November 09, 2016
You know the outcome of the election. Unfortunately I had to go to press with the column prior to Tuesday. We will analyze the results for you next week. There should be very few surprises.
The Electoral College System of selecting our President favors a Democrat winning the White House. Under this archaic and undemocratic system, it is a winner take all electoral vote contest. For example, if Hillary Clinton carries New York by one vote, she gets all 29 electoral votes. If Donald Trump gets one more vote than Clinton in Kansas, he gets all 6 electoral votes.
When you look at the map of the red Republican states carried by Trump, it looks like most of the country. The middle of America is Republican but those states have fewer people. The east and west coasts of the country are fortressed by New York and California.
It is easy to see that the east and west coast outweigh Middle America. The country is trending leftward philosophically. That is why California is referred to as the left coast. The country is also changing dramatically demographically. An amazing 15% of our U.S. Electorate is Hispanic. That makes this vote the most important ingredient in the presidential contest. These voters are not totally predictable, unlike African American voters, which comprise 12% of the electorate. African American voters monolithically vote 95% Democratic. Therefore, their votes are predetermined and they are not courted. Most southern whites are the same way. They vote 90% Republican.
We in Alabama really do not have a say in presidential politics. Indeed very few Americans do. If Donald Duck was the Republican nominee for president, Donald Duck would carry Alabama. However, do not feel left out. If you lived in California you do not matter either. California has over 10% of the nation’s people. They have 48 electoral votes. They are so liberal and Democratic that if Mickey Mouse was the Democratic nominee, he would carry California and garner all of their electoral votes.
There are about 40 states that are predictably safe in either the Republican or Democratic column, similar to Alabama and California. All the money is spent and campaigning is done in the 10 pivotal battleground states.
The ultimate swing state is Florida. The Sunshine State is now America’s third most populous state. It is a microcosm of America, probably because most of America has moved there to retire. Therefore, if you want your vote to count in a presidential race, move down to Florida. It would also make it easier to buy your lottery tickets. You can probably look at Florida and whoever carried Florida Tuesday won the White House.
Our state elections are also pretty much no contests in the November general election. We are a solidly Republican state. All of our statewide officials are Republican. If you want to win in Alabama you have to do it in the Republican primary.
Our senior U.S. Senator Richard Shelby will be reelected to a 5th six-year term. He will soon be Alabama’s longest serving U.S. Senator. He has also been one of our most powerful. He will join the ranks of Lister Hill and John Sparkman as Alabama’s three greatest U.S. Senators.
Popular PSC President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh will be reelected to her second four-year term. She was first elected to the commission in 2010.
Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker will be reelected to another six-year term. He was the largest vote getter in the Republican primaries earlier this year.
Kelli Wise will also be reelected to another six-year term on the State Supreme Court. The Geneva County native may be the prettiest Supreme Court Justice in America.
All six of our Republican members of Congress will have been reelected on Tuesday. Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks and Gary Palmer will continue to represent the Heart of Dixie in a very conservative fashion for another two years. Terri Sewell will continue to be our only Democrat.
Tuesday’s election may be the last that would require residents to prove that they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote. A federal appeals court appears likely to side with voting rights groups seeking to block Kansas, Georgia and Alabama from requiring proof of citizenship.
See you next week.
November 02, 2016
We will vote to select the 44th President Tuesday. The next President will be a New Yorker. Whoever is selected will enter the Oval office with the most unfavorable poll ratings of any President in recent memory. This election will epitomize the old adage that George Wallace once told and that is, “more folks vote against someone than for someone.”
There is no question that our country is drifting to the left in ideology. We in Alabama are conservative, pro-life, pro-gun, Christians with a desire for a strong military and sound fiscal government. All of these philosophical tenets align with the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is on the opposite side. We have two very diverse parties in America.
Another maxim that George Wallace espoused as he traversed the country running for President as a third party candidate was that there is not a dimes worth of difference in the national Democratic and Republican parties. He would have a hard time saying that with a straight face today. Folks, there is a vast difference.
This presidential selection is a crucial pivotal crossroads election in our nation’s future. The primary reason is because the next President’s power to appoint at least one justice to the Supreme Court and probably at least two or three more.
This Supreme Court appointment power is immense because with divided Executive and Legislative branches of government the influence and decisions of the Supreme Court become omnipotent.
An appointment to the Supreme Court is a lifetime appointment and most of them stay their entire life. Therefore, any of the next President’s appointments will remain on the high tribunal for decades, well past the next President’s four or eight year reign.
The death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia removed one of the most reliably Republican jurists on the Court. The Republican majority U.S. Senate has thwarted Barack Obama’s appointment of another liberal to the Supreme Court. However, there will have to be an appointment and consent by the Senate next year. Regardless of whether the GOP retains control of the Senate.
The current Court without Scalia is considered broadly to be made up of four liberals and four conservatives. However, one of those considered a conservative is really a moderate drifting to the left. Justice Anthony Kennedy has been a swing vote when the Court had nine.
Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas are considered conservative. There are four hardcore liberals, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
Kagan and Sotomayor were appointed by Obama. They are both young by Supreme Court standards. Sotomayor is 62 and Kagan is only 56. These two liberals will be on the Court for probably two more decades.
The other two liberals will more than likely vacate the bench one way or the other during the next President’s tenure. Stephen Breyer is 78 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 83. She appears to be teetering and she has suggested that she would like for Hillary Clinton to be able to appoint her successor.
The three conservatives may be on the Court for the foreseeable future. Chief Justice John Roberts is only 61, Samuel Alito is 66, and Clarence Thomas is 67. Roberts was appointed by George W. Bush, as was Alito. Thomas was appointed by George Bush, Sr. The Court’s moderate, Anthony Kennedy, is a Californian appointed by Ronald Reagan. Kennedy is 80 years old.
It appears that Kennedy at 80, Ginsburg at 83, and possibly Breyer at 78, could vacate the Court during the next presidency. Therefore, your vote next Tuesday is not only a vote for President but also a vote that will affect the Supreme Court.
Many times we overlook the Amendments on the ballot. However, it is important to vote yes on Amendment 14. It has no opposition and is located near the end of the ballot. If it is not passed over 700 vital local bills impacting every county throughout the state would be affected. I urge you to vote for Amendment 14 on November 8th.
See you next week.
October 26, 2016
The year was 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, especially the Senate. 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 stone wall 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 in his 1962 campaign. The white southern voter was determined to stand firm against integration and was poised to vote for the most ardent segregationists on the ballot.
Our congressional delegation was Democratic, all eight Congressmen and both Senators. All had come to Washington during the Roosevelt New Deal Era and were somewhat progressive. They had been the sponsors of legislation to help poor Southerners during the Depression. Our two U.S. Senators, John Sparkman and Lister Hill, had a combined forty years of service. Hill was up for reelection in 1962.
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 a fifth six-year term. It was expected to be a coronation. He was reserved, aristocratic, and almost above campaigning. Hill was also soft on the race issue. He was a progressive who refused to race-bait.
Out of nowhere a handsome, articulate, Gadsden businessman, Jim Martin, appeared on the scene. Martin was 42, born in Tarrant City, 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, serving as an intelligence officer in the Army of Occupation, and 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 it was obvious 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, all 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 the father of the modern Republican Party in Alabama.
That 1962 Senate race was a precursor of what was to come in 1964.
See you next week.
October 19, 2016
Ole Bill Baxley has been in the news a lot this year. He was the lead defense counsel for former Speaker Mike Hubbard’s ethics conviction trial over in Opelika. Baxley practices law in Birmingham and is one of the state’s premier and most expensive criminal defense lawyers. Like a good many of the top defense attorneys, Baxley was first a prosecutor and a doggone good one.
Baxley was born and raised in Dothan, the heart of the Wiregrass. His family was one of the original settling families in Houston County. His daddy Keener Baxley was the Circuit Judge in Houston and Henry counties. Mr. Keener had been the District Attorney prior to going on the bench. Bill grew up in his daddy’s courtroom. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be a lawyer.
Baxley was a child protégé. He also had a meteoric rise in Alabama politics. He finished Dothan High School at 16, the University of Alabama at 20 and Law School at 22. He became the District Attorney in Houston and Henry Counties at the age of 24. He was elected Attorney General of Alabama at the ripe old age of 28 and served eight years as the state’s top prosecutor. Unlike many of the recent attorney generals, who actually know nothing about criminal prosecution, Baxley though young was well qualified and an effective prosecutor. Baxley was elected lieutenant governor in 1982 and ran second for governor twice, once in 1978 and again in 1986.
Bill Baxley like most politicians had his favorite stories and jokes. His best that he told repeatedly throughout the years took place in October over 50 years ago. It was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Most of us thought our world was coming to an end. The story was about an ole guy named Squatlow. I am not sure whether this story is true or not but it could very well be true.
Squatlow got his nickname because he would squat down low to the ground whenever he talked with folks. Ole Squatlow would hunker down with a chew of tobacco in his mouth and gossip and swap stories all day.
Baxley was a young District Attorney for Houston and Henry Counties. Dothan and Houston County has about 90 percent of the people in the Circuit with Henry County being the home to about 10 percent. Baxley was a youthful 25-year-old district attorney and would travel to Court on occasion in Henry County to prosecute the few criminals they had in Henry County.
Baxley like most politicians would stop at a country store and drink a coke with the rural folks in the area. Henry County is a very sparsely populated rural county in the Wiregrass with two small towns, Abbeville and Headland. Abbeville happens to be the county seat.
Squatlow had a mechanic shop/gas station/grocery store in the obscure community of Tumbleton in Henry County. His whole world was no bigger than that county. The biggest places he had ever been were Abbeville and Headland with a population of about 1,000 people each.
Well, they may have been back in the woods, but they knew about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the standoff between the United States and Russia. It was a scary situation. I think most people were afraid that a nuclear war was imminent. The whole world was on edge.
During the week of this crisis, Baxley while traveling to court in Henry County, stopped by Squatlow’s store in Tumbleton. Squatlow and all the folks in the little community were scared. This was obviously the topic of conversation that day.
Ole Squatlow sauntered down in his lowest squatting position and just shook his head. “You know, I’ve been thinking about it all night, and I just know those damn Russians are going to bomb Abbeville. Yeah, they gonna drop one of them atom bombs right on Abbeville” said old Squatlow.
Baxley looked at Squatlow and said, “Squatlow, why in the world would the Russians drop a bomb on Abbeville, Alabama?” Squatlow looked at Baxley like he was the most stupid person he had ever seen. He shook his head at how ignorant this young, 25-year-old lawyer was. He looked at Baxley and said, “Boy, don’t you know nothing? Don’t you know that Abbeville is the County Seat of Henry County?”
See you next week.
October 12, 2016
Our junior U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions has risen to national prominence in this pivotal presidential year. His arch conservative senate voting record and impeccable pedigree as one of the most rock solid Republicans in the U.S. Senate has made him a marquee persona among right wing Fox News conservatives throughout the country.
During the GOP Primary debates earlier this year, the aspirants would refer to him and insinuate that Sessions was in their corner. However, the ultimate victor, Donald Trump, won the early support of Sessions primarily due to their common opinion on immigration.
It is no secret that Trump reveres and trusts Sessions. In fact, Sessions has evolved into Trump’s foremost confidant both politically and philosophically. Without question, Sessions is closer to Trump than any member of the Senate. If Trump were to be elected, Trump could appoint Sessions to the Supreme Court.
Jeff Sessions would unquestionably become a social conservative stalwart on the Court. If this were to occur he would be only the second Alabamian in a century to be named to the nation’s high tribunal.
The last Alabamian named to the Supreme Court was Hugo Black. If Sessions is appointed to the Supreme Court, the contrast in the two legacies of Sessions and Black would be remarkable.
Probably the most enduring legacy a president will have is an appointment to the United States Supreme Court. This lifetime powerful appointment will be lasting. The nine Justices of the Supreme Court have omnipotent everlasting power over most major decisions affecting issues and public policy in our nation.
Our new president will not only fill the one seat vacant now due to the death of Justice Scalia, but probably two more. These appointments may be their most lasting legacy.
It may come as a surprise to you since Alabama is currently considered one of the most conservative places in America but Alabamian Hugo Black was arguably one of the most liberal Supreme Court Justices in history. He was also one of the longest serving Justices. Black was the fifth longest serving Supreme Court Justice. He sat on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Nearly 35 of his 85 years on earth were spent on the Supreme Court.
Hugo Black, like most folks and heroes of that era in Alabama history, was born on a farm. He was born in rural Clay County in 1886. He was the youngest child of a large family. He worked his way through the University of Alabama Law School under the tutelage of President George Denny. He shoveled coal to stoke the furnaces at the University. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
He began practicing law in Birmingham at 22 years old. He became a Jefferson County Prosecutor and then World War I broke out. He served in the War and rose to the rank of Captain. In 1926 at age 40, Black was elected to the United States Senate. He arrived in the Senate at the beginning of the Great Depression. During his entire tenure in the Senate, America was in the throes of the Depression. Folks who endured this era were marked by it.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to the White House in 1932. His New Deal was the most legendary political accomplishment in American history. Black became one of FDR’s staunchest allies. He voted for 24 out of 24 of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.
Alabama benefited mightily from FDR’s New Deal, especially, rural Alabama and the Tennessee Valley. Roosevelt rewarded Alabama’s junior senator with a coveted seat on the Supreme Court. He was one of nine justices appointed by President Roosevelt during his 13 year reign as president.
Black was a liberal New Dealer in the Senate and liberals were pleased by the Justice from Alabama’s tenure over the next 35 years. Liberals regard Black as one of the most influential Supreme Court Justices of the 20th Century. He literally hung his hat on the 14th Amendment. He was part of the court decision that declared school racial segregation illegal in the famous Brown v. Board of Education decision.
It is probably unbelievable to most Americans that Alabama’s only contribution to the Supreme Court is one of its most liberal justices in history.
Believe me, there would be quite a difference in philosophy between the ultra-liberal Hugo Black and the ultra-conservative Jeff Sessions, which illustrates the historical change in Alabama politics.
See you next week.
October 05, 2016
During this election year I have watched all the politics on television. In order to judge the coverage I have perused all the channels. Over the years political observers have bemoaned the fact that certain networks are biased. Folks, I am here to tell you they are. There is no doubt Fox is a Republican channel and MSNBC and CNN are Democratic networks.
George Wallace used to strut around the country running for president as a third party candidate rhetorically saying there ain’t a dimes worth of difference in the national Republican and Democratic parties. Well, I am here to tell you there is a huge difference. They are miles apart philosophically. They ought to rename the Democratic Party the Liberal Party because believe me they are liberal. They ought to rename the Republican Party the Conservative Party because believe me they are conservative.
The most believable accurate and unbiased political analyst in America is Larry Sabato from the University of Virginia. He has been the premier political analyst prognosticator and pollster in America for years. When Larry Sabato speaks, people listen. He is right on target. He is so respected and unbiased that both CNN and Fox use him as an analyst.
When it comes to Alabama politics the premier political investigative reporter is Bill Britt who has the Alabama Political Reporter. He and his wife, Susan, are head and shoulders above the rest of the investigative reporters in the state.
The two best mainline journalists are Mike Cason with AL.com and Brian Lyman with the Montgomery Advertiser. They are great writers and are thorough, honest and knowledgeable. They are filling a gap left by the great Phil Rawls. A young reporter with AL.com in Mobile, John Sharp, is doing an excellent job covering politics from the Port City and Gulf Coast. He is an excellent writer and gets his facts straight and tells a story when he writes. Tim Lockett with the Anniston Star does a good job of reporting on Alabama politics.
The legendary Montgomery lawyer and yellow dog Democratic activist Julian McPhillips has written two good books in recent years, “The People’s Lawyer” and his most recent memoir, “Civil Rights in my Bones.” It chronicles his years of being a civil rights champion and lawyer for underdog clients. He has made some money with his taking on the big mules and powerful interests. He has won some big judgments for his downtrodden clients.
McPhillips was born into privilege and Mobile established gentry. The McPhillips are old Mobile aristocracy. He could have settled into a sophisticated life of practicing law with one of the old Mobile silk stocking law firms and drinking scotch in the afternoons at the Mobile Country Club and attending Mardi gras balls.
Instead, he chose the life of a liberal civil rights lawyer and by the way he is a tee-totaling minister of a liberal progressive church on the side.
McPhillips was an all American wrestler in college at Princeton. After Princeton he graduated from Columbia Law School where he became a liberal activist.
He practiced law a short while in New York before coming home to Alabama to begin his Alabama career with Bill Baxley in the early 1970’s. Baxley was a young 29 year old progressive populist attorney general and he brought with him a host of young liberal Alabama born Ivy Leaguers. It was a legendary troupe that included Julian McPhillips, Tuskegee born Myron Thompson from Yale Law School, Vanzetta Penn McPherson from Montgomery from Columbia Law School, Decatur born Hank Caddell from Harvard Law School. Non-Ivy Leaguers in Baxley’s group of assistant attorney generals included Judge Charles Price, Gil Kendrick, Dicky Calhoun, Bill Stephens, Walter Turner and current U.S. Attorney George Beck.
They were better at law than softball. Their team lost almost every game, but they celebrated at the old Sahara anyway.
Julian McPhillips has stayed true to his progressive politics. He is a true blue Democrat and was the Democratic standard bearer for the U.S. Senate in 1996 when Jeff Sessions won the open seat.
See you next week.
September 28, 2016
Alabama’s most famous political restaurant and watering hole for 50 years was Montgomery’s Elite Restaurant. Until it closed about 1995, the Elite (pronounced “E-light”) was the place to eat and be seen. Many a political deal was struck at its back tables.
Legislators, politicians, and socialites in Montgomery frequented the famous establishment. The politicians and lobbyists not only met there during the sessions, they would meet there for political discussions, dinners and drinks all year long, and any night or day, even on Sundays. The original owner and proprietor was Pete Xides. His son, Ed Xides, a wonderful gentleman with impeccable southern manners and charm had taken over by the time I got to the legislature. I loved to eat there. The “Seafood Mélange of Trout Almandine and Shrimp Athenian combine to give the Elite’s most famous dish served with rice and lemon butter caper sauce,” quoting from the menu, is still among the best meals I have ever eaten.
During the 1940’s through 1960s, drinking alcoholic beverages was not as accepted in Alabama as it is today. Many counties were “dry”. It was especially taboo for a public official to be seen in public drinking whiskey and certainly not martinis and sophisticated scotches. Still, a good many did partake. The Elite was glad to serve their patrons the exquisite and expensive libations. Nine times out of ten, a lobbyist was picking up the bill. In fact, they kept a monthly tab at the Elite.
Beside the politicians, many of the sophisticated social elite of Montgomery frequented the Elite. A good many of the regular patrons were older ladies of Montgomery. They also liked their cocktails. To cover for its discreet customers, the Elite served its alcoholic concoctions in coffee and tea cups. Therefore, when a little old lady from the Methodist or Baptist Church asked her gin rummy buddy to go to lunch after church, they winked at each other and knew they would have a delightful Sunday afternoon sipping “tea” or “coffee” at the Elite. They would be sipping along with most of the prominent politicians in the state. Of course, it was illegal to sell or serve alcohol on Sunday in Alabama and in some places it still is.
Governor John Patterson had frequented the Elite since he was in law school at the University of Alabama and was a regular there while he was attorney general. When Patterson became governor he named Ed Azar, a straight laced teetotaling Montgomery lawyer, as head of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
One day early in Governor Patterson’s administration, he got a call from Mr. Pete Xides. Old Mr. Xides told the governor that he had a major problem and that he had to see him. He said the matter was urgent. Governor Patterson told Mr. Xides to come on up to the governor’s office. Mr. Xides wasted no time scurrying up to the Capitol. It only took a minute because the Elite was just a few blocks down the street. He first apologized for having to bother the governor and thanked him for seeing him, especially on such short notice. However, Mr. Azar and the ABC Board had raided his famous restaurant and told Mr. Xides that he would have to cease serving alcohol on Sunday, even if he did serve it in coffee or tea cups. Mr. Xides pointed out that the governor had been sipping “tea” on Sunday at the Elite for decades, including while he was the state’s top prosecutor, though Mr. Xides might have been too polite to mention that. In fact, Governor Patterson had even been sipping there the previous Sunday. Governor Patterson pondered all that and told Mr. Xides that he “would hate for such a tradition to end in Alabama.” He promised the old Greek that he would do what he could to take care of the matter.
The Governor then had a long talk with his ABC Board administrator. Azar was feisty about it, but ultimately agreed that his boss, the governor, had the final say. The Elite continued to serve coffee and tea on Sunday. It was quite a political institution in Alabama and is sorely missed.
Former Governor John Patterson celebrates his 96th birthday this week. He lives on his ancestral farm in rural Tallapoosa County where he has a pet goat named Rebecca. Happy Birthday Governor Patterson!
See you next week.
September 21, 2016
Folks, I have been observing and participating in the legislative process for over 50 years. Lest you think I am real old, I started paging in the legislature when I was 12, served in the House of Representatives close to two decades, and have been reporting on the legislative process for now close to two decades and I am here to tell you I have not seen a more up and down roller coaster ride than the recently completed special session to deal with the lottery issue.
Extraordinary special sessions of the legislature are the way to go to get something accomplished if you are governor. The legislature has to address the topic for which the governor has called the special session. It is called “the call.”
During a regular session there are 500 bills introduced, granted a good many are local bills. However, there are a great many significant bills as well as the budgets. Therefore, there are a myriad of issues that the legislature can hide behind or get lost in the shuffle.
The lottery issue has been looming for years. In fact, the Democrats in the House have been proposing it for close to a decade with the proceeds going to education, much like the Georgia lottery. Don Siegelman’s lottery would have passed in 1999 if the opponents had not created doubt at the last minute about sweetheart deals and chicanery hidden in the proposal. It has now been asleep for 16 years. In the interim, every state around us has started a lottery or full-fledged casino gambling with substantial money being reaped by our sister state’s governmental coffers.
Over the years, there has been an incremental weakening of moral opposition in the Heart of Dixie to purchasing a lottery ticket. There is still a 30% pious opposition in the state. That same percentage would also oppose drinking, dancing, and listening to secular music.
Interestingly, there was about a one third bloc of senators and representatives, almost all Republican, who refused to let their constituents vote on the issue based on their piety. Even though the majority of the folks they represent would vote for the lottery if given the opportunity. My political observation is that their vote to disallow their people the right to vote may come back to haunt them come reelection time in 2018. People are actually incensed that the legislature could not simply pass legislation to let them keep their money at home.
The lottery issue is a constitutional amendment and requires a three fifths vote in both chambers to get on the ballot. That is 21 out of 35 votes in the senate and 63 out of 105 votes in the House. Then it would go on the ballot and you would vote yes or no. Polling indicates it would pass by a two-thirds vote.
Our good ole Dr. Governor Robert Bentley decided that the money eating monster in the General Fund, Medicaid, needed feeding. Therefore, he called the special session and requested that the legislature address more funding for Medicaid. Ole Bentley really is a good man, being a doctor he believes in providing adequate medical care for Alabama’s indigent older and younger people. Sixty-six percent of nursing home residents are on Medicaid and most of the children in the state are on Medicaid.
Bentley is a good ole guy but he is not much of a politician or governor. The legislature has pretty much relegated him to being about as relevant as he was as a back bench member of the House. However, in the past year he has become not only irrelevant, but somewhat of a joke.
Bentley called the session and most of the legislators heard about it on the news. A special session can last 30 calendar days and 12 legislative days. There was an August 24 deadline to get the initiative on the November general election ballot. He should have called the special session for July 15, not August 15. That is about the only input he would have anyway.
On another note, Bentley has pretty much been a failure in the legislative process. However, he deserves credit for showing resolve and statesmanship when it comes to standing up to the Vegas/Indian casino gambling interests and not succumbing to their intimidation. His decision to follow the constitution and leave the promulgation of the local casinos in the hands of the local sheriffs is to be commended.
See you next week.
September 14, 2016
There is no truer adage in the political world than “all politics is local.” therefore, the best politics and the best governing in the state is at the local level. The mayors of cities and towns throughout Alabama are the real governors of the state.
Running a city is a full-time job. It is the where the rubber meets the road. They are the closest to the people. It is more important to the average voter whether their garbage has been picked up on time or their utility bill is too high, than if we build a wall to keep Mexicans out of Texas or that Hillary Clinton hid her emails. These mayors get blamed for the garbage not being picked up on time and especially if their water bill is too high.
There was a wholesale apple cart turnover and slaughter of iconic long-term mayors throughout the state with statewide municipal elections on August 23rd. It was devastating in the Jefferson County suburbs. The veteran mayor of Hoover, Gary Ivey, lost 35% to 52% to former Hoover Fire Chief Frank Brocato. Two-term Vestavia Mayor, Butch Zaragoza, lost 43% to 57% to former FBI agent, Ashley Curry. In Trussville, five-term Mayor, Gene Melton, lost big time. He got 25% of the vote running third to two City Councilmen, Buddy Choat (35%) and Anthony Montalto (40%), who will be in a runoff.
Legendary Tuskegee Mayor Johnny Ford fell to City Council President Tony Haygood, 38% to 62%.
The Selma Mayoral race was a real donnybrook. In a five person contest, the incumbent Mayor George Evans finished third with only 18% of the vote. State Representative Darrio Melton and former Mayor James Perkins are headed for an October 4th runoff with Melton leading.
In Alexander City, incumbent Mayor Charles Shaw barely got into a runoff with James Nabors, who led 47% to 20%.
In Hamilton, Mayor Wade Williams got trounced. Bob Page beat him 63% to 24%. Hamilton has not had a mayor to win a second term in 24 years.
In Demopolis, incumbent Mayor Mike Grayson was trampled by John Laney 63% to 15%. That is taking someone to the woodshed.
In one of Alabama’s fastest growing cities, Fairhope, four-term incumbent Mayor Tim Kant lost to bookstore owner Karin Wilson, who qualified the last day on a lark.
In short, a host of incumbent mayors bit the dust and they fell hard. However, some popular incumbent mayors won reelection handily on August 23rd. Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller waltzed to an impressive victory garnering 80% of the vote. In Prattville, incumbent Mayor Bill Gillespie trounced his opposition with a record 92% of the vote. Popular young Troy Mayor Jason Reeves got an impressive 73% of the vote over two opponents and reelection to his second term. Wetumpka Mayor Jerry Willis won a third term. He got 65% of the vote in his reelection bid. Jim Lowery, the longtime mayor of Fultondale won 58% to 42%. Enterprise Mayor Kenneth Boswell beat two opponents without a runoff.
The biggest victory of any incumbent mayor came in one of Alabama’s top three metropolitan areas. Huntsville is one of the state’s largest cities and the fastest growing. Incumbent Mayor Tommy Battle won with 82% of the vote. This will probably catapult him into the 2018 Governor’s Race.
Several popular mayors were unopposed. One was the very able Mayor of Andalusia, Earl Johnson.
All of the aforementioned mayoral incumbent victors are leading cities that are thriving and growing exponentially.
There will be some good runoffs on October 4th. Most notably in Ozark between Mike Barefield and Bob Bunting, where only 39 votes separated them.
Forty-year veteran Mayor Jimmy Ramage stepped down as Mayor of Brundidge. There will be a runoff election between Cynthia Pearson and Isabell Boyd, which will be interesting.
The Luverne runoff election between Alan Carpenter and Ed Beasley will be close with only 12 votes separating them.
It has been a very good year for local politics in the Heart of Dixie.
See you next week.
September 07, 2016
Throughout this year’s prodigious presidential selection process our junior senator, Jeff Sessions, has been at the forefront. He has become the darling of the extreme right throughout the country. He is and has been one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate for close to two decades now. Throughout his entire tenure in the Senate, he has been consistently ranked as one of the five most conservative members of this august body.
It is because of Sessions staunch conservativism that he is probably the most popular major political figure in Alabama. He adroitly reflects the philosophy and values of arguably the most conservative state in America.
His support and endorsement was sought by all of the GOP presidential contenders. His hardline approach on the immigration issue put him in line early with Donald Trump. Even still during the GOP presidential debates the other candidates, especially Ted Cruz, would imply that Sessions liked him. He was identified early on as being supportive of Donald Trump. Although he never officially endorsed Trump, he appeared at Trump’s campaign rallies in Mobile and Huntsville with a Trump hat on.
Sessions showed a wise and shrewd side by knowing that Alabamians have always resented one politician endorsing or getting involved in a race other than their own. Novice politicians of recent years, like Bob Riley and Robert Bentley, would arrogantly endorse people who systematically lost because of their endorsement. They lacked the knowledge of Alabama political history that Alabamians resent this interference. George Wallace in the prime of his political popularity would occasionally endorse someone and they always lost. Wallace eventually quit doing it.
A good example would be that during this year’s Alabama Republican Primary, Sessions subtly sided with Trump and he got over 60 percent of the vote in Alabama and Bentley endorsed Ohio Governor John Kasich and he got less than 4 percent of the vote in the state.
Sessions is a consistent guest on the conservative news network, Fox. He is adored nationwide by the country’s conservative base. He epitomizes the gold standard of conservatism on social and fiscal policy. He is even more respected and trusted by the right because they can tell that his heart is in it and he does not harbor aspirations to be president.
Sessions has become Trump’s go to guy in the U.S. Senate. Sessions held a meeting early on to get Trump acquainted with his Republican Senate colleagues. Trump would probably have liked for Sessions to have been his vice presidential running mate. However, Sessions would not have brought anything to the table in the Electoral College process. The hardcore right wing is already in Trump’s corner and, like I always say, Alabama would vote for the Republican nominee if he was named Donald Duck, especially given how far left the Democratic Party has drifted under the leadership of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III was born in Wilcox County but has called Mobile home his entire adult life. He is a true blue lifetime arch conservative Republican. He was a young Republican leader while a college student at Huntingdon College. He campaigned for Goldwater. He served as a Republican U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama for twelve years. Sessions was elected Attorney General of Alabama in 1994. He was elected to the U.S. Senate two years later in 1996.
Therefore, Sessions has been representing us in the U.S. Senate for 20 years. He will be 70 years old on Christmas Eve. If Donald Trump were to be elected president, he would probably offer Sessions a cabinet post as either Secretary of State or Secretary of Homeland Security or maybe even a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. People who know Sessions well believe that he would leave the Senate for one of these posts. If that were to occur, his successor would be appointed by the governor. It would be a plum appointment. We will see.
See you next week.