January 17, 2018
Awhile back, during Dr. Robert Bentley’s tenure as govern0or, I wrote a column entitled They May as Well Move the Capitol to Tuscaloosa.
Never before in Alabama history has a city had a sitting governor and the state’s senior U.S. Senator hale from that particular place.
Even with the departure of Bentley as governor, the Druid City has an inordinate amount of presence in the state’s political sphere of influence.
Senator Richard Shelby is in his 32nd year as our U.S. Senator. With that kind of seniority, comes immense power in Washington. Shelby is Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and is easily one of the three most powerful U.S. Senators. History will record him as Alabama’s greatest and most effective U.S. Senator in Alabama political lore.
Secretary of State, John Merrill, is from Tuscaloosa. He served in the Legislature prior to winning statewide office.
Scott Donaldson serves on the State Court of Appeals. He was a Circuit Judge in Tuscaloosa prior to his move to the state court.
Judge John England currently sits on the Bench as a Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge. He has previously served on the State Supreme Court. He is one of the most respected men in the state.
Judge England’s son, Chris England, has represented Tuscaloosa in the House of Representatives very effectively for 11-years. Chris is not only a stellar legislator; he is a practicing lawyer and an expert on Alabama football, which he grew up watching.
Hardy McCollum has been in his office for over 4-years. He is nearing the end of an unprecedented seventh six-year term. That means that Hardy was first elected in 1976. Over the years, he has generally been considered the most popular political figure in Tuscaloosa County.
State senator, Gerald Allen, has been representing his native Tuscaloosa County in the state Legislature for 24-years. He served 16-years in the State House prior to his election to the State Senate eight years ago in 2010. He is considered one of the most conservative members of the State Senate.
Some folks believe that this time next year, Tuscaloosa may regain the Governor’s office. Their very popular, 45-year old mayor, Walt Maddox, will likely be the Democratic standard-bearer in the 2018 Governor’s race. Young Mr. Maddox is very popular in his hometown. He has been the historic city’s 36th mayor since 2005, which means he was first elected at the ripe old age of 32.
Although not Tuscaloosa’s, there are some influential powers that live nearby and represent them in the Halls of Congress and the State Senate.
Congressman Robert Aderholt from Haleyville represents Tuscaloosa as well as outstanding State Senators Greg Reed of Jasper and Bobby Singleton of Greensboro.
Lastly but certainly not least, Tuscaloosa lays claim to a most popular and consensus brightest rising star in the Alabama Legislature. State Representative Bill Poole is a crown jewel that Tuscaloosa can be very proud to call their own.
Bill Poole is a lawyer by profession. His utmost priority is his devotion to his wife, Nicole, and his three children, Sally, William, and Whitman. The Poole’s are active members of the First Methodist Church of Tuscaloosa.
Bill earned his B.S. and Law degrees from the University of Alabama and began his law practice in Tuscaloosa, in 2004. This Republican District 63 encompasses primarily the City and suburbs of Tuscaloosa. Dr. Bentley was the Representative from this District prior to Poole. Tim Parker represented the district prior to Bentley.
Poole came to the House with a large group of Republicans in 2010. He immediately became a leader of that group. The entire Legislature quickly recognized his potential.
By the end of his first year in 2011, it was evident that Poole was clearly the star of that 34-member class. When you asked every veteran observer of Goat Hill about the class, the first name on the list was Bill Poole. He is liked and respected by members on both sides of the aisle.
In only his second term, he became Chairman of the Ways and Means Education Budget Committee. When Mike Hubbard was removed as Speaker, it was a foregone conclusion that Poole was going to be Speaker. He turned down the post because he wanted to be able to spend time with his young family.
At 38 the sky is the limit for Poole. However, folks in Tuscaloosa hope he stays put. For a city that is home to the University of Alabama, having the Chairman of the Education Budget Committee is a pretty good coup.
Tuscaloosa was once the Capital. Some would say it essentially is again. In fact preliminary census estimations project that Tuscaloosa will exceed Montgomery in population by 2030.
See you next week
January 10, 2018
A few months back the Jefferson County Republican Party honored our Senior U.S. Senator, Richard Shelby. It was held at The Club in Birmingham. The view from atop Red Mountain from this elegant club is spectacular, especially at night from the ballroom. The glass enclosure allows you to see the grandeur of the Birmingham skyline. As you glimpse at the scene you can see many of the buildings that are the heart of the University of Alabama/Birmingham.
As the tribute to Shelby began, I looked out over the night sky and caught a glimpse of the $70 million Shelby Biomedical Research building. I thought how appropriate that they were honoring a living legend in Alabama political history. Senator Shelby has been an integral part of the growth and expansion of UAB. The UAB Medical Complex and Research Center is now Jefferson County’s premier economic engine and employer.
In fact, UAB and the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville are Alabama’s crown jewels now and for the future. It could be said that UAB and the Redstone Arsenal have flourished because of Richard Shelby and his prowess at bringing home the bacon to Alabama over the past 30 years.
In my book, “Six Decades of Colorful Alabama Political Stories,” which was published several years ago, I have a chapter devoted to and entitled “Alabama’s Three Greatest Senators.” Two of those Senators served as a tandem in Washington during the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. Lister Hill and John Sparkman were powerful and revered statesmen.
Hill, a Montgomerian, served in the U.S. Senate for 30 years from 1938 to 1968. He was a congressman from the second district for 12 years prior to going to the U.S. Senate during the FDR New Deal.
Prior to becoming a U.S. Senator, John Sparkman was a congressman for eight years from his native Tennessee Valley. When he retired in 1970, he had been in the Senate for 32 years – the record for an Alabama U.S. Senator.
Sparkman is the father of the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. In fact they ought to name Huntsville Sparkmanville. Lister Hill whose legacy was in health care was the Father of UAB.
Senator Shelby has sustained these two giant legacies. He has used his power and influence to fuel the continued growth of these two pivotal cogs in Alabama’s economic engine. They are both reliant on Federal dollars which Shelby has supplied.
Hill and Sparkman were University of Alabama graduates, Law school and undergraduate. They both were Student Government Presidents. Shelby was also a product of the University of Alabama. He was a Tuscaloosa lawyer prior to going to Congress in 1978. He had served eight years in the State Senate prior to his departure for Washington. He served eight years in Congress prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986.
He was reelected to his sixth six-year term last year. This time next year, he will surpass John Sparkman’s 32 years in the Senate and will have the record for longevity in the U.S. Senate from Alabama. I would contend that Richard Shelby has eclipsed Hill and Sparkman in Alabama political history when it comes to power and influence in Washington.
Many times it is difficult to ascertain or recognize greatness when it is current. However, history will record that Richard Shelby would arguably be considered Alabama’s greatest U. S. Senator.
John Sparkman chaired banking and had a legacy with housing Americans. Lister Hill authored the Hill-Burton Act which built hospitals all over America.
Richard Shelby has been Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. He has been Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. He is currently Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
Folks, what that means is that nothing becomes law in the United States or no budget or U.S. appropriation is approved without the consent of our Senior U.S. Senator.
Richard Shelby has reached a pinnacle of power never before seen in Alabama political history.
It really does not matter who is our Junior Senator. As long as we have Richard Shelby we do not need a second U.S. Senator.
See you next week.
January 03 ,2018
As we enter the 2018 campaign season, many of you have asked me to look back and analyze the 2017 Special Election Senate race and explain in depth what happened and why. The most asked question is how could a Democrat win a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama and does this mean that we are now possibly a two party state? I will give you numerous answers, however, the simple answer to why a Democrat won is that Roy Moore was the Republican nominee. Are we a state that can go either way in an open U.S. Senate seat? As we have just seen, it is possible but not probable.
The Democrat, Doug Jones, won in the perfect storm. We will probably never have this same scenario again. There are two maxims in politics that over my years of following politics never fail and become truer and truer. The more things change, the more they stay the same. One is money is the mother’s milk of politics. The second is that more people vote against someone or something than vote for someone or something.
To the first adage, money is the mother’s milk of politics, nine times out of ten when one candidate out spends the other the one who spends the most usually wins. When one outspends the other 3-to-1, they always win. In this race, the National Democratic Party saw an opening and they seized on it.
The people in blue America are mad as hell that Donald Trump upset Hillary Clinton. Our senate race was the only race in town or should we say the country. Not only do Democrats despise Trump, but when they heard that Alabama had a Republican candidate that is a pro-God, pro-gun, gun toting, antiabortion, horse riding, religious zealot that said that he was not only against gay marriage but said that gays were legally committing bestiality, the nation saw Roy Moore as a little extreme in today’s America. In addition, a good many people around the country believe he is a pedophile.
The liberal and gay money flowed into here by the barrel. It came from New York and San Francisco and all liberal pockets in America. The bottom line is the Democrat, Doug Jones, outspent the Republican, Roy Moore, 6-to-1; 18 million to 3 million and that does not count the soft money spent by the National Democratic Party that was spent on getting out the vote.
The book was written on Moore from the get go. The first poll and the last poll revealed that 30 percent of Alabamians would vote for Roy Moore come hell or high water. However, he is so polarizing that a whopping 70 percent said that they would not vote for him under any circumstance.
The reason that he won the Republican nomination was that his 30 percent became accentuated due to turnout. His voters are more ardent, fervent and frankly older. Moore’s 30 percent did indeed vote on December 12. The problem for Moore was that the 70 percent that detest him voted more than was expected.
The biggest part of that 70 percent was African American voters who voted in epic, unparalleled proportions. It was statewide. It was not only in the urban counties of Jefferson, Montgomery, and Mobile and the Black Belt. This tidal wave occurred in all 67 counties. African American voters came together in a crescendo and sent Roy Moore to a watery grave. Doug Jones owes his election to the Black voters and he knows it.
A significant number of urbane, upscale, more educated business establishment Republicans voted against Moore, pragmatically. The image that Moore portrayed to the nation was bad for business and economic development. The best example of this was the results in Madison County. Huntsville is Alabama’s crown jewel and economic engine. They generally vote Republican. Moore lost Madison County by 20,000 votes.
Senator Richard Shelby contributed to Moore’s defeat. His refusing to vote for Moore and his open acknowledgement that he cast a write-in vote for an unknown Republican gave credence and impetus for other Republicans to follow suit. There were about 22,000 write-in votes. Moore lost by 21,000.
How does this play into 2018. It gives Walt Maddox and Sue Bell Cobb hope and credence that under the right and perfect circumstances a Democrat can win. However, it probably does not change the fact that a Republican gubernatorial or senatorial candidate will be favored to win 60/40. Luther Strange or Mo Brooks would have won the Senate race 60/40.
See you next week.
December 27, 2017
At the close of each year, my tradition is to acknowledge the passing away of significant political leaders from the political stage in our beloved state.
We lost some icons this year. As I sit in my office writing this yearend column, pictures of two of my favorite friends and legends adorn my walls. The photos of Governor Albert Brewer and Congressman Jim Martin look down at me. Both were Christian gentlemen.
Governor Brewer passed away last January in Birmingham. He was 88. We had visited over lunch only a few months earlier.
Brewer grew up in Decatur, went to public schools and graduated from the University of Alabama and Alabama Law School. He came back home to Morgan County to practice law. He was quickly elected to the House of Representatives in 1954 at the age of 25. Eight years later in 1962, he was elected Speaker of the House. He was only 33-years old, the youngest Speaker in history.
Four years later, he beat two state senators without a runoff to win the Lt. Governor’s office. He had been Lt. Governor for less than two years when in May 1968, Governor Lurleen Wallace succumbed to cancer and he became governor.
Brewer had a low-key business-like style to the governor’s office that was dramatically different from George Wallace.
He was governor for only 33 months, but he left an indelible mark in public policy, primarily in Education and Ethics.
He and Wallace clashed in the 1970 governor’s race, which was one of the classic gubernatorial battles in state history. He led Wallace in the first primary, but Wallace overtly played the race card and pulled out a narrow victory in the runoff.
Many scholars and historians sadly reflect that Brewer briefly was our “New South” governor.
He spent the last three decades of his life teaching law at Samford’s Cumberland Law School. He molded generations of young lawyers in Alabama. My daughter, Ginny, was one of them. He was her mentor and friend up until he passed away.
I first met Governor Brewer when I was a teenager. I became a page for him when he was Speaker and continued as his aide when he became Lt. Governor. We remained friends throughout the years. He was a very special gentleman.
Jim Martin passed away last month. He was 99 years old. He was a lifetime resident of Gadsden. Jim was one of the fathers of the modern Republican Party in the South. He was one of five Republicans swept into Congress in the 1964 Goldwater landslide. In 1987, Martin became Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. As commissioner, Martin helped create the Forever Wild Land preservation program. Jim Martin was a special gentleman.
Cullman County has been home to an inordinate number of legendary Alabama political leaders and icons. One of these was Tom Drake. Tom passed away in his beloved Cullman County in February at age 86. He represented the Cullman area for 36 years in the Alabama Legislature. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives during Wallace’s last term, 1982-1986. That was my first term in the House. I voted for and supported Tom for Speaker. He was one of George Wallace’s closest and most loyal allies. Tom was also one of Bear Bryant’s favorites. He coached for Bryant, was an All American wrestler at Alabama, and later wrestled professionally. He was a lawyer by profession and he came from the old school. If he shook your hand and gave you his word, you could take it to the bank. He was a loyal and trusted friend.
Another legendary Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, Joe McCorquodale, died in April at age 96. Mr. McCorquodale was one of the most powerful and respected men to ever serve in the legislature in Alabama history. He served 24 yeas in the House from 1958-1982. He was Speaker of the House his last eight years, 1974-1982. He was a successful businessman. He was in the timber and insurance business. He lived his entire life in his beloved Clarke County. The Clarke County Democrat publisher, Jim Cox, a lifetime friend of Mr. McCorquodale, said he went to his office every day up until his death. McCorquodale gave current governor, Kay Ivey, her first job in state government. As Speaker, he made Kay the Reading Clerk in the House.
We lost some icons this year.
Happy New Year, see you next week.
December 20, 2017
Well, folks, we have had a more exciting and fun filled political year than we expected. Usually, most of the fun is reserved for even numbered years when presidential or gubernatorial elections are held.
However, it’s been a good ride. Obviously, the Special Election for the remaining three years of Jeff Sessions’ senate term monopolized the year. Although you will have to remember, that election was preceded by two events that set up the senate race.
Donald Trump selected Jeff Sessions to be Attorney General. Sessions had been our junior senator for 20 years. He was elected to his fourth 6-year term in 2014. Therefore, the seat we just voted on comes up again in 2020. Believe me there are probably a dozen viable Republican thoroughbreds who have already decided they are interested and are chomping at the bit to run. However, most of them have statewide or congressional reelection plans to get out of the way in next year’s 2018 elections.
Remember good ole Governor Robert Bentley? It may seem like a long time ago but Bentley was our governor this time last year. His romantic obsession with his personal advisor was about to drive him from his office. However, he had a golden opportunity to appoint Jeff Sessions’ replacement until an election could be held. He appointed Attorney General Luther Strange.
Well ole Bentley leaves office with two years left in his term and in steps Kay Ivey, who has been in the obscure office of Lt. Governor for six-years. She takes the reigns of state government and the first thing she does is throw Luther under the bus and change the election from 2018 to this year. If Luther had been given a year for people to forget the appointment by Bentley and been able to run when every other race was on the ballot in 2018, and spend $15 million from the Washington establishment PACs, he would have won the seat for 6-years and the rest of his life. Senator Shelby would have been happy with his new colleague and Jeff Sessions would have been pleased with his successor.
Our Ten Commandments Judge Roy Moore was poised and ready to go to the senate. The Judicial Inquiry Commission had removed him from the bench for being against gay marriage. The decision for Moore was easy. He had nothing else to do. It was like putting Brer Rabbit in the briar patch.
The first poll and the last poll revealed the book on Moore. It was written. He had a hardcore 30-percent of the vote in Alabama made up of right wing, hardcore, evangelical Alabama folks. This 30-percent would vote for him come Hell or high water; and they did. However, that same polling also revealed that there remains 70-percent that will not vote for him under any circumstance.
The reason he lost was that a good portion of that 70-percent showed up to vote. Surprisingly, the belief by many was that this 70-percent would not vote. His 30-percent was going to vote and they did. That’s why he won the primary, his 30-percent are more ardent religious and quite frankly older. They vote. On the other hand, a good many of the Roy Moore detractors are younger and darker.
African American voters, young and old, turned out in massive, inexplicably amazing unprecedented numbers and voted against Roy Moore and Donald Trump. It was a tidal wave that was enormous and it sent Roy Moore to a watery grave.
As a good many of the state’s newspapers headlines declared, “No Moore.”
This race classically underlines and illustrates the undeniable political truism that more people vote against someone than vote for someone.
Merry Christmas and see you next week.
December 13, 2017
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 the 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 that 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 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 the next census in 2020.
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 of Bradley Byrne cannot be altered, nor can the urban Tennessee Valley 5th District, nor the Jefferson/Shelby 6th District. They are unalterable and will also 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. Therefore, the odd man out may be a woman. It is conjectured that Martha Roby’s 2nd District is the one on the chopping block. Her second and Mike Rogers’ 3rd District will be combined into a new 2nd district.
However, Roby may exit before she is carved out. She made a colossal blunder in 2016 by denouncing and publicly stating that she was not going to vote her party’s GOP nominee, Donald Trump. The fallout was devastating. She has become a pariah in her southeast Alabama district. It is one of the most conservative and pro-Republican districts in the state.
She may survive 2018, because any serious challenger who has their own money to buy the seat may be wise enough to realize that District will not be here in four more years. It will be over in Georgia around Atlanta.
See you next week.
December 6, 2017
The final vote for the remaining three years of Jeff Sessions six-year term in the U.S. Senate will be next Tuesday. The race is between Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore.
Jeff Sessions is probably sorry he left his safe Senate seat of 20-years to be at the Justice Department in a tentative position with constant ridicule from an irrational, egomaniac as president.
It would be highly unlikely that a Democrat could beat a Republican for a U.S. Senate Seat in the Heart of Dixie. We are one of the most reliably Republican states in America, especially when it comes to federal offices.
However, this is a special election and not a normal election. That means you have to really want to go vote for either Jones or Moore in the middle of Christmas Season. Most folks particularly 25-45 year olds could not care less who is our Junior U.S. Senator. That group of folks is more interested in how they are going to make their mortgage payment, what they are going to have for supper, and whether their kid got to their soccer game.
Therefore, the question is who has the most ardent, fervent, and dedicated followers. Without question, that is Roy Moore the “Ten Commandments Judge.” Polls have consistently shown that 30-percent of Alabamians will vote for Roy Moore come hell or high water and 70-percent will not vote for him under any circumstances.
A poll is a picture of the entire electorate. The final poll and the only one that counts is the one where they count the votes of the folks that showed up to vote on Election Day. That poll favors Roy Moore. His followers will show up to vote. They are dedicated to Moore and they are dedicated to voting. They are also older and older people vote with more propensity than younger voters. In addition, white voters vote at a higher percentage than black voters. Our state is essentially divided by racial lines. Most Democratic voters are black and most Republican voters are white. It’s that simple.
Politics and political races are about numbers. As a boy, I would spend time with my old veteran Probate Judge. He had been Probate Judge of my county for 30-years, a State Senator, and Sheriff prior to his becoming King of the County. He would give me the very boring task of studying voting returns of boxes in the county. He would say the first lesson of politics is to learn how to count.
In the first Republican primary there were 425,000 votes cast in the Senate race. On the other hand, there were 165,000 Democratic votes cast. Moore got over 200,000 votes in the GOP runoff against Luther Strange.
Undoubtedly, Moore is a very polarizing figure. Like George Wallace, either you like him or you do not. More sophisticated, urbane voters in the state detest Moore and they will not vote for him. About the time of the Strange vs. Moore runoff contest, a friend of mine hosted a book signing party for me in his Mountain Brook home. There were about 50 upscale Jefferson County people at the event. Almost every one of them came up to me and told me that they were Republicans, but if Roy Moore is the GOP nominee, they will vote for Doug Jones.
Indeed, you can drive through upscale neighborhoods of Jefferson County, especially Mountain Brook, Vestavia and Homewood and you will see Doug Jones signs in practically every yard. You can see this same scenario in upscale enclaves of Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery. However, be reminded that George Wallace never carried Mountain Brook. The folks in the barbershops and beauty parlors in Opp, Oxford, and Rainbow City elect our governors and senators.
Doug Jones is running an excellent campaign. He is a good candidate. However, he is very much out of the mainstream of the majority of Alabama voters, especially on social issues when it comes to guns, abortion, immigration, gay marriage, and transgenders in a weakened military. He is a real national Democrat and he does not shy away from his liberal positions. There is no difference between Doug Jones and Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. He is proud of his stance. He could run for Senator of California and be in the mainstream and probably be elected. However, not in the Heart of Dixie.
Doug Jones may get close, but close only counts in horseshoes. My guess is that the white voter who attends an evangelical mega church in Gardendale is more likely to vote on Tuesday than a black voter in North Birmingham.
We will see. Turnout is the key.
See you next week.
November 29, 2017
Jim Martin passed away recently in Gadsden at 99 years old. His beloved wife of 70 years, Pat, was by his side. He was a true Christian gentleman. Jim was one of the Fathers of the modern Republican Party in the South.
In 1962, John Kennedy was President. Camelot was in full bloom. The Congress was controlled by Democrats only because the South was solidly Democratic. The southern bloc of senators and congressmen were all Democrats. Because of their enormous seniority, they controlled both houses of Congress.
The issue of Civil Rights was a tempest set to blow off the Capitol dome. Kennedy was under intense pressure to pass major Civil Rights legislation. However, he was up against a stonewall to get it passed the powerful bloc of southern senators.
Race was the only issue in the South, especially in Alabama. George Wallace was riding the race issue to the Governor’s office for his first term. The white southern voter was determined to stand firm against integration and was poised to cast their vote for the most ardent segregationists on the ballot.
Our Congressional delegation was Democratic, all eight Congressmen and both Senators. Our tandem of John Sparkman and Lister Hill had a combined 40-years of service.
Lister Hill had gone to the U.S. Senate in 1938. He had served four six-year terms and had become a national celebrity in his 24 years in the Senate. He was up for election to his fifth six-year term. It was expected to be a coronation. He was reserved, aristocratic, and almost felt as if he was above campaigning. Hill was also soft on the race issue. He was a progressive who refused race-bait.
Out of nowhere a handsome, articulate, young Gadsden businessman, Jim Martin, appeared on the scene. Martin was 42, a decorated World War II officer who fought with Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe. He entered as a private and became an integral part of Patton’s team, rising to the rank of Major. After the war he went to work for Amoco Oil and married a Miss Alabama - Pat McDaniel from Clanton. They then settled in Gadsden and he bought an oil distributorship and became successful in business. He was a business Republican and became active in the State Chamber of Commerce. When the State Chamber Board went to Washington to visit the Congressional delegation, they were treated rudely by our Democratic delegates who were still voting their progressive New Deal, pro union philosophy.
Martin left Washington and decided that Alabama at least needed a two party system and that he would be the sacrificial lamb to take on the venerable Lister Hill as the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate. Martin got the nomination in a convention and the David vs. Goliath race was on. By late summer the Big City newspapers could feel that Martin had some momentum. He was being perceived as the conservative and Hill as the liberal.
Every Alabama courthouse was Democratic, all sheriffs, Probate Judges, and statewide elected officials. It was hard to imagine that the tradition of voting Democratic would change, but the winds of segregation were strong. When the votes were counted in November of 1962, Martin had pulled off the biggest upset in the nation. NBC’s team of Huntley and Brinkley reported the phenomenon on the nightly news. Republican President, Eisenhower, called Martin to congratulate him. However, things were happening in rural North Alabama. Martin had won by 6,000 votes but three days later, mysterious boxes appeared with just enough votes to give Hill the belated victory. The entire country and most Alabamians knew that Jim Martin had been counted out.
Jim Martin would have been the first Republican Senator from the South in a century. Some people speculate that he would have been the vice-presidential candidate with Nixon in 1968. Regardless, he was the John the Baptist of the Southern Republican sweep of 1964, and father of the modern Republican Party in Alabama.
That 1962 Senate race was a precursor of what was to come two years later. Jim Martin was one-of-five Republicans swept into Congress in the 1964 Goldwater landslide. He probably would have won the U.S. Senate seat of John Sparkman. However, he chose to run for governor against Lurleen Wallace.
In 1987 Martin became Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. As commissioner, Martin helped create the Forever Wild land preservation program. Jim Martin has a special place in Alabama political history.
See you next week.
November 22, 2017
The big question in the Senate race is will allegations against Roy Moore and his purported propensities forty-years ago cause him to lose. We will soon see. The election is less than three weeks away.
The book on Moore is easy to read. The polls have consistently revealed that 30 percent of voters like him and 70 percent do not like him. He is a polarizing figure and well known.
However, the real poll that counts is the one on Election Day. The reason that he won the GOP primary was that his people showed up to vote for him. His followers are more ardent, fervent, and quite frankly older. Older voters are a lot more likely to vote than younger voters. Therefore, his 30 percent becomes more accentuated and rises to 51 percent. If he wins on December 12, it will be because of turnout. His 30 percent will turn out. The Democrat, Doug Jones really has no following. It is all about Moore. The votes that Jones gets will be the Democratic base coupled with those disenchanted with Moore, who dislike him enough to go vote for a Democrat for a U.S. Senate seat. As George Wallace use to say, “More people vote against someone than for someone.”
My guess is that Moore’s 30 percent is unswayed by the Washington Post revelations. They look upon it as a scurrilous last minute political attack by the Washington establishment and left wing media. Some suggest that it may have energized his base. They feel that he has been unduly attacked. They simply dismiss the allegations as untrue and fabricated and are suspicious of the timing. They ask why did these accusers came forward four weeks before the election and not years ago. The wall around the 30 percent dedicated to Roy Moore appears impregnable.
Turnout will be the key to this election the same way it was in the primary. The 75-year-old deacon of the First Baptist Church of Gadsden is going to vote. The question is does the soccer mom in Homewood go vote.
Roy Moore’s fate is not the only one to be decided in December. The fate of Business Council lobbyist, Billy Canary, may also be decided in December.
BCA’s leadership changes at their annual meeting on December 1. Perry Hand of Baldwin County will take the reins of the once powerful organization. Hand is a very well regarded gentleman in the private and public sector of Alabama. He is an engineer by profession and a principal in Volkert Engineering. He has been an outstanding businessman, road builder, state senator, and Secretary of State.
Canary has basically made the Business Council a joke among powerful legislators. He is so disliked and disrespected that he is thought of as a clown or caricature. In visiting with the majority of Republican senators, they say he has never even said “hi” to them. He walks the halls occasionally with a haughty, arrogant air and snubs not only all nine of the Democrats in the state senate as well as the 26 Republicans. I could not find one state senator who would say anything good about the New Yorker. They snicker and say that no bill will pass my committee if he is for it.
State Senator, Slade Blackwell, a respected businessman and staunch Republican from a silk stocking Jefferson County area said Canary actually does the BCA more harm than good. He said the BCA members would be better served to give campaign money directly to candidates than have it tainted by Canary. Blackwell, who also chairs the Senate Banking and Insurance Committee, has only spoken to Canary one time in seven years.
Dr. Paul Bussman, who is very independent and represents Cullman and parts of Northwest Alabama as a Republican State Senator, said that Canary threatened him so abrasively over a piece of legislation in his first term that when he got home he wrote a check for $26,000, the amount the BCA had given his campaign, and sent it back to Canary with the message to not ever talk with him again.
The well liked, mild mannered, pro-business State Senator, Shay Shelnut, said Canary has never spoken to him in his entire five years in the Senate. This is the prevalent theme among most Republican members of the Senate.
The most important Senator, U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, has barred Canary from his office.
See you next week.
November 15, 2017
In March of this year, the Alabama Community College System took a giant leap forward when it brought on a giant in state government and one of Alabama’s preeminent leaders, Jimmy Baker, to be Chancellor.
When you have a conversation with Chancellor Baker, he uses words that you do not normally hear in the same sentence, like exciting and community college. He says it is an exciting time. For a myriad of reasons, across the state, community colleges and technical training have been viewed as second best when it comes to higher education options. Sit down with Chancellor Baker and you will leave convinced that Alabama’s community colleges can do more to move the state forward than any other entity in the state.
For an institution that in the past had a history of caring a lot about buildings, he is singularly focused on doing what is in the best interest of students. To him, that means an open door policy at every college across the system. Anyone looking to better themselves should be able to walk in the door and find opportunity at their local community college.
For some that opportunity looks like core academic coursework to transfer to a four-year or advanced degree at a fraction of the cost. For others that means stackable credentials and skills training to leave the classroom and step directly into a career. It could also mean general literacy and workforce skills or specific job training for a specific industry. The paths are as varied as the student population, which ranges from high school students participating in dual enrollment classes to adult learners who are seeking to advance their careers and everything in between.
The Alabama Community College System consists of 24 community and technical colleges residing in each of the state’s urban centers as well as rural locales across the state. Additionally, extensive workforce development training for Alabama business and industry through the Alabama Technology Network also resides within the system.
Baker argues that the system’s reach across the state and each college’s connection with their local community makes them the most adaptable, allowing each college to made adjustments based on the needs of their service area. Imagine if this were the case in every community: a new auto manufacturer announces 200 jobs in Anytown, Alabama and the local Anytown Community College is already working to adapt courses and training to ensure the workforce is ready.
Anyone familiar with Alabama realizes the dramatic change in the economy over the past half-century. Entire industries have disappeared, replaced with new technology based careers requiring a different knowledge base.
The System is committed to being part of the solution. Baker knows that means being honest with students about opportunities that are available and the education, skills, and training needed to secure them. The Alabama Department of Labor estimates that there are more than 14,000 industrial manufacturing and transportation job openings each year. The Alabama Community College System is addressing the issue head-on by partnering with the state to provide two certification programs that upon completion translate into a job in manufacturing or production. Alabama is the first state in the nation to roll out these certifications statewide.
The System also made headlines when it was selected as one of only six community colleges systems in the entire country by Apple, Inc. to launch a new app-development curriculum. Students who participate in the courses will learn coding and app development with Apple’s Swift programming language, preparing them for a wide variety of careers in our ever-increasing technology driven economy.
While workforce training is a key mission of the ACCS, equal to its focus is to provide Alabama students with the academic coursework they need to be successful. A great number of students come to the community college to take coursework to prepare them to transition to a four-year institution. These students are receiving the same quality of coursework and instruction as they would at other institutions but with smaller class sizes and less cost.
Over the past several years, thanks to support from the Alabama Legislature, dual enrollment has continued to expand across the state. Students can take courses and receive both high school and college credit. In many instances, scholarships or grant funds are provided so students are afforded this opportunity at no cost to them. Students who participate will not only graduate high school with college credits under their belt but they will also be more prepared for the rigors of college having already experienced a college classroom.
See you next week.