March 13, 2019 - Governor and Legislature Successfully Pass Infrastructure Program. Timing is Good.
Gov. Kay Ivey made infrastructure improvement in the state her cornerstone issue for this year, and more importantly for her term as governor. Within less than three months in office she and the Legislature have successfully accomplished this mission.
Last Friday the Alabama House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed monumental legislation on an 84-20 vote. It was a remarkable victory for the Governor and the House leadership. It was a bipartisan coalition of support. Only 18 of the 77 Republicans voted against the bills and only 2 of the 28 Democrats voted no. It is expected to pass in the Senate this week.
The leaders in the House were the sponsor, Rep. Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa), Speaker Mac McCutchen (R-Madison), Rep. Steve Clouse (R-Ozark), and Rep. Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville).
The Senate leaders are Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville), who is the Senate leader-sponsor, Sen. Del Marsh (R-Anniston), Sen. Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia), Sen. Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro), and Sen. Greg Reed (R-Jasper).
These legislative leaders, along with Gov. Kay Ivey, threw down the gauntlet and clearly dug in to make this Infrastructure Initiative their number one priority. These leaders recognized the need to improve our roads and bridges and the long-term economic expansion of our state. They are truly thinking about the next generation, not the next election.
Huntsville is projected to grow faster than any city in America over the next decade. The job growth will continue to be in high paying, high tech jobs. The new Toyota-Mazda plant there will be the largest in the world. They were promised roads and highways as part of their incentive to locate in North Alabama.
Our port city, Mobile, could be as large as Houston, Texas but our Mobile docks are outdated and need widening and deepening, as well as proper facilities built to handle large vessels and transport barges. It is geographically better located than Houston or New Orleans. If the port was deepened and widened, it could accommodate exponentially more cargo ships. Currently it is too small and shallow for the Mercedes vehicles manufactured in Tuscaloosa to be shipped out of our Alabama port.
The primary reason that the Legislature needs to act now is because there is more than likely a federal infrastructure program on the horizon. If we are to participate in garnering federal funds, we undoubtedly will have to have state revenues to match and draw down the federal funds.
Twenty-eight states have already raised their fuel tax to match the anticipated federal money. Let me tell you a little secret, ain’t any of those 28 states going to get to the federal trough ahead of us. None of them have the Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee.
Our Senior Senator, Richard Shelby, chairs the Appropriations Committee. He writes the federal budget. Therefore, he controls the United States federal checkbook. If we become the 29th state to get the ability to match federal funds, we don’t become the 29th state in line. We move to number one on the list.
Alabama has a treasure in Richard Shelby. He has not only been the longest serving U.S. Senator in Alabama history, he is also the most powerful U.S. Senator in Alabama history. His prowess and adroitness at bringing home the bacon to Alabama is legendary.
In my book, Six Decades of Colorful Alabama Political Stories, I have a Chapter entitled “Alabama’s Three Greatest U.S. Senators.” My suggestion was that U.S. Senators Lister Hill, John Sparkman, and Richard Shelby have been Alabama’s greatest. However, if I was writing that Chapter today, Shelby would be in a league of his own as the most powerful Senator in Alabama history.
Senators Hill and Sparkman were powerful and left a legacy, Hill in medical research and rural hospitals throughout the nation and Alabama. Sparkman was the Father of the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and delivered hallmark legislation that afforded housing for Americans as Chairman of the Banking Committee.
Senator Shelby over his 32 plus years in the Senate has chaired the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, Intelligence Committee and Rules Committee. However, his current perch as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee is unparalleled. Alabama has never had a Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee and more than likely never will again.
See you next week.
March 6, 2019 - State Revenues Up as Legislature Prepares for Session and Crafting of State Budgets
The Governor has been inaugurated and the Legislature has had its organizational session. The quadrennium has begun. Therefore, it is time for our state officials to get to work.
Among the three branches of government, Legislative, Executive and Judicial, our 1901 Alabama Constitution renders our Legislative Branch as the most powerful.
Some of you who witnessed the Wallace Era may disagree and point to the Executive Branch. That was a unique Era. Wallace had basically become “King” of Alabama politics from 1963 through 1986 with a couple of interlopers taking four-year residency in Wallace’s Governor’s Home on Perry Street. They left all of the wheelchair accessibility aspects and Wallace features designed for his paralysis and his cigar smoking bedroom in the Mansion alone. They probably assumed he would return after his constitutionally mandated hiatus. There will never be another politician that will control the reins of state government for five terms like Wallace did. He essentially established himself as “King of Alabama” in pretty much the same way as Franklin Delano Roosevelt did as President from 1932 until his death in 1945. Ironically and coincidentally, both ruled from wheelchairs.
Wallace simply owned the State Legislature. He was like a dictator and legislators were his puppets. As a young legislator, I watched as Wallace’s lieutenants simply sent the Agenda for the day down from the Governor’s office, bypassing the Rules Committee completely. The Governor’s budget became the budget. If there was any pork in the budget, it went to Wallace’s loyal legislators. Thankfully, I represented Wallace’s home county of Barbour. Therefore, my district was on the pork list. In essence during that 20-year Wallace reign, the Legislature was simply an appendage of the Governor’s office.
That is not the case today. The Legislature has assumed its inherent power. That power is derived from the power of the purse. The Legislature controls the appropriation of the state’s dollars, the ways and means of State Government if you will. It is the most powerful branch because it controls the purse strings. Thus the old political Golden Rule, “Those that control the gold make the rules.”
Governor Kay Ivey and the State Legislature have a golden opportunity to have a successful four years. They are all of the same party and have a close working relationship. As Lt. Governor and presiding officer of the Senate for over six years, Kay built an excellent rapport with the Republican leadership in the State Senate. She understands the workings and machinations of the Legislature and she has built excellent relationships with members of both the House and Senate. She is especially close to the Senate leaders like Del Marsh, Jabo Waggoner and Greg Reed.
The Legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. The Senate has 27 Republicans and only eight Democrats. There is an equally supermajority in the House. The numbers there are 77 to 28.
The Legislature and Governor are also the recipients of outstanding financial news as they begin their first regular legislative session this week. Alabama is seeing the strongest tax growth since the Great Recession a decade ago.
The tax dollars that makeup the Educational Trust Fund have grown by 6.9 percent over 2017. That is a whopping $428 million more dollars to work with in the crafting of the next fiscal year’s budget. The primary sources for funding the Education Budget are income and sales tax. Income taxes, the biggest source of school funding, grew by more than $300 million this past year.
It appears that President Trump and the Republican Congress’ passage of a tax cut package last year has been the stimulus for the growth in revenue for Alabama’s tax coffers. Even the beleaguered General Fund Budget is in better shape than was first thought. Our General Fund reaps its revenues from different taxes and tends to grow much more slowly than the Education Fund revenues. However, it grew by $76 million. This is a 2% gain, which puts the General Fund Projection close to $2 billion.
The good news for Legislators as they prepare the budgets for next year is that both fund’s revenues have exceeded projections.
See you next week.
February 27, 2019 - First Quarter of 2019. Eventful Politically. 2020 Campaigns are Kicking Off
As the first quarter of 2019 closes, a lot has happened. The governor and all of our constitutional officials have been sworn in and have begun their four-year terms in office with Kay Ivey as Governor, Will Ainsworth as Lt. Governor, John Merrill as Secretary of State, John McMillan as State Treasurer, Rick Pate as Agriculture Commissioner, and Jim Ziegler begins his second term as State Auditor.
More importantly, the State Legislature has organized and the Regular Session begins next week. They will be dealing with a myriad of major issues, not the least of which are the two state budgets. The Legislature is more important than who the Governor is in state government. The reason being is they appropriate the money. Those who have the gold make the rules. Another apropos adage is the Governor proposes but the Legislature disposes.
The powers in the 35-member Senate are Senator Del Marsh (R-Anniston), Senator Greg Reed (R-Jasper), Senator Jabo Waggonner (R-Vestavia), Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) and Senator Greg Albritton (R-Escambia). Orr and Albritton chair the Finance and Taxation Committees.
The leadership of the House consists of Speaker Mac McCutchen (R-Madison), Representative Victor Gaston (R-Mobile), Representative Mike Jones (R-Covington), Representative Bill Poole (R-Tuscaloosa), and Representative Steve Clouse (R-Ozark). Poole and Clouse chair the Budget Committees in the House.
All of the above lawmakers are Republicans. There is a super majority Republican domination in both Chambers. There are 77 Republicans in the House and only 28 Democrats. The State Senate is comprised of 28 Republicans with only 7 Democrats. There is only one white Democrat in the Senate. Senator Billy Beasley of Barbour, George Wallace’s home county.
As predicted the 2020 campaigns have begun. We have a presidential campaign next year. It should be interesting. We also have a U.S. Senate race. Our anomaly, Democratic Junior U.S. Senator Doug “the California Kid” Jones will be running for a full term as a U.S. Senator. His philosophy and voting record more closely reflects a California senator than his Alabama counterpart, Senator Richard Shelby. He is truly unashamedly a Liberal National Democrat. He votes right down the line with the Liberal Democratic leadership in Washington. His voting record is identical to Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders.
It is more of a parody than anomaly that one of the most, if not the most conservative states in America would have a Liberal Democrat representing them in the U. S. Senate. Indeed Jones is the only Democrat in any Deep South state in the Senate.
It would be safe to say that Jones will be the underdog next year. Unfortunately, for him, he more than likely will not have Roy Moore to run against. Although my guess is that Roy Moore might run. All of the early Republican entrees or prospects are up in age, which is not conducive to building seniority or power in the Senate. Roy Moore over is over 70. State Auditor, Jim Zeigler is 70, Congressman Bradley Byrne is 63, and State Senator Del Marsh is 62.
Byrne and Ziegler have significant name identification having run statewide and built a statewide organization. They would be the early favorites. Marsh can be a player if he is willing to spend his personal money. It would take $2 to 3 million to put him in the game.
Lt. Governor, Will Ainsworth, would be the perfect choice to take the Jeff Sessions/Jones seat. He is 37 years old and could build power for the state in Washington.
The Republican to watch, if he enters the Senate race, is Secretary of State John Merrill. He has a free shot. He has the best and broadest statewide grassroots political organization in modern Alabama political history. Nobody will come close to outworking him.
The Presidential Campaign Caravan has begun. There are a host of Liberal Democratic Senators lining up. Liberal is the optimum word, but most would prefer to be labeled Socialists. Their states will give you an indication of their philosophical tint. Senator Kristen Gillibrand of New York, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Senator Kamala Harris are seeking the Democratic nomination. A true Socialist Senator, Bernie Sanders, will more than likely join the fray. Also in is Julian Castro, who was Housing Director in the Obama Administration. His philosophy is akin to Fidel Castro.
Doug Jones should run for president. His Senate voting record is just as liberal as the aforementioned other Democratic senators. He has a proven Civil Rights record and his fundraising base is built in California and New York. His odds are probably better for winning the Democratic nomination for President than being elected to a full term as a Democratic Senator from the Heart of Dixie.
See you next week.
February 20, 2019 - Alabama Leads the Way with Female Government Leadership: Kay Ivey, Katie Britt, and Twinkle Cavanaugh
There has been a lot of talk about the advancement of women in politics over the past year. It has been suggested that more progressive states have led the way with this change. Alabama can very well make the case that we lead the nation in women taking leadership roles in our state.
It is very doubtful that any state in the nation can claim a female governor and a female chief executive of their states leading business organization.
Kay Ivey became Governor on January 14, after having been elected to her own four-year term in November. Kay had previously been the State Treasurer for eight-years and Lt. Governor for six-years. She was serving an unexpired term as Governor for two-years prior to her election last year.
On January 2, Katie Boyd Britt took over the reins of the state’s most powerful political organization, the Business Council of Alabama. She is the first woman to serve as the BCA’s President and Chief Executive Officer. She is not only the first woman CEO, she is by far the youngest CEO in BCA history.
Katie Britt comes to the BCA from Senator Richard Shelby’s office where she has been our Senior Senator’s Chief of Staff. Alabama Power CEO, Mark Crosswhite, who chairs the BCA’s Executive Committee said, “As the top staff member for Senator Shelby, she has worked daily with businesses and elected officials from Alabama and the country.
Katie has always been a bright star on the Alabama political stage. She grew up in Enterprise and served as President of the Student Government Association at the University of Alabama then graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law. Before becoming Chief of Staff, she worked in several posts in Senator Shelby’s office including Press Secretary. She is married to Wesley Britt, a former Alabama and professional football player and they have two children.
As Senator Shelby’s top advisor for the last five years, she has headed his Judicial Nomination Task Force. She has spearheaded the effort to recommend young talent for the eight vacancies serving Alabama on the Federal Circuit and District Court Benches.
As the Senator’s Chief of Staff, Katie has managed all of Shelby’s DC and state operations including matters relating to personnel throughout his six offices. She has overseen an administrative annual budget of almost $4 million. In addition, as Chief of Staff, she has been our Senior Senator’s ambassador before constituents’ community leaders, industry association heads and senior executives across our state and nation.
Upon taking the BCA reins, Katie said, “My heart is in Alabama. Our state has made significant progress in recent years and I am honored to have been chosen to lead the BCA during this time of growth.”
Kay and Katie are not the only female governmental leaders. Twinkle Cavanaugh serves as President of the Alabama Public Service Commission. She has been a state leader for decades. She is a past Chairman of the State Republican Party.
Our seven-member congressional delegation boasts of two female delegates to Congress. Given the fact that we only have seven congressional seats, two out of seven is a pretty good percentage.
Congresswoman Terri Sewell has represented the Seventh District of Alabama for close to a decade. She is on a fast leadership track in the Democratic House caucus. She is a Harvard educated lawyer who was born and raised in Selma. Her sprawling district, includes Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Montgomery and all of the Black Belt.
Congresswoman Martha Roby has represented southeast Alabama’s second district for close to a decade. She is also on a fast track within her party ranks. She is a favorite among the House Republican leadership.
Therefore, folks, Alabama does not take a backseat to any state when it comes to females in leadership roles in government.
Gov. Kay Ivey came out strongly in favor of a gasoline tax to meet the state’s infrastructure needs in her Inaugural Address. If successful, she will not only go down in history as the first female Republican governor and first female governor elected in her own right, she will also leave a legacy of improving Alabama economically for decades to come.
See you next week.
February 13, 2019 - AEA Dead or Not? The NEA needs to go home - the in-laws have overstayed their welcome
The Alabama Education Association (AEA) was the most powerful and influential political organization in Alabama for close to three decades. The late Dr. Paul Hubbert was the builder and King of this powerful organization. He became known as the King of Goat Hill. He reigned omnipotently over the Legislature.
All dynasties have to end. The AEA reign began to end with Dr. Hubbert’s retirement. The choice to succeed Dr. Hubbert with Henry Mabry was devastating for the organization. Mabry’s ludicrous and foolhardy stay was the worst nightmare that Hubbert could have imagined.
The AEA was Dr. Hubbert’s child. He was a steward and fierce and frugal protector of their financial resources. He did not throw his organizations money away. Henry Mabry did.
Mabry appeared to be on a mission to dismantle and ransack AEA’s treasury and he succeeded. It made Dr. Hubbert sick and probably helped drive him to his grave. Mabry frivolously depleted the organization’s resources as well as their Political Action Committee’s dollars.
I witnessed a prime example of Mabry’s spiteful frivolity. Dr. Hubbert had an in-house polling group, probably the best in the state. He knew through his polling what legislators could be beaten and who could not be beaten. Mabry inherited this pollster.
Veteran State Senator, Jimmy Holley, had refused to do Mabry’s bidding on an issue. Mabry decided to come after Holley. AEA’s polling showed that Holley could not be beaten and that he would win 60-to-40 against whoever ran. Mabry went to Coffee County and found a candidate to run against Holley, an inept fellow who couldn’t win regardless. Mabry promised and gave the candidate $100,000. They spent it and the polling revealed the same, Holley 60-40. The pollster told Mabry the result was going to be the same. Mabry stubbornly and stupidly spent another $100,000 on the erstwhile candidate. The final result was Holley won, 60-to-40. This scenario played out all over the state.
Mabry began the death of the AEA. A fellow with a name similar to Dr. Hubbert, Mike Hubbard, rode the Republican sweep of the Legislature into a reign as Speaker of the House. Hubbard in true Machiavellian form laid the final stake in the heart of the AEA. Hubbard made it his mission to lay the AEA to rest. The most destructive stake was the legislative prohibition of their automatic payroll deductions. This dealt a fatal blow to the funding stream that supported their powerful PAC.
As the AEA lay in disarray and on life support, the National Education Association (NEA) stepped in to stabilize AEA.
AEA and its dedicated Alabama members have climbed out of that pit. They have elected a strong Board of Representatives from throughout the state. They have worked diligently and paid back their debt to NEA.
However, the NEA, similar to Reconstruction liberals from up North who refused to go home, now want to stay and keep control and take over the AEA’s resources. NEA is overtly involving itself in the state organizations governing process, ignoring the will of the Alabama membership and refusing to relinquish its cash cow.
Some folks remember the days of the company store where employees had to spend their checks and stay indebted to the company and truly never find freedom again. We are witnessing that scenario play out here in Alabama with the NEA’s foot on the necks of the local AEA.
Alabama’s teachers, bus drivers, nurses and lunchroom staff work for very little pay to educate our children. They help to build our future work force.
AEA’s members are local Alabamians who are not wild-eyed liberals. AEA’s members and Board members reflect Alabama values and do not mirror the liberal NEA values.
It is time for the NEA to exit Alabama and allow the AEA to work with the Alabama legislature and business leaders to improve education in Alabama. In other words, the in-laws have overstayed their welcome. It’s time for them to go home.
See you next week.
February 6, 2019 - Organizational Session, Legislative Leadership, and Potential New Legislative Stars
The Legislature has met for their organizational session and elected their leadership for the next four years.
Both the House and Senate leadership remain essentially the same as the last quadrennium.
Senator Del Marsh, R-Anniston, was elected Senate President Pro Tem. Senator Greg Reed, R-Jasper, remains Majority leader. Senator Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia continues as Rules Chairman and Senator Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, will again be Chairman of Finance and Taxation/Education. The only new leader will be Senator Greg Albritton, R-Escambia, who will be Chairman of the Senate General Fund Committee.
The House leadership is completely intact. Representative Mac McCutchen, R-Madison, was reelected as Speaker of the House. Veteran Legislator, Victor Gaston, R-Mobile will be Speaker Pro Tem. Representative Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, will be Chairman of the General Fund Ways and Means Committee. Representative Bill Poole, R-Tuscaloosa, will Chair the Education Budget Committee. Representative Mike Jones, R-Andalusia, will set the House Agenda as Rules Committee Chairman and Representative Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Dekalb, will serve as Majority leader.
Representative Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, will be the House Minority Leader and Senator Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, will be Senate Minority Leader. There a good many new House members and Senators. Approximately 30 percent of the House of Representatives is comprised of new members.
The Freshman Class of State Senators has 13 new members. That makes up one-third of the 35-member body. There are 11 new Republicans and two new Democrats in the Senate.
This new class of legislators has some potential stars. First on most lists in the Senate is Sam Givhan from Huntsville. Givhan is the grandson of legendary Black Belt Senator, Walter C. Givhan. He comes to the Senate with not only a strong pedigree but extensive leadership experience. He is a successful economic developer and attorney. He has been chairman of the Madison County Republican Party.
Senator Will Barfoot of Montgomery will be an able replacement for Dick Brewbaker in his Montgomery, Pike Road, Autauga, Elmore, and Crenshaw district. He is an attorney by profession and is open, affable and very likeable. He may be as popular as Brewbaker. He carried every box in his district against a viable opponent.
Young Garlan Gudger will be a quick study and will be a stalwart bulldog for his Cullman and Northwest Alabama district. He has deep roots in Cullman County and has a bright future.
Senator Donnie Chesteen moves over from the House to the Senate. His Wiregrass district encompasses all of Dothan and Houston and Geneva counties. He is a native of the area and very popular. He is a former coach, knows his people, and has not become aloof. He is humble, accessible and a thoughtful decisive legislator. He will fit in well in the Senate and will probably stay awhile.
Senator Chris Elliott of Baldwin will be immensely effective. He has been a Baldwin County Commissioner and will be a fierce advocate for the coastal area.
Senator David Sessions from Mobile moves from the House to the Senate. He is a successful farmer and will be an effective voice for the Gulf Coast region.
Centre Senator, Andrew Jones, is very sincere. He will be an ardent worker for his Etowah/Cherokee district.
Newly elected Senator Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, is a successful businessman who has been active civically in Jefferson County for years and will serving in the Senate as a public servant.
In the House, Representative David Wheeler from Vestavia has been around Alabama politics for 40-years. This will be a small learning curve for him.
Young Will Dismukes of Autauga appears on most lists of potential rising stars. He has a bright future.
Wes Allen from Troy has been Probate Judge of Pike County. He is young with governmental experience.
Tracy Estes from Marion County will be a diligent and effective Representative for his Northwest Alabama district.
Several of the Freshman House members have governmental experience. Jeff Sorrells has been Mayor of Hartford. Rhett Marquis from Coffee County comes from the Enterprise City Council. Rex Reynolds from Huntsville has a lot of law enforcement experience. Many observers point to Ginny Shaver of Cherokee County as a real leader to follow.
When it comes to young legislative stars, the two brightest are still Bill Poole of Tuscaloosa on the Republican side and Anthony Daniels from Huntsville for the Democrats.
See you next week.
January 30, 2019 - Infrastructure Program Should Be Priority 1
As the new quadrennium crests in Alabama government, everybody looks toward a new beginning. There is a new fresh four years ahead for the newly elected leaders. They are overwhelmingly Republican. The Governor is Republican and all of the accompanying constitutional officeholders are members of the GOP. More importantly, the State Legislature, both the House and the Senate are Republicans. In fact, over two-thirds of each chamber are Republican. It is a supermajority.
The cards are lining up for these leaders to leave a legacy. That legacy could and should be to rebuild Alabama’s roads and bridges. The optimum word is infrastructure. Folks know that it is time. Alabamians see the needs everyday as they drive to work. The staunchest and most conservative people I know throughout the state tell me, adamantly, that they are flat ready to pay more in gasoline tax to fix their roads.
The hue and cry arises from rural folks whose roads are impassable from large potholes. Birmingham’s roads are deplorable. Suburban commuters who have to travel highway 280 in Jefferson and Shelby counties are exasperated. Indeed, commuters in the state from all of our largest metro areas are acutely aware of the horrendous log jams they experience every day.
The country folks have figured out that it would be cheaper to pay more for gasoline than it is to pay for having their frontends aligned and tires balanced every few weeks from hitting holes in their roads. A good many of the rural bridges in the state have been condemned and are hazardous for heavy trucks and school buses to travel.
The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) has an unprecedented number of unmet repairs and expansions. A spokesman for ALDOT says there are $10 billion of identified capacity projects and needs.
Some big-ticket items on the ALDOT list include a new Interstate 10 and bridge and Bayway widening project in Mobile and Baldwin Counties, the completion of the Birmingham northern beltline, the Montgomery Outer Loop, and additional lanes along the interstate in Huntsville.
Speaking of Huntsville, they are poised to be one of the fastest growing areas of the entire nation over the next decade. It is imperative that their infrastructure needs are met to keep pace with their expansion. Toyota-Mazda is set to build their largest plant in the Huntsville-Madison metro area. They were assured that roads would be built to accommodate their location and expansion.
Alabama, like most states, relies on gasoline taxes to pay for their roads and bridges. It has been 26 years since our gas tax was raised. The last time that Alabama had an increase in our fuel tax was 1992. That state increase was just ahead of the last federal gas tax increase enacted by Congress.
President Donald Trump pledged while running and again after his election in 2016 to advance a massive infrastructure program, the largest in U.S. history. He signaled support for increasing the federal gasoline tax to pay for this American infrastructure initiative.
This rebuilding of America infrastructure is one of the bipartisan issues that both Democrats and Republicans are espousing.
It is a certainty that states will have to come up with matching dollars to get the federal money. Indeed, 28 states have raised or reformed their taxes since 2013 in anticipation of a federal tax increase which they will have to match.
This is the one issue in which both parties in Washington can come to an agreement. We in Alabama are not ahead of the curve, but we are poised to maybe come to grips with this issue.
A gasoline tax increase to fund infrastructure needs will be the paramount issue of 2019. My guess is that it will happen this year. Governor Kay Ivey, shortly after taking office, said she “supported an increase in the state gasoline tax to fix state roadways.”
House Speaker, Mac McCutchen, of Huntsville, has trumpeted the need for a road program for years. Most of his Republican colleagues in the House ran for reelection without having to take a vow that they would not raise any new revenue or taxes.
The stars are aligned for Alabama to act. The time is now. The timing is good. We will probably never have the Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee as our Senior Senator ever again. Senator Richard Shelby will make sure that we get our fair share of the federal money. However, we must have the basic revenue to draw down the federal funds.
See you next week.
January 23, 2019 - New Federal Judges in Alabama – Future Legacy
Regardless of what happens in Donald Trump’s administration over the next two years, he will have a proven record of success as President especially if you are a conservative American.
One of, if not the most important accomplishment of any president is the opportunity to appoint a United States Supreme Court Justice. Folks, Trump has appointed and gotten confirmed two members of the Supreme Court in two years. This is a remarkable achievement. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh will have an immense impact on American laws and values for more than likely over two decades, long after Donald Trump is dead and gone. Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are young, in their early 50s and will be a part of many landmark rulings that will profoundly affect American public policy.
Trump’s selection of these two extremely well qualified jurists were wise ones, both are exceptionally groomed and scripted to be outstanding Justices. They are considered mainstream, moderate conservatives with the perfect educational and judicial background and experience.
Kavanaugh’s confirmation was more controversial because his choice is a pivotal swing vote on the Court that tilts the Court to a conservative majority. Gorsuch was an even swap, a conservative for a conservative. He replaced conservative Justice Anton Scalia.
Kavanaugh’s appointment was critical. The liberal Democrats had to go to the wall and declare all out war by whatever means to derail and delay the Kavanaugh confirmation. The Court swung to becoming a conservative tribunal with Kavanaugh. The Court had four liberals and four conservatives. Kavanaugh replaced the swing vote on the Court, Anthony Kennedy. Therefore, the Court is now five conservatives to four liberals. Make no doubt about it, the confirmation of a Supreme Court Judge is very political.
The liberals had to resort to extreme measures to preserve the possibility that the Republicans could lose their control of the U.S. Senate which, gives consent to a President’s SCOTUS appointments.
In today’s extremely partisan politics, lines are drawn and there are no prisoners kept, both sides go for the jugular vein. Therefore, the only way for Trump to be successful in his garnering the placement of two conservative justices is because he has a Republican majority Senate with some very adroit veteran GOP Senate leaders like Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley and Richard Shelby paving the way.
Speaking of our Senior Senator, Richard Shelby, he has masterminded and orchestrated a legendary coup of his own when it comes to our U.S. Federal Judges in Alabama.
In conjunction with the Trump administration, Shelby has placed six new Federal Judges in Alabama, all young and conservative. This Shelby/Trump triumph has secured a two to three decade dominance of conservative federal judges in the Heart of Dixie.
During the Obama years at least six federal judgeships became vacant in Alabama. President Obama appointed replacements but Senator Shelby and our former Senator Jeff Sessions sat on them and refused to allow them to be confirmed. These seats have remained vacant due to partisan gamesmanship. Shelby and Sessions were hoping that a day would come when there would be a Republican President and they could place these lifetime appointments into conservative hands. That day miraculously arrived last January.
Senator Shelby and his former Chief of Staff and now BCA President, Katie Britt, spent the entire year of 2018 interviewing, vetting and selecting these judges to assure that they were young, conservative, qualified, and confirmable.
They have indeed accomplished this lifetime feat for Alabama. Liles Burke and Anne Marie Axon are the two new judges for the Northern District. Emily Marks and Andrew Brasher will join conservative Chief Judge William Keith Watkins in the Middle District. The Southern District will have two new Trump-Shelby appointees in Terry Moorer and Jeffrey Beaverstock.
Senator Richard Shelby has further enhanced his legacy for decades to come and has placed an indelible stamp on the federal judiciary in Alabama with these judicial appointees.
See you next week.
January 16, 2019 – What Will Our Congressional Districts Look Like After the 2020 Census
Preparations are being made to take the 2020 Census. This process is not just a fun game to spell out demographic changes and interesting tidbits about us as Americans. It is a very important mandate dictated by the Constitution. The number of people counted determines how many seats each state has in Congress. Thus, it is taken every 10-years.
The Country has been changing, demographically, over the last decade, as it always has over the course of history. The states of California, Texas and Florida continue to grow exponentially. All Americans, not just older ones, seek the sun. They like a sunny, warm climate. That is why our neighboring state of Florida is and has been for decades America’s growth state.
Last week I visited with you about our 1940’s Congressional Delegation. At that time we had nine seats. We lost one after the 1960’s census. We lost another after 1980. We are projected to lose another one after this upcoming Census of 2020. We now have seven seats. It is predicted that we will only have six after next year. We most certainly will lose one to California if they are allowed to count illegal immigrants.
The State Legislature is constitutionally designated as the drawer of lines of congressional districts for each respective state. Currently, we have six Republican seats and one Democratic seat. If indeed we drop from seven to six Congressional districts, how will it shake out.
The census will reveal that Huntsville and North Alabama have been our growth spots. Alabama’s population continues to move toward the northern tier of the state. Two out of every three Alabamians live in Birmingham, Hoover, and Tuscaloosa north.
The Black Belt continues to lose population. The census will also reveal quite a disparity of financial prosperity. It will show that the same Black Belt counties are some of the poorest areas of the country and conversely Huntsville will be one of the most prosperous.
So who are the winners and losers under Congressional redistricting? You start with one premise. You have to have one majority minority African American district. The federal courts have mandated this edict. Therefore, Congresswoman Terri Sewell’s district is sacred. It now is very large, geographically. It will become even larger. The district will take in most of the African American population in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa and Montgomery, and the entire Black Belt stretching from south of Birmingham and Tuscaloosa all the way to Mobile. It will be a big geographic district and be numbered district six rather than seven.
This leaves us with five Republican districts and six incumbent Republicans. Therefore, who gets the short end of the stick. A cursory look says the odd person out is Martha Roby in the second district.
However, our current delegates have already come up with a plan to save everybody. Mo Brooks, the Congressman from Huntsville, will choose to move up or out in 2022. He is assuming that Senator Richard Shelby retires at age 88. Therefore, Brooks will see his fast-growing Tennessee Valley district divided and delved out to a plan that grows the districts north, which complies with the growth pattern.
Our senior and most seniority laden Congressman, Robert Aderholt, will opt to stay in Congress rather than risk a run for the Senate. This is a very wise and prudent move for him and the state. He has over 24-years in seniority and is in line to be Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. He will move north and pick up part of the Huntsville area and he will cut Gadsden loose. Mike Rogers will move north and pick up Gadsden and all of northeast Alabama, which is a more natural fit for him with his native Anniston area.
Rogers’ move north will allow him to abandon Auburn-Opelika, which in turn allows Roby’s district to exist primarily like it is with the population centers of East Montgomery, Elmore, Autauga, and the Wiregrass and Dothan and that district will add Auburn-Opelika.
The current 6th District of Jefferson-Shelby represented by Gary Palmer will remain essentially the same. Its upscale suburbs will make it one of the most Republican in the nation.
The last district seat of Mobile-Baldwin will remain intact and will still be District 1. However, the tremendous growth of Baldwin will require that the district only contain Mobile and Baldwin. The cadre of rural counties north of Mobile that are currently in the District will have to be cut loose to probably go to the Black Belt district.
The current 1st District Congressman, Bradley Bryne, is running for the U.S. Senate in 2020. However, his replacement will be a conservative Republican.
See you next week.
January 9, 2019 - Alabama’s 1940’s Congressional Delegation
Recently I came across a copy of an old congressional directory from 1942. It is always fun for me to read about this era in American political history.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been first elected in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression. He would go on to be reelected in 1936, 1940 and 1944 and would have been reelected into perpetuity. However, he died in Warm Springs, Georgia in April of 1945, only four months into his fourth term. He was the closest thing we Americans have ever had to having a king. Nobody has or ever will serve four terms as President. After FDR's omnipotent reign, the Constitution was changed to limit our presidents to two four-year terms.
Roosevelt brought the country out of the Depression with his New Deal. However, he did not do it alone. He worked closely with a Democratic Congress. They congruently changed the nation and it’s government. Our Alabama delegation was an integral part of that transformation. Our delegation in Washington was seniority laden and very much New Dealers.
A cursory perusal of Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation, reveals that a standard prerequisite for being successful in politics in Alabama during that time was to have been a military veteran. All of our congressmen had been veterans of World War I, unless they were too old to have served.
In the 1940’s we had nine congressmen, whereas today we have seven. All nine members of our congressional delegation were men and all were Democrats. Today, we have six Republicans and one token Democrat.
There are several differences in our delegation on the Potomac today and our group of gentlemen congressmen of over 70 years ago. Obviously, their partisan badges have changed as have Alabamians. Another observation is the tremendous difference in power and seniority of the 1940s group versus our group today. Of that group of men, which included Frank Boykin, George Grant, Henry Steagall, Sam Hobbs, Joe Starnes, Pete Jarman, and John Sparkman, many of them had been in Congress for decades and wielded significant influence. Indeed, from the mid 1940s through 1964 ours was one of the most powerful delegations in the nation’s capital. They had risen to power through their seniority and their allegiance to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal policies.
Henry Steagall from Ozark in the 3rd Congressional District was Chairman of the prestigious Banking Committee. He was instrumental in the passage of much of FDR’s New Deal banking laws which were revamped in the wake of the collapse of America’s banks in 1929 and the subsequent Great Depression. He was the sponsor of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act, which was a lynchpin foundation of FDR’s Banking Resurrection Plan coming out of the Depression.
One of the monumental differences in that era’s delegation and today’s is their philosophical voting records. As mentioned, that group of men were witnesses to and participants of the Great Depression. Every one of them had been born in the late 1800s, therefore, they were in the prime of their life when the Great Depression struck. They witnessed the devastation of the country.
These men voted lockstep with FDR’s liberal agenda to transform America. Given this partisan progressive loyalty to FDR and the New Deal, this delegation’s voting record was one of the most liberal in the nation. Because of their loyalty to FDR’s programs, coupled with this group’s seniority, no state benefited from the New Deal agenda more than Alabama. Through the Works Progress Administration and the creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, Alabama progressed. The Tennessee Valley of North Alabama was especially transformed.
Later John Sparkman would create the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, which made this North Alabama city one of the most prosperous and progressive areas of the country.
To the contrary, our delegation today is one of the most conservative in America. It was a different era.
See you next week.