October 18, 2012
One of the most far reaching and significant accomplishments enacted by the legislature earlier this year is the revamping of the state’s retirement benefit system for state workers. The legislature’s changes to pension benefits for future teachers and public employees should save taxpayers billions and ensure the viability of the state retirement system for decades.
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October 11, 2012
The November 6th Presidential Election is less then four weeks away. It will not be very close or interesting here in the Heart of Dixie. The only question to be decided is the margin by which Mitt Romney will slaughter Barack Obama in the state.
It was ugly four years ago. McCain beat Obama 64 to 36 in 2008. My guess is that it will be by about the same numbers this year. That, my friends, is what you call a landslide. In some corners it can be referred to as a shellacking.
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October 04, 2012
It is basic public policy that you either have to raise taxes or reduce government services. It has become a cardinal sin in Republican politics to even say the word tax much less enact any increase in revenue. Our legislature is now overwhelmingly Republican and they are real Republicans. They take their no new tax pledge seriously as does our Republican governor. Therefore, when the dicing and crafting of the 2013 budget was being processed, new revenue enhancement measures were not on the table. It is doubtful that you will see any tax increase proposals anytime soon in the Heart of Dixie.
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September 27, 2012
There will be an amendment on the November ballot that will probably be approved by Alabama voters. The amendment will reduce legislative compensation. This proposition may garner more votes than Romney does against Obama.
Most voters disapprove of the very controversial 61% pay raise the legislature gave itself in 2007. That legislative vote, which occurred during the opening session of 2007 and increased legislative compensation from $36,660 annually to $53,338, has been a festering issue for over five years. The sustained outrage is extremely unusual. In past years, an egregious legislative act has been passed early in the quadrennium and late into the night usually on a voice vote. Historically, constituents become outraged but within a few weeks forget the legislative subterfuge. However, this has not been the case with this 2007 legislative pay raise. The voters remembered and remembered and remembered and finally, because of the continuous outcry from their constituents, our current legislators decided to act. Most of the present members of the legislature were not a part of the legislature at the time of the dastardly act but they have felt the intense animosity derived from the infamous legislative pay raise.
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September 20, 2012
Since my column appears in most of Alabama’s small to midsize local newspapers, as might be expected, a good many of you liked my column of two weeks ago entitled, “Small Town Boys Succeed.”
Amazingly, almost all of America’s presidents and practically all of Alabama’s governors of the past century have hailed from small town America or small town Alabama. My assumption and prediction is that when I am dead and gone and someone analyzes the same subject a hundred years from now it will read, “girls who grew up in small cities succeed.”
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September 13, 2012
A good many of you have asked me to weigh in on the oil and gas money diversion referendum
next Tuesday. As most of you know, I do not endorse or disavow issues or candidates. My
purpose is to inform and entertain you as to the goings on in the world of Alabama politics.
Therefore, allow me to explain this situation and the impending referendum offered by the
legislature.
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September 06, 2012
Writers and historians have done extensive research over the years seeking to ascertain how our
nation’s leaders reached their pinnacle of power. These exhaustive studies have delved into the
personas from every angle imaginable. Most of these analyses begin with someone’s childhood.
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August 30, 2012
This week we celebrate Labor Day. Like Memorial Day, it is a uniquely American holiday. Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer.
It has been a long, hot summer here in the Heart of Dixie. For that matter is has been a record breaking hot summer throughout the nation.
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August 23, 2012
The Republican Convention is next week in Tampa, Florida. It is not by accident that this central Florida city has been chosen by the GOP for their national convention. They want to do everything under the sun to ingratiate themselves to Floridians.
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August 16, 2012
This year’s GOP presidential contest has been one for the record books. There has been a continuous topsy turvy, up and down, kaleidoscope of frontrunners to be the Republican nominee.
Mitt Romney will be nominated in Tampa next week. However, he has had to fight for the nomination. Going back to last year we have seen a candidate surge to the top of the pack and then after a few weeks in the spotlight they faltered and fell. In fact, they fell so fast and hard that they folded and exited the race.
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