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.
May 6, 2020 - Budget is Priority Number One for Legislative Session. The Governor Proposes and the Legislature Disposes – However, Kay Ivey has Input
The 2020 Regular Legislative Session has resumed after a six-week hiatus due to the coronavirus shutdown of the state and nation. The session must end by May 18, 2020. The only thing they will do is pass barebones budgets.
The most important and actually the only constitutionally mandated act that must be accomplished is the passage of the state budgets. In our case, we have two state budgets. We have a General Fund like 45 other states, and we have a second Special Education budget.
Like all states, the power is where the money lies. Therefore, the power in the legislature rests with the chairmen of the budgetary money committees. The keeper of the purse strings is a powerful position.
Since the Constitution dictates that all money bills, taxes and budgets must originate in the House of Representatives, and since the Education budget now dwarfs the General Fund to the tune of a 2-to-1 margin, the most relevant committee chairman in the state legislature is Representative Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa) who chairs the House Ways and Means Education Budget Committee. He essentially begins crafting of the Education budget. His counterpart in the Senate who helps to slice the education pie is State Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur).
The chairman of the General Fund Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives is Representative Steve Clouse (R-Ozark). He has been chairman of the Ways and Means General Fund close to a decade and has done a yeoman’s job. His counterpart in the Senate is Senator Greg Albritton (R-Escambia).
The Constitution clearly defines the three branches of government. The Legislative Branch makes the laws, the Governor is the Administrator of State government, and the Judicial Branch defines and enforces the laws made by the Legislature.
However, over the course of history, we have had some very powerful governors who have stepped into the legislative budgetary powers and usurped the power granted to the Legislature. The most notable example would be one George C. Wallace. Not only did he usurp the power of legislators, he made the Legislature an appendage of the Governor’s Office.
During my first term in the Legislature, 1982-1986, which was congruently Wallace’s last term as Governor, he selected the Speaker and the Chairmen of all the House Committees. His office sent the agenda for each legislative day down to the Rules Committee, which simply rubber stamped the Governor’s agenda. Needless to say, the state budget was written and decided by the Governor. Since the Wallace days, the Legislature has taken back their inherent powers.
Governor Don Siegleman had a partnership and worked congruently with the Legislature. However, Fob James had very little influence with the Legislature. He somewhat looked down on them, and in turn they left him out of the process. Guy Hunt was left out because he really did not understand the process.
Bob Riley was totally ignored by the Legislature. The partisan divide between the Republican and Democratic parties had set in. Riley was a Republican and we had a state Senate made up of a veteran smart, crafty and partisan Democrats. They were not about to let Riley into their hen house.
Robert Bentley was completely inept and ineffective with the Legislature. Even though he had been a State Representative, he really had no relationship with the House or the Senate leadership and seemed averse to cultivating them.
Our current Governor, Kay Ivey, has significant input into the state budgets. Not in the way that Wallace did, but in a way designed by the constitutional founders.
Kay Ivey is a strong, decisive leader. She works in partnership with the legislative budget chairmen – Poole, Clouse, Orr and Albritton. Kay has a close working relationship with the legislators, built by decades of working within state government as a Higher Education lobbyist, State Treasurer and Lt. Governor.
Kay has taken a no-nonsense approach to being Governor. She is making decisions that are right for the state and not with an eye to what is politically expedient. She has a close working partnership with the legislative leadership, especially Bill Poole, who is universally respected.
State Representative Dexter Grimsley lost his older sister to the coronavirus. She was a nurse. Big Dexter is cherished and beloved by his legislative colleagues. He is a gentle giant and a true gentleman. Dexter has represented Abbeville and Henry County with distinction for over a decade.
See you next week.
April 29, 2020 - Alabama Leaders Under 45 Who Affect the Political Arena
Last week I discussed Alabama’s outstanding leaders in the political arena. This week allow me to share with you some of the state’s leaders under 45 who are shaping and molding our state from outside the actual pit of the political arena.
The most prominent political power in the under 45 category, who is not in an elected position, is Katie Boyd Britt who heads the Business Council of Alabama. Katie was born to be an Alabama leader 37 years ago in Enterprise. She was a high school leader and was Governor of Girls State. Then she went on to the University of Alabama and excelled academically and was President of the Student Government Association. After college at Alabama, she continued on and graduated from law school at the university.
She practiced law a couple of years, then went to work for our Senior Senator, Richard Shelby. She was his Chief of Staff before becoming Chairman of the Business Council of Alabama. Katie is married to a popular young leader in the state, Wesley Britt, who played football at Alabama and went on to play pro-ball for the New England Patriots. They have two beautiful children.
Katie has a younger sorority sister, who is also a Wiregrass girl – Mary Margaret Carroll from Ozark. She was also an SGA president at the University of Alabama and is one of Alabama’s brightest young lobbyists.
Clay Ryan heads Governmental Affairs for the University of Alabama System. He is smart and savvy. He worked on Supreme Court races when Karl Rove was brought in by the Business community during the Tort Reform wars. He was directing governmental affairs for a prominent Birmingham law firm when he moved to the University of Alabama System. The 42 year old leads the governmental directions of the state’s largest employer.
Alabama Power will remain the most powerful governmental entity in the state for the next generation with the likes of Houston Smith (40) and R.B. Walker (33) who are prolific Governmental Affairs Specialists.
Houston is the son of a prominent Power Company couple. Both his mother and dad were top officers in the company. Houston is steeped in knowledge of utilities and Alabama government. R.B. grew up in Montgomery and was President of the Student Government Association at the University of Alabama. He understands politics.
Speaking of utility companies, Power South has a superstar lobbyist arising in 35 year old Montgomery native Taylor Williams.
Governor Kay Ivey has some young super stars on her staff. She has a husband and wife team that are outstanding in Bill and Liz Filmore. Liz has been with Kay Ivey going back to her campaign for Lt. Governor. She commands the Governor’s respect because of her unwavering loyalty and keen political senses.
Her husband, Bill Filmore, is the Governor’s Legislative Director. He has the respect of both parties and leaders of both Chambers. He is very knowledgeable and a straight shooter. Bill comes from a political family. His daddy is a Wiregrass judge and Bill was SGA President at Troy University.
Leah Garner, who is the Governor’s Communications Director is very bright and sees the big picture of Alabama politics. Gina Maiola does an outstanding job as the Governor’s Press Secretary. She is an extremely talented wordsmith. She shoots straight with the press and they appreciate her honesty and accessibility.
Speaking of the media, you have some outstanding under 45 superstars covering the political world in Alabama. Sean Ross (26) joined Yellowhammer News in 2018 and quickly became editor. He is doing a super job of putting this online media news network on top. He understands Alabama politics amazingly for his age. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama and was involved in student politics.
Jeff Poor has taken over talk radio in Huntsville. He is very knowledgeable and conservative in an erudite way. Talk radio is very popular in that part of the state. He brings a less strident and quality voice to that medium, especially in that market.
Young Jack Royer, at the ripe age of 24, has become the television anchor rock star in the state. He anchors the CBS 42 nightly news with Sherri Jackson. The Birmingham media market dominates the state. Jack who only graduated from the University of Alabama 2 years ago, was born to be a television reporter and anchor. His dad, Mike Royer, was a renowned and very highly respected TV anchor in Birmingham for decades.
See you next week.
April 22, 2020 - Alabama has some outstanding Political Leaders under 45
Many of you have lamented to me that it appears that all or most of our state political leaders are older folks. On first glance, that appears to be true. However, on a deeper observation we have some extremely talented younger stars on the horizon. In fact, they are already in the ring and making a difference.
There are a few names that are worth watching. Allow me to share with you a select group of Alabama’s under 45 outstanding leaders. There are two superstars already on the scene and leading the state: State Representative Bill Poole of Tuscaloosa and Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth.
Rep. Bill Poole is a true leader, not a politician. He quietly and effectively gets things done. In close to six decades of observing the legislature, I have never seen anyone rise to the level of diplomacy and effectiveness as Poole while at the same time be universally liked and respected by the entire legislature on both sides of the aisle. He has been in the legislature for only 10 years. However, after only four years he was made chairman of the House Ways and Means Education Budget Committee. This is one of, if not the most powerful positions in the legislature.
Poole may make a statewide move in 2022. However, from a power standpoint there are very few statewide positions that would equal being Chairman of the Ways and Means Education Budget Committee. Governor or U.S. Senator are the only two that would be comparable.
Speaking of Governor, our young 39 year old Lt. Governor, Will Ainsworth has an unabashed eye on the Governor’s office in 2022. If Kay Ivey does not run for a second term as most experts think will be the case, Ainsworth will be the frontrunner. He has set his sights on the brass ring and will be tough to beat. He has a very attractive young family and is a very good campaigner. He is very conservative and hails from vote rich North Alabama.
Another fellow that is Ainsworth’s neighbor from Sand Mountain, State Senator Clay Scofield, is the brightest young star under 45 in the Alabama State Senate. Scofield is a folksy farmer, who you cannot help but like. He comes from a long line of prominent farmers. He is in his third term and is only 39 years old and is already in a leadership position in the Senate.
Another senator to watch is 40-year-old freshman Chris Elliott from Baldwin County. He has previously served on the Baldwin County Commission and knows how to get things done. He is going to be an effective voice for the Gulf Coast region of the state.
Young 36-year-old Senator Andrew Jones is going to be a strong advocate for his Cherokee/Etowah County constituents. He works hard at home staying in touch with folks in his district.
The name that appears on most lists as the freshman Senator to watch is Cullman County’s Garlan Gudger. He is very sincere and exudes integrity. He is a businessman, non-lawyer which is more of the profile in the Republican laden State Senate.
The House of Representatives has at least four young under 45 superstars. State Representative, Chris England, 43, is atop the list. He is the son of prominent Tuscaloosa Judge John England. Chris, like his dad, is a lawyer by profession. He is in his third term in the House and is also Chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.
Representative Anthony Daniels of Huntsville is a superstar. He is serving his second term from the Rocket City and it is apropos that he is a high-tech businessman. This 36 year old gentleman is handsome, articulate, and chairs the Democratic Caucus in the House.
Representative Kyle South, who represents Fayette and Tuscaloosa Counties, is on a fast track in the House and understands politics.
Representative Wes Allen of Troy has a bright future. He is 44 and has already served 10 years as Probate Judge of Pike County.
You may have noticed that I have listed nine legislators, four from the Senate and five from the House. Three of the nine are from the Tuscaloosa metro area – Bill Poole, Chris England, and Kyle South – not a bad sign for the Druid City.
Newly elected Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed makes the list of the brightest young leaders in the state at 45. The Mayor of Alabama’s largest city, Birmingham, Randall Woodfin, is only 38. Therefore, the mayors of two of Alabama’s largest cities are 45 and under.
This concludes the 45 and under superstars that are actually in the political arena. Stay tuned next week, we will give you a list of those that affect the arena.
See you next week.
April 15, 2020 - Allow me to share some more observations from the year.
One of my favorite people in the world and one of the finest gentlemen I have ever known is State Representative Steve Clouse of Ozark. My relationship with Steve goes under the category of Alabama is one Big Front Porch.
His sweet mother, Mrs. Ruth Price Clouse, passed away a month or so ago at 93. There was a nice church service at the First Methodist Church of Ozark. Afterwards, Steve and his lovely wife, Dianne, invited folks to come over to their house across the street from their church. It was a splendid gathering.
Our mamas grew up as best friends and Steve and I are close friends. Mama and Mrs. Ruth were friends through grade school and Troy High School. Mrs. Ruth married Jimmy Clouse from Ozark. They had two children, Steve and Kay. I had a sister named Kay. I always wondered if that was just a coincidence.
Steve and I would play together as boys. As we grew older, we both went to the University of Alabama and were fraternity brothers. Then I went to the Legislature at around 31. Steve was elected eight years later. We served together in the House for about a decade.
Our districts adjoined – my district was Pike County and part of Dale County. Steve’s district was Dale County. Our names were so similar that people today get us confused. Whenever I stop in Ozark, invariably people will say to me, “I like the way you voted” on some measure thinking that I am Steve Clouse. He tells me the same thing happens to him; someone will say to him, “I liked your column this week.” However, that is where the similarities end. Steve is a better man that I am and, as he is quick to point out, he is five years younger.
If anyone knows the Katherine Tucker Windham adage, Alabama is just a Big Front Porch, it is Secretary of State John Merrill. He knows every crook and cranny of this state from one end to the other. He knows more people one-on-one than any other political figure in the state. He is by far the best retail politician in Alabama and has a tremendous grassroots organization in the Heart-of-Dixie.
Bradley Byrne worked hard in every county of the state in his race for the U.S. Senate. He has nothing to be ashamed of nor could he have done anything differently. He received 26% to Tommy Tuberville’s 33% and Jeff Sessions’ 32% in the March 3 primary. He could have won the race had Sessions not gotten in it at the last minute. He still would have probably made the run-off if a Super PAC, called the Club of Growth, had not spent over a half-a-million dollars in negative ads against him.
Byrne seems to be snake-bit by third party interlopers getting into his race. He would have won the 2010 governor’s race had Dr. Paul Hubbert and the AEA not spent two million dollars in negative ads against him. Now the Club for Growth kicks him out of the Senate race.
Very few Alabamians are aware that one of Alabama’s finest ladies, Vicki Drummond, of Jasper is Secretary of the National Republican Party. Mrs. Drummond was elected by her peers on the national committee to this prestigious and important post. She is the only Alabamian in state history to hold this position on the national political stage.
Vicki was a Republican before it was cool. She has worked in the state and Republican vineyards her entire adult life. She and husband, Dr. Mike Drummond, a Jasper dentist, have been leaders in their community and church, as well as the Republican party. They have two sons, Michael and Matthew, who both worked in the George W. Bush White House.
Mike Cason continues to be the premier political reporter in the state. The veteran follower of Alabama politics is concise and factual. You can take what he writes to the bank. He has taken the throne left by Phil Rawls as the best-on-the-block. He is also a good writer.
Joe Reed’s day as the King of the Democratic Party is over. A new, young group of outstanding leaders have taken the state Democratic Party away from him. His Alabama Democratic Conference took a terrible beating in the recent Democratic Presidential Primary in the state. Reed went out on a limb and endorsed Michael Bloomberg. Joe Biden gave him a good old-fashioned whipping in Alabama. Bloomberg only got 12 percent of the vote in the state.
Former governor Don Siegelman has a new book out, Stealing Our Democracy. It is a memoir that reveals how the political assassination of a governor threatens our nation.
See you next week.
April 8, 2020 - Some Observations
Allow me to share some observations from the year thus far. First of all, I have never seen anything like the coronavirus shutdown of the country. Hopefully, it is a once in a lifetime disaster.
Governor Kay Ivey remains popular. Even though some people consider the defeat of Amendment One a personal rejection, it was not. Alabamians just like to vote to elect their political and, in this case, educational leaders.
As you recall, Amendment One was asking Alabamians to give up their right to vote on the State Schoolboard and to allow the governor to appoint them instead. When I was queried on whether Amendment One would pass, I quickly told them it would lose 60 to 40. I was wrong, it took more of a shellacking than that. It lost 75 to 25. Folks, that sends a message. You may not know who serves on the State Schoolboard, but Alabamians surely want to vote for them.
Governor Ivey’s people do a good job of looking after her and protecting her time. She is all business and is very scheduled. She and her staff treat the office with a dignity I have not seen in decades. She is focused on the job at hand and an audience with her must be for a purpose, even with legislators. Her staff gets her in-and-out and protects her time and health. She has been especially isolated since the coronavirus epidemic. She will more than likely not run for a second term in 2022.
Waiting in the wings to run is Lt. Governor, Will Ainsworth. He just turned 39 and will be in the race for the brass ring in 2022. If being an outstanding family man is a prerequisite, he will be a contender. He has a genuinely sweet and pretty wife named Kendall. They have fraternal twin boys, Hunter and Hays, who are 10 and a little 8-year-old girl named Addie. I met the boys the night of the State of the State Address. Will brought them over to where I was standing and wanted us to meet. The little boys were the most polished ten-year-old’s I have ever met. They very politely, yet confidently looked me in the eye and shook my hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Flowers.” They exuded manners.
Kay Ivey only attends the most important events and she does not lollygag around conversing afterwards. Therefore, it was apparent when she came to Birmingham earlier this year to the Grand Opening of Dr. Swaid Swaid’s, state-of-the-art medical facility, that Swaid was special.
Dr. Swaid has been a friend and supporter of almost every governor, going back to George Wallace. Governor Wallace came to UAB to see Swaid and would not only want the famed physician to treat him for his numerous afflictions and ailments, but also enjoyed visiting with the jovial Galilean doctor. Swaid has many great stories from his and the governor’s visits and friendship.
Swaid’s best friend is State Senator Jabo Waggoner. They are really like brothers rather than just best friends. Jabo is the longest serving member in the history of the state legislature. He chairs the State Senate Rules Committee.
Jabo and Swaid and their families spend almost every weekend together, either at their homes in Vestavia or Smith Lake. However, they make it to their church, Homewood Church of Christ, almost every Sunday. Jabo and his beautiful wife, Marilyn, have attended the church for 45 years. Swaid has attended for 40 years. Jabo and Swaid are leaders in this mega church.
Recently, Jabo and Marilyn and Swaid and his lovely wife, Christy, invited me to join them for their church service and lunch afterwards. It was an enjoyable visit. The most rewarding part was meeting Swaid and Christy’s two sons, Christian and Cason. They are absolutely the politest and quality young men I have met. They are being raised right by an obviously good Christian father and mother.
Swaid built his state-of-the-art surgery hospital on well-traveled, easily accessible Highway 31 in Vestavia. He chose the location because he knew from his work over the years, that people from all over the state, especially rural areas, come to Birmingham for major surgery. Most of these patients are older and not familiar with Birmingham traffic, especially with maneuvering the labyrinth around UAB. It will make it much easier to see the world-renowned doctors in Swaid’s group.
If Swaid’s boys are an example of the next generation, our state may be in better hands than we think.
See you next week.
April 1, 2020 - “The 1964 Goldwater Landslide was the Beginning of Republican Dominance of the South”
Our primary runoffs have been postponed until July 14, 2020. It was a wise and prudent decision by Secretary of State John Merrill and Gov. Kay Ivey. Most voters are older and you are asking them to come out and vote and at the same time stay home.
The main event will be the GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate. The two combatants, Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville, will now square off in the middle of a hot Alabama summer. The winner will be heavily favored to go to Washington. We are a very reliably Republican state especially in a presidential election year.
Many of you have asked, “When did Alabama become a dominant one-party Republican state?” Well it all began in the Presidential year of 1964. The 1964 election was the turning point when the Deep South states of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina voted for Barry Goldwater and never looked back. It was the race issue that won southerners over for Goldwater. The Republican Party captured the race issue that year and have never let go of it.
The South which was known as the “Solid South” for more than six decades, because we were solidly Democratic, are today known as the “Solid South” because we are solidly Republican. Presidential candidates ignore us during the campaign because it is a foregone conclusion that we will vote Republican, just as presidential candidates ignored us for the first 60 years of the 20th Century, because it was a foregone conclusion that we were going to vote Democratic.
George Wallace had ridden the race issue into the Governor’s office in 1962. It had reached a fever pitch in 1964. Democratic President, Lyndon Johnson, had passed sweeping Civil Rights legislation which white southerners detested.
The only non-southern senator to oppose the Civil Rights legislation was Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. When the Republican Party met at the old Cow Palace in San Francisco, they nominated Goldwater as their 1964 presidential candidate. Johnson annihilated him, nationwide, but Goldwater won the South in a landslide.
Before that fall day in November of 1964, there was no Republican Party in Alabama. There were no Republican officeholders. There was no Republican primary. Republicans chose their candidates in backroom conventions. Except for a few Lincoln Republicans in the hill counties, it was hard getting a white Alabamian even to admit they were Republican.
That all changed in 1964. Goldwater and the Republicans became identified with segregation and the white Southern voter fled the Democratic Party en masse. As the Fall election of 1964 approached the talk in the country stores around Alabama was that a good many good ole boys were going to vote straight Republican even if their daddies did turn over in their graves. Enterprising local bottling companies got into the debate and filled up drink boxes in the country stores labeled Johnson Juice and Gold Water. The Gold Water was outselling the Johnson Juice 3-to-1.
Alabamians not only voted for Barry Goldwater but also pulled the straight Republican lever out of anger towards Lyndon Johnson’s Civil Rights agenda. Most of Alabama’s eight-member Congressional delegation, with more than 100 years of seniority was wiped out by straight ticket Republican voting on that November 1964 day.
Earlier that year, Lyndon B. Johnson, the toughest, crudest, most corrupt and yes most effective man to ever serve in the White House, made a profound statement. As he signed the Civil Rights Bill he had pushed through Congress, he looked over at the great Southern Lion, Richard Russell of Georgia, and as Senator Russell glared at Johnson with his steel stare, Lyndon said, “I just signed the South over to the Republican Party for the next 60 years.” Johnson’s words were prophetic.
Folks, beginning with the 1964 election, there have been 17 presidential elections counting this year. If you assume that Donald Trump carries our state in November, that is a safe assumption, Alabama has voted for the Republican nominee 16 out of 17 elections over the past 56 years. Georgia peanut farmer, Jimmy Carter, is the only interloper for the Democrats in 1976.
The U.S. Senate seat up this year was first won by a Republican in 1996. That Republican was Jeff Sessions.
So folks, in 1964, Alabama became a Republican state and it happened in what was called the Southern Republican “Goldwater Landslide.”
See you next week.