March 07, 2013
We in Alabama are only one of a handful of states that do not work off of one unified budget. We have two budgets. We have a General Fund Budget like all states. Then we have an Education Trust Fund Budget that obviously funds education in the Heart of Dixie. This includes K-12 and higher education.
Allow me to go back in history and share with you the reason we have a separate education budget. During the Great Depression, education was woefully under funded. Both black and white children were going to dilapidated one-room schools and were sharing threadbare textbooks. Teachers were not even being paid. They were being given script or promissory notes for which they might eventually be paid. The education system in Alabama was abysmal to say the least.
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February 28, 2013
The 1960’s was a tumultuous time in southern politics. Race, segregation and voting rights were the paramount issues.
George Wallace came on the scene and won the governor’s office with the most anti integration rhetoric in history. He threw down the gauntlet with his January 1963 Inaugural Speech declaring, “segregation today, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever.” White Alabamians shouted their approval.
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February 21, 2013
It is amazing how fast a year flies by, especially the older you get. This week marks the end of the first one-fifth of 2013. There are a potpourri of political happenings that have occurred recently, which we will discuss today.
We are entering the opening days of the 2013 Regular Session of the Legislature. Just prior to the beginning of the session, Alabama received acknowledgement from the U.S. Department of Justice that under the auspices of the Voting Rights Act the new legislative districts drawn last year have been approved.
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February 14, 2012
The 2013 legislative session kicked off last week. There is an old saying that nobody’s life, liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session. A more accurate description for today in Alabama with a super Republican majority in charge in both chambers would be that no liberal or Democratic interests are safe when this Alabama legislature is in session.
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February 07, 2013
The 2013 regular legislative session begins this week. There are a myriad of issues that must be dealt with during their four month journey. The most pressing will be resolving the current funding crisis in the state’s general fund budget.
As the 140 delegates take their seats and settle in to wrestle with resolving the state’s dilemma, I am reminded of my earliest days observing the legislature. It is nostalgic to think back to my very first legislative endeavors. I began as a House Page in the mid 1960’s. That was almost 50 years ago. When I worked the House floor as a young teenager delivering notes and getting coffee, the membership was much different. At that time all the House and Senate members were white male Democrats. The scenario today is much different and diverse.
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January 31, 2013
The state is now two months into the 2013 fiscal year. This is the year that all financial experts pointed to as the year of reckoning. It was postponed for three years because of the Obama administration’s federal deficit spending stimulus spree. This manna from heaven rained down on all of the states and allowed them to temporarily postpone the pain and suffering caused by the national recession, which has raged now for close to a decade.
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January 24, 2013
A cornucopia of significant political events occurred during the closing month of the year that may very well have slipped under the radar screen. That is not unusual given the fact that one of the most significant occurrences of 2012 was the demise of the daily newspapers in Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville. The state’s three former largest newspapers in the state’s three largest cities have basically gone out of business and only print a paper three days a week with stale news. The state lost some of its best journalists along with the ability to gather and report investigative inquiries into the machinations of state politics.
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January 17, 2013
The year 2012 did not come to an end with a whimper when it comes to newsworthy happenings. A number of significant events occurred in December.
VictoryLand, the State’s premier privately owned casino, reopened quietly on a Tuesday afternoon with very little fanfare. However, it appears that publicity and advertising are not necessary to attract patrons to the glamorous facility located along interstate I-85 in Macon County. Public officials and the local citizenry have been awaiting the reopening of their largest employer and economic engine for over two years.
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January 10, 2013
During the 2012 elections, Republicans denounced the President’s Affordable Care Act as pure socialism. They proclaimed that they were going to repeal it if President Obama was defeated at the polls.
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January 03, 2013
As we begin the New Year, let us take one last look back at the 2012 presidential year in Alabama politics.
Our forefathers must have been clairvoyant to perceive that we in the Heart of Dixie would be more interested in state and local politics than presidential contests. Unlike many states, who elect most of their officials in presidential years, we in Alabama are just the opposite. There were very few state races on the ballot in 2012. Only five seats on the Alabama Supreme Court were up for election and only one of those was contested.
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