June 22, 2016
One of my most cherished lifetime memories is the almost two decades I served in the Alabama House of Representatives. It was because of the lifetime friends made during that era.
The House was not as partisan as it is today. This day and time it seems like legislators do not mix and mingle with different party members. They get in their caucuses and stay put. When I was in the House, although we were of different parties, we all got along regardless of whether we disagreed on issues.
My seatmates were my best friends and still remain my buddies. Seth Hammett, Jimmy Holley and Mr. Pete Turnham were great friends. We represented similar districts and we all voted pretty much alike.
It is a fun and exhilarating experience now to visit the House and see old buddies and meet the new members. My most treasured friend in the House now is Steve Clouse from Ozark. We have been lifelong friends. In fact, I have never not known Steve. His mom and mine were best friends growing up together in Troy. We used to play together as boys; although Steve is quick to point out that I am four years older than him. I am not sure our mothers did not get together and name their children the same names. Ironically, I had a sister named Kay and Steve has a sister named Kay. We represented adjoining districts within Pike and Dale Counties. People would get us confused and still do because our names are so similar.
Steve has done a stellar job in the House. He has represented Dale and Houston Counties with distinction for the past 26 years. He is Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and has done a yeoman’s job. Even though I am a little prejudiced, I believe that Steve is the most outstanding, diligent and ethical member of the House. He leads an excellent Wiregrass delegation comprised of Paul Lee of Dothan, Donnie Chesteen of Geneva, and Dexter Grimsley of Henry County.
Victor Gaston of Mobile came to the House with me in 1982. Therefore, he has now been in the House for 34 years. Victor serves as Speaker Pro Tem and will move up to Speaker with the conviction of Mike Hubbard. Victor has mentored a good many young legislators.
Richard Lindsey from Cherokee County also came with me to the legislature in 1982. He is a good man and a real gentleman who always greets you with a smile.
John Rogers is also one of my buddies from the class of ’82. He has made his mark for 34 years. He is always quick with a smile and handshake. In fact, when I was in the House I started an informal fraternity that was nonpartisan. John always remembers and gives me the fraternal handshake.
Alvin Holmes from Montgomery is the dean of the House with 42 years of seniority. Alvin has made his mark on Alabama political history.
There are two members remaining in the House who came in 1978, thus giving them 38 years of service. Ron Johnson from Talladega County has made a mark as a health specialist in the legislature. James Buskey of Mobile has been a real leader. He is very well-respected and one of the men I revere in the legislature. He is diligent, calm and humorous. Some of us refer to him as “Admiral”.
Steve McMillan from Baldwin County is one of my all-time favorite legislators. He has represented his county for the past 36 years. Baldwin has changed and grown exponentially during the past four decades Steve has represented them. Steve’s brother John McMillan is the Agriculture Commissioner. Both are known for their integrity and class.
Mike Hill is another one of my favorites. He has represented Shelby County for 30 years. He, like Steve, represents one of Alabama’s fastest growing and now largest counties. Like McMillan in Baldwin, Hill is a native Shelby Countian. He is always positive and upbeat.
There are several more old friends I served with who are still in the House, Howard Sanderford from Huntsville, Thomas Jackson from Thomasville, Laura Hall from Huntsville, Johnny Mack Morrow from Red Bay, Kerry Rich from Marshall, Jim Carns from Jefferson, John Knight from Montgomery, George Bandy from Opelika, Thad McClammy from Montgomery and Chris Pringle from Mobile.
One of my all-time favorites is Marcel Black from Tuscumbia. He has now been in the House for 30 years. We are almost exactly the same age. We went to Boys State together. He has been an outstanding legislator and has made his mark on Alabama politics. He is also a heck of a good lawyer and a good friend.
See you next week.
June 15, 2016
A few Friday nights ago, a large throng of people gathered at The Club in Birmingham despite a torrential thunderstorm. The event was called Jubilee for Jabo. It was a commemoration of Jabo Waggoner’s 50 years of service in the Alabama Legislature.
Jabo Waggoner Jr. has made his mark in Alabama political history. He began his career in the Alabama House of Representatives in 1966, as a 29 year old freshman House member from Jefferson County. He served 30 years in the House. He has now represented Jefferson and Shelby Counties in the Alabama Senate for over 20 years. The speakers who lauded Jabo were former Governor Bob Riley, former Lt. Gov. Steve Windom and Dr. Swaid Swaid. It could have included hundreds of friends who have served with Jabo over the years, yours truly included.
The resounding theme was that Jabo is always calm and resolute with a friendly smile and greeting, who never meets a stranger and is always unpretentious and down to earth. He has met a lot of people over the years and seems to remember them all by name.
He has set the record for legislative tenure for anyone in Alabama history from Jefferson County. He made it clear to everyone in attendance that night that he plans to add to that record. At 79 he is in great shape. He plans to run for reelection in 2018.
The event was very well done. Former Secretary of State Beth Chapman did a marvelous job as the emcee. The Jefferson County Republican Party did a fantastic job. Amazingly there were over 500 people in attendance. Most people would hope that a faction of that number would attend their funeral. Jabo was gracious as normal and paid tribute to his beautiful wife of 57 years, Marilyn.
There are more of my former legislative colleagues and friends who are also breaking records for seniority in the Alabama Senate. State Senator Jimmy Holley of Elba, who represents Coffee, Covington, Dale and Pike Counties in the Senate, served 20 years in the House before moving to the Senate in 1998. Jimmy and I sat together in the House for most of those 20 years. I never saw a more diligent or capable legislator than Jimmy Holley. He has now served 18 years in the Senate. He and his wife, Marry, are close. She is able to come to Montgomery with him. They enjoy their two sons and grandchildren.
Another icon in the Senate is Gerald Dial. He, like Jabo, has set some records for longevity in the legislature. Sen. Dial has a combined 39 legislative years. He has served eight years in the House and 31 years in the Alabama Senate. He represents a sprawling district that covers the east Alabama counties of Cleburne, Chambers, Randolph and his home county of Clay. His wife, Faye, is always by his side. Like Jabo’s Marilyn and Jimmy’s Mary, she has been his anchor throughout the years.
State Senator Hank Sanders has represented the good people of Selma, Dallas County and the Black Belt region as their Alabama State Senator for 34 years. This is a record surpassing prior Black Belt legends Walter Givham and Roland Cooper. Hank is an icon who chaired the powerful Finance and Taxation Committee during the Democrat’s reign.
State Senator Rodger Smitherman has represented Jefferson County in the Senate for 20 years. He is very effective and works across the aisle. He attended Jabo’s event, even though they are philosophically opposite and of different parties. They have a deep respect for each other and work together for the good of Jefferson County.
State Senator Vivian Figures has now represented Mobile in the Alabama Senate for close to 20 years. She followed her late husband. Michael, in 1997. She has had a distinguished career as a very respected and effective member of the State’s upper legislative chamber.
Houston and Geneva’s popular State Senator Harri Ann Smith has now represented the Wiregrass well for 18 years.
There are several who have a couple of terms under their belt and have the potential to be legends but may leave the Senate because of statewide aspirations. That list includes Del Marsh, Arthur Orr, Cam Ward, Bobby Singleton, Gerald Allen, Clyde Chambliss, Clay Scofield, Steve Livingston, Rusty Glover and Greg Reed. Senator Trip Pittman could make greatness but has decided to call it quits in 2018.
See you next week.
June 08, 2016
While observing the legislature the other day, I fondly remembered a very eventful day as a youth. As a teenager, I grew up working at the Capitol as a Page in the House and Senate.
Albert Brewer had been elected to the House from Morgan County in his late 20’s and became Speaker in only his second term. He would eventually let me sit beside him in the Speaker’s box and tell me why certain bills were assigned to the proper committee and the probable fate of the proposed legislation.
Brewer ran for lieutenant governor and won in 1966. At that time, the lieutenant governor not only presided over the Senate, he controlled it with help from Governor George Wallace. Brewer took me with him over to the Senate and made me head of the Senate Pages. Brewer confided in me and made me somewhat of an aide de camp at age 15.
I had also become acquainted with our young, fiery, dynamic governor, George Wallace, who will go down in history as probably Alabama’s greatest politician. Wallace had a remarkable ability for remembering people’s names.
On this particular day, I was roaming around the Capitol with one of my Page buddies from Anniston when Wallace bounced out of his office and asked if I and my friend wanted to have lunch with him. He was swarmed by people as he ate his lunch in the old cafeteria in the basement of the Capitol. Wallace’s practice was to campaign in barber shops and beauty parlors all over the state. He asked me about every barber in Pike County by name and then turned to my friend and asked him about every barber in Anniston by name. It was amazing. He also had a habit of eating a hamburger steak every meal. It is not uncommon for folks to put ketchup on hamburger steak, but I watched in amazement when he poured ketchup all over his black-eyed peas, turnip greens and cornbread too. He put ketchup on everything he ate. Heinz missed a good chance by not using him in a commercial.
I was on cloud nine after getting to have lunch with the Governor of Alabama. I bragged to every state senator and then meandered out to the rotunda where the legendary Miss Mittie sat on her bench knitting. She knew where every state senator and representative was at all times. We had become friends and she trusted me. As the lieutenant governor’s aide and head senate page, I needed to ask her where senators were from time to time. I proudly told Miss Mittie that I had eaten lunch with the Governor. Without missing a beat she said, “I guess that little sawed off so and so put ketchup on everything he ate.” The old lady not only knew where everybody was, she knew how the governor ate his food. This also told me she did not like Wallace.
The Senate was debating a bill that was important to Gov. Brewer and Wallace. A decision had to be made whether to break for supper. I had gotten to know the Senators pretty well. One was the most powerful member of the Senate, Joe Goodwyn from Montgomery. Old Joe had a serious drinking problem. Most nights he headed to his favorite spot, the Sahara Restaurant, for dinner and libations.
Gov. Brewer called the restaurant and old Joe headed back to the Capitol. Since Joe had been told his vote was urgent, he drove his Buick up the Capitol steps and made it almost to the Jefferson Davis star. His car’s transmission was on the second step. Minutes before we heard the news of old Joe’s spectacular arrival, I ambled out to ask Miss Mittie if she knew where Sen. Goodwyn was. She said, “Somebody parked in his parking place and he had to park on the Capitol steps.” It was obvious to me that she did not like Wallace, but she liked old Joe Goodwyn.
See you next week.
June 01, 2016
Sometimes the best thing that the legislature can do in a session is to pass very little legislation. That can be said of this year’s regular legislative session, which ended several weeks ago. Not many bills made it through the legislative labyrinth.
Gov. Robert Bentley made a proposed $800 million prison construction bond issue the cornerstone of his legislative agenda. It failed but not surprising given Bentley’s irrelevance in the legislative process. The surprising aspect is that the proposal got any traction at all. It came close to passing even though it looked like something that Gerald Wallace would dream up.
Bentley’s prison proposal called for borrowing $800 million in a bond issue with no concrete way to pay back the debt from a disastrously broke General Fund budget. It was a total secret as to where the four prisons were going to be built. I am sure this resonated well with senators and representatives who have prisons in their district or close by. Those prisons in places like Escambia, St. Clair, Elmore and Barbour, to name a few, are the largest employers in those counties.
There are also serious questions about the design method proposed for the men’s prisons that would have allowed a single architectural firm to get the contract for all three mega men’s prisons. In addition, one general contractor was going to get the contract for all four prisons. One bonding firm was going to get the deal to float the bonds. It sounds to me like some folks were going to get rich on this deal. Legislators were asked to buy a pig in a poke.
Legislators did pass both budgets. In fact, they passed them early in the session. Since passing the budgets is the only constitutional mandate for a session, I would give this session a C+. However, since they killed some bad legislation, I might rate the session a B-. Then again, their failure to vote to allow their constituents the opportunity to vote on a lottery may drop them back to a C.
It is beyond comprehension how a legislator could not vote to let their people vote on keeping their money in state. Alabamians buy lottery tickets. They just drive to Georgia, Florida and Tennessee to get them. Thus, giving our money to these states. It is as though they are saying, here Florida, we are so rich you can have some of our money.
They chose instead to cut the Medicaid budget, which will force cuts to services like adult’s and children’s pharmacy and outpatient dialysis. It will also lead to cuts in payments to physicians. Medicaid undergirds Alabama’s entire healthcare delivery system. More than half the births in the state and 47 percent of the children, as well as 60 percent of Alabama’s nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid. Bentley had repeatedly asked for more money for Medicaid but the legislature ignored his pleas.
The governor was on the sidelines on a proposed gas tax increase for roads and bridges in the state. This proposal never really got off the ground. It appears that the road builders and certain mayors have very little influence in the legislature.
Even though the legislature passed a barebones General Fund budget, which cuts state services and state employees’ take home pay again, the Special Education Budget was another story. With the upturn in the economy the Education coffers are flush.
The state’s $6.3 billion Education Trust Fund Budget was the largest since 2008. It included increases for transportation, classroom supplies and a four percent raise for teachers. The Budget also provided full funding for Education Employees Health Insurance (PEEHIP). However, that increase was offset by the PEEHIP Board voting to increase the cost of individual plans from $15-$30 a month and family plans from $177 to $207 a month.
There were hints by the Governor that a Special Session may be called for late summer to address the Medicaid problem and his prison bond issue. However, with clouds hovering over the Governor and Speaker of the House, the spectacle of a Special Session is doubtful.
See you next week.
May 25, 2016
A few weeks ago former Alabama Chief Justice Perry O. Hooper Sr. died at his home in Montgomery at age 91. He was the epitome of the southern gentleman. He was also one of the founding fathers of the modern Republican Party in Alabama.
Hooper Sr. was a GOP leader long before it was cool to be a Republican in Alabama. He was the state’s longtime National Committee Chairman as well as a onetime party chairman. Many of Hooper’s early GOP stalwarts, like Wynton Blount and Jim Martin, used to jest that there were so few Republicans in the state that they could call a state executive committee meeting or convention in a phone booth.
Hooper was a marine as a young man. He graduated from Birmingham Southern and then the University of Alabama School of Law. During this time, he married the love of his life, a beautiful Kappa Delta at Alabama from Montgomery, “Mrs. Marilyn.”
He began his law career in Montgomery. He was elected Probate Judge of Montgomery County in 1964 and reelected in 1970. In 1974, he was elected as a Circuit Judge in Montgomery. In those Montgomery judgeships, he was the first Republican elected since Reconstruction. However, he became the ultimate Republican political pioneer in 1994 when he became the first Republican Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. In fact, he was the first Republican State Justice since Reconstruction.
Today, Republicans hold all nine seats on the Alabama Supreme Court. Hooper broke the ice and paved the way. As a jurist, Judge Hooper was seen as a role model for other judges. He was nonpartisan and fair. Both Democrat and Republican lawyers said he was friendly and treated them with respect and regard in his courtroom.
Suburban Alabamians began voting Republican in the 1960 Kennedy/Nixon presidential race. In fact, Nixon carried Montgomery. The tide turned totally in 1964. The state voted overwhelmingly for Barry Goldwater in what became known as the Southern Goldwater landslide.
Alabamians not only voted for the Republican standard bearer, Goldwater, but a good many pulled the straight Republican lever. This Goldslide put five new Republican congressmen in office, including Bill Dickinson, Jack Edwards and Jim Martin. Judge Hooper also rode this tidal wave to become Montgomery Probate Judge. He used the slogan “Put Barry in the White House and Perry in the Courthouse.” However, this would not to be his toughest race.
Hooper’s perseverance and resolve were exemplary as he won the 1994 State Supreme Court Race and broke the stranglehold that the plaintiff trial lawyers and Democrats held on the Supreme Court. At that time, the state’s and nation’s business community was incensed at the jackpot justice haven that Alabama had fostered. They were determined to root out the plaintiff lawyer oriented/Democratic court. We were called “tort hell” in a cover story by Time Magazine.
The Business Council of Alabama backed Hooper. They also hired one Karl Rove to work on the campaign. The Alabama trial lawyers backed incumbent Sonny Hornsby. It was a bitter and expensive campaign. Hooper narrowly beat Hornsby in the November election by less than 300 votes out of 1.1 million cast. Hornsby and the trial lawyers challenged the election. After a long court battle and several recounts, the U.S. Supreme Court declared Hooper the winner by a final margin of 262 votes.
After Hooper’s win in 1994 the wall was lifted. The Republicans swept the court and have not relinquished any of the seats on the State Supreme Court.
Due to the state’s mandatory age limitation of 70 for judges, Hooper could not run again in 2000. However, if he could have run, his reelection would have been much easier than in 1994.
Judge Hooper is survived by his wife of 63 years, Marilyn, along with his sons, John, Walter, Conwell and Perry Hooper, Jr. and a host of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Perry Hooper, Jr., affectionately known as “Perry O.”, was my best legislative buddy. He has enjoyed a stellar career highlighted by 20 years as a State Representative from Montgomery.
Judge Hooper was a fine gentleman.
See you next week.
May 18, 2017
Last week we talked about how difficult it is to win passage of a legislative act. It does not matter if the proposed legislation is for apple pie and motherhood. If for nothing else, the bill has to go before both House and Senate committees, win approval, and not get an amendment put on it. If it gets an amendment on it, it has to basically start all over again. It then has to get placed on the special order calendar set by the Rules Committee and there are hundreds of bills waiting to get on this calendar and only a few bills ever get on the calendar each day and there are only 30 legislative days in the session. If it gets on the calendar, it then has to pass both chambers and hopefully the governor is also for apple pie and motherhood, because if he vetoes it, it has to start all over again.
Let me give you an example of a piece of apple pie and motherhood legislation I was asked to sponsor when I was a freshman legislator. There was a quirk in Alabama criminal law that allowed the family of a criminal defendant to be in the courtroom during a criminal trial but, unbelievably, the family of the crime victim could not be in the courtroom. The Victims of Crime Leniency (“VOCAL”) sought to correct this injustice.
VOCAL asked me to sponsor its bill and work for its passage. I worked diligently on the bill. The press gave the bill glowing editorials for its fairness. We got the bill out of the House, where it passed overwhelmingly. When it got to the Senate it was assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was Sen. Earl Hilliard from Jefferson County. He was opposed to the bill and as Chairman of the Committee, he “deep sixed” it and would not let it out of committee. No amount of haranguing from VOCAL or bad press could budge Earl.
Then, one day I was on the floor of the House and the VOCAL leader, Mrs. Miriam Shehane, called me out to the lobby. She said Earl would not be in Montgomery that day but the Senate Judiciary Committee was meeting and the Vice Chairman was going to bring up our bill out of order. We quickly went to the 6th floor and whisked our bill out of the Judiciary Committee. It won final approval in the Senate a few weeks later and became law. The old truism, “It takes an act of Congress,” is very accurate, especially in politics.
Also during legislative sessions, I am asked by people if their letter makes a difference. My response is, yes, definitely. Most legislators and congressmen want to know what their constituents are thinking. They generally want to vote like their districts feel. I would cherish this input and actually solicited it. Let me share with you a story which illustrates how important a letter to a legislator can become.
One year, I received a note from one of my favorite retired teachers. She had not only taught me but also taught my mom and dad. She was as fine a lady as I had ever known. Her note simply asked me to vote for some issue I perceived as not very controversial. I was not even cognizant of the issue until she made me aware of it, but she even referred to it by bill number. It did not pertain to education and like I said, it did not appear to have much opposition or controversy. I do not even remember what the issue was, now. However, because I revered this lady, I called her and told her due to her interest I would vote for the measure. I kept her note on my desk with the bill number referenced.
Lo and behold, about halfway through the legislative session, I saw the bill on the special order calendar for the day. I got primed for the vote. I voted for the bill simply because of the letter from my former teacher. To my amazement, I looked up at the large electronic vote tally machine and the bill passed by only one vote. One vote can make a difference.
See you next week.
May 11, 2016
For the past five or six years the legislature has pretty much cut state government to the bone. One of the areas that legislators have taken an ax to are Alabama’s cultural heritage agencies. These organizations throughout the state have taken it on the chin.
There is an informal partnership of seven state agencies that have sought to educate Alabamians about the importance of our rich and dynamic history. The alliance is comprised of the Alabama Agricultural Museum in Dothan, Brierfield Ironworks Historical State Park in Brierfield, Tannehill Ironworks State Park in McCalla, the Historic Blakely Authority in Spanish Fort, the historic Chattahoochee Commission in Eufaula, the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park in Mobile and the St. Stephens Historical Commission in St. Stephens.
This alliance’s membership of educational institutions represents nearly two centuries of combined service to Alabamians in promoting and preserving the state’s history. These institutions have played a significant role in the cultural life of our state by educating residents and visitors to the state about our past. Their work runs the gambit from Alabama’s rich Native American history to its formative years and the important role in the Civil War to the vital role of the agriculture and iron industries in Alabama’s development. They preserve some of our state’s most special places and provide a crucial resource for educators. They are preserving Alabama’s heritage.
In fact, the tourism dollars generated annually by these agencies more than offset the modest appropriations they formally receive from the legislature. These agencies core functions are educational in nature.
These cultural history agencies are small potatoes in state spending. However, our state roads are another story and they are falling apart. At least 15% of the state’s urban roads are in very poor condition and another 35% are rated as mediocre. This is according to a recent report from TRIP, a national transportation research group. The same study revealed that 25% of Alabama’s bridges are deemed structurally deficient.
Since 2012 the state has had a windfall in federal money to help with our road and bridge building in the state. This joint federal state project known as ATRIP, an acronym for Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program, has been a godsend for rural roads in the state. Many a county commissioner has praised the lord for this manna from heaven. This program has been a $1 billion boost to help counties repair and improve roads and bridges. However, ATRIP is coming to an end.
Our state road program and entire transportation is funded totally with revenue from gasoline taxes. In fact, they are separate from the General Fund and operate autonomously from the rest of the state agencies. The Alabama Department of Transportation has been a good steward with its money. It has put its resources into proper projects without regard to politics. In past years, governors used road projects to reward their friends and punish their enemies. The current Bentley administration has chosen a businessman to head the agency and the agency has made the most important arteries and roadways a priority.
The current gasoline tax of 18 cents per gallon has been the same since 1993. As you know, things like equipment and materials have gone up significantly since then. In addition, more fuel-efficient cars have hit the road causing a decrease in revenue. Some legislators and mayors are seeking a gas tax increase in either this year or next year’s legislative session.
During legislative sessions a good many of you have asked why straightforward, no nonsense, good government legislation fails to pass even though it appears to have universal and overwhelming support.
You will remember old sayings you heard from your elders when you were young. One of these sage adages, “It takes an act of congress” pertains to getting something accomplished. In politics, there is no clearer truism. It is hard to pass a piece of legislation through congress and it is as equally difficult to channel a bill through the labyrinth of legislative approval in Alabama.
Ask any successful lobbyist or legislator which side they would rather be on in legislative wars and they will tell you that they much prefer to be against a bill than trying to pass it. It is much harder to steer a bill through the legislative process than it is to kill a bill. The Senate rules are such that if a handful of the 35 Senators are adamantly opposed to something then they can easily kill the bill. That is why nothing much happens in the legislature.
See you next week.
May 4, 2016
At this time of year Washington, D.C. is a beautiful place to visit. The city is aglow with the blooming of the cherry blossom trees. The cherry blossoms offer a glorious scene as you stroll down the mall and look toward our nation’s capital. This scene has been glimpsed by tourists and visitors for over a century.
Each year the National Cherry Blossom Festival commemorates a 1912 gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Japan to the United States. The current Cherry Blossom Festival has grown tremendously. It is now one of our nation’s greatest springtime celebrations. The first festival was held in 1927, and it has continued to grow over the years. The festival grew to two weeks beginning in 1944. In 2012, the festival expanded to five weeks to honor the 100 year anniversary of the gift of the trees.
Over the years, millions have participated in the events and viewed the flowering cherry trees. Today more than 1.5 million people visit Washington to admire the blossoming cherry trees in our nation’s capital.
Last April I spent several days walking the Potomac and enjoying the festival and cherry blossoms. It was indeed a magnificent sight. As I walked past the Jefferson Memorial and into the heart of the blossoms that surround the tidal basin, my mind wandered back in time and I began to think about the blossoming relationship that the gift of the trees signified between Japan and the U.S. In 1915, we reciprocated by giving the Japanese an equal number of dogwood trees. Little did we know that 24 years later the Japanese would attack us on a Sunday morning in December of 1941.
World War II was the most epic war in our nation’s history. Our nation united like no time in our history in response to the war. The World War II years and the two decades after the War was a magical time to serve in Congress. Many of the images we have of Congress were established during the decades of 1941-1961. Many of the legendary icons of congressional history reigned during this time.
Congressional power was immense during those years and at the front and center of this pinnacle of power was our Alabama delegation. We were the most powerful state in the nation when it came to leadership and seniority. Our representatives and senators not only had power based on their seniority, they were also very well respected and erudite gentlemen.
Gentlemen is the proper description because all ten members of our congressional delegation were men. Both senators and all eight of our congressmen were white male Democrats. If you look back to an early spring day in 1964, you would see a senatorial team from Alabama that was the envy of every state in the nation. Our senatorial duo of Lister Hill and John Sparkman was unparalleled.
Strolling along the Potomac from Alabama at that time was an eight member congressional delegation that boasted of over 120 years of seniority in Washington. These gentlemen were similar in backgrounds. It is as though they were born planning their paths to Congress. Amazingly all eight graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law and were all attorneys by profession.
On a Sunday afternoon in mid-April you would likely see some of our delegation casually strolling by the Jefferson Memorial toward the tidal basin admiring the brilliant cherry blossoms in bloom. Among the group were the likes of George Andrews, George Grant, Albert Rains, Bob Jones, Carl Elliot, Armistead Seldon, Kenneth Roberts and George Huddleston.
Little did they know that six months later their stellar congressional careers would be snuffed out by straight ticket republican voting in Alabama. The tidal wave that swept them out of office was spawned by Lyndon Johnson’s Civil Rights Act of 1964. White Southerners were so incensed that they voted not only for Goldwater but every other Republican on the ballot. All of our delegation voted against the Civil Rights Act. However, it did not matter. White southern voters took no prisoners. African Americans did not vote in 1964. Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act the next year in 1965.
The only members of our delegation to survive the Goldwater landslide tidal wave were Bob Jones, Armistead Selden and George Andrews. If Hill or Sparkman had been on the ballot that year they would probably not have persevered the onslaught. Alabama lost over 100 years of seniority in one fell swoop.
See you next week.
April 27, 2016
As the budget hearings began for the 2016 Legislative Session in January the largest Powerball lottery sweepstakes in American history was playing out. It was one of the biggest news stories of the year, thus far.
Legislators were hearing the same song second verse that they heard last year. The General Fund is about $200 million short. If the money is not found, we will lose $500 million in Medicaid federal matching dollars, most state highways will be without state troopers, and most counties, not just in the Black Belt, will be unable to grant or renew driver’s licenses. In addition, the federal courts will take over our prisons and more than likely release hundreds of convicts on the streets and state employees will either be let go or have their take home pay cut again for the eighth straight year.
At the same time that legislators were hearing that Alabama needs $200 million to make ends meet, most of their constituents were buying lottery tickets in Georgia, Florida and Tennessee and the rest were going to Biloxi to the casinos. Ironically, the amount of money that Alabama would receive from having their money stay in state from a lottery is $200 million.
Most Alabamians find it ludicrous that we allow our money to exit the state to our neighboring states. Alabama and Utah are the only two states in America who derive no state revenue from gambling. We are one of only five of the 50 states who have no lottery. Our neighboring state of Mississippi does not have a lottery because they get most of their state revenue from casino gambling.
The largest number of lottery tickets sold in the recent Powerball in Tennessee, Florida and Georgia were in outlets on the border of Alabama and guess who was buying the tickets? You guessed right, Alabamians. They say the lines on the Florida border were so long that they backed up to Andalusia and Atmore.
The last time that Alabamians were allowed to vote on a lottery was 1999. It lost on a narrow vote because of the large amount of pork and questionable spending attached to the constitutional amendment. State Senator Jim McClendon (R-St. Clair) has come with a clean lottery proposal. It is very simple. It succinctly calls for a yes or no vote on an Alabama owned lottery. The proposal does not lay out any details for the operations of the program nor does it spell out how the money would be spent.
If passed by the legislature it would go before voters in the November general election. The legislature would then establish a lottery in the 2017 Regular Session.
Sen. McClendon in announcing his reason for offering the legislation said that he was simply trying to respond to demands of his constituents who have told him, “Let us vote. We want to vote.” He added, “I have heard it time and time again.”
At least one legislator is listening to his people who sent him to Montgomery. The hew and cry from throughout the state is deafening. People want to vote. Polling reveals that the lottery would pass by a two to one margin at this time if put on the ballot. My guess is that it would be more like three to one. Alabamians are sick and tired of their money funding the governments of Florida and Georgia.
Democrats in the House and Senate want the lottery to be similar to Georgia’s, which allows all the money to accrue only to education.
The people of Alabama want the right to vote. It is hard to understand how a legislator could justify not voting to allow his or her constituents the right to vote on this issue.
Alabamians gamble and Alabamians buy lottery tickets. They want their money to stay home. As Sen. McClendon said his people, who by the way are mostly Republican in a non-border suburban Jefferson and rural area of the state are telling him, “Let us vote,” then most Alabamians are telling their representatives and senators the same thing.
A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers, 63 votes in the House and 21 votes in the Senate to allow a vote of the people on the lottery issue.
See you next week.
April 20, 2016
Some of you may have seen and remember the movie, Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray. In the comedy, Murray awakens on Groundhog Day and has the identical day that he had the previous year, similar to Yogi Berra’s colloquial saying of “déjà vu all over again.” Well folks, this year’s legislative session began on Groundhog Day and it is déjà vu all over again. It is like it is last year again.
Similar to the way realtors say, “it is location, location, location,” with Alabama government it is the General Fund, General Fund, General Fund. Several legislators optimistically predicted that they would have the budgets out by the middle of the session.
In budget hearings, General Fund agencies requested $250 million more than the current $1.7 billion in this year’s budget and as is usually the case there has been no revenue growth. Last year Gov. Robert Bentley offered a $540 million tax increase package for the General Fund. Lawmakers systematically rebuked his proposal. It took three sessions for the legislature to finally pass a budget. However, it failed to address long term budget needs.
The 800-pound gorilla in the room is Medicaid. It is a money eating monster, which eats up all the General Fund money. Almost 20% of all Alabamians are on Medicaid. It provides healthcare for nearly one million low income Alabamians, most of them children. The problem is that if you cut state funding to Medicaid, you lose a gigantic match of federal dollars. For example, if you cut state Medicaid funding by $100 million, which the legislature is proposing, it will result in a loss of $1 billion in federal funds.
The legislature balanced the General Fund budget last year by transferring $80 million from Education dollars, which may be unconstitutional. Gov. Bentley is proposing the same remedy this year. However, he would like to see $180 million taken away from funds earmarked by the constitution for Education.
The idea of balancing the budget with Education’s money has received a cool reception from the legislative leadership. After the Governor’s State of the State address on February 2, Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh (R-Anniston) said, “I would be surprised to see those dollars come from education.”
In his annual speech to the legislature, Gov. Bentley offered a myriad of proposals without any thoughts or ideas on how to pay for them. In his platitudes he especially heralded proposals to help improve healthcare access. However, expansion of Medicaid was conspicuously missing. Despite recommendations from his own task force to implement Medicaid expansion, it was never mentioned in his hour long speech to the legislature.
This is a sore subject with Democrats in the House and Senate. Democrats make up about 30% of the legislature. They are adamant about expanding Medicaid. They argue that the state is losing out on billions of federal dollars from Washington. They have a vocal ally in Dr. David Bronner, who vehemently says it is foolish to not take advantage of this federal windfall.
Bentley is hanging his hat on the implementation of Regional Care Organizations (RCO’s). RCO’s would shift from a fee for service model to one that allocates money based on health care outcomes. Bentley hopes this move will encourage more preventative care and less hospital use, hopefully slowing the growth of costs in the program.
Speaking of Bentley, at a time when the General Fund is broke, he chose to give all his Cabinet members huge raises. Four Cabinet members alone were given raises of $73,400 per year thus increasing their salaries from $91,000 to $164,400. By the way, regular state employees have not seen a raise in eight years and have actually lost take home pay with increased costs of their health insurance. This did not sit well with the legislature. They immediately cut the governor’s personal budget by $330,000.
The legislature had not only rendered Bentley irrelevant in the budgetary process, they have begun to treat him with disdain. This latest rebuke appears as though they look upon him like a petulant child.
See you next week.