November 21, 2018 - Alabama vs. Auburn Game
The only sport that Alabamians enjoy more than Alabama politics is college football. We especially love the Alabama vs. Auburn football game. Folks, this is Alabama/Auburn week in Alabama. The Alabama vs. Auburn annual event is one of the fiercest of college football rivalries. It is the game of the year. It is a state civil war that divides friends and even families. It is bragging rights for the entire year. The loser has to live with his boasting next door neighbor for 364 days. It seems that one must choose a side no matter if you despise college football and could care less who wins. Newcomers to our state are bewildered on this fall day each year. They cannot comprehend the madness that surrounds this epic war. It is truly that, a war. It is the game of the year.
Young boys all over Alabama grow up playing football in their front yards and dream of playing in this big game. It is said that when these two rivals meet one can throw out the record books. However, that is not necessarily true. In fact, in 90 percent of the games the favorite has won. A lot of SEC championships and bowl games have been decided in the game. It has made many Alabamians’ Thanksgiving holiday either joyous or sad. I liked the rivalry better when it was played at Legion Field, but I am an old-timer in heart and age.
The game was not played for 40-years between 1908 and 1948. Myth has it that the game was halted because of the intense rivalry. That is not the case. The true history of the ceasing and renewal is that after the 1907 games, the schools could not agree on the terms of the contract. The dispute involved meal money, lodging, officials and how many players each side could bring. Football was not the passion it is today so the two schools let the matter rest and the fans did not seem to care.
That began to change as college football grew to a major sport in the 1940s. When the series resumed, a popular myth was that the Alabama Legislature called a special meeting and forced the teams to play. This never happened, but the Alabama House of Representatives did pass a resolution in 1947 to encourage, not force, the schools to meet in football, and the officials at Alabama and Auburn agreed. The Presidents of Auburn and Alabama simply talked with each other and decided it would be in the best interest of the schools to start playing again on an annual basis.
The contract was drawn up, the papers signed and the rivals literally buried the hatchet. On the morning of December 4, 1948, the president of each school’s student bodies dug a hole at Birmingham’s Woodrow Wilson Park, tossed a hatchet in and buried it. The series began again in 1948 with a 55-0 Alabama victory and the teams have squared off every season since.
Alabama leads the series 45-36-1. This record reveals that Alabama has not dominated the series, like it has against other SEC rivals and other national powerhouse programs.
In the political arena, the University of Alabama alumni have dominated the Alabama political scene. During the 60-year period from 1910 through the 1970s, almost every Alabama Governor, U. S. Senator, and Congressman was a graduate of the University of Alabama, either undergraduate, Law school, or both.
Currently, our state’s most prominent and powerful political figure, Richard Shelby, is a graduate as an undergraduate and the Law School at the University.
A couple of Auburn men broke through the ice to grab the brass ring of Alabama politics, the Governor’s office, Gordon Persons won in 1950 and Fob James, a former Auburn halfback won in 1978 as a Democrat and came back and won a second term as a Republican in 1994. In recent years, since 1982, Governors George Wallace, Don Siegelman, Bob Riley and Robert Bentley have all been Alabama Alumni.
However, our current Governor, Kay Ivey, is an Auburn girl through and through. She and her best friend, Jimmy Rane, became political allies at Auburn. They both have turned out fairly well.
Newly elected State Representative, Wes Allen of Pike County, was a walk-on wideout on one of Alabama’s National Championship teams. He was coached by Gene Stallings and Dabo Swinney. Wes’s father is State Senator Gearld West of Tuscaloosa. This is a first in Alabama political history, a father and a son tandem serving in the Alabama Legislature together.
See you next week.
November 14, 2018 - Kay Ivey, Our 55th Governor
The legendary Alabama storyteller, Kathryn Tucker Windham, used to say, “Alabama is like a big front porch.” She was right, I have found that to be the case my entire life. Even recently, as I’ve traversed the state, I am always amazed at how you can visit with someone in one part of the state who is kin to or were college roommates with someone in another corner of Alabama.
The Alabama that Kay Ivey and I grew up in was even more like a front porch. Kay grew up in Wilcox County where her family had been for generations. Therefore, she knew most everybody in the county and Camden. There were and still are less than 12,000 people in Wilcox County. There have always been more pine trees than people in the county.
She grew up with and has always been best friends with a trio of very accomplished people. As I sometimes say when I see someone who I’ve known all my life, I’ve never not known them. Kay has never not known Jeff Sessions, Jo Bonner, and Judy Bonner. She was like a big sister to them growing up in Camden.
It’s truly amazing that a small South Alabama County just north of Mobile would spawn our U.S. Senator for 20 years, Jeff Sessions, Mobile Congressman, Jo Bonner who served Mobile, Baldwin and southwest Alabama for more than a decade, and former University of Alabama President, Judy Bonner, and now a Governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey. Even more amazing is that they grew up together and are contemporaries.
They all have impeccable southern manners, and are all quick to say yes m’am, no m’am and thank you religiously. Some of you might think that Kay’s Black Belt accent is accentuated. It is real and unique and indicative of someone who has roots in that area of the state. You might notice that Jeff Sessions diction and accent is similar.
The most important thing that can be said about Governor Kay Ivey, Senator Jeff Sessions, Congressman Jo Bonner and President Judy Bonner is that you have never ever heard one comment or even one inkling of anything unethical or improper or taint of scandal about their public or personal lives. Folks, they were brought up right in Wilcox County.
Kay Ivey was born to be a leader. She was president of everything in her high school. She went to Girl’s State and was a leader there. By the way, she continues to go back to Girl’s State every year to counsel and help lead the organization. She spent a short stint as a teacher, then banker in Mobile. Then politics beckoned and another Black Belt, Speaker of the House, Joe McCorquodale, made Kay the Reading Clerk in the House of Representatives. She parlayed that job into a job as Legislative Liaison for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. I really got to know Kay at this point. I was a legislator with a major university in my district. She was plain spoken, straight forward, and very honest. Kay has always been known for her integrity and upfront frankness and honesty. To use an old saying, her word is her bond. She will not lie and she will not cheat or steal. She was raised right.
Kay then got into the arena. She was elected State Treasurer twice where she served for eight years. Then she was elected Lt. Governor twice. She ascended to Governor 20 months ago and has done an excellent job of steadying the Ship of State. She seems keenly interested and driven by economic and industrial development. That will be her hallmark legacy. The state is poised to grow economically and industrially over the next four years.
In the closing days of her very successful race to be Alabama’s 55th Governor, she revealed in an ad a letter from her days as a young girl visiting Governor Lurleen Wallace in the Governor’s Office, a letter she had written about the Governor’s desk. “This is the closest I’ll get.” However, deep down, I believe she dreamed that one day she would sit in that chair and now she does.
Kay Ivey is the second female elected Governor of Alabama. However, she is the first elected Republican female and the only female elected in her own right.
She will be a good Governor. Probably the best we have had in a while.
See you next week.
November 7, 2018 - “More Than Election Going on In Alabama Politics”
Our gubernatorial election year politics ended yesterday. However, there have been other political maneuverings and developments going on behind the scenes, which may ultimately have more long-term ramifications in the Heart of Dixie’s political future.
The selection of a new Business Council of Alabama leader is imminent and will probably occur in the next few days. In addition, the jockeying and wrangling for the U.S. Senate Seat in 2020 has begun.
Alabama Power President, Mark Crosswhite, prudently cleaned house at the BCA earlier this year. He organized a team of Cardinals to interview and select a new leader. Much like the vetting process for a new Pope, the Cardinals meet in total secrecy and send out smoke signals from the Vatican that they have not yet reached a decision. However, there are smoke signals that a new leader of the BCA is about to be named. The process has been very private with no leaks.
This entire year long process of removing Billy Canary, who had reigned for 12 years, and selecting a new CEO has been a battle of business titans in the state. It has been a battle waged behind an iron curtain.
The role of Mark Crosswhite in this change has been clear. Mr. Crosswhite has emerged as the clear leader of the Alabama Business Community.
The original BCA was forged under the leadership of former Alabama Power President, Elmer Harris, several decades ago. It had become a toothless tiger in recent years through poor leadership.
Mr. Crosswhite has picked the organization out of the junk pile and given it new life. Chances for a new beginning happen very few times. Like in politics, after the election, you must govern. My belief is that with a new leader and a fresh start the Business Council of Alabama will emerge bigger and better than ever.
You can rest assured that the business community of Alabama, and indeed the nation, will be looking forward to defeating Doug Jones in 2020. It is a glaring anomaly that one of the most conservative Republican states in America would have an ultra-liberal, leftwinger in one of our senate seats. In last year’s Special Election against Roy Moore, Jones received $22 million from the most liberal zip codes and enclaves in America, especially from the left coast of California and San Francisco. It was the only show bill in town, and Roy Moore energized liberal money from throughout the country. Thus, the two truisms, “more people vote against someone than for someone,” and “money is the mother’s milk of politics,” combined to create Alabama’s accidental anomaly, Senator Doug Jones.
Our anomaly senator has done nothing to remedy the uncertainty about who he is since taking office. He has done no campaigning or visiting around the state. He has shown a disregard and disinterest in basic political practices, like getting out among the rank and file Alabamians. Jones seems to just go to Washington to vote, then back to Mountain Brook. The book on Jones is that he will not be elected to a full term in 2020. It is a presidential election year and Alabama will vote for the Republican nominee, probably Donald Trump, overwhelmingly. This is a Republican senate seat and it will be won by a Republican. Jones seems to know this, therefore, he appears content to represent California during his tenure.
As soon as Jones was sworn in, the race to be the Republican nominee began. The obvious candidates are one, if not all, of our six Republican members of Congress. Speculation abounded that the three best potential congressional horses would be Robert Aderholt, Bradley Byrne and Mo Brooks.
The horse that has emerged as the favorite is Bradley Byrne. He has started early and has staked out the inside track. He has crisscrossed the state building an organization and is collecting and tying up the Washington establishment money.
Aderholt will probably defer to staying in the House. He has over 20 years of seniority and is in line to chair the Appropriations Committee. Congressman Mike Rogers is moving up in seniority and is on Armed Services. Mo Brooks is expected to defer to Byrne in 2020 and look to run for Senator Shelby’s seat in 2022 if he retires.
This stealth campaign for the 2020 Senate race has been going on this entire gubernatorial year. Byrne is indeed laying his stakes. There is a maxim in life and politics, “the early bird gets the worm.”
See you next week.
October 31, 2018 - “General Election Next Week”
This time two years ago, I was bubbling over with anticipation with expectations that I would have two years of fun following an exciting governor’s race. Well, Ole Robert Bentley spoiled my parade.
Back in the old days, governors could not succeed themselves. They were governor for one four-year term and then you were out. That means we had a governor’s race every four years and man would they be doozies. We would have 10 candidates, about half of them would be “run for the fun of it” candidates. The most colorful would be Shorty Price.
However, there would be 3 to 4 viable candidates. These handful of bigtime candidates would fight it out for a place in the runoff. It would be for a place in the Democratic runoff. In bygone days the Democratic Primary nomination was tantamount to election.
Today, it is just the other way around. Nowadays winning the Republican Primary is tantamount to election in the good ole Heart of Dixie. The more things change the more they stay the same in Alabama politics. Boy, when we change, we really change. We were a one-party state then and we are a one-party state now.
When Kay Ivey won the GOP mantle back in June, she essentially won the governor’s race. By the way, she won her Republican Primary impressively, 56 to 44. Ironically, she is poised to win the General Election by about the same margin. She will win next Tuesday because she is the Republican nominee.
When Bentley left office early in disgrace that allowed Kay to ascend from Lt. Governor to Governor. She was wise and politically savvy enough to not rock the boat. She has surrounded herself with good people and has run an excellent campaign. As the quasi incumbent she has been able to look very gubernatorial. Her mature, grandmotherly appearance and demeanor have actually been an asset rather than a deterrent. Most folks who vote are older and look a lot like Kay.
She has done an exemplary job of not saying anything about pertinent issues or debating. Her handlers knew how to take advantage of incumbency and show her cutting ribbons and kissing babies. Kay has been around awhile. She cut her political teeth campaigning for the Wallace’s, George and Lurleen. Her subtle message was, I’m the conservative female Republican candidate. In the primary, she ran on a platform of saving the Confederate monuments. In the fall, she ran an ad with school children and of course, contrary to the demographics of today’s Alabama classroom, all the school children were little white girls. The Wallace’s would have been proud of Kay.
Walt Maddox, the dynamic Democratic nominee for governor, is the best candidate that the Democrats have fielded in more than two decades. He is bright, articulate, energetic, and well qualified having served as Mayor of Tuscaloosa for more than 10 years. He has run an excellent campaign. He has raised good money, primarily from grassroot Alabamians. However, he is a real card-carrying Democrat. If the polls had shown he was closing in, Kay’s folks would have played the ace of all race cards. Walt supported and voted for Barack Obama. Kay will beat Walt because she is the Republican nominee and he is the Democratic nominee.
The two rising political stars in the state, John Merrill and Will Ainsworth will win their races for Secretary of State and Lt. Governor, overwhelmingly. They will be vying to see which one is the top vote getter on the ballot.
These two may also be vying to be the Republican to take out Doug Jones in 2020. Whoever is the Republican nominee will beat our anomaly Democratic Senator. Mr. Jones sealed his fate by gleefully voting against Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. We have essentially ceded our second seat in the Senate to California. Doug Jones and Dianne Feinstein are in the same boat philosophically and with their voting.
There may be one Democratic surprise next week. Longtime conservative Democratic lawmaker, Johnny Mack Morrow, may pull off an upset victory over a Republican incumbent in a Northwest Alabama State Senate race.
Y’all vote Tuesday.
See you next week.
October 24, 2018 – Frank Johnson the Legend and the Free State of Winston
Those of us who are Baby Boomers remember the tumultuous times of the 1960’s. We lived through the Civil Rights revolution. Those of us who grew up here in the Heart of Dixie witnessed the transpiring of racial integration first hand. Most of the crusades and struggles occurred here in Alabama, especially Montgomery.
A good many of the landmark Civil Rights court decisions were handed down in the Federal Court in Montgomery. The author and renderer of these epic rulings was one, Frank M. Johnson, Jr. Johnson served as Federal Judge in the Middle District of Alabama for 24 years from 1955 through 1979.
Johnson’s judicial decisions brought death threats to him and his family from whites opposed to integration. He was vilified by most white Alabamians at that time and became George Wallace’s favorite whipping boy. Wallace referred to him as a “lying, scalawagging, carpetbagging integrationist.”
Frank Johnson, Jr. was born in Winston County in October, 1918. Winston County attempted to stay neutral during the Civil War. It was a Republican stronghold in an overwhelmingly Democratic Alabama.
In contrast to the Black Belt planters in South Alabama, the people who settled North Alabama were small farmers. The land they settled on was hilly and not as conducive to growing cotton. Rather than large plantations and slaves, the fiercely independent hill country farmers had 40 acres and a mule.
Therefore, when the winds of division between North and South began to blow in the 1850’s, an obvious political difference between North and South Alabamians arose. In 1860 there were only 14 slave owners in Winston County. With the election of Abraham Lincoln, the crucial decision of secession arose. Contrary to what most present-day Alabamians think, it was not an easy unified decision that we should leave the Union.
A secession convention was held in January, 1861, in Montgomery. The vote was extremely close. The delegates split 54-46 for secession. The Black Belters from South Alabama were for creating a confederacy of southern states to protect their slave ownership and way of life. The hill farmers from North Alabama preferred to not secede. These North Alabamians voted against secession from the Union at that time.
Shortly after the secession convention, citizens of Winston County met at a local establishment, Looney’s Tavern. These yeoman farmers of the hills were obviously reluctant to leave the Union for the cause of the planter and his slaves.
Legend has it that on July 4, 1861, the good people of Winston County decided to secede from Alabama and remain in the Union. That is why they are known in Alabama political history and folklore as, “The Free State of Winston.”
That same sort of independent streak was a hallmark of the Johnson family who were some of the earliest settlers of Winston County. Judge Johnson’s father served as one of the few Republicans in the Alabama Legislature in the first half of the 20th century.
Frank Johnson, Jr studied law at the University of Alabama and graduated at the top of his law school class in 1943. He then distinguished himself as a U.S. Army officer in World War II. He was wounded at Normandy and received the Purple Heart. After the war, he settled in Winston County and began practicing law in Jasper.
Although the Democratic Party dominated southern politics, Johnson was a lifelong, Winston County Republican. Therefore, he led the 1952 Dwight Eisenhower campaign for President in the state. After Eisenhower became president, he rewarded Johnson with a federal judgeship.
In 1955-1956, shortly after taking his seat on the bench, Johnson became involved in a formative event of the Civil Rights movement. Rosa Parks was arrested for violating a Montgomery ordinance requiring racial segregation on the city buses. In response, the African American community organized a boycott of the bus system and nominated Reverend Martin Luther King as its leader. Johnson ruled that the Montgomery ordinance violated the due process clause of the 14th Amendment.
The ruling was the first of many by Johnson which eliminated racial segregation in public accommodations such as parks, libraries, bus stations, and airports during the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Johnson’s decisions were legendary and groundbreaking. He became the central defender of Civil Rights in America from his Federal Bench in Montgomery. The Federal Courthouse in Montgomery is now named in his honor. Judge Johnson died in 1999.
See you next week.
October 17, 2018 - The Shorty Price Story
Since this is Alabama vs. Tennessee week and we have a Governor’s Race in three weeks, allow me to share the Story of Shorty Price.
Alabama has had its share of what I call “run for the fun of it” candidates. The most colorful of all these perennial “also ran” candidates was Ralph “Shorty” Price. He ran for Governor every time. His slogan was “Smoke Tampa Nugget cigars, drink Budweiser beer and vote for Shorty Price.”
In one of Shorty’s campaigns for governor his campaign speech contained this line, “If elected governor I will reduce the governor’s tenure from four to two years. If you can’t steal enough to last you the rest of your life in two years, you ain’t got enough sense to have the office in the first place.” He would use recycled campaign signs to save money but he rarely garnered two percent of the votes in any campaign.
Shorty loved Alabama football. Following the Crimson Tide was Shorty’s prime passion in life. You could spot Shorty, even though he was only 5 ft tall, at every Crimson tide football game always sporting a black suit, a black hat with a round top, his Alabama tie and flag.
I do not know if Shorty actually had a seat because he would parade around Denny Stadium or Legion Field posing as Alabama’s head cheerleader. In fact he would intersperse himself among the real Alabama cheerleaders and help them with their cheers. There was no question that Shorty was totally inebriated in fact, I never saw Shorty when he was not drunk.
Shorty worshiped Paul “Bear” Bryant. Indeed Bryant, Wallace and Shorty were of the same era. Like Bryant, Shorty hated Tennessee.
Speaking of the Tennessee rivalry, I will share with you a personal Shorty story. I had become acquainted with Shorty early on in life. Therefore, on a clear, beautiful, third Saturday, fall afternoon in October Alabama was playing Tennessee in Legion Field. As always, Shorty was prancing up and down the field. I was a freshman at the University on that fall Saturday. Shorty even in his drunken daze recognized me. I had a beautiful date that I was trying to impress and meeting Shorty did not impress her. Shorty pranced up the isle and proceeded to sit by me. His daily black suit had not been changed in probably over a year. He reeked of alcohol and body odor and my date had to hold her nose.
After about 20 minutes of offending my date, Shorty then proceeded to try to impress the crowd by doing somersaults off the six-foot walls of Legion field. He did at least three, mashing his head straight down on the pavement on each dive, I though Shorty had killed himself with his somersaults. His face and his head were bleeding profusely and he was developing a black eye. Fortunately, Shorty left my domain and proceeded to dance with Alabama cheerleaders that day as bloody as he may have been.
Shorty was beloved by the fans and I guess that is why the police in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa seem to ignore Shorty’s antics. However, that was not the case in a classic Alabama game four years later. By this time I was a senior at the University and we were facing Notre Dame in an epic championship battle in the old New Orleans Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve. It was for the 1973 national championship. Bear Bryant and Ara Parseghian were pitted against each other. We were ranked #1 and 2.
One of the largest television audiences in history was focused on the 7:30 p.m. kickoff. It was electrifying. Those of us in the stands were awaiting the entrance of the football team, as were the ABC cameras. Somehow or other, Shorty had journeyed to New Orleans, had gotten on the field and was posed to lead the Alabama team out on the field.
As was customary, Shorty was drunk as Cooter Brown. He started off by beating an Irish puppet with a club and the next thing I knew two burly New Orleans policemen, two of the biggest I had ever seen, picked up Shorty by his arms and escorted him off the field. They did not know who Shorty was and did not appreciate him. Sadly, Shorty, one of Alabama’s greatest fans, missed one of Alabama’s classic games sitting in a New Orleans jail.
I have always believed that Shorty’s removal from the field was a bad omen for us that night. We lost 24-23 and Notre Dame won the National Championship.
See you next week.
October 10, 2018 - Democrats have three viable candidates, but Republicans will prevail
In politics, perception is reality. It is perceived and therefore factual that a Democrat cannot win a statewide race in Alabama.
The proof is in the pudding. We have 29 elected statewide officeholders in the Heart of Dixie. All 29 are Republicans.
In addition, 6 out of 7 of our members in Congress are Republican. We have one lone Democratic member of Congress. Terri Sewell occupies the seat in Congress designed to be held by an African American.
We do have a temporary accidental anomaly U.S. Senator in Doug Jones. However, as any nominal political observer knows, he is only there until the next election. He is the epitome of the political adage that more people vote against someone than for someone. People were simply voting against Roy Moore and more liberal money poured into Alabama to beat Moore than has ever been sent into Alabama in history and probably ever will be. It was the only race in the country and every socialist liberal group or individual in the nation jumped on board to beat Moore. That anomaly will never happen again.
To his credit, Jones is not a demagogue. He is and has always been a liberal national Democrat. He has been a card carrying, bonafide liberal his entire adult life. He is ideologically more at home and comfortable buddying around with Chuck Schumer, Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi than with Richard Shelby, Robert Aderholt or Bradley Bryne. He has campaigned for, contributed to and been a Democratic delegate for Walter Mondale, Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He is a true believer.
He has felt his oats a bit and gotten involved in trying to change the state Democratic Party organization, which by the way is not very organized. He endorsed his candidate Peck Fox against Nancy Worley for the chairmanship of the defunct Alabama Democratic Party. Worley prevailed because Joe Reed still controls the reigns of the Democratic Party brand in the state.
Make no doubt about it, the Democratic Party is the party of African Americans in Alabama. There are a few liberal white Democrats in the state that Reed parades out as face cards. However, he wants it to remain his party, and essentially that is the case.
Make no mistake about it, Alabama politics is still driven by race. Whites are primarily Republicans. Blacks are totally Democratic. Politics is nothing more than simply counting. Basic math if you will. There are simply more white folks that vote than black folks who vote. That is why 29 out of 29 state officeholders are Republican.
The Democrats have fielded three viable candidates for statewide office in the upcoming November General Election. They will run good races, but they are not going to win. It will be 29 out of 29 come January.
Walt Maddox is the best candidate that the Democrats have had in several decades for Governor. Maddox is 45 and has been Mayor of Tuscaloosa, one of Alabama’s premier and most prosperous cities for 10 years. He is better qualified and much more able to serve as Governor than Kay Ivey.
However, Kay is a Republican quasi incumbent, running in a very good economic time. Her handlers are doing an excellent job of running out the clock and keeping quiet. All they have to do is show pictures of Kay cutting ribbons, claiming credit for economic expansion, aligning herself with Trump and clinging to Confederate monuments. The bottom line is she will win because she is the Republican candidate.
Joseph Siegelman, the son of former Governor Don Siegelman, is a viable candidate for Attorney General. He not only is viable but is vibrant and attractive. He is 30-years old with movie star good looks and he also has a good-looking dog. He exudes integrity and ethics. However, Marshall will prevail over Siegelman because he is the GOP candidate. Although it may be surprising how many votes young Siegelman gets. A lot of folks, including a good many moderate Republicans, believe Siegelman’s dad, Don, was done wrong. He will reap a good many sympathy votes.
The third viable Democratic candidate is Robert Vance, Jr., in the race for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He will run a good race. However, Tom Parker will prevail because he is the Republican candidate.
See you next week.
October 3, 2018 - Some Politicos Learn Lesson the Hard Way
For some untold reason or some would say ungodly reason, I have always been enthralled and involved in politics. As a boy growing up in Troy, I was tutored and trained in the rules and rituals of Alabama politics by two masters of my county’s political history.
The Probate Judge and State Representative were my mentors. They both had been in politics for decades. Both mentors had taught me a lot of political tidbits over the years. However, when it finally got time for me to make my first foray into the arena, they both sat me down. I could tell that I was going to get some sage advice since both were present. They gave me one of the cardinal rules of politics – you run your own campaign and never ever get involved in other people’s races. They said you should be thankful that they elected you to your office. It made sense that it would be arrogant and presumptuous even if you had been in your post for a while that you should not offer your opinion on other races. In addition, the old adage applies – you make one ingrate and hundreds of enemies.
Young Martha Roby learned this old political rule the hard way. As a girl growing up in privilege in Montgomery, she didn’t have the advantage of learning the Rules of Politics. She was probably more interested in planning for debutante balls and learning to play the piano. She went on to college at New York University and majored in music.
Bill Dickinson served in that same second district seat for 28 years. He became the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. He never got involved in other races. In fact, his campaign slogan in his early years was “Vote first for Bill and then as you will.”
Another politician that learned a lesson the hard way this year is powerful State Senate President, Del Marsh. There is an old saying and political truism that home folks know you best. Marsh has made no bones about the fact that he was interested in running for U.S. Senator or Governor. His calling card to claiming one of these brass rings was that he had made a lot of money in the private sector and could afford to self-finance a state campaign, if he were inclined to spend some of his money. That remained to be seen.
However, in his reelection bid for his Anniston State Senate District, Marsh did use his large state campaign war chest to buy media spots in the Montgomery and Birmingham media market, probably in order to build name identification for a possible 2020 U.S. Senate run. In fact, Marsh spent $482,674 to his unknown opponents $15,435. Marsh got 52 percent and won by an 8,215 to 7,366 difference. Less than 900 votes.
Marsh may as well have lost as far as future statewide aspirations are concerned. No PAC’s in Washington are going to take him seriously with that blemish.
In 1974, Jere Beasley was running for reelection as Lt. Governor. He had gotten upstartish and antsy to take the reigns as Governor after Governor George Wallace had been shot and was recovering. Perennial candidate, Charles Woods, led Beasley in the first primary and was poised to take him out. Beasley adroitly did his homework. He discovered that Woods had failed to carry his home voting precinct in Dothan. Beasley came back to beat him with a brilliant ad that showed the results of Beasley beating Woods in his own Home Box. The ad simply said, “Home Folks know you best.” The more things change the more they stay the same in good old Alabama politics.
Speaking of statewide aspirations, Rebekah Mason and Robert Bentley recently launched a website touting ole Bentley’s history as Governor with a hint that the old boy might get back into politics. Ms. Mason tweeted that she liked my comments about them getting back into politics that I made on Birmingham television. They seem immune to anything they did in the Governor’s office. My thoughts were that I wish they would reenter the political arena. It would be good fodder for me. As you know I like to write about the lighter side of politics and they were colorful and a great soap opera. However, they were no the most colorful in Alabama political history. They are not even close to Big Jim Folsom and Shorty Price.
See you next week.
September 26, 2018 - Supreme Court Rules States – Can Collect Online Sales Tax
The State of Alabama’s fiscal year begins next week on October 1. Our state’s finances are not the best in the world. However, they got a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, The high tribunal ruled that states can collect sales tax on internet sales.
This was one of the most inequitable scenarios I have ever seen. If you went to the corner hardware store or Lowe’s or Walmart to buy a hammer and paint, you paid sales tax. However, if you bought these same items online you did not. That is not fair to the store or the state. What is even more unfair is if your wife went down to the local dress shop and tried on an expensive dress she liked and then came home and bought it online. How fair is that to the store, the clerk at the store or the state.
Finally, and thankfully, the Supreme Court clarified this inequality that had persisted for decades, since the inception of the internet.
Alabama had already gotten ahead of the curve in regards to collecting online sales tax. Through the wise stewardship of House Ways and Means Chairman, Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, we had joined 19 other states in passing legislation that companies were to voluntarily pay the online sales tax.
The legislation passed in 2015 was entitled the Simplified Sellers Use Tax. It allowed companies the permission to collect sales tax to be remitted to the state voluntarily in exchange for locking in a fixed rate of 8 percent no matter where in the state an online item was sold. As you know, the sales tax rate deviates throughout each city and locale. In Alabama’s case, the money collected under our SSUT Act was divided 50/50 between the state and cities and counties. The city’s and county’s half is disbursed based on population. The state’s half is divided 75 percent to the General Fund and 25 percent to the Education Fund.
Chairman Clouse estimates that the state will reap an additional $18-20 million from the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 ruling overruled decades of old decisions that had cost the state billions of dollars over the years.
The cases the Court overturned said that if a business was shipping an online customer’s purchase to a state where the business did not have a physical presence like a store, warehouse, or office, the business did not have to collect sales tax and remit to the state. Over the decades this has been referred to as the Physical Presence Rule.
Retiring Justice, Anthony Kennedy, wrote the majority opinion. He said, “Every year the Physical Presence Rule becomes further removed from economic reality and results in significant revenue losses to the state.” Retail trade groups praised the ruling saying that it levels the playing field for local and online businesses. President Trump praised the decision via Twitter. The President hailed the Supreme Court opinion as a “Big victory for fairness and for our country.”
Speaking of President Trump and the Supreme Court, it is said and it is very true that the greatest legacy a U.S. President can record is an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump has had two in the first two years. Regardless of what transpires in the next two years of Trump’s reign, from conservative Americans viewpoint, this presidency has been a success.
The nominations of Neil Gorsuch last year and Brett Kavanaugh this year were BIG. Both men are in their early 50’s and will make a powerful impact on public policy and law in America for decades. Long after Trump is gone, his legacy as a stalwart, conservative President will live on through Kavanaugh and Gorsuch.
Both are also men of character with impeccable credentials. They are strict Constitutional constructionists and adherents. Their intellectual prowess will be indelibly inscribed into the Law of the Land for generations.
As former President Barack Obama said, the night that Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump, “Elections have consequences.”
See you next week.
September 19, 2018 - 1986 Governor’s Race
Since this is a gubernatorial election year, allow me to share an epic Governor’s Race with you.
The 1986 Governor’s race will be remembered as one of Alabama’s most amazing political stories. In 1978 Fob James sent the Three B’s, Brewer, Beasley and Baxley packing. Brewer and Beasley had been permanently exiled to Buck’s Pocket, the mythical destination for defeated Alabama gubernatorial candidates. However, Bill Baxley resurrected his political career by bouncing back to be elected lieutenant governor in 1982, while George Wallace was winning his fifth and final term as governor. Another player arrived on the state political scene. Charlie Graddick was elected as a fiery tough lock ‘em up and throw away the key attorney general. Graddick had previously been a tough prosecuting district attorney in Mobile.
When Wallace bowed out from seeking reelection in 1986, it appeared the race was between Bill Baxley, the lieutenant governor, and Charlie Graddick, the attorney general. It also appeared there was a clear ideological divide. The moderates and liberals in Alabama were for Baxley and the archconservatives were for Graddick. Baxley had the solid support of black voters, labor, and progressives. Graddick had the hard-core conservatives, including most of the Republican voters in Alabama.
The Republicans had gone to a primary by 1986 but very few Alabamians, even Republicans, participated. It was still assumed that the Democratic Primary was tantamount to election. The Democratic Primary would draw 800,000 Alabama voters while the GOP Primary might draw 40,000, so most Republican leaning voters felt that in order for their vote to count they had to vote in the Democratic Primary.
Baxley and Graddick went after each other with a vengeance in the primary. The race was close. Graddick came out on top by an eyelash. He encouraged Republicans to come vote for him in the Democratic Primary. They did and that is why he won. This was not something that had not been happening for decades. Brewer would have never led Wallace in 1970 without Republicans. Fob would have never won the Democratic Primary and thus become governor in 1978 without Republican voters. Basically, Alabama had been a no party state. We still have no party registration law. So how do you police people weaving in and out of primaries without a mechanism in place for saying you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent?
After Graddick defeated Baxley by less than 25,000 votes in the runoff primary, the Democratic Party did the unthinkable. They convened the hierarchy of the party, who clearly favored Baxley, and declared Baxley the Democratic nominee because they guessed Graddick had won the primary with Republican crossover voters. They paraded experts in front of their committee to testify that Baxley should have won if just Democrats had voted. They boldly and brazenly chose Baxley as the nominee in spite of the fact that Graddick had clearly gotten the most votes.
This move went against the grain of the vast majority of Alabama voters. They felt that Graddick, even if they had not voted for him, got the most votes and should be the nominee. The Democratic Party leadership sloughed it off. They assumed that the Democratic nominee would win regardless. After all, there had not been a Republican Governor of Alabama in 100 years. In addition, the Republicans had chosen an unknown former Cullman County Probate Judge named Guy Hunt. Hunt had no money and no name identification.
The Democratic leaders guessed wrong. The backlash was enormous. The bold handpicking of a nominee who had not received the most votes was a wrong that needed to be righted. Baxley did not help his case any by ignoring Hunt and dismissing him as a simpleton. He mocked Hunt saying he was unqualified because he only had a high school education. Baxley, as politically astute as he was, should have realized that he was insulting the majority of Alabama voters who themselves only possessed high school educations. This created a backlash of its own.
When the votes were counted in the November general election, Guy Hunt was elected Governor of Alabama. This 1986 result gave new meaning and proof to the old George Wallace theory that more Alabama voters vote against someone than for someone. Alabama had its first Republican governor in 100 years. The 1986 Governor’s race will go down in history as a red-letter year in Governor’s races. It was truly historic and memorable.
See you next week.