Our Representatives in Montgomery need some help...

Three very important bills were passed in committee this week in Montgomery.  Rep. Mike Ball (R-10th Dist) reported the progress at Between the Links:

This morning the Constitution and Elections Committee passed my initiative bill (HB263) and a bill to require campaign finance reports whether or not a candidate has an opponent (HB647).

Also, the State Government Committee passed my transparency bill (HB510). This bill would require all state elected officials and their spouses to report any state employment or state contract to the Secretary of State to be posted on the internet....We added an amendment to the bill we added in committee to include state employment of children and step-children of the state elected officials.

The next step is the hardest, getting the bills to a full vote.  Rep. Ball believes there is "genuine" support for HB510 but he did not speak to the other two. 

One reform we desperately need is Initiative & Referendum (HB263, linked above).  My post here has links to some great information about I&R. 

Anyone who has lived in our state for any length of time knows we are not blessed with the most trustworthy legislature.  That's especially true of the leadership in Montgomery.  There are many exceptions, Rep. Ball being one, but time and again those representatives who truly have the best interests of the citizens at heart are run over by the ones who surely do not.  Rep. Ball and his colleagues who do put the citizens first need some help.  They need support from Alabamians across this state who are tired of business as usual in Montgomery, who want to reform our government.

Many of us do not do much more than talk (or write) about the monumental problems facing our state.  We have to do more.  We need to get on the phone, call our representatives and explain to them that if they do not support these needed reforms we will do everything we can to see they are defeated in the next election. 

The entrenched legislators have the deep pockets of special interests that help insure they are reelected year after year.  Those deep pockets however can't touch the power of the voters if we just take the time to speak up, loudly and clearly, and mean what we say.  Special interest groups cannot get their man elected without our votes. 

The powers that be will resist this reform and use any means at their disposal to make it go away as they have in the past.  We must use any means at our disposal to make sure it gets on the ballot.  And let the voters decide.

Comments

[Don]

I couldn't have said it better! I would hope that voters heed your advice and that they will give you feedback telling who they contacted and how those legislators responded.

If voters don't act, they deserve the government we have now.

[mad_cow]

Yes, we always do end up with the government we deserve. A good friend asked me the other day why didn't I find some other interests. I always seem to be all tied up in politics. But it's not just politics to me. What the politicians do affects my life!!! In many, many ways, especially in my pocket book. That's what the politicians are hoping for, that we'll just ignore them. They sure ignore us.

I do have other interests, for the record. When does football season start???

[Don]

Alabama public office holders (as in all states) affect the lives of everyone in Alabama. They affect my life, which is somewhere around its Autumn or Winter season, so I’m concerned about the lives of those who will be here long after I’ve left the building with Elvis.