October 21, 2015
There have been monumental budget battles in Washington and Montgomery this year. The big difference is that the State of Alabama has a constitutional requirement that we have a balanced budget. We cannot spend more than we can take in. Unfortunately, the United States does not have the same constitutional provision. To his credit, our Senior U.S. Senator Richard Shelby has proposed just such a measure in every session of his 29 years in the Senate.
Our national debt is the biggest problem facing our country. It weakens us in every aspect of national power, prestige, prosperity and security. Barack Obama has never really cared about this national crisis. This socialist Democratic philosophy has been the downfall of several European and third world countries, as well as early Rome.Read more
October 14, 2015
Many of you liked last week’s column detailing our Senior Senator Richard Shelby’s ascent to the U.S. Senate in 1986. Sen. Shelby has represented us in the U.S. Senate admirably for close to three decades now. He has no plans to retire any time soon. Shelby will tell you straight away that he is running for reelection to his 6th six year term in 2016. Shelby turned 80 last May but he looks 65 and is in good health. He loves being a U.S. Senator and will be easily reelected if indeed he runs again in 2016.
However, what if Shelby changed his mind and retired in 2016? The big question mark in Alabama politics is who all would run to succeed Shelby. The answer is everybody and their brother. United States Senate seats do not open up every day. Therefore everybody who is in political office plus everybody who ever won a 4H speaking contest would enter the fray.Read more
October 07, 2015
In 1986 Richard Shelby was a 50-year-old congressman from Tuscaloosa. He was elected to congress eight years earlier, after two successful four-year terms in the Alabama State Senate. However, Shelby was ready to move up again. He was planning to run for the United States Senate.
Shelby had never lost a political race. He was six for six in races to represent his beloved Tuscaloosa and the people of West Alabama. He was a conservative Democrat, who had a stellar conservative voting record. He was safe in his U.S. House seat. In fact, it appeared that the congressional seat was his for life. His decision to challenge an incumbent U.S. Senator was a gamble. Read more
September 30, 2015
The State of Alabama fiscal year begins this week and we finally have a budget for the year. Constitutionally, the only mandatory requirement that the Legislature has each year in their legislative session is to pass the budgets. The Education budget was approved during the four month Regular Session, but it was uncertain if we would have a budget for the beleaguered General Fund.
Gov. Robert Bentley called a Special Session in early summer to pass a budget. However, despite costing taxpayers around $400,000, there was still no budget. Therefore, the Governor called yet another Special Session for September. The third time was a charm. A budget was passed with only two weeks to go until the fiscal year begins this Thursday.Read more
September 23, 2015
This first year of the quadrennium has been an interesting mix of politics in the Heart of Dixie. At the heart of the news and interest has been the continuous wrangling over the General Fund budget. From the get go, Gov. Robert Bentley has taken a gung ho approach to raising taxes to bolster the beleaguered General Fund.
Beginning in January, Bentley laid down his proposals for the legislature to increase revenue to solve the problems and predicted shortfalls. He relentlessly stayed on course with his intentions. His resolve to raise new money never wavered, although his proposals changed numerous times.Read more
September 16, 2015
When Jim Bennett left the Secretary of State’s office earlier this year, he set the record for the longest serving Secretary of State in the state’s history. His 12 years in the office surpassed the legendary ladies, Agnes Baggett and Mabel Amos, who would rotate between State Treasurer and Secretary of State over the years.
Jim also served five terms in the legislature prior to being appointed Secretary of State. He was elected to two four-year terms and then appointed by different governors to serve out unexpired terms. He and Fob James are the only two people to be elected to statewide constitutional offices as both a Democrat and as a Republican.Read more
September 09, 2015
Shelby County, Alabama sits in the geographic center of the state and is the birthplace and childhood home of Gov. Robert Bentley. It is also renowned for being the fastest growing county in Alabama for the past four decades. Shelby County has become a mecca for suburbanites in the Hoover/Birmingham metropolitan area.
Shelby County has not always been a suburban enclave of Jefferson County. While Gov. Bentley was growing up, it was a rural county much like most of the counties in the state. Shelby County was part of a four county center that was known as the home of the original Republicans in the state. Read more
September 02, 2015
It is common knowledge that the Indian casinos in Alabama and throughout the country are granted federal sovereignty and are not subject to state intervention and authority. Several years ago state attorney general Luther Strange filed a hail Mary frivolous lawsuit against PCI Gaming Authority for political posturing purposes. The federal district court in Montgomery took about three weeks to rule against the state. It was ludicrous that it was filed. Federal District Judge Keith Watkins pretty much implied as much by ruling so quickly. It was a perfunctory decision that could be written by a first year law clerk in less than an hour. One of the puzzling questions is why in the world the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has sat on their final ruling for over three years. Speculation in Montgomery is that there is an agreement between Luther Strange and former Alabama Attorney General and now 11th Circuit Jurist Bill Pryor to delay the ruling. They are close Mountain Brook buddies.
There was a very poignant and telling caricature of George Wallace during his heyday that very accurately depicts Alabama’s long standing relationship with the federal government. In the picture Wallace has his hand out receiving federal money. In the other hand he has a dagger ready to vehemently attack Washington.Read more
August 26, 2015
Many would argue, and indeed numerous surveys indicate, that Alabama is one of, if not the most, conservative states in America. I would argue that if that is true then our Alabama legislature is reflective of their constituents.
A good many of the online and remaining large city daily newspapers castigate our super majority Republican legislature as ultra right wing uncaring crazies that pass ludicrous social issue fanatical bills that are blatantly unconstitutional. They also say that they have taken an ostrich approach to facing the state’s financial crisis in favor of sticking to their no tax pledges. However, I would argue that they are representing their constituents’ beliefs and concerns. These left-leaning modern day journalists have never run for nor could they get elected to any public office in Alabama.Read more
August 19, 2015
Last week we discussed the legendary story of Aflac. Three more remarkable business success stories are just as magnificent. Again, all three of these companies are Alabama born and raised fairytale ventures.
Alfa is Alabama’s largest property and casualty insurance company. Today, Alfa employs more than 2300 people and has almost 450 agents in Alabama. It has 229 offices in Alabama, with an office in every county.
Alfa and its affiliates provide insurance in 11 states and has more than a million policies in force. Alfa is also Alabama’s leading provider of life insurance with $27 billion of life insurance on the books.
Alfa was formed out of necessity less than 70 years ago. The Alabama Farmer’s Federation was established in 1921 to help farmers garner political power. During the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s which spanned the Great Depression and economic catastrophe, Alabama farmers found it impossible to get fire insurance to cover their homes and barns. In 1946, the Farmer’s Federation formed a fire insurance company. Farmers put up $11,225 to start their own company. The rest is history.
Liberty National Life Insurance Company was founded in 1900 in Birmingham. During the next 60 years, it became the greatest business success story in Alabama insurance lore. As late as the 1960’s, Liberty National had more life insurance policies on Alabamians than every other company in the world combined. It became one of Birmingham’s biggest businesses. It had a dominating presence on 20th Street with a gigantic bronze replica of the statue of liberty on top of their distinguished building. The company had so many Alabamians insured for their burials, they figured they might as well own the funeral homes too. So in 1944 the company formed Brown Service and established ownership in most of the funeral homes in the state. In the 1970’s Liberty National acquired Globe Life and created Torchmark Corporation as a holding company.
Liberty National was founded by Frank P. Samford. Mr. Samford was born in Troy in 1893. He was the son of a judge and a grandson of Governor William J. Samford. He graduated from Auburn in 1914.
Frank Samford became very wealthy as the President of Liberty National for over 30 years, especially from his stock ownership in the company. A good many of his associates and business partners also gained tremendous wealth throughout the phenomenal grown of their Liberty National stock. Mr. Samford gave so much of his wealth to Howard College in Birmingham that the school he endowed moved to the beautiful campus in suburban Homewood. The school Samford University is named in his honor and rightfully so. He and Liberty National stock paid for the gorgeous elite private college in Homewood.
Another magnificent Alabama business story has been EBSCO. The company is named after its founder, Elton B. Stephens. Thus, EBSCO is an acronym for the founder Elton B. Stephens.
Elton Stephens was born and raised in the small Barbour County hamlet of Clio. Remarkably he and George Wallace were raised in Clio during the same era. So arguably it could be said that one of the greatest businessmen in Alabama history and the state’s greatest politician grew up in the same small southeast Alabama village at the same time.
Both Stephens and Wallace sold magazines door to door in the summer to help work their way through college. The idea resonated with Stephens. He started a business selling magazine subscriptions to military bases. Elton Stephens started this business with his wife Alys Robinson Stephens in 1944. Now, 70 years later, EBSCO is a global company with nearly 6000 employees and 50 different companies operating in 23 countries. It has a tremendous diversity of business interests, which include information services, publishing and digital media, outdoor products, real estate and manufacturing.
EBSCO is one of the state’s largest private companies. When Elton Stephens dies in 2005 at age 93, he was one of the wealthiest men in America. He was listed as the 66th wealthiest person in the country with an estimated net worth of $4 billion.
However, he is best known for his magnificent philanthropy in his later years. Some of his gifts included the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center at UAB, as well as the Elton B. Stephens Science Center at Birmingham-Southern. He gave $15 million to revive the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. The Stephens family is also responsible for developing the futuristic eco-friendly pristine developments of Mt. Laurel in Shelby County and Alys Beach on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
See you next week.