The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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The recently completed 2025 Regular Session has concluded successfully. Anytime you record solid balanced budgets, you have succeeded. Both the Education Budget and General Fund Budget are sound, thanks to the good work of the Budget Chairmen. Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), Representative Danny Garrett (R-Trussville), Senator Greg Albritton (R-Escambia), and Representative Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville) have done yeoman work. Legislative leaders, like Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) and...
You would have to be living under a rock to not be aware that two of our state’s metropolitan areas have a serious problem with violent crime. Montgomery and Birmingham have become crime-ridden war zones that resemble third world countries like Mexico, run by drug cartels. The rampant, open-ended violence and cavalier murders in Montgomery and Birmingham leapt so high in 2024, that people who still lived there were scared to come out of their homes for fear of being shot. Even their homes w...
May 7, 2025: - Former Lt. Governor and State Leader George McMillan passed away Easter weekend in Birmingham. George was 81. McMillan had a meteoric career in Alabama politics. He grew up in Greenville where he had extensive family connections. He was a young, superstar politico coming out of high school. He went to Auburn University, where he was a sensational student leader. He was President of the SGA. He met and became good friends with another student leader at Auburn, our current Governor...
May 28, 2025: When Republicans finally took control of the Alabama Legislature in 2010, they put a conservative stamp on Alabama’s legislative process and lawmaking. They have made sure that Alabamians, and for that matter the rest of the country, know that Alabama is a ruby red Republican state, both socially and fiscally. A good bit of the social posturing has been for show, rather than governing. However, the real impact and resonance has been with the conservative approach to budgeting a...
May 14, 2025: Folks, 2026 is shaping up as one of the best political years in memory in Alabama. The Governor’s, Lt. Governor’s, and Attorney General’s offices and maybe one of our U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs with no incumbent. The jockeying has begun in earnest for all these posts. The Attorney General’s position is a powerful job in Alabama government, and it appears to be attracting several competent competitors. Current Attorney General Steve Marshall has served eight years and is...
The 2026 election season has begun. It is our big election year in Alabama politics. All our Constitutional offices, including Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and State Auditor are up for election. You will also have two seats on the State Supreme Court up for election as well as two seats on the Public Service Commission. In addition, and probably more importantly, all 140 seats in the Alabama State Legislature are up for election and one of our co...
The City of Hoover was founded in 1968 as a suburban bedroom community of the Over the Mountain area. In 57 years, it has grown into one of the most prominent and prosperous cities in the Jefferson/Shelby metro area. It is now the fifth largest city in Alabama in real population following only Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery and its neighbor, Birmingham. About two decades ago, Hoover’s population had grown so significantly that the Census Bureau changed the label of Alabama’s largest met...
April 15 is traditionally known as the deadline to file your tax return. This time last year, Alabama political insiders had marked their calendars as that being the date that our 2026 political season would begin. It was thought that all of the thoroughbred horses would be at the gate to begin their races for the state’s four top political posts by April 15, 2025. Our Republican primary is our election in Alabama. Therefore, the election for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and one o...
The partisan complexion of Alabama’s Congressional delegation has changed from six Republicans and one lone Democrat to five Republicans and two Democrats. This change was orchestrated by federal court decree. The federal courts plowed new ground when they ruled that Alabama’s Legislature did not have the right to draw their own congressional lines. The U.S. Supreme Court has adamantly decreed, for the entire duration of U.S. history, that the state legislatures have the omnipotent pol...
Our Alabama Supreme Court is a stellar group. All nine of our Alabama justices are Republicans. They are conservative Republicans and that is not bad. It is actually proper and appropriate given that we are one of the most conservative Republican states in America. Not only are all of the Supreme Court Jurists Republicans, every statewide elected official and constitutional officeholder in Alabama are GOP stalwarts, as well as both of our U.S. Senators. Speaking of which, all of our...
For the casual observer, taking a cursory look at our political leaders reveals that may we have some pretty old folks in positions of power. Our new President, Donald Trump, is not a spring chicken at 78. Our own Alabama Governor Kay Ivey is 80 and goes by the monicker “Mee Maw.” However, a new generation of Alabama leaders are taking center stage in our state. Most of these leaders are already making their mark. Allow me to share with you a host of Alabama’s most prominent leaders who are 4...
March 19, 2025: - As the Legislative Session evolves, I find myself missing my ole friend Mac McArthur around the Statehouse. We would visit in the halls and sometimes sit together in the gallery. He would be busier than a one-armed paper hanger as he was always having to work on legislative matters for the state employees. We would reserve our long hours of talking politics for lengthy phone conversations in between legislative sessions. We both very much enjoy our political discussions. Mac...
This Sunday leaders from throughout Alabama and the entire country will commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March and the infamous Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. It was a momentous occasion and needs memorializing. Make no mistake about it, this event led to the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which gave the vote to Black Americans throughout the country and primarily in the South. It is probably the most important event in the Civil Rights movement....
It is no secret that Alabama’s Correctional system is a nightmare, especially when it comes to our disregard for civil and human rights of the incarcerated felons in our state prisons. That is why we have been under the wrath of the federal court system. A new mega prison is being currently constructed, which will help to comply with the federal mandates. What many Alabamians do not realize is how successful our Alabama Community College System (ACCS) has become over the last decade under the g...
Our legendary governor of the 1940’s and 1950’s was the giant, cartoonish, character James E. “Big Jim” Folsom. Ole Big Jim ran against the big businesses of Birmingham – big banks, utilities, and U.S. Steel – and labeled them the “Big Mules.” He campaigned on the back of a flatbed truck in every hamlet in the state. He would dance and sing with his band, the Strawberry Pickers, and rail against the Big Mules of Birmingham and the Big Planters of the Black Belt. George Wallace came onto the s...
During the last session of the legislature, Governor Kay Ivey, Speaker of the House, Nathaniel Ledbetter, State Senate President Pro Tem, Greg Reed, along with the business leaders of the state made the "Working for Alabama" program their priority. The Governor and legislature passed a sweeping package of bills that will streamline workforce development in our state and make us one of the most competitive states in America for attracting industry and creating jobs and careers for our young men a...
My tradition is to make my year end column a tribute to major political figures that passed away during the year. My column last week did that, however, there were an inordinately large number of political leaders who passed away in 2024. Therefore, this week, I have a second tribute to two of the giants in Alabama legislative history. I had the honor of serving in the House of Representatives with these two icons, and they were two of my favorite legislative friends. State Senator Jimmy Holley...
Alabama is a one-party, ruby red Republican state. This is a given in both state and national political races – especially presidentially, as you saw earlier this week. The proof is in the pudding. With Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump’s triumphant conquest of our state on Tuesday, that makes 12 straight Presidential races in which the GOP candidate has carried our state. Trump has carried Alabama by more than 60% in the last three Presidential cycles – 2016, 2020, and now 2024....
Our 45th President, Donald J. Trump, was elected as our 47th President on November 5. He not only won, he won overwhelmingly. Under the Electoral College system, our President is elected not by popular vote, but by a system where each state casts the same number of votes as they have Representatives and Senators in Congress. We, in Alabama, have seven Congressmen and two Senators. Therefore, we have nine electoral votes. National voters and the media knew in this 2024 Presidential election, ther...
The only sport that Alabamians enjoy more than Alabama politics is college football. We especially love the Alabama vs. Auburn football game – one of the fiercest of college football rivalries. It is the game of the year. It is a state civil war that divides friends and families. It is bragging rights for the entire year. The loser must live with his boasting next-door neighbor for 364 days. You must choose a side even if you despise college football and could not care less who wins. N...
October 30, 2024: - America will elect its 47th President next week. At least 99% of the votes will be cast by American citizens. With millions of illegal immigrants having poured through our country’s southern border over the past four years, there will be some illegal ballots cast by non-citizens. The opening of the border by the Democratic administration was permitted to allow these illegal immigrants to vote Democratic. Fortunately, most of these illegal votes will be cast in California, b...
Over the years it has occurred to me that the real governing in our state, and more than likely in every state for that matter, is done by the mayors. We have a reservoir of the best people in our state who are mayors. The mayor of a city is the chief cook and bottle washer. Most Alabamians view their mayor as their best friend in the political world. They know their mayor. They have either watched him grow up or, if the mayor is older, the mayor has coached them in little league baseball or...
The decision by the Joe Biden inner circle to allow the poor fellow to get out of the Presidential race was a godsend for the Democratic Party. It gives new life to the Democrats’ chances to keep the White House. The ascension of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the ticket breathes new life into a dead campaign. Biden’s demise, mentally and physically, assured a Democratic presidential defeat on November 5, but also guaranteed the Democrats’ loss of the U.S. Senate, as well as their ho...
As former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Sam Rayburn once said, and I’ll paraphrase, “Any fool can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.” In our political landscape today, from Washington, D.C. down, we have plenty of folks kicking down barns, but not nearly enough carpenters building them. During the most recent legislative session, the legislature passed a package of bills called “Working for Alabama,” which is a prime example of building good, effective...
Many of you took to the roads to travel over Memorial Day. I am sure this resulted in rumblings and discourses about the deplorable conditions of Alabama’s roads. Most of you, if you went anywhere, had to travel on I-65. Most Alabamians live along the I-65 corridor. I-65 is approximately 366 miles from the Tennessee-Alabama line to Mobile. It is a nightmare. I can attest to the frustration of being stuck on this highway. I travel on I-65 from Montgomery to Birmingham at least 100 times a y...
