March 06, 2014
For the past year it has appeared that this year’s election was going to be less than exciting. Now that the dust has settled it looks like that will pretty much be the case. This lackluster year has been created by the fact that incumbents hold all five of the top constitutional offices and all five, especially the governor, are pretty popular.
The field is set and the lineup card is in the hands of the scorekeeper. The primaries are set for June 3 with the runoffs coming six weeks later on July 15. The general election will be November 3. More than likely the governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor, agriculture commissioner and treasurer, all Republicans, will be reelected to a second four-year term.
That means that 2018 will be looming as a watershed year. You should see six or more big name thoroughbreds seeking the governor’s post that year when Gov. Bentley cannot seek another term constitutionally. There are some naysayers who are saying, “Not so quick, my friend. I am not so sure that Bentley will be reelected.”Read more
February 27, 2014
Last week’s column expounded on the two different concepts that members of congress perceive their roles to be in Washington. Our two senators are classic but different examples. Jeff Sessions is the quintessential ideologue and Richard Shelby is the classic caretaker.
What about our seven members of congress? We have seven congress people, six Republicans and one Democrat. All seven pretty much toe the party line. All six Republicans vote straight down the party line and our lone Democrat votes with the Democratic leadership. Therefore, you would have to classify them all as ideologues.
We have no congress people with the power to be a caretaker like Richard Shelby. It remains to be seen whether any of them will become rainmakers in the future. It is not really their fault; they just have not been on the Potomac very long. The key to power in the U.S. Congress is seniority. The longer you stay the more powerful you become. It usually takes 20 years in Congress before you wield any power. It is actually closer to 30 years before you are powerful and then only if you are chairman of a committee and your committee spends money from the U.S. Treasury.Read more
February 20, 2014
There are two schools of thought as to what role a U.S Senator should play on the stage in Washington. One model is called the caretaker. This senator believes that he or she should bring home the bacon. If there are any pork projects for roads, schools, bridges, universities, parks or any grant money in the annual federal budget then that senator’s state should receive its share or more.
The second model should be referred to as the ideologue. He or she should be known as either a right wing or left wing philosophical zealot. For example, if you are from Texas, Oklahoma or Alabama you should be known as the most conservative or reactionary member of the senate in Washington.
Our two U.S. Senators are the clearest examples of these two models in present day Washington. It is brought up by Washington insiders every time I have a conversation with a friend on the Potomac. They marvel at how different each of our senators is in their outlook of their role for Alabama. Both men are very diligent and even though they are different they get along remarkably well.Read more
February 13, 2014
Usually gubernatorial years are marquee political events in Alabama politics. However, this year is shaping up as a mundane affair. Not only is Gov. Dr. Robert Bentley headed for a cakewalk coronation, so are all the other four incumbent constitutional officeholders. Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, Attorney General Luther Strange, Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan and State Treasurer Young Boozer, all appear to have smooth sailing in their reelection bids.
It appears that the best statewide race will be for the lowprofile office of Secretary of State. When I was growing up it was a post held by women. Two legendary female politicians, Agnes Baggett and Mabel Amos, would serve two perfunctory fouryear terms in the Secretary of State office, and then they would swap. Ms. Amos would be treasurer for eight years and then move to Secretary of State. Ms. Baggett would move next door to the treasurer’s office. They were political fixtures on Goat Hill for years.Read more
February 06, 2014
Over the years some of you have inquired about the use of the filibuster in the halls of the U.S. Congress and Senate. The word itself is not something that the average citizen is familiar with or totally knowledgeable of its meaning. A filibuster is simply a fancy word for talking a piece of legislation to death. It is a dilatory tactic that senators use to delay a vote on a bill and hopefully tire out the proponents of a prospective law.
The filibuster is most times associated with the Senate. Under the parliamentary rules of both the U.S. Senate and the Alabama State Senate, the length of time that a senator can debate a bill is longer than the time limits allowed in the House of Representatives. Therefore, the filibuster is primarily orchestrated in the Senate. Our forefathers designed these rules to allow the Senate to be the more deliberative body. They wanted the upper chamber to be more like the British House of Lords.
The ability to filibuster has long been a part of Senate history. The best depiction of the senate filibuster is the scene portrayed by Jimmy Stewart filibustering for hours on the floor of the U.S. Senate in the famous movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”Read more
January 30, 2014
It seemed to go under the radar last year but the Bentley administration quietly inaugurated the largest road-building program seen in the state in over six decades.
Gov. Bentley launched the Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program (ATRIP). The ATRIP program, coupled with another road program, the Rural Assistance Match Program, will bring the total for road and bridge construction in Bentley’s first term to well over $1 billion.
This probably makes Bentley’s road program the largest since Gov. James E. “Big Jim” Folsom’s famous Farm to Market road program in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. Big Jim’s Farm to Market road program was his greatest legacy. Folks in rural Alabama still talk about Big Jim’s roads today.
Bentley designed his road program to come to fruition and have the greatest political impact while he was running for governor this year. It appears that he will have smooth sailing and will not need the ATRIP program to propel him to victory.Read more
January 23, 2014
It looks like our good doctor Gov. Robert Bentley will escape a serious challenge to his reelection bid this year. The GOP primary, which is tantamount to election in a statewide race in the Heart of Dixie, is less than five months away. If Gov. Bentley were going to get a significant opponent they would have surfaced by now. In fact, in order to mount a credible race, an opponent would have to have started at least six months ago and raised over a million dollars. That probably would not have been enough. Bentley’s favorability and reelection polling numbers are out of the roof.
It appeared early on that legislative races and more specifically intraparty GOP battles for those seats would be the marquee matchup. There will be some but less than first expected. In addition, the legislative lines are drawn in a fashion to take advantage of the partisan proclivities in the state. Therefore, the state legislature, both House and Senate, are poised to remain in GOP control, probably by a two to one super majority status.Read more
January 16, 2014
The 2014 legislative session began this week. Speculation is that it will be short and may not last the full four months allotted.
The super majority Republican legislature will put their final touch on their four-year march to the right. They have made an indelible conservative mark on state government in both fiscal and social measures.
The GOP House will emphasize financial incentives for job expansion. They are calling their agenda “Common Sense Conservative.” It will include a bill to raise the threshold where small businesses have to pay a monthly estimated income tax from $1,000 to $2,500. They will also make filing state business taxes easier by creating an online tax filing system for all taxes.
Other bills in their conservative agenda will include a tax credit to encourage adoptions. They will address the issue of legislators exiting their terms early to lobby. They will tighten the current law that prohibits legislators from lobbying for two years after they leave office.Read more
January 09, 2014
The 2014 Legislative Session begins next week. The session starts early in the fourth year of the quadrennium because it is an election year. Legislators want to come in and get out early so that they can go home and campaign.
Usually legislatures do not do much other than pass the budgets in a campaign year session. They especially do not try to tackle any controversial issues that could stir up any ire with voters. However, this current group of legislators will tackle anything controversial as long as it has a right wing slant to it.
It would be hard to think of any major conservative issue they have not addressed in the first three years of their super Republican majority reign. In years one and two they passed a stringent anti immigration bill as well as dismantled the AEA.Read more