July 15, 2020 - GOP Senate Race Decided
The much-anticipated battle between former U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions and former Auburn football coach, Tommy Tuberville to capture the GOP nomination for the U.S. Senate was the marquee event on Tuesday. Unfortunately, my column for this week had to go to press prior to the primary votes being counted.
Polls indicated that Tuberville would win for one reason and one reason only, Donald Trump endorsed him. President Trump is extremely popular among Republican voters in Alabama.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Trump does not like Sessions. Trump has tweeted negative comments about Sessions, not only during this race but consistently for the last three years. Therefore, the message was clear.
Tuberville to his credit ran a very simple campaign and said he is Trump’s man. He never deviated and never delved into the issues. He stayed the course and stuck to the script.
There is a tried and true adage in Alabama politics that more people vote against someone or something than for someone or something. If Sessions lost this race to recapture this Senate seat he held for 20 years, it is because Alabama GOP voters were so enthralled with Donald Trump that they voted against Sessions because Trump asked them to. It certainly was not because Coach Tuberville is more qualified to be our junior U.S. Senator than Jeff Sessions.
It really does not matter which one won. Either one, Tuberville or Sessions will win in November against liberal Democrat Doug Jones. It is almost comical that you have a liberal Democrat who has a three-year voting record of voting straight down the line with the Democratic leadership led by Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Nancy Pelosi representing one of the most Republican conservative states in America.
Indeed, Jones is the only Democrat in a U.S. Senate seat from the South. Jones has millions of dollars of left-wing California and New York money in the bank for his fall campaign, as well he should. Californians figure they have stolen our seat and have three senators. He has an identical voting record as the aforementioned liberals, but also identical to California’s two Democratic senators, Kamala Harris and Dianne Feinstein. That is why I refer to Jones as the “California Kid.”
It really does not matter whether Tuberville or Sessions is the one that takes Jones out in November, either one will vote conservatively and straight down the line with the GOP Senate leadership. Both will be older freshman senators and will have very little power. The seniority system prevails in the U.S. Senate and House, which brings me to this point. Why in the world would Donald Trump spend precious time and energy getting involved in a U.S. Senate GOP Primary in Alabama, other than for spiteful vengeance towards a man who simply would not do his bidding and bend the law, his principles, and integrity.
Trump is in a very difficult uphill battle to win a second term as president. He should be focused on campaigning for his own re-election in the five pivotal, battleground states. Under the Electoral College System of selecting our president, these are really the only five to ten states that matter.
We in the Heart of Dixie are irrelevant in the election, as is California. As I have often said, if Mickey Mouse were the Republican nominee, Mickey would carry Alabama. Conversely, if Donald Duck were the Democratic nominee, Donald would carry California.
Folks, the election for president in November will be decided in the states of Florida, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Under the Electoral College numbers, Trump must carry all five of these states. Currently, polling has him losing all five of these states. He is behind by double digits in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
On election night, as his advisors are lamenting a landslide massacre, they may pose this question to the egocentric, brash, New Yorker, “Why on God’s green earth were you campaigning in a Republican U.S. Senate race in Ruby Red Alabama rather than for yourself in the swing state of Florida?”
The media is one of the primary reasons the nation has become so deeply divided along partisan lines. Today, people vote for a party rather than for the individual candidate. You are either in the conservative Republican column or the liberal Democratic corner. CNN and MSNBC, and to a large degree CBS and NBC, are unabashedly the Democratic channels. Whereas FOX News may as well be broadcast from the Republican National Committee headquarters.
See you next week.
July 8, 2020 - Senate and Congressional Runoffs Next Week
Believe or not, coronavirus notwithstanding, we have three important GOP runoffs next Tuesday. You will go back to the polls to elect two Congressmen and a United States Senator. That is assuming that you go vote and are not afraid of germs.
It will be interesting to see how the turnout is on July 14. Mostly older folks, like me, are the ones that vote in all elections and we have been told for four months not to congregate or get around other people. There could be some concern among older voters about getting out and going to the polls. Also, most of the poll workers are retired volunteers.
There is an open Congressional Seat in District 2. Dothan businessman, Jeff Coleman, is the favorite. He garnered close to 40 percent of the vote against a large field of candidates including former Attorney General Troy King, who finished fourth. Former Enterprise State Representative, Barry Moore, finished second with 20 percent and will face Coleman in the runoff next week. This seat is comprised of the Montgomery, Autauga, Elmore River Region area coupled with the Wiregrass. The seat has been held by Montgomery Republican, Martha Roby, for 10 years. She chose not to seek reelection. It is surprising that the two combatants who made the runoff, Jeff Coleman and Barry Moore, hail from the Wiregrass and most of the people are in the River Region.
Coleman has had a substantial campaign dollar advantage over Moore and the entire field running for this open seat. However, Moore has received a $550,000 gift from an innocuous Washington political action committee that has pummeled Coleman with negative ads. This contribution may make this race close.
The 1st District Mobile/Baldwin area seat is also up for grabs, literally. This is the seat open by the departure of Bradley Byrne, who opted to run for the U.S. Senate. The two aspirants who wound up in the runoff, are veteran Mobile County Commissioner and businessman Jerry Carl and former Mobile State Senator Bill Hightower. They finished in a dead heat with Carl getting 39% and Hightower 38% of the vote on March 3. This one will be close and interesting. My guess is that Jerry Carl wins this runoff. He received some late important endorsements in the waning days.
The marquee event will be the GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate between former Senator Jeff Sessions who sat in this seat for 20 years and former Auburn football coach, Tommy Tuberville. This one will also be close. The two conservative gentlemen finished in a virtual tie on March 3.
The winner may be the one who took the best advantage of the three-and-a-half-month hiatus. They each could have and should have simply used the phone to call every single potential Republican voter in the state.
They could have taken a page from the playbook of the most prolific politician in Alabama history, one George C. Wallace. He would keep the telephone glued to his ear. Wallace would constantly call people on the phone 8-10 hours a day. He would call you at all hours of the day and night. Tuberville and Sessions should have used this method of campaigning without getting out of quarantine mode. One-on-one old-fashioned campaigning and asking people for their vote goes a long way in Alabama politics. It always has and it always will. Folks like to be asked for their vote.
Tuberville has outworked Sessions in old fashioned one-on-one campaigning. Although Tuberville is a novice to Alabama geographically and politically, he has traversed the state and met a lot of folks in a grassroots campaign style. He is a very likeable fellow and sells well personally. He did well in the rural areas in the first primary. It helped him immensely, probably more than he realized, with the endorsement and full support of the Alabama Farmers Federation.
If Tuberville wins, he needs to ask for a seat on the Senate Agriculture Committee. We have not had a senator on the Ag Committee since the late Howell Heflin, who was Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. By the way, this seat that Sessions held for 20 years and is running for again and Coach Tuberville is aspiring to, is the seat held by the late Senator Heflin for 18 years.
This runoff has the potential to have a low turnout due to trepidation from older voters and it will be hot as blazes in mid-July.
Y’all vote.
See you next week.
July 1, 2020 - GOP Senate Runoff in Less Than Two Weeks
Folks, we are less than two weeks away from our election contest for our U.S. Senate Seat. The runoff between former Senator Jeff Sessions and former Auburn football coach, Tommy Tuberville may be close and will be interesting.
The two conservatives were in a virtual dead heat in the March 3rd GOP primary. Congressman Bradley Byrne, the Republican U.S. Representative from the 1st District, primarily Mobile and Baldwin counties, finished a strong third.
The runoff was initially set for March 31. However, the coronavirus delayed the runoff until July 14. Therefore, the big question is how did the 15-week delay affect the runoff outcome. It is difficult to say. However, my guess is that it may have been a salvation for Sessions.
Most pundits and polls indicated that Coach Tuberville had the momentum and was set to win the runoff. The over three-month hiatus may have stymied if not thwarted that momentum the same way that football coaches call a timeout when the opposing team is driving toward a winning touchdown. It halts the Big Mo.
Amazingly, the entire campaign has been about Donald Trump and who can cozy up the most to the conservative Republican President. All three frontrunner candidates, Tuberville, Sessions and Byrne made their campaign pitches not about issues but who can be Trump’s buddy or valet.
Sessions and Byrne both had instances where they both had lapses in their obedience to the irrational and irascible Don, so Tuberville’s lack of playing time in the political arena made him the more perceptual slave for Trump.
Coach Tuberville’s entire campaign has been based on his being loyal to Trump. It has paid dividends. He led with 33% to Sessions 32% and Byrnes 25%. Indeed, as soon as the first primary was over in early March, Trump officially endorsed Tuberville. This endorsement propelled Tuberville into a nine-point lead in the polls in mid-March, which is when the pandemic hit and the election was delayed until July 14.
In the meantime, when the national economic virus shutdown subsided somewhat in mid-May, the campaign resumed. Trump again inserted himself into the Alabama GOP Senate race by blasting Sessions again with yet another vitriolic attack. Trump espoused that Sessions had asked him four times to be Attorney General. Finally, Sessions took up for himself and quickly retorted that he never asked Trump for the job.
Folks, I have watched Jeff Sessions’ career as our Junior U.S. Senator for 20 years and prior to that as Alabama’s Attorney General, and I am here to tell you that Jeff Sessions’ truth, veracity, and integrity trumps Trump by a country mile. Honesty, integrity, and truthfulness is not Trump’s forte. However, it has been Sessions’ his entre 30+ years in public service in Alabama.
In fact, Trump owed more to Sessions than naming him Attorney General. When Trump began his quest for the GOP nomination, he was given very little chance. Jeff Sessions’ endorsement as the nation’s most conservative senator gave the bombastic, egocentric New Yorker credibility and gave impetus to his race for the White House.
Actually, I said at the time that Sessions acquiescence to becoming Attorney General was a step down from being a veteran 20-year U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee in a safe U.S. Senate seat. You can bet your bottom dollar he is now sorry he accepted the post. It is apparent he is not going to get Trump’s endorsement for obvious reasons. He would not break the law or do Trump’s bidding, so Trump hates him.
Trump has reaffirmed his endorsement of Tommy Tuberville. Historically, in Alabama politics, endorsements by one politician in another political race have not been advantageous. In fact, they have been counterproductive. Alabamians have inherently resented endorsements. However, in this case and in this race, my guess is that Trump is so popular among Republican voters in Alabama that his attacks on Sessions and endorsement of Tuberville will propel the coach to victory. In fact, polls show Tuberville with a double-digit lead. He has run a good campaign staying on point and simply saying, I am going to support Donald Trump.
Have a Happy 4th of July.
June 24, 2020 - How Has Coronavirus Affected Alabama Politics?
As we end the first half of 2020, there is no doubt that the coronavirus is the story of the year. The coronavirus saga of 2020 and its devastation of the nation’s and state’s economic well-being may be the story of the decade.
How has the coronavirus affected Alabama politics? The answer is negligibly, if at all. The Republican Primary runoff to hold the Junior U.S. Senate seat was postponed by the virus epidemic. It is set for July 14, which is right around the corner. The race between Tommy Tuberville and Jeff Sessions should be close and interesting.
The virus delay did affect this race in one regard, if the vote had been held on March 31 as planned, Coach Tuberville had the advantage and the momentum. The almost four-month delay may have stymied that train. To what degree we will not know, until the votes are counted in three weeks. Tuberville’s campaign has been totally based on his being loyal to Donald Trump.
Both Sessions and Tuberville were given a golden opportunity to use the four-month hiatus to do some good old fashion one-on-one campaigning, if only by phone. If one of them did it, it could make the difference. We will soon see. People still like to be asked personally for their vote.
The next elections will not be until 2022. It will be a big year. It is a gubernatorial year and there may very well be an open U.S. Senate Seat. Senator Richard Shelby will be 88. It would be a blessing beyond measure if he ran again. However, at that age he may choose to retire. Governor Kay Ivey will be 78 in 2022. She will more than likely not run for a second term.
The one development that has occurred during the virus saga is that Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, has made it clear that he will be running for governor in 2022. If it were not apparent before, it is obvious now. He inserted himself into the coronavirus episode. In many instances he appeared to usurp the center stage from Governor Ivey.
The young Lt. Governor first urged aggressive public health response, differing from Governor Ivey’s. She made a comment about his out of nowhere position. She then forgave him and gave him a position on one of her many meaningless task force bodies.
Ainsworth then changed courses and tweeted that the state’s businesses should reopen prior to the Governor’s recommended date. She seemed undeterred nor miffed by his second assertion of his policy position. Having been around Alabama politics a lot longer than Ainsworth, she may be savvy enough to know that she is giving him just enough rope to hang himself.
Kay cut her political teeth campaigning for Lurleen Wallace for Governor in 1966. That was 15 years before Ainsworth was born in 1981. I doubt he knows of a similar scenario that played out 50 years ago where a Lt. Governor got too big for his britches and overly and overtly tried to play Governor.
George Wallace had won his second term as Governor in 1970. If you count Lurleen’s 1966 victory, it would be his third straight gubernatorial victory. He was running for President in 1972 and was gunned down by a crazed assassin in a Maryland Parking lot. He was near death from the multiple wounds and had to be hospitalized in Maryland for three to four months. It was a miracle he survived.
Another young Lt. Governor Jere Beasley had been elected to the post in 1970, primarily because the Wallace people had supported him. Beasley seemed to insert himself overtly as governor during Wallace’s bedridden absence. The Governor’s people actually had to fly him back home from his recovery for a day so that he could remain governor.
Folks never seemed to forgive Beasley for this ambitious assertion of power. In his next race for reelection as lieutenant governor, Beasley trailed Charles Woods in the first primary and barely won the runoff. Four years later, in the monumental 1978 Governor’s race – which Fob James ultimately won – Lt. Governor Jere Beasley finished in fifth place, even though he spent lots of money.
Speaking of money, losing the 1978 Governor’s race was the best thing that ever happened to Jere Beasley. He began practicing law in Montgomery and became one of the most prominent Plaintiff lawyers in America. He and his wife, Sarah, have had a much happier and prosperous life out of politics.
See you next week.
June 17, 2020 - Why George Wallace said “No” to U.S. Senate
My next book on Alabama politics will expound on who I believe have been the top 60 political leaders in Alabama over the past 60 years.
More than likely in any political historian’s book George Wallace and Senator Richard Shelby would rank as the top two. The question is, “Who gets the number one spot?”
In my book, Senator Shelby trumps Governor Wallace. Maybe not six years ago, but after Shelby’s current reign as Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee and what he has brought home to Alabama is simply unparalleled.
Shelby’s remarkable 33 years in the U.S. Senate has been heralded by Chairmanships of the Banking, Intelligence, Rules, and now Appropriations committees. This will never be matched again in Alabama history. Indeed, it would be difficult to find any U.S. Senator in history with that resume.
In short, Shelby’s 33 years in the U.S. Senate capped with his pinnacle of power in the nation’s august body, trumps George Wallace’s 18 years as governor.
However, it is reasonable to bet that nobody will ever be Governor of Alabama for 18 years again. That is quite a feat.
I am often asked the question, “Why did George Wallace not proceed to the U.S. Senate?” Other southern political legends like Huey Long in Louisiana and the Talmadges in Georgia wound up their political lives in the U.S. Senate after being governor of their state.
In most states, the ultimate political prize has been to go to the U. S. Senate and die there. There is an old saying that longtime southern senators will say, “The only way that I’m going to leave the United States Senate is by way of the ballot box or in a pine box.”
Being governor of a state is generally considered a prelude or stepping-stone to a U. S. Senate seat. Not so in Alabama, the governor’s office has always seemed to be the ultimate brass ring.
George Wallace could have gone to the U. S. Senate early in his career. In 1966 he had the golden opportunity. He had fought valiantly in 1965 to get the state senate to change the law that precluded a governor from succeeding himself. With that door closed, the obvious route for any politician would be to go to the Senate.
In 1966 Wallace was at the top of his game. He was at the height of his popularity. Race was the paramount and only issue. He owned the issue. He owned the State of Alabama politically. He was the King of Alabama politics, and there was a senate seat up for election.
The venerable John Sparkman was up for election. He was powerful and he was popular but he was no match for George Wallace and he was considered soft on the race issue. Wallace would have easily beaten Sparkman and gone to the Senate. He chose instead to run his wife for governor. Lurleen Wallace trounced the illustrious field of candidates.
After Wallace was shot in his presidential bid in 1972, he survived but he was mortally wounded and left a paraplegic for the rest of his life. His health was ruined and he was relegated to constant pain and confined to a wheelchair.
In 1978 Alabama had not only one, but also both senate seats vacant. Wallace was ending his third term as governor and had no where to go politically. It was obvious that Wallace should take one of the open seats. It was his for the asking. His close personal aide and friend, Elvin Stanton, related the scenario to me. Stanton said that Wallace was going to run, but at the last minute, he told Elvin, “Let’s go to Washington and look around.” They went together to the Capitol and surveyed the terrain.
It occurred to Wallace that his life would be difficult at best maneuvering the steps and corridors of the Capitol. He just did not want to leave Alabama. He wanted to be near his doctors. He wanted to die in Alabama, not Washington. I suspect in the back of Wallace’s mind he thought that he might run one more time for governor in 1982. He did and he won.
Wallace would have won a Senate seat in 1978 and he would have won one earlier in 1966. The bottom line is George Wallace just did not want to be a United States Senator. He liked being Governor of Alabama.
See you next week.
June 10, 2020 - Senate Runoff Resumes with Trump and Sessions in a Twitter Battle
The U.S. Senate runoff between former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was put on hold by the coronavirus. The original primary on March 3 had Tuberville and Sessions in a dead heat. The runoff was scheduled for March 31. However, the pandemic shutdown placed a freeze on everything politically. The runoff is now set for July 14.
The epidemic hiatus shutdown began to melt a little around Memorial Day, and it started with a meltdown between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions. Trump, our tweeting President, blasted Sessions for the umpteenth time for recusing himself from the Russian politically based probe while he was Attorney General. Sessions, being the honest person that he is, refused to do Trump’s bidding which would have been illegal.
Legality, honesty, truthfulness, and integrity are not Trumps forte. He thinks his tenure as President is an extension of his TV Reality show, The Apprentice, where he was famously known for the phrase “You’re fired!” He fires anyone associated with him who will not concede to this egocentric bullying, the same way he fired Sessions for not breaking the law.
Trump’s tirade of tweets on Memorial Day weekend were vitriolic and juvenile, as is customary for the king of late-night tweeting. Much to folks’ surprise, Sessions tweeted back. The mild mannered, choir boy, Eagle Scout Sessions fought back for the first time. He and Trump exchanged tweeting volleys all weekend. It was quite amusing.
It remains to be seen what effect this war of words between Trump and Sessions will have on the Senate campaign and Sessions’ hopes to reclaim his seat. Sessions may not have been the most effective U.S. Senator during his 20-year tenure, but he probably was the most honest. If it were midnight in the smallest town in Alabama and there were no cars in sight, Jeff Sessions would not jaywalk.
In every tweet, Trump endorses Coach Tuberville over Sessions for obvious reasons. Historically, in Alabama politics, one politician endorsing someone in another race has been the kiss of death. It has consistently backfired. However, my guess is that Trump is so popular among hardcore Republican voters in the Heart of Dixie that this endorsement of Tuberville will propel him to victory. Tuberville’s entire campaign calling card has been, “I’m a Trump man.” Trump applauds total allegiance and loyalty. Therefore, the Trump endorsement of the Coach is quite understandable.
Whichever one wins will take back the seat for the GOP in the Fall. However, they are going to face some devastating financial problems when they arrive as a freshman U.S. Senator in January. The coronavirus epidemic has crippled our nation economically for decades. Either Tuberville or Sessions will be irrelevant, freshman Senators who will be saddled with a government that is facing a staggering national debt.
The U.S. government has written $3 trillion in bad checks with no money in the bank to pay the insurmountable debt back. We had an enormous deficit even before the trillions of dollars added by printing of red ink federal dollars for the pandemic bailout. A trillion dollars is a lot of money. That is trillion with a capital “T.” It reminds me of one of the great quotes of all time. The late, great Republican, U.S. Senator from Illinois, Senator Everett Dirkson, was attributed with saying after the passage of a pork filled Democratic budget, “A billion here and a billion there and pretty soon you are talking real money.”
Henry Kissinger in a “Wall Street Journal” article called this unprecedented, unimaginable U.S. national debt a fundamental realignment where we are so weakened by this debt that we lose influence and power in the world. I am optimistic that we can persevere for three reasons: our farming, our military, and our technological superiority.
See you next week.
June 3, 2020 - Stellar Group Studying Gambling in the State
Another legislation session has passed, and Alabama still has no lottery. Actually, the legislature does not in itself have the authority to pass a state lottery, they can only authorize a ballot initiative to let you vote on a lottery. It takes a constitutional amendment.
The lottery would pass in a vote in Alabama simply because Alabamians are tired of their money going out of state to Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. All our surrounding Southern sister states have lotteries and Alabamians are buying lottery tickets in those states, paving their roads, and educating their students. It would pass In Alabama in a unified bipartisan vote. Alabamians who would not or never have bought a lottery ticket would vote for it, and those that must trek to our bordering states to buy them definitely would vote in favor. It is well known that the locations that sell the highest numbers of lottery tickets in Florida and Georgia are on the Alabama border.
The lottery proposal this year was doomed from the beginning because Governor Kay Ivey in her State-of-the-State address announced that she was taking an interest in the issue and announced a study group to study gambling policy for the state. Governor Ivey had never taken a position for or against gambling as Lt. Governor or during her campaign for governor or as Governor. Therefore, when she took to the stage in the State-of-the-State, it was apparent that she was finally weighing in on the issue.
Well, folks, she did not just appoint any old study group, she quickly named a panel of Alabamians that are blue chip, top of the chart, super Alabama leaders. This distinguished group is above reproach and have no ties or for that matter no real interest in gambling. Most of them have probably never even bought a lottery ticket or pulled a slot machine lever. However, you can bet that this group will come up with a wise and prudent approach to how Alabama should address the gambling solution for our state.
Kay Ivey has been able to get the best citizens in Alabama to participate in major decisions and initiatives. However, it would be difficult to find a bluer ribbon, stellar accomplished group of Alabamians as she has selected and garnered to serve on this panel to study gambling.
It will be chaired by former Montgomery Mayor, Todd Strange. He has been successful in business and government and is above reproach and well respected. Other members of this impressive group include Rey Almodovar of Huntsville, who founded and runs a major engineering firm in the Rocket City; Deborah Barnhart of Huntsville, who is the Chief Executive Officer emerita of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville; Walter Bell of Mobile is the past chairman of the world’s largest reinsurance companies and a former Alabama Commissioner of Insurance; Dr. Regina Benjamin of Mobile, who is a physician who served as the 18th Surgeon General of the United States and before that was President of the Medical Association of Alabama; former State Treasurer and retired banker, Young Boozer, who is universally respected; Sam Cochran, who has been Mobile County’s Sheriff since 2006; Liz Huntly, a widely respected attorney and child advocate in Birmingham; Carl Jamison of Tuscaloosa, a third-generation shareholder of one of Alabama’s largest and oldest public accounting firms; former Alabama Supreme Court Justice and Court of Appeals Judge, Jim Main; and the legendary journalist, Phil Rawls, who recently retired as Alabama’s leading and most respected reporter – he covered Alabama government for the Associated Press for 35 years.
Perhaps the most respected and accomplished member of this elite panel is Bishop Dr. Mike Watson. He is the Bishop in Residence at Canterbury Methodist Church in Birmingham and is serving as the Ecumenical Chairman of the Council of Bishops. He has served and founded major Methodist Churches in Dothan and Mobile. He is also the past president of the Mobile School Board. I have known Mike Watson since our college days at the University of Alabama. I have never known a better man.
You will probably see this study group’s recommendations on the top of Governor Ivey’s agenda when she gives the 2021 State-of-the-State address next February.
See you next week.
May 27, 2020 - Mike Hubbard Conviction Finally Upheld
Over the past four years during my travels and speaking events over the state, the most asked question posed to me has been, “Why in the world is Mike Hubbard not in jail?”
It was four years ago in June 2016 that the Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, Mike Hubbard, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Lee County of a dozen counts of violating the State Ethics Laws.
The most inquiring and astonished groups have been Republican laden clubs like Rotarians. They have been very indignant, vocally, about the imbalance of the criminal justice system towards white collar political criminals, as opposed to those who are general thieves and assailants.
These comments were generally laced with indignation and skepticism that Hubbard would never serve a day in jail.
Well it looks like his day of reckoning may be coming near. He will eventually serve four years in an Alabama jail. Folks, that is not quite the ride that serving four years in a federal “country club” prison would be.
In April, the Alabama Supreme Court finally gave a clarified verdict on the 2016 Hubbard conviction. The Alabama Supreme Court upheld six of the 12 verdicts handed down in Lee County. It reversed five others and remanded the case back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, which had previously reversed one of the convictions.
Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote in the majority opinion, “We must interpret and apply the law. And, every person accused of breaking the law – even one who had a hand in creating that law – is entitled to the same rules of legal interpretation. When charged with a crime, public officials must be treated no better – and no worse – than other citizens in this State where all are guaranteed equal justice under the law.” Hubbard may find further routes of delay; however, he will go to jail.
This ends an era of corruption inherent during the Bob Riley era as governor. Hubbard and Riley were well known to be best friends. There were numerous taped conversations between Riley and Hubbard used by prosecutors during the trial. During that reign, it appeared that it was open season on lobbyists in pay to play scenarios. Part of the team was the BCA backroom power player, Bill Canary.
This Hubbard/Riley/Canary triumvirate is forever gone from Goat Hill. There is still a lingering perception that Bob Riley is still calling shots from the sidelines of today’s political campaigns and world. Folks, that is a misnomer. As a lobbyist, Riley is able to get some campaign money for certain candidates from his friends and benefactors, the Indian gambling interests. However, his influence in state politics is insignificant. He is not the power behind the throne that is sometimes perceived. There were whispers that he had influence and even control over the State Supreme Court. This Hubbard decision dispels that myth.
As unsavory as Bill Canary had become, the breath of fresh air brought to the Business Council of Alabama by Katie Britt is significant to say the least, if not monumental. Katie Britt, the young, vibrant CEO of the Business Council exudes not only energy but vast integrity and openness. She is twice as smart as most people on the block and ten times more honest and upfront with folks. She projects an image that makes business folks in Alabama proud to be a part of government in our state.
Katie revealed brilliant leadership, recently, when she initiated and orchestrated a BCA telethon on Alabama Public Television. They had volunteer lawyers, accountants and other experts on the phone answering questions about how to apply for federal programs in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. The Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General appeared as guests on the show with Katie. Also appearing was the legendary leader of the National Federation of Small Businesses in the state, Rosemary Elebash, who has been a brilliant, hard-working leader for Alabama’s small business owners for decades.
See you next week.
May 20, 2020 - Speaker Sam Rayburn and Congressman Bob Jones
The legendary Speaker of the U.S. House, Sam Rayburn, coined a famous phrase he used often and imparted to young congressmen when they would arrive on Capitol Hill full of vim and vigor. He would sit down with them and invite them to have a bourbon and branch water with him. The old gentleman, who had spent nearly half a century in Congress, after hearing their ambitions of how they were going to change the world, would look them in the eye and say, “You know here in Congress there are 435 prima donnas and they all can’t be lead horses.” Then the Speaker in his Texas drawl would say, “If you want to get along, you have to go along.”
Mr. Sam Rayburn ruled as Speaker during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt post-Depression and World War II era. The Democrats dominated Congress. Mr. Sam could count on the big city congressmen from Tammany Hall in New York and the Chicago machine politicians following the Democratic leadership because they had gotten there by going along with the Democratic bosses who controlled the wards that made up their urban districts. But the country was still rural at that time and Mr. Sam would have to invite a backsliding rural member to his Board of Education meeting in a private den in the basement of the Capitol and occasionally explain his adage again to them – in order to get along, you have to go along.
One of Mr. Sam Rayburn’s young pupils was a freshly minted congressman from Alabama’s Tennessee Valley. Bob Jones from Scottsboro was elected to Congress in 1946 when John Sparkman ascended to the U.S. Senate.
Speaker Rayburn saw a lot of promise in freshman congressman Bob Jones. The ole Texan invited Jones to visit his Board of Education meeting early in his first year. He calmly advised Jones to sit on the right side of the House chamber in what Mr. Sam called his pews. He admonished the young congressman to sit quietly for at least four years and not say a word or make a speech and to always vote with the Speaker. In other words, if you go along you will get along.
Bob Jones followed the sage advice of Speaker Rayburn and he got along very well. Congressman Bob Jones served close to 30 years in the Congress from Scottsboro and the Tennessee Valley. He and John Sparkman were instrumental in transforming the Tennessee Valley into Alabama’s most dynamic, progressive and prosperous region of the State. They spearheaded the location and development of Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal. Bob Jones was one of Alabama’s greatest congressmen.
At the time of Bob Jones’ arrival in Congress in 1946, we had nine congressional seats. By the time he left in the 1960’s, we had dropped to eight. We now have seven. Folks, I hate to inform you of this, but population growth estimates reveal that we are going to lose a seat after this year’s count.
Our current seven-person delegation consists of six Republicans and one Democrat. This sole Democratic seat is reserved for an African American. The Justice Department and Courts will not allow you to abolish that seat. Reapportionment will dictate that you begin with that premise.
The growth and geographic location of the Mobile/Baldwin district cannot be altered, nor can the urban Tennessee Valley 5th District, nor the Jefferson/Shelby 6th District. They are unalterable and will reveal growth in population. Our senior and most powerful Congressman Robert Aderholt’s 4th District has normal growth and you do not want to disrupt his tenure path.
The old Bob Jones-Huntsville-Tennessee Valley area is where the real growth in the state is happening. The census numbers will reveal that this area of the state is booming economically and population wise. Therefore, you may see two seats spawned from this Huntsville-Madison, Limestone-Decatur-Morgan and Florence-Muscle Shoals-Tuscumbia area. The loser in the new reapportionment plan after the census will probably be the current 2nd district.
See you next week.
May 13, 2020 - The 1965 Special Succession Session
The legislature meets in regular session every year for three-and-a-half months. However, an extraordinary special session can be called by the governor if he/she deems there is a dire emergency in the state government that needs addressing. This provision in the Constitution gives the governor inherent advantage in a special session. The official proclamation calling for a special session allows the governor to set out matters for a specific purpose(s) when calling the session and requires the legislators to address those specific issues. You saw Governor Kay Ivey use this procedure quite effectively last year.
There were a large number of special sessions called in earlier years because the legislature met every other year. Special sessions were part of the norm during the Wallace years. Wallace realized the importance of isolating and focusing on his issues.
The Alabama Legislature has seen many epic legislative battles, but none can approach the level of animosity reached in the 1965 Special Session called by Gov. George Wallace to consider a constitutional amendment permitting Alabama’s constitutional officers to succeed themselves for one additional term.
At this time, the governor could serve only one term and could not succeed themselves. Only two governors had served more than one term. Big Jim Folsom and Bibb Graves had been two term governors but had waited out four years before returning for an unusual second term. Wallace wanted a second term. Therefore, the momentous and historical September 1965 Special Session called by Wallace is referred to in Alabama political lore as the Succession Special Session.
To set the stage, Wallace had lost to John Patterson in the 1958 governor’s race because Patterson was perceived as the most segregationist candidate. That was to be Wallace’s only defeat. After finishing second, he vowed that he was “out segged” and he would never be “out segged” again. He immediately began his campaign for 1962. He won the 1962 race as the most segregationist candidate. In his January 1963 inaugural address, he vowed “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” Several events occurred that year. Wallace’s “stand in the schoolhouse door” to block integration at the University of Alabama propelled him into being the number one segregationist politician in America.
Wallace’s new found national fame emboldened him to enter presidential primaries in 1964 in Maryland, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Race seemed to be an issue in not only Alabama and the Deep South states but in other states as well. Wallace had captured the issue and had become a folk hero in Alabama.
With the dawning of 1965, attention began to focus on the 1966 governor’s race. There were already three prominent players posed to run. Former state senator, Ryan deGraffenreid, who finished second to Wallace in 1962, was running hard. Attorney General Richmond Flowers and Congressman Carl Elliott were also certain to run. Big Jim Folsom was also a probability.
Wallace realized about midyear 1965 that he needed to remain governor. Thus, the special session was called for September 30. Wallace was at the peak of his popularity and enjoyed immense support in the House of Representatives. His succession bill, House Bill 1, was reported favorably from the Rules Committee on the second legislative day and passed the House on the third legislative day by a vote of 74-to-23.
Therefore, the fight would be in the senate. The battle that took place in the senate was the fiercest and most bitter witnessed in the old Capitol. Seldom in our history has there been such intense tension and drama.
Throughout the session the numbers remained about the same. Wallace had about 18 loyal senators. They needed 21 to invoke cloture. They never got them. The opposition senators were extremely capable. Most were legislative veterans who knew and used the rules to gain parliamentary advantage. The opponents included Vaughn Hill Robison of Montgomery, Joe Smith of Phenix City, Bob Gilchrist of Hartselle, Larry Dumas of Birmingham, and John Tyson of Mobile. A good many of these senators were loyal to deGraffenreid. Wallace went into each of their districts and threatened these senators with losing road projects and other pet projects. They all remained steadfast.
Finally, on October 22, 1965, the 14th day of the session, Wallace realized he could not get the 21 votes needed for a constitutional amendment. The state senate had denied him the opportunity to run for a second successive term. No senator who opposed this legislation was reelected in 1966. Some chose not to run, but each one who sought reelection was overwhelmingly defeated.
Wallace ran his wife Lurleen and she won a landslide victory in 1966.
See you next week.