelevant as we elect our president under an electoral college system.
This election confirmed that there are 10 battleground states where the election is decided. In the other 40 states, the hay is in the barn. Alabama is reliably Republican, and California is solidly Democratic. Therefore, sophisticated, pinpoint campaigning is focused on Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and now the sunbelt states of Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia. Campaign strategists can even determine the zip codes, neighborhoods, and locales that will determine the outcome in these swing states.
It was obvious that Democrats knew all along that the race would boil down to Michigan, Wisconsin and especially Pennsylvania. Democrats had lost these three states by a razor thin margin to Trump in 2016 and they were the reason Trump edged Hillary Clinton. The key to victory was turning out the Democratic African American vote in Philadelphia and Detroit. Early voting and especially mail in voting helped accomplish this mission.
Another proven political maxim applied, “Primarily, more people vote against someone than for someone.” More people voted against Donald Trump than voted for Joe Biden.
One final thought on presidential politics. The national television networks are unabashedly and unashamedly biased. All of them, and polling may be dead. Very few people, especially Republicans, will trust poll numbers again. One final day poll had Biden beating Trump by 18 points in Wisconsin. He carried the state by less than 1%.
More importantly for Alabama is that the Republican party will more than likely keep the majority in the United States Senate. In the Senate the majority party makes the rules and gets all the committee chairmanships. Our Senior Senator, Richard Shelby, will retain the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee as well as Chairman of the subcommittee on Defense Appropriations.
If you do not think federal defense dollars are important to Alabama, you best think again. No state in the nation benefits more from federal defense dollars than Alabama. Shelby’s prowess at bringing home the bacon to Alabama is legendary. His chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee is probably Alabama’s number one economic engine. Therefore, Tuberville’s defeat of Jones was good for Alabama because it allowed for a Republican pickup over a Democrat and probably insured the Republican majority in the Senate.
The current Senate count is 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. There are two seats in Georgia that will be decided in Special Election runoffs on January 5. The Republicans will be favored to keep these two seats.
In closing, for Alabama’s sake economically, it is more important that the U.S. Senate is majority Republican because of Richard Shelby than who won the presidency.
See you next week.
December 16, 2020 - An Election Year to Remember
As we close out this year of COVID and presidential politics many of you are still in discussions about Donald Trump. Some are still enthralled with the most colorful and controversial character in my presidential memory and are saying the election was stolen from him. Others are saying he is the most egocentric and crooked person to ever sit in the oval office.
Allow me to disagree with both sides. In my lifetime no man could come close to comparing with one Lyndon B. Johnson when it comes to crookedness, crudeness, and audacity. He was the epitome of an unbridled, unconscionable thirst for power. No election could be more brazenly stolen than LBJ’s means of assent to power in this first election to the U.S. Senate in 1948.
Johnson was a tall tough young East Texas Congressman making his play for a Senate seat from the Lone Star State. Most Texans thought it was a Don Quixote kamikaze mission because he was running against the legendary Texas Governor Coke Stevenson.
The Governor was a revered figure in the state. He epitomized a Texas legend. He was a successful self-made man who had built a large ranch and cattle empire. He was much like the father figure, Ben Cartwright, played by Lorne Green in the old television series Bonanza. Stevenson was generous, plain spoken and very conservative. He had been a very good governor. Stevenson was from the old school and renowned for his integrity and he was above reproach.
Johnson was just the opposite. He had already earned the reputation that when it came to winning that was all that counted, and character, integrity, and honesty went out the window.
As might be expected, Johnson had unlimited campaign money, a lot of which was supplied by the Brown and Root Construction Company that is now Halliburton, which by the way is a major player in Senate races today. Johnson outspent Stevenson 10-to-1 as Stevenson would not ask for contributions.
Johnson employed new, modern campaign devices like polling and he even used a helicopter to land at rural towns throughout the gigantic state. He crisscrossed Texas and not only outspent Stevenson 10-to-1, he outworked him by the same measure. His hand was swollen from handshaking.
Coke Stevenson still beat Lyndon Johnson. However, Johnson was not going to take defeat. Duval County on the Mexican Border was known as the most corrupt political county in Texas, if not in the nation. It was legendary for bold, unadulterated vote manipulation. Johnson had cornered the bosses of Duval County and they held their votes out in case Johnson needed them.
Three days after Stevenson’s apparent victory, Duval came in. It had voted more than twice as many people as who lived there. Johnson got over 90% of the Duval votes that were suspiciously cast. When they got the Duval votes to Austin, it still was not enough to overtake Coke Stevenson.
Not to be outdone, Duval officials swore under oath that a box was still out. They said Box 13 has not reported. They came back five days later with just enough votes for Lyndon to claim victory. The margin of victory in the state of Texas was 83 votes.
When Johnson got to Washington as a freshman senator, the entire Senate and most people in Texas and a good many political observers around the nation, knew that Johnson and his allies had stolen the 1948 Texas Senate race. Thus, Senators and Washington insiders gave him the dubious nickname of “Landslide Lyndon” because of his 83-vote margin. Many people think that nickname was a reference to his actual landslide victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964, but it came from his unscrupulous election to the Senate in 1948.
A legendary story came out of that election about stealing an election or as some say, counting someone out. Supposedly, as Lyndon’s cronies were harvesting the last batch of needed votes from the infamous Box 13, they were going through an old Mexican-American Cemetery taking names of long passed folks either from Mexico or Duval County off of tombstones to vote them posthumously after the fact. Lyndon was actually accompanying the Duval voting officials to make sure they voted all the residents in the cemetery. They got to an old marker that was indiscernible. The harvester shouted out to Lyndon we cannot make out this name. Johnson replied, “Hell, make him up a name, he has as much right to vote as the rest of them in here.”
See you next week.
December 9, 2020 - Donald Trump has a profound Legacy in Presidential History, especially if you are a Conservative American
Presidential historians and most astute national political observers and chroniclers have concluded that the most profound legacy a president can achieve is the appointment of United States Supreme Court Justices. Presidents serve four-year terms. Justices serve for a lifetime.
The Supreme Court of the United States is the ultimate final word on law and public policy in the United States. After they are appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, they are impregnable to political whims or influence. They are sovereign and omnipotent. They are treated royally and usually serve on the high tribunal for over two decades or more.
Therefore, whether you like Donald J. Trump or not, he has a legacy. Most presidents are fortunate if they are able to name one justice to the court. Trump, over his four-year term appointed and had confirmed three. If you are a conservative Republican, this feat by President Trump makes him one of the most bulwark conservative presidents in history. He has cemented his legacy forever and changed the judicial philosophy of the court for the next generation.
Trumps three appointments are not only well qualified, polished, distinguished, moderate conservatives, they are also young. Justice Neil Gorsuch is 53. He replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy who retired. Justice Brett Kavanaugh is 55. He replaced arch conservative Justice Anton Scalia. The most consequential appointment by President Trump is the appointment and confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. She is only 48 and a solid conservative.
Trump’s appointment of Judge Amy Barrett is truly historical. This appointment changed the entire ideology of the court to a solidly six-to-three conservative majority. Barrett’s appointment is the most pivotal block in Trump’s rebuilding of the Court. In the Gorsuch and Kavanaugh appointments you replaced conservatives with conservatives. In Barrett, you are replacing a woman with a woman, but more importantly you are replacing one of the most liberal justices in history with potentially one of the most conservative. In addition, at 48 Barrett will preside for the next three decades as will probably Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
Along with these three conservative justices to the Supreme Court, President Donald Trump has been able to appoint nearly 300 federal judges to the lower federal courts throughout America. Trump could not have accomplished this generational change of the court without the advice and consent of a Republican majority United States Senate.
The Republican conservative stamp is also indelibly planted on the federal courts in Alabama. Senator Richard Shelby, in congruence with the Trump administration, has completely reshaped Alabama’s federal judiciary with very young, extremely qualified, conservative judges.
Speaking of our United States Senators, our Senior Senator Richard Shelby was granted the omnipotent power to select all of our new, young, conservative judges throughout all of our districts – southern, middle and northern – not only because of his power, prestige and seniority, but also because he was our only Republican senator.
Our Junior U.S. Senate Seat has been held by a national liberal Democrat Doug Jones for the past three years. During his tenure, he toed the Democratic Senate line and wore that hat as the pawn and clone of the Democratic leadership in the Senate. Chuck Schumer told Jones to vote against Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett only because they were conservative Republican appointees.
His refusal to even meet with Justice Amy Barrett showed a total lack of class and southern civility and gentlemanly manners. It was also revealed to me that he was angling to appease his liberal Democratic brethren in order to be Joe Biden’s Attorney General. Yes, folks, you heard me right. Do not be surprised if Doug Jones is not the next Attorney General of the United State in the Biden Administration.
The bottom line is if you are a conservative American, Donald J. Trump has a profound legacy in presidential history with three conservative appointments to the United States Supreme Court.
See you next week.
December 2, 2020 - COVID killed the Don
Around Labor Day when this year’s presidential campaign was beginning to heat up, I wrote a column about the classic 1960 presidential contest between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This pivotal presidential race marked the beginning of television as the premier political medium. The first televised presidential debate that year was the turning point of that campaign. Kennedy won the Whitehouse with his performance or as some would say, Nixon lost by his appearance on TV that fateful night in October of 1960.
A lot has changed in the past 60 years, America was a more Ozzie and Harriet, Andy Griffith Mayberry America. There was not a lot of difference, philosophically or ideologically, between a Republican Kansas farmer and a Blue-Collar, Democratic factory worker in Pennsylvania. They both believed in American values of decency and hard work. Even though the Pennsylvanian was a Union man who tended to vote Democratic and was probably a Catholic, and the Kansas farmer voted Republican and was a protestant. They both were Christian conservatives.
The country was more homogenous and amicable. This America lent itself to a close presidential contest where 40 states were in play in the Electoral College, and only 10 predetermined. Today it is just the opposite, 10 states are in play and 40 predetermined.
The country is more divided than at any time since the Civil War. You are cemented into either a conservative Republican tribe or a liberal Democratic tribe, and there is no peace pipe to be smoked. There are very few independent voters in the middle. It is these truly undecided swing voters that decide the presidential race. Also, it is even a further defined swing voter who resides in a swing state – primarily the states of Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and now Georgia.
Both parties got their bases out to the maximum. Democrats hated Donald Trump. Republicans loath Nancy Pelosi and Bernie Sanders. They stoked every fire possible and the two tribes almost broke about even.
Donald J. Trump lost the middle of America swing voter in the key battleground states and he lost them overwhelmingly. Why? You ask: It is simple, the COVID pandemic. It would have been impossible for any humble, genuinely caring, kind and compassionate president to overcome a pandemic that has killed over 250,000 people and annihilated the economy. A legendary, revered leader like Franklin Delano Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan would have had a hard time surviving this Communist Chinese invasion of our nation. This Chinese generated epidemic destroyed our economy.
It is always about the economy. Trump’s administration was the overseer of the most robust economy in years. He could have possibly won reelection with this rosy economy. However, the March invasion of the Chinese coronavirus derailed the Trump Train. There is an old political adage that says, “If you claim credit for the rain, you got to take blame for the drought.
Any presidential election campaign where there is an incumbent president up for reelection is a referendum on that President. Therefore, this presential race was all about Trump. He would have had to have been an FDR or Reagan to have survived the events of this year. Folks, Trump is no FDR or Reagan.
To win a presidency, people have to like you. Very few people genuinely like Donald Trump. All exit polling revealed that even the most ardent Republicans disliked Trump the man. They were only voting for him because he was a proven true-blue, hard core conservative. Even evangelical conservatives voted for him knowing his personal and business life was not exemplary of a practicing Christian, but he was the vessel for conservative Supreme Court Justices.
However, key swing voters, primarily suburban women, just did not like a brash, irreverent, egocentric, irrational, narcissist as their president. They had seen the sideshow on television and Twitter for over three years and they had had enough. There is another tried and true maxim, “More people vote against someone than for someone.” This played out to the nines on election day. Very few people voted for Joe Biden. They voted against Donald Trump.
See you next week.