October 03, 2013
Believe it or not the 2014 state elections are only eight months away. This gubernatorial year, which usually portends a plethora of interesting and exciting races, is shaping up as a ho hum year.
Gov. Robert Bentley appears to be on a path to breeze toward reelection to a second four-year term. Bentley has done a good job as governor and folks seem satisfied with him. Bentley’s stratospheric approval ratings stem from his likeability and trustworthiness. When asked about those two traits his numbers shoot off the charts. Folks simply trust him the way people trusted their family doctor. To put it into layman terms or country jargon, he fits like an old shoe. Bentley is a plow horse, not a show horse.Read more
September 26, 2013
During the summer Alabama had a rash of major political figures step down from office in the middle of their elected terms. The first to go was 1st District Congressman Jo Bonner. Beth Chapman also quit her job as Secretary of State as did State Representative Jay Love of Montgomery, who chaired the powerful House Ways and Means Education Budget Committee. Love’s counterpart, Rep. Jim Barton of Mobile, who chaired the House General Fund Committee, quit his House seat. Elmore County Rep. Barry Mask also resigned. All five left in August for personal financial gain.
Bonner left his safe congressional seat to accept a position with the University of Alabama system. He doubled his $174,000 annual congressional salary with his move. Chapman accepted a position with Alfa, which she said was too good to pass up. Love left for business reasons. Barton quit midstream to lobby. Mask quit to head the Alabama Association of Realtors.Read more
September 19, 2013
Probably the biggest political story of the year is the resignation of 1st District Congressman Jo Bonner. Congressman Bonner left Congress on August 2nd to accept a newly created position as Chancellor of Governmental Affairs and Development at the University of Alabama.
Bonner did a stellar job of representing his congressional district, which includes Mobile and Baldwin Counties. He represented the first district for a decade. Prior to that he was the Administrative Assistant to Congressman Sonny Callahan. Callahan represented the district for 20 years. Jack Edwards was Mobile’s congressman for 20 years before that. The legendary Frank Boykin, “everything is made for love,” was the district’s congressman for 30 years prior to Edwards. Therefore, only four men have served in the seat since 1935. That, my friends, is 88 years with only four congressmen.
Bonner could have stayed in the seat as long as he wanted. He could have done 20 years easily. However, he is in a better position personally. He has doubled his $174,000 congressional salary and chosen a less stressful lifestyle.Read more
September 12, 2013
This week marks the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attack on America. Their mission was well planned and executed. The devastation and death surrounding the bombing of New York’s World Trade Center was analogous to the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The day that will live in infamy, as declared by America’s elected king, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Most of us were not alive nor do we remember that day. However, most of us vividly remember September 11, 2001.
Today, everything is recorded instantly by television or the internet. The stark reality of those kamikaze attacks is etched indelibly in our memories. It is the type of visceral memory that will stay with you forever. It is a day that you will always remember where you were when the news was delivered. In my case, it compares to the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
Probably like many of you, I thought that the first attack was an accident, a plane that went awry. However, when the second plane hit you knew that it was no accident.Read more
September 05, 2013
The advent and proliferation of internet communication has caused newspaper readership to decline over recent years. It has hit close to home with the demise of the urban daily papers in Alabama. The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Mobile Press Register are no longer dailies.
However, our middle-sized and small town papers in Alabama are surviving. This is welcome news to me because my column appears in most of these papers throughout the state.
Home folks subscribe to and read their local paper to find out what is going on in their community as well as to learn who got married, who died and who won local sporting events. This is especially true when the paper mentions their grandchild’s homerun or touchdown in the victory over their neighboring rival. Hopefully, they also read my take on Alabama politics.Read more
August 29, 2013
As we approach Labor Day, foremost on most Alabamians’ minds is the beginning of college football season. Traditionally, Labor Day has also marked the kickoff of the political campaign season.
As we head into the Labor Day weekend of 2013, my suspicion is that more of you are excited about this Saturday’s first games of the season than who is going to run for governor or more especially state auditor next year.
College football is king in Alabama. Make no mistake about it. We love college football. However, it appears the rest of the country is enamored as well. In a recent Forbes magazine article the vaunted financial periodical says, “The players might be amateurs but college football itself hauls in billions of dollars a year in television contracts, ticket sales, sponsorships and paraphernalia.”Read more
August 22, 2013
We southerners can lay claim to a rich political legacy. We have enjoyed the most colorful political characters in U.S. political history. Our annals are filled with the likes of Huey Long, Theodore Bilbo, Herman and Gene Talmadge, Strom Thurmond and our own legends, Big Jim Folsom and George Wallace.
A very ironic, interesting and inexplicable occurrence surfaces when you study southern politics in detail. Each Deep South state has a region and even a county that spawns an inordinate number of governors and senators.Read more
August 15, 2013
When Robert Bentley ran for Governor in 2010, he made a campaign promise that resonated with voters. He declared that he would not take a salary as governor until the state’s unemployment level reached a certain low bar.
Bentley inherited a ship of state that was sinking. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work to bring jobs to Alabama. He has done a reasonably good job. We have led our sister states in job creations over the past two years and Alabama currently has the lowest unemployment rate in the region. However, Bentley is still refusing to take a salary.
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August 08, 2013
Last week we predicted that all three of our top constitutional officeholders will win reelection to a second four-year term in next year’s election. The election will be in June next year. Since we are now a one party state when it comes to statewide political races, winning next year’s June 3rd Republican Primary is tantamount to election. Folks, that is only ten months away. The actual bell to begin campaigning rang out two months ago when candidates could officially begin raising money.
Gov. Robert Bentley, Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey and Attorney General Luther Strange should have smooth sailing in their efforts to garner another four years in their posts. In addition, Sen. Jeff Sessions is a prohibitive favorite to win reelection for another six-year term in Washington.
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August 01, 2013
Last week we handicapped the 2014 Governor’s Race but it is definitely not the only race on the ballot next year. In fact, all constitutional offices are up for election as well as all 140 seats in the legislature and all 67 sheriffs. Indeed, this is the big election year in Alabama.
Many states in the union point to the presidential year as their big year. They have their governors running concurrently with the president. That is not the case here in the Heart of Dixie. Our founding fathers appear intuitive in retrospect. They somehow perceived that we would be more interested in who is our governor, sheriff or state representative than who is president when they put all of our good races in our gubernatorial years.
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