Archive for: October 5, 2006

Make your own. 

I don’t understand why candidates have such a hard time filling out financial disclosure forms. Based on a tip, I skimmed over some of the disclosure forms and was quickly able to find out that Packy Grisham (R) and Henry White (D), both seeking office in the Alabama House, have both has failed to file their his 45 day form for the general election. Candidates don’t have to file if they have under $10,000 in contributions, but they are still supposed to file a waiver form.

These guys have White has neither a report or a waiver filed with the Secretary of State, according to her database. Okay, maybe they he didn’t have the $10,000 and just didn’t know they still had to file a waiver. I can buy that, but in Henry White’s case we know he knows how to file the financial forms because he did it correctly throughout the primary. We also know he has over $10,000 in contributions because the ALFA PAC did file their papers correctly and they show an $11,000 disbursement to White (click on it to enlarge):

To recap: Henry White didn’t file his financial disclosure forms. He may say he didn’t have to because he made less than $10,000 in contributions, but we know he got $11,000 in a single contribution from ALFA’s PAC.

I don’t know how many other PACs have given to White’s campaign because in order to do that I would have to individually read every single form from the hundreds of PACs that operate in this state.

I don’t know why White hasn’t filed his financial disclosure forms. It could be an honest mistake or it could be that he hoped no one would catch him. It could even be the Secretary of State’s fault. I do know, however, that if this state cared to join the 21st century, we could put these financial forms on a proper database and the Secretary of State’s office would be able to cross-check the reported contributions from the PAC’s forms to the reported contributions on the candidate’s forms. But then you couldn’t cheat the system.

UPDATE: Sorry for all of the editing above, but I have learned, thanks to a tip from an anonymous commenter, that Packy Grisham dropped out of the race. He was replaced with Mary Pettus (R), who has filed her paperwork correctly. Anyone want to explain why Henry White’s (D) paperwork wasn’t filed? I know he’s still running.

According the Secretary of State’s databse, in Alabama:

• 32 PACs have been formed since the primary
• 91 PACs have been formed this year
• 170 PACs have been formed since the last general election
• 928 PACs operate in the state

These numbers only include Alabama PACs that have raise and/or spent enough money to be required to file with the Secretary of State. There are literally thousands and thousands of national PACs and PACs operating in other states that are not required to file with the Secertary but may still be used in filtering money through PAC-to-PAC transfers.

The next major highway in Alabama may be named after Little Jim Folsom. He said yesterday that he would push for a major north-south highway through west Alabama if elected.

I live in west Alabama. I can tell you that it’s REALLY annoying to have to drive to Birmingham to go to Montgomery, Huntsville, or Montgomery. An interstate or major 4-lane highway that connects Tuscaloosa, through Hale County, to Montgomery would be a welcome relief for many Alabamians. I’m pretty sure it would be well-travelled and therefore help some of the stagnant economies along it’s route from Hale County to the Shoals.

The lack of a major highway is often noted by economic developers as one of the reasons the Shoals area hasn’t been able to attract big industries to the area as it once did. Folsom said he believes the Shoals has the ingredients to again attract companies with high-paying jobs, including automotive manufacturing plants, biotech companies and information technology firms. The Shoals, along the Tennessee River, has plenty of water, affordable electricity, and a pool of trained workers, he said.

Look, I don’t mean to be a campaign commercial for Folsom, and I realize I’ve been more mean to Republicans lately, but if you want your party to get some praise, tell them to come up with a better platform than your “Handshake” offers. A north-south highway through west Alabama is a great idea — it’s someting the government is responsible for, requires no tax breaks to companies that can afford it, and would appeal to many west Alabamians who have felt left out since the Dwight Eisenhower Interstate System began.

The Lieutenant Governor’s race, pitting Little Jim against Big Luther, proving to be much more interesting than the goober race. I’m starting to think Folsom may just win this thing.

• Bamacrat links to this post in his October 5, 2006 post.