July 13, 2016
As if we have not been inundated enough with politics this year, hold on to your seats. Over the next few weeks that is all you will hear, read or see. The Republican Convention is set for July 18-22 in Cleveland and the Democratic Convention will begin on July 25 in Philadelphia.
After a full year of primaries, caucuses and delegate collecting, the field is finally set for the fall campaign for president. After the July conventions are over, the race is on between Democrat Hillary Clinton and the Republican standard bearer Donald Trump.
Trump has been the story of the year. He vanquished a field of stellar and sterling Republicans. It was quite a quest. He locked up the GOP nomination in May.
It took Hillary a little longer to put away socialist Bernie Sanders. In fact, Sanders won more primaries than Clinton and got almost as many votes.
The results of the primaries throughout the country reveal that there are two extreme political parties in America. The Democratic Party of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton is extremely liberal and the Republican Party of Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions is extremely conservative. George Wallace would be hard pressed to run around the country today running for president as a third party candidate spouting his famous line, “There ain’t a dimes worth of difference in the national Republican and Democratic parties,” because there is a vast difference. In fact, they ought to simply change the name of the Republican Party to the Conservative Party and the Democratic Party to the Liberal Party.
There is a good reason we are a reliably red Republican state. We are indeed one of the most conservative states in America. Donald Trump will carry Alabama overwhelmingly in November and we will proudly cast our nine electoral votes for the GOP nominee for the tenth straight presidential election. We have voted for the Republican nominee in every election since 1980. A Democrat has not carried Alabama since Georgian Jimmy Carter in 1976.
The race for the White House will be fun to watch. You have a matchup of two brash, blustery New Yorkers. Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady, U.S. Senator from New York, and Secretary of State is making history as the first woman to be the nominee of one of the two major political parties. She will also enter the fray as the favorite. The demographic changes in America and the slant of the Electoral College System favors a Democrat in the presidential selection process.
However, I contend that Donald Trump, the flamboyant New York billionaire is the best candidate the Republicans could have fielded. His contentious, bold, provocative and uninhibited statements and behavior appeal to nonpartisan independents and blue collar men in the pivotal Rust Belt states of Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
One thing is for certain, Clinton and Trump have the highest negative ratings of any presidential nominees in polling history. For years political experts have professed that a candidate cannot win an election with a negative approval rating of over 25%. Unbelievably, the polls show that Trump has a negative rating of 60% and Clinton has an unfavorable rating of 54%. That is amazing, yet one of them will be elected President of the United States.
Experts say that Trump has to tone down his rhetoric. He must build a campaign infrastructure and he must be more specific with his campaign promises and not just use slogans and code words. Hillary, first of all, needs to warm up some, if possible. She comes across as remote and distant. She must woo and attract young voters. Millennials do not trust her. She also has to fight back when Trump blasts her because believe me he will. We are probably in for the most negative presidential campaign in your lifetime.
As the campaign evolves, remember national horserace polls are irrelevant. Under the Electoral College System it is winner take all in each state. Therefore, about six pivotal swing states are the important cog in the equation. You need to know what the polls are saying in the key battleground states of Ohio and Florida.
See you next week.
July 06, 2016
The conviction and downfall of Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard is the political story of the year. It has not been the most profound conviction of an Alabama public official in my lifetime. We have had two governors convicted of crimes while in office and removed in fairly recent years, Guy Hunt a Republican and Don Siegelman a Democrat. Siegelman is still in federal prison in Louisiana. However, Hubbard’s trial has been the most anticipated and most dramatic.
Rumors of a grand jury investigation surrounding Hubbard started in the summer of 2013. In October of 2014, Hubbard was indicted by a Lee County grand jury of 23 counts of felony ethics law violations. His indictment has been the subject of political and media conversation for over 20 months. It culminated on Friday night June 10th, when a Lee County jury returned guilty verdicts on 12 of the 23 counts. Hubbard faces 2 to 20 years in prison on each charge and a maximum $30,000 fine. Given the magnitude of the overwhelming conviction, Hubbard is probably looking at real prison time in a state prison. Sentencing is set for this Friday in Lee County.
As a perfunctory course of action his defense lawyers will file an appeal. However, Hubbard would be better off to forego this process. It is very improbable that an appeal will be given any credence.
The judge in the case, Jacob Walker III, presided flawlessly without any hint of prejudice. He has been on the bench in his lifetime home of Lee County for 15 years and did a good job of running an efficient and errorless trial. He is rightfully very well respected by the folks in Lee County and throughout the state. He even read the detailed instructions to the jury straight from the book without any deviation or emphasis.
The jury listened intently throughout the grueling 12-day trial, even during the monotonous charge from the judge and the boring half day accountant’s discussion of Hubbard’s finances. There was no error in this case. An appeal is a waste of time and probably what little money Hubbard has left. Bill Baxley did not defend him for free.
I have not watched that many jury trials. However, I have never seen a more diligent jury. They paid rapt attention to every detail and took extensive notes and came back with a verdict similar to precisely what most reasonable men and women throughout the state would have rendered. They only deliberated seven hours and came back with their convictions, which were a clear as the nose on your face.
They convicted their fellow Lee Countian and Republican Speaker of the House. He was found guilty of using his office as Speaker to secure numerous consulting contracts. Sometimes these contacts brought in totals of over $30,000 a month and totaled over $2 million. For one of the clients, the American Pharmacy Cooperative (APCI), Hubbard inserted language in the budget that gave them an exclusive contract to provide pharmaceuticals for Medicaid and then voted on that budget.
Not only did Judge Walker and the jury do an exemplary and thorough job, the lawyers in the case did also. The prosecution team, led by Matt Hart, Van Davis and a young prosecutor Michael Duffy, were excellent. Bill Baxley was superb for the defense.
So what are the ramifications of the Mike Hubbard downfall? First of all, Hubbard’s seat in Lee County is vacated. A Special Election will be held. The Auburn area obviously loses clout in the Legislature. Hubbard, who is credited with leading the Republican takeover of the Alabama House in 2010 was the most powerful Speaker in memory. His removal leaves the House rudderless because the Republican super majority followed him like sheep.
Victor Gaston, the Speaker Pro Tem, ascends to Speaker. A new Speaker will be elected when the House convenes again. Several names are mentioned as Hubbard’s successor, Steve Clouse, Mac McCutcheon, Lynn Greer and Mike Jones. It will be an interesting evolvement.
This crisis of leadership in the House comes at a time when Medicaid, which covers more than 20 percent of Alabamians, received $85 million less than it says it needs to survive and the state’s prisons are at 182 percent capacity and facing possible federal takeover. Ironically, one of these state prisons will probably be where Mike Hubbard soon calls home.
See you next week.
June 29, 2016
The older you get the more you realize that old adages you heard as a child are true. There is a political maxim that says, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It could very aptly be applied to the Mike Hubbard saga.
Mike Hubbard was born and raised in north Georgia. He went to college at the University of Georgia and majored in journalism and landed a job in the Bulldog Sports Information Department. About that time an amazing athlete came from rural Georgia to play football at the University of Georgia. His name was Herschel Walker. Hubbard was assigned the task of spearheading the media promotion to win Walker the Heisman Trophy. Indeed he won the prestigious award as the nation’s greatest football player.
A few years later, Auburn University landed an unusually talented athlete in Vincent “Bo” Jackson. Pat Dye had gotten the coveted Jackson after Bear Bryant dismissively told Jackson he would probably make him a defensive back or linebacker. Jackson did not like hearing that and he made Bryant regret it.
Bo Jackson became the best football player in the country. Pat Dye, who is a Georgia grad and an all American guard, reached out to his alma mater to find out who promoted Walker and learned that is was Mike Hubbard. Dye brought Hubbard to Auburn and Hubbard soon had a resume that made him the prime promoter of two Heisman Trophy winners.
Hubbard parlayed this notoriety into building a media empire around Auburn athletics. He controlled television and radio rights to Auburn games and even started his own radio station and printing company. He got elected to the legislature to represent Auburn in 1998.
Hubbard followed the legendary Pete Turnham in the Auburn House seat. Mr. Pete served 40 years in the House from 1958-1998. He had the record for legislative tenure in state history and was known as the Dean of the House.
Mr. Pete and I sat beside each other for 16 years in the House. I watched Pete over the years and every vote he cast and every action was geared toward helping Auburn University. He did it without fanfare. I saw him get untold millions of appropriations for Auburn. I always thought it was a travesty that not one building at Auburn was named after Pete. In fact, I observed him get the money for a new veterinarian building on campus. Therefore, it would have been most appropriate to name the building after old Pete. However, he would not have had it any other way.
Ironically, after only 12 years in the House, Hubbard became Speaker. He had a building on campus named for himself. He also became known as an inside manipulator when he orchestrated the bidding of the Auburn football games to favor his Auburn Network to retain the exclusive contract while he was the Auburn State Representative.
Hubbard became a stalwart state Republican leader soon after his election to the legislature. He became chairman of the Party and then in 2010 was instrumental in helping to recruit and elect the first Republican majority in the House. Indeed it was and still is and will continue to be a super majority. His minions elected him as their Speaker. He took control of the House of Representatives and ran it with an iron fist. Some would say that he became a dictator and that is not far from the truth.
In my lifetime, I have never seen a Speaker garner the power and total control that Hubbard wielded. It was a though he was the King of the House and the other Republicans were his loyal subjects. Thus, the adage “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The much anticipated trial that ended on June 10, 2016, culminated in Hubbard’s conviction on 12 of 23 counts of felony ethics law violations. It was great drama. It was everything that was anticipated. The outcome was what most folks expected. His sentencing is set for July 8. He will probably get prison time given the overwhelming number of convictions.
There is very little likelihood that an appeal will get much traction. The Judge in the case, Jacob Walker III, did a flawless job and ruled fairly and within the law on all issues. He read the charges to the jury verbatim from the law. The jury was extremely diligent and ruled on every count exactly the way almost any jury in the state would have ruled after hearing all the facts and the law.
We will discuss the ramifications of the Hubbard downfall next week.
See you next week.
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.