Archive for: October 21, 2006

The unemployment rate in Alabama remains at around 3.3%. It is actually down two-tenths of a percent from the month before, matching the record low set in March. In my opinion, anything below 4% is functionally zero. Alabama has a shortage of workers. We need labor, but it unfortunately takes 18-19 years to produce a generation of employees. Does Alabama need immigration (legal, of course) to meet the demands of its economy? Should we consider releasing those prisoners whose only crime is smoking pot?

Regardless, it’s obviously better to have a shortage of employees than a shortage of jobs. I wonder if this report will help boost Bob Riley’s numbers. If he wins the election with more than 60% of the vote, he just may not finish his second term. That Presidency is going to be mighty tempting for a governor that popular. This is speculation that I’ve visited before, of course, but why not?

Yesterday I talked about Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh’s automated phone message in Lea Fite’s (D-Jacksonville) state House district implying that voters should reject Fite because Patricia Todd, an openly gay woman, is running as a Democrat in Birmingham.

Now Brian at Flashpoint is telling us that the Republican Party is running a similar message as a radio ad for the Republican candidate for House District 5, Ronnie Coffman. Coffman faces Henry White (D) in the general election.

Liberal Henry is running on the same ticket with Alabama’s first openly gay candidate and has pledged his support for her this November.

By “pledged his support,” he means that they are both in the same party. As I’ve discussed on here before, members of political parties are expected to support each others candidacies. So saying he is “running on the same ticket with,” and, “pledged his support for,” is actually redundant. By running as a Democrat he is “automatically” pledging his support for the other Democrat. But of course then it wouldn’t deceptively make it seem like White was out galavanting with homosexuals (perish the thought).

My guess is, however, that Henry White has never met Patricia Todd. I should point out, however, that this ad was paid for by the Alabama Republican Party, not Ronnie Coffman. The next few days will be very telling as we see if Coffman publicly opposes this advertisement. I’d also like to see White’s reaction to it. This whole thing just makes me want to go out and vote Democrat (except for Secretary of State — I’m not that crazy).

I am going to start endorsing candidates tommorrow or Monday. I’ve decided to be fairly exaggerated about it. Instead of a single post where I just list who I’m voting for, I’m going to try to be fair and discuss all of the candidates and what I and others like or don’t like about them. My conclusion will be obvious, but I know several people come here for information, not just my slanted opinion.

Before I do that, however, I want to address the 3 state-at-large constitutional amendments that will be on the ballot. You may also have referrendums about local amendments or special election questions on your ballot (you can pick up a sample ballot at your probate court), but these three will appear on all ballots in Alabama.

Proposed statewide amendment number 1

How it will appear on the ballot:

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, authorizing the governing body of the City of Prichard to establish an Alabama Foreign Trade Investment Zone as a special tax district for the purpose of importing duty free and quota free articles eligible under the United States General System of Preferences and the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act; would specify that the value of land and improvements on the land within the district would be assessed and taxed for ad valorem tax purposes by the county tax officials under a single site valuation system; and would provide further for the contractual powers of nonprofit organizations (Proposed by Act No. 2005-105)

This is to allow the City of Prichard to create a special duty-free tax zone for imports that come in to Prichard in Mobile County and also to allow them to create property tax incentives for businesses that locate there. Of course it’s a little silly that this goes to a statewide referrendum, but that’s our constitution for you. The idea is to help out the City of Prichard by giving an economic incentive for imports to come through their port, and it also gives businesses property tax incentives to build warehouses and things to support the increase in industry. Looking at the bill’s history on ALISON, every representative and senator representing Mobile County voted for it. The mayor of Prichard also supports it. I’ll be voting yes, but part of me wants to just leave it blank.

Proposed statewide amendment number 2

Here’s how it will appear on the ballot:

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to require the levy of an additional local ad valorem property tax in those school districts of the State in which local ad valorem property taxes for general public school purposes totalling less than 10.0 mills are otherwise levied, so as to ensure that such taxes totalling at least such amount are levied for such purposes in every school district in the State of Alabama (Proposed by Act No. 2005-215)

It may not seem like it on the surface, but this is another statewide referrendum that is only going to affect a few areas. Alabama has 131 different school districts and only 30 of them currently tax less than 10 mills for education. In systems with the lowest property taxes of 7 mills, this would mean an additional $30 a year for every $100,000 of property.

The purpose of this amendment is to fix a problem with a state law passed in 1995. That law requires each school district to charge 10 mills in property taxes to receive state funding for their education system, but they can make up the difference in other taxes. So if a school district charges 7 mills, they can make up the funding they would receive from the proprety taxes by dedicating as much sales taxes to education as well. This can be a problem if the economy has a bad year and the state has to allocate a significant part of their operating budget to education. Requiring the districts to charge 10 mills will ensure that they are all in compliance (and can legally get state funding), and they can reappropriate sales taxes to other areas as needed without risking the loss of their state funding. This will not raise money for education because the school systems are already required to provide 10 mills worth of money to the schools. This will simply specify that they have to get the 10 mills from property taxes. I’m voting yes on this amendment, but I understand people who have problems with it.

Proposed statewide amendment number 3

Here’s how it will appear on the ballot:

Relating to Macon County, proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide for the election of the Macon County Board of Education from four single-member districts and the county at large, and to provide for staggered six-year terms of office (Proposed by Act No. 2006-512)

I could really care less about Macon County’s Board of Education. I’ll be leaving this one blank.