The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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The governor’s races of bygone years were a lot more fun and colorful than todays. We would have 10 to 15 candidates. There would be three or four favorites, but we would have 10 others that would make an effort to crisscross the state and have fun and cut up a little bit to garner publicity. The “also rans” could not afford the expensive country music stars from Nashville like the George Wallace, Big Jim Folsom, Jimmy Faulkner frontrunners could to draw a crowd. This year’s guberna...
For several years leading up to the 2010 Census count, the national projections were that Alabama would lose one of our seven congressional districts and drop to six. When the count was taken, we surprised ourselves and the nation and kept our seven seats in the United States Congress. Therefore, the legislature’s task in drawing our seven congressional districts was relatively easy. Except for some tweaking here and there due to growth in Madison, Limestone, Lee, Shelby and especially B...
Incumbency is a potent, powerful, inherent advantage in politics. That fact is playing out to the nines in this year’s Alabama secondary constitutional and down ballot races. Several of the constitutional office incumbents do not have Republican or Democratic opposition. Of course, having a Democratic opponent is the same as not having an opponent in a statewide race in Alabama. A Democrat cannot win in a statewide contest in the Heart of Dixie. Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth will be elected to a...
Allow me to deviate from politics to discuss an important event for our state. The World Games 2022 will place Birmingham and the entire state of Alabama squarely in the global spotlight. Believe it or not, this once-in-a-lifetime event is only a few months away with approximately 3,600 athletes from more than 100 countries and up to 500,000 visitors expected to flood Birmingham for one of the world’s largest athletic competitions. Folks, there are many questions about the World Games 2022. Is i...
As the final regular legislative session of the quadrennium evolves, it is apparent that the legislature will not touch any substantive or controversial issues, but simply pass the budgets and go home to campaign. It is election year in the Heart of Dixie. If legislators are listening to their constituents, they are hearing one thing – Alabamians want their legislators to allow them the right to vote on receiving their fair share of the money from gambling in Alabama. They are simply sick and t...
[The year ] 2022 was anticipated to be an exciting competitive election year. However, it is going to be a yawn of a political year. If you thought there was no competition for the constitutional offices and the House of Representatives’ seats in next year’s elections, then you have not seen anything like the lack of turnover in the Alabama State Senate. Incumbency will prevail. In fact, the power of incumbency in the Alabama State Senate is on par with the incumbent return percentage for Con...
The new lines are finally drawn for next year’s state legislative and congressional elections. They have just made it under the wire for the late January qualifying deadline and the May 24, 2022 primary elections. The legislature should not be blamed for the late formulation of the lines because the U.S. Census Bureau did not produce the final detail figures until September 30, 2021. Therefore, the state legislature did a Herculean job by getting the lines drawn so quickly. They went into specia...
Every 10 years the nation has a census count. There is a reason for that dissemination of our population. The United States and concurrently the Alabama Constitution require a census to determine how many Congressional Seats each state will have. Then you also have to determine how those districts are designed to reflect that each congressional district is properly and equally apportioned. On the state level the legislative districts have to be dealt with the same way. The state legislature of...
Our senior senator, Richard Shelby, has left an indelible legacy and imprint on our state. Every corner of the state has been the recipient of his prowess at bringing home the bacon to the Heart of Dixie. Every university has enjoyed a largesse of federal dollars. He has made the Huntsville Redstone Arsenal one of the most renowned high technology regions in the nation, not to mention placing the FBI’s second home in Huntsville. Shelby’s accomplishments for Alabama would take a book to enu...
Former President Donald Trump paid a visit to the Heart of Dixie last [month]. Obviously, this is Trump country. Alabama was one of Trump’s best states in the 2020 Election. He got an amazing 65% of the vote in our state. If the turnout for his August 21 rally in rural Cullman County is any indication, he would get that same margin of victory this year if the election were held again. Many of those in attendance were insistent that Trump won last year’s presidential contest and that it was sto...
Most states have one General Fund Budget. We are only one of five states that have two. Some of you have asked why we have two budgets – one for the General Fund and one for Education. Here is why. During the era of the Great Depression and even afterwards, education in Alabama was woefully underfunded and that is really being generous to simply say underfunded. Our schools were similar to a third world country. We had two separate systems, one for white students and one for black students. M...
There were two major issues not resolved during the just completed regular legislative session. Gambling and prisons were left on the table and up in the air. It is foolish to not address a resolution to get some revenues for the state from gambling, which currently exists in Alabama. However, it is not imperative that the problem be solved. The prison problem is another question. It has to be addressed. The federal courts will take over Alabama’s prisons and tell the governor and legislature w...
When Senator Richard Shelby announced he would not run for reelection to a sixth six-year term in 2022, speculation immediately began as to who would run for our iconic senior senator’s seat. Numerous names were floated as to who might lineup for the coveted seat. It is expected to be a fairly large field. The winner of next year’s May Republican primary and ultimately the summer GOP runoff will be our next junior senator. Winning the GOP Primary is tantamount to election in the Heart of Dix...
Our 1901 Alabama Constitution replicates the United States Constitution in designing a triumvirate of government. The Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches are designed to have separate and essentially equal powers. Although, ideally, the three branches should be exclusive, over the course of history in both our state and national governments the Executive and Legislative Branches have been intertwined in public policy matters and government seems to work more cohesively that way,...
This week allow me to share with you a sketch of the men and women who sit on our State Supreme Court. These nine Justices are all Republican, all conservative on both social and business issues. All are very devout in their faith and very connected to their church and their family. Chief Justice Tom Parker has been on the State Supreme Court since 2005. He was born and raised in Montgomery and went to Dartmouth College and Vanderbilt Law School. Chief Justice Parker and his wife the former Dott...
All signs point to a Titanic political year in 2022. In fact, as I look back over the last six decades of my observations of Alabama politics, next year may be the most momentous. Most states elect their governors and legislators in presidential years. However, in the Heart of Dixie, we have our big election year in non-presidential years. Not only will we elect our governor to a four-year term, we will elect all of our constitutional officers like Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner,...
Over the years, I have discussed my observations and concepts of the two different roles or routes taken by a U.S. Senator or Congressman during their tenure in Washington. One clearly chooses one of two postures in their representation of you in Washington. Our delegates in D.C. are either benefactors or ideologues. The role of benefactor is much better for any state, especially Alabama. This public figure is not only a benefactor but also a facilitator and a statesman. In other words, this...
The 2021 legislative session has begun. It will be a monumental and difficult session. Due to COVID restrictions, the logistics of just meeting will be a task. House members will be spread out all over the Statehouse to adhere to distancing requirements. It is still uncertain as to how the Press and lobbyists accommodations will be handled. A new virtual voting console system has been installed to allow for House members to vote since all will not be on the House floor. There are a myriad of...
As the 2021 Regular Legislative Session looms, the 800-pound gorilla in the room is the prison issue. The situation has grown more dire and imminent because the U.S. Justice Department has now filed suit against the State of Alabama. When Kay Ivey took office in January of 2019, she and the new legislature knew that they were going to have to address the prison problem in the state. Fixing prisons is not a popular issue. It wins you no votes to fix a broken prison system. Prisoners do not vote....
As is my annual ritual, my year-end column pays tribute to Alabama political legends who have passed away during the year. Sonny Cauthen passed away in Montgomery at age 70. He was the ultimate inside man in Alabama politics. Sonny was a lobbyist before lobbying was a business. He kept his cards close to his vest and you never knew what he was doing. Sonny was the ultimate optimist who knew what needed to be achieved and found like-minded allies with whom to work. When he had something to get...
As we close the book on 2020, we will close the door on national politics and get back to the basics, good old Alabama politics. That's my game. It is what I know and like to write and talk about. Some say my prognostications and observations on Alabama politics are sometimes accurate. However, not so much so on the national level. About a decade ago there was an open presidential race and a spirited Republican battle for the nomination had begun. One of the entrants stood out to me. U.S. Senato...
On the morning of the momentous November 3 Presidential Election Day, I began my day on my hometown radio station, WTBF in Troy, which has been my tradition for election days for over 30 years. As the polls began to open around 7 a.m., we began getting calls that the people were lined up for almost a mile outside of the two most populous voting locations in Pike County. Then, I started getting texts that a good many of the Republican boxes in major North Alabama cities had people waiting in...
Around Labor Day when this year’s presidential campaign was beginning to heat up, I wrote a column about the classic 1960 presidential contest between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This pivotal presidential race marked the beginning of television as the premier political medium. The first televised presidential debate that year was the turning point of that campaign. Kennedy won the Whitehouse with his performance or as some would say, Nixon lost by his appearance on TV that fateful night i...
Editor’s Note: Steve Flowers wrote this anticipating the 2020 election results. How did he do? Is Alabama still showing red? Our 2020 Election was November 3rd. The Presidential race was the center of all interest. You know the results, unfortunately, my column for today had to go to press before voting began. As you are absorbing the results, allow me to remind you that we do not elect our president by popular vote but by an Electoral College system whereby the electoral winner of each state ev...
With it being a presidential election year and an election for one of our United States Senate Seats and all of the interest that goes along with those high-profile contests, it has gone under the radar that most of our cities in the state had elections for mayor and city council last month. Mayors serve four-year terms and to most Alabamians they are the most important vote they will cast this year. The job of mayor of a city is a difficult and intricate fulltime, 24 hours a day dedication to...