Archive for: May 2007
May 31, 2007
As many of you know, I’ve been following the beer bills this session with quite a bit of interest. The state-wide bill to increase the ABV content in beer died a horrible death already, but there were several local bills to, for example, allow Jefferson County citizens the freedom to purchase beer with a higher alcohol content. It’s pretty much dead in the Senate committee after passing the House. I hear it went something like this:
Pat Lynch: “Hey, E.B., this is Pat Lynch of Birmingham Budweiser. I want you to kill HB728 in committee”
Senator McClain: “Consider it done.”
Pat Lynch: “Great. By the way, I’ve got dinner tonight. Just keep it under $250 so I don’t have to report it.”
And pretty much like that, the bill is dead. One man, one phone call to an owned senator, bill dead. Senator McClain has no reason to oppose the ABV bill. He’s not anti-beer, so I thought it was pretty odd that he would oppose the bill, and in a local committee all it takes is one objection to take it off the agenda. So I checked around, asked some questions to my few Montgomery sources. It was Pat Lynch, who just can’t be happy with the fact that he sells the most popular American beer, and E.B. McClain, who’s more than happy to do a lobbyist’s bidding.
Birmingham Budweiser is afraid of competition. You see, he sells Anheuser-Busch products. If you drink Budweiser, more power to you, but I don’t. I enjoy a more complex brew. Rather than diversifying his products, however, or just being happy with the fact that he sells the most popular beer in the country, he uses unscrupulous methods of political influence to artificially control his (very small) level of competition.
I can understand people who oppose beer bills for religious or “for the children” reasons. I don’t agree with that kind of population control for philosophical reasons, and I think about 15 minutes of research will show you that your concerns are unfounded, but I get it. This is far worse. A business that uses the police power of government to control the market, and a single senator who’s happy to comply. That’s all it takes in Alabama
This is what’s wrong with Alabama government.
Like I haven’t heard that before.
Regarding the election on June 5, not everyone is happy about Amendment One. Voting “Yes” for the Amendment would authorize the state to borrow $500 million more than it currently can for the Capital Improvement Trust Fund. The extra bonds would be issued in order for Governor Riley to make good on his economic incentive promise to German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp AG, who recently decided to move to Mobile County over Louisiana.
Flashpoint has a good post up about it where he shows us a letter from Mo Brooks that urges citizens to vote no. It follows the same line as the two crazy coots, Christopher Westly and Robert Lynch. There are a variety of arguments against the incentive, and incentives in general. I personally wish I had line-item veto power on constitutional amendment ballots. Here’s how we’re going to spend the $810.4 million.
Land acquisition — $45 million
Site preparation, water and sewer facilities and river barge terminal — $314 million
Work force development — $77 million
Public road improvements — $25 million
Application fees for foreign trade subzone designation — $85,000
State non-educational tax abatements — $111.5 million
Local non-educational tax abatements — $237.8 million
I think the public road improvements are okay. The land acquisition, most of site preparation, the application fees, and the tax abatements would have to go. I might be okay with “workforce development” if I had a better idea what that meant.
Of course, it doesn’t really matter what we think anyway. Governor Riley and Jim Main, the state finance director (and possibly the smartest person in the Alabama government), have already said they’re going to get Thyssenkrupp AG the money with our without voter approval.
Don’t forget that there’s an election next week on two proposed constitutional amendments. The really good news? No lines!
“There won’t be a 10 percent turnout — heck, there probably won’t even be a 5 percent turnout,” said Tuscaloosa County Probate Judge Hardy McCollum, the county’s chief election officer.
The amendments are to increase the size of the Capitol Improvement Trust Fund and to create a secure trust fund for state employee’s health care.
Basically, the first amendment is to give Alabama the authority to borrow an extra $500 million so that Governor Riley can keep the promise he made to Thyssenkrupp AG, a German steelmaker who has agreed to relocate to Mobile County.
I showed the ballot proposals here.
Roy Moore is all over this, you know:
In 2001, a request for a Ten Commandments commemorative stamp was denied by the Postal Service. An advisory commission deemed it “religious.” But, shortly after that, it issued two stamps with Muslim themes.
Okay, that seems a little messed up. I’ll give you that. I personally say it means we should get rid of the Muslim stamps, but Roy and his pals have a different perspective.
“We’re just allowing the vocal minority to rule the day,” he told Family News in Focus. “What the Postal Service is doing is just the politically correct, accepted position.”
Pat Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said, “We think the Ten Commandments postage stamp would affirm the core values that have knit our country together for over two centuries.”
If a Ten Commandments postage stamp would somehow lower the cost of a stamp to below 42 cents (or whatever it is now), I’d be with you. But it’s not, and it’s certainly not going to “affirm the core values that have knit our country together.” It’s a damn stamp. It tells the damn post office that I paid for delivery of a damn piece of mail. Don’t you guys have some witches or biology books to burn or something?
Federal prosecutors recommend a stiff sentence for a convicted felon who fought tooth and nail in court on corruption charges. It must be a national Republican conspiracy, right? If you said yes, then the Decatur Daily is the paper for you.
And you really have to love how they call it a “life sentence” the whole time while only meekly explaining that it’s actually a 30 year sentence.
I thought this might be fun. The slavery apology passed the Senate 20-8 last week. It then passed the House on a voice vote, but some legislators later wanted to go on record as intending to vote “Nay.” It’s been adopted, but not without dissention.
In the Senate, Senators Charles Bishop (R), Larry Dixon (R), Rusty Glover (R), Del Marsh (R), Harri Anne Smith (R), Jabo Waggoner (R), Scott Beason (R) and Hank Erwin (R) voted against the resolution. Senators Ben Brooks (R) and Arthur Orr (R) abstained. The other two Republicans in the Senate at the time, Steve French (R) and Bradley Byrne (R) did not vote. It seems to be a Republican thing.
I hate to admit it, but I’ve been a little slack in keeping up with the two-year college scandals. Here’s my attempt at a catch-up. It’s almost a free thought exercise.
The brother of the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party has admitted to paying kickbacks to the former chancellor of the two year system. The scheme was pretty simple. Timothy Turnham would overcharge the state for services. In return for the business, Turnham would then give a portion of the overpayment to former Chancellor Roy Johnson, his family, and his friends.
Johnson also had Turnham paying money to school board member Mary Jane Caylor’s unsuccessful run for Huntsville mayor. Timothy Turnham’s admission (as part of a plea bargain) has not implicated his brother, Democratic Party chairman Joe Turnham, although the latter worked for the family business during the time in question. The Auburn business, Alabama Contract Sales, was started by their father, former Alabama Rep. Pete Turnham.
There are so many things wrong with the two-year system that it’s hard to figure out. On the one hand, you have people like Roy Johnson, administrators within the system who are obviously using their position and your money to profit. On the other hand, you have up to 43 lawmakers like Ken Guin who appear to have been giving political help to the system in exchange for high-pay, low-work jobs in the system. Two sets of people benefitting — system administrators and lawmakers.
Let’s talk about the legislators’ double-dipping first. There are two possibilities here — either it was a coordinated effort at corruption or it was more or less random. I don’t mean random like “nothing was going on.” I mean random as in, say, Bishop State hired a lawmaker who had credentials to work there. Suddenly all the other two-year colleges started noticing that Bishop State was getting a lot more money. So in response they started searching for their own lamakers. In this scenario, the massive double-dipping was simply a by-product of the corrupt administration that was too worried about lining its own pockets than providing oversight of the many local colleges and their hiring practices.
The other possibility is, of course, that this was a coordinated effort by a small group of people. That seems the most likely explanation because of the administrative corruption. So who benefits from this arrangement? Roy Johnson is an obvious suspect. In this scenario, he encourages or directs the local colleges to hire lawmakers who then return the favor in government appropriations. Those appropriations then go to Turnham’s company (and others) before making their way to Johnson’s pocket.
Another possible benefactor is the AEA. People have been whispering about Paul Hubbert’s possible involvement in the scheme for a while now, but there’s nothing concrete. The idea is that Hubbert arranges the jobs as a way to payback loyal lawmakers — most of the 43 legislators named by Brett Blackledge as double-dippers tend to vote the AEA way. Hubbert’s involvement seems to fit. Roy Johnson obviously had political ties to be in the position he was in, but I’m not sure he had that many lawmakers as friends. Hubbert, on the other hand, is an easy fit to make the connections. It also doesn’t help his case that he brought a lawsuit to challenge recent appointment of Senator Bradley Byrne to the chancellorship.
May 30, 2007
I’ve been a little persona non grata lately, but it still seems like this happened pretty quickly. Both budgets are on the way to the governor as of yesterday, according to the Birmingham News — they’ve already worked out the differences and everything.
The final version of the education budget passed 33-0 in the Senate and 93-3 in the House. The general fund budget (or operating budget) passed 28-4 in the Senate and 84-19 in the House.
I’m pretty certain this means bills can now be passed without a supermajority BIR vote. There are two days left in the session. So who still thinks there won’t be a special session?
Wheeler at The Alablawg is calling it quits and ending his blawg. He’s leaving criminal law to be a high school teacher in Shreveport. Honestly, every post that guy writes is interesting. His is the only blog that I never just skimmed through.
He’ll be missed.
May 29, 2007
On Thursday morning I will have the privilege of meeting and talking with United States Representative Artur Davis while he is in town at his Birmingham office. I hope to be able to discuss some of the going ons of Alabama Politics as well as chat with him about his future political endeavors.
One thing I wanted to do was give my readers an opportunity to submit questions that I will present to Representative Davis. Obviously I am not going to be able to get every question answered, but I will hopefully get a majority of them. So please, submit all questions via the comments and I will post Wednesday night exactly which questions I hope to ask.
A few weeks ago, I expressed my displeasure that HB510 requiring state elected officials, their spouses, or their children to post any state employment or contracts on the internet was buried by the Rules Chairman.
When this was brought to the attention of the Chairman of the Special Order Calendar Subcommittee Chairman, Neal Morrison he located the bill and called a special meeting of his subcommittee to get the bill on the calendar. Unfortunately, it was placed on the ten-minute calendar, which meant that any member could stop the bill.
When the bill was called, the BIR vote passed by a margin of 80-1. After BIR vote, Rep. Demetrius Newton went to the microphone and expressed his opposition to HB-510, referring to it as being “absurd”. Obviously, my definition of absurd is different than Rep. Newton’s. I thought Rep. Newton’s resolution to raise legislative pay 62%, indexed to inflation, was absurd. At least he killed my bill in public.
Requiring elected officials to report income obtained from the government they are elected to regulate is a concept whose time has come. In opposing Gov. Riley’s double-dipping ban, I have heard repeatedly, “Let the voters decide”. I agree with that statement, especially if they have the opportunity to make an informed decision.
It will be back.
I assume that Jennifer Foster from the Opelika-Auburn News was referring to Between The Links when she wrote this last week:
One political blog pointed out over the weekend that although the majority side does hold 18 votes, 2000 U.S. Census data shows that senators on the minority side represent 50.73 percent of Alabamians.
I’m extremely happy that you news people comes to my blog to get some information, and I’m happy that you’re a reader who seems to enjoy what I write. But would it kill you guys to, every now and then, credit my work with something more than “one political blog” or “some internet sites,” or my favorite — the general “blogosphere.”
I would at least prefer a title, and of course “Betweenthelinks.com” would be better.
The new leader of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, Randy Brinson, is suing John Giles.
In Brinson’s view, Giles is setting a bad example for Christians interested in Alabama politics. “This is not the way to engage people of faith in the political process,” he said.
Giles calls Brinson’s suit “frivolous and baseless” and says a close examination of the suit will show that the new Christian Coalition of Alabama is in the “palm of gamblers.”
I have yet to meet anyone who both knows John Giles and also thinks highly of him.
Danny has been following these developments somewhat closely:
May 28, 2007
 John Pelham was an Alabama native from a medium plantation near Alexandria. Beautiful, charming, and from a prominent family, he accepted an appointment to West Point but resigned a few weeks before graduation in 1861 to join the Alabama militia. Contemporary historian Harvey Jackson says of him,
[H]e rode away the symbol of what Alabama was sending to fight and what Alabama was fighting for. It was fitting, those left behind surely thought, for a cause so pure, so untainted by self-interest, so favored by God, to be defended by such as he.
Pelham served the first years of the war with gallantry and commendation worthy of the expectations bestowed on him. Eventually joining Jeb Stuart’s calvary as part of his innovative “horse artillery,” General Stonewall Jackson said of him, “every Army should have a Pelham on each flank,” after one of Pelham’s most impressive showings at Battle of Sharpesburg.
In March 1863, about the time that Alabamians began to realize that they would not win this war, Major John Pelham, gallant archetype of Southern aristocracy and moral nobility, met a sudden end at the age of 24 during a calvary charge at the Battle of Kelly’s Ford.
“The major-general commanding approaches with reluctance the painful duty of announcing to the division its irreparable loss in the death of Major John Pelham, commanding the Horse Artillery. He fell mortally wounded in the battle of Kellysville, March 17th, with the battle-cry on his lips, and the light of victory beaming from his eye… His eye had glanced on every battlefield of this army from the First Manassas to the moment of his death, and he was, with a single exception, a brilliant actor in them all. The memory of “the gallant Pelham,” his many manly virtues, his noble nature and purity of character, are enshrined as a sacred legacy in the hearts of all who knew him. His record has been bright and spotless, his career brilliant and successful.”
– J.E.B. Stuart, General Orders #9, March 20, 1863
The Confederacy posthumously promoted Pelham to the rank of lieutenant colonel to honor him. He is buried in Jacksonville where the town erected a monument to him in 1905. The cities of Pelham, Alabama and Pelham, Georgia were also named in his honor.
Senator Ben Brooks has a special piece in yesterday’s Mobile Press-Register. This is something I thought should have been done a long time ago. The second paragraph reads:
I’m proud to be a member of the Senate Bipartisan Coalition, which is composed of 12 Republicans and five Democrats. This coalition lost the Senate leadership contest by one vote when the state Senate was organized earlier this year.
I chuckled at the “Senate Bipartisan Coalition” just a little; I’ll continue calling it the “minority coalition.”
The piece lists the grievances from the minority coalition one by one. It is perhaps a little too technical and long, but I’m glad to see them trying to make a case. I wonder why Lowell Barron doesn’t write a piece in response.
The state of Alabama is about to borrow $1.063 billion on various education projects, and the Birmingham News is nice enough to tell us how it breaks down.
May 26, 2007
This one’s for Brian in regards to sin taxes. Guess in comments. No cheating:
Government, by taxing theses kinds of things, are making these decisions for me, which I don’t like them to do about what’s important in life. By taxation, the government tells me that children and churches are good, and cigarettes and liquor are bad. And of course, I couldn’t disagree more.
The only hint is that this was said in the last decade.
May 25, 2007
During the election, Alabama Attorney General Troy King advocated the idea of making some sex offenses a capital crime — worthy of the death penalty. I said then that the US Supreme Court would never allow it. The Alablawg considered it as well.
Too bad for Troy, it looks like Louisiana is going to get a crack at it first. Their state supreme court just ruled that Patrick O. Kennedy was eligible for execution for raping his 8-year old stepdaughter. He was convicted and sentenced to death four years ago.
Louisiana is one of only five states that allow capital punishment in child-rape cases that don’t lead to the victim’s death, the high court said in upholding the man’s conviction and rejecting his claim that the penalty provision, enacted by the Legislature in 1995, is unconstitutionally excessive.
I’m sure the US Supreme Court will get involved in this. I don’t think you can really tell how they’ll rule because it’s all based on their subjective reading of what defines “cruel and unusual punishment.” I’m sure there will be some precedent invoked on both sides but, being the high court, they can honestly go either way. The Alablawg has some good guesswork on how the Supremes will come down on the Lousiana case.
Maybe Troy King will get it done after all.
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