Degree of Madness

Alabama...Immigration reform rally March 26

The following is from an email I received from my friend Don:

Recently there was a rally at the State House organized by talk show hosts Matt Murphy in Birmingham and Dale Jackson in Huntsville in support of Senator Scott Beason's bill dealing with illegal immigrants (SB426) with around 80 to 100 people showing up, depending on who made the estimates.

 

Later in the day several members of the committee hearing SB426 failed to show up so no vote on the bill could be taken because there was not a quorum present. That was likely by design and through the collusion of some committee members.

 

The bill is due to be back in committee in about 2 weeks from now on Wednesday, March 26. Murphy and Jackson are  organizing another rally that day, BUT ONLY IF many more citizens commit to being there because a similar sized crowd or a smaller one will indicate to the legislators that Alabamians aren't really very concerned about whether they pass legislation to deal with illegal immigrants or not, and the bill would probably fail to be approved at the committee level.

 

Matt, on his afternoon program, and Dale, on his morning show are trying to gauge public sentiment among listeners to see how many people will commit to being there if the rally takes place. Matt says that he will soon have a place on his Matt Murphy Show website for people to sign up, committing to be there and he has said that a minimum of 300 people would be required to put on the rally. Dale, on his "Show Notes" page @ http://www.wvnn.com/dale.shtml#ShowNotes has link for people to sign up and he says at least 100 are needed.

 

Both programs are streamed live over the internet: Matt on the WAPI website from 4 to 7pm M-F @ http://www.wapi1070.com/; Dale on the WVNN website from 6 to 9am M-F @ http://www.wvnn.com/.

 

Toll free phone numbers for their shows are 1-866-927-1070 for Matt and 1-866-494-9866 for Dale.

 

If you're concerned about illegal immigrants in Alabama  contact everyone you can and ask them to commit to being at this proposed rally. If you're not concerned, but you know someone who is, tell them about this opportunity to show our legislators that we want this problem dealt with NOW.

Matt now has the sign up page on his website.  We must show our support if we expect our legislators to act.  Please do what you can to make it to this rally.  Let Matt and Dale know you will attend so this very important rally can go forward:

Sign up only if you can and WILL be attending a rally March 26th on the steps of the state house in Montgomery, Alabama. If enough participate, we'll caravan back to the capital! More info on www.murphyshow.com! Click "I'll be there" and sign up!

Matt and Dale cannot do this alone, nor should they have to.  This legislation affects every citizen in the state of Alabama, including LEGAL immigrants. 

Here is a link to the pdf for SB426.

Rep. Terry Everett will not seek reelection

Rep. Everett represents Alabama's 2nd Congressional District.

The Hill:

Rep. Terry Everett (R-Ala.) announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of his eighth term, saying that he recently changed his mind about whether to seek reelection.

Everett was elected to the House in 1994 and cited his impending 71st birthday as one of the reasons he will depart from the House in January 2009.

[..]

Everett handily won his southern Alabama district last year with 68.1 percent of the vote. President Bush received 67 percent of the vote there in 2004.

Doc's Political Parlor:

Because there has been much speculation that he might retire, there has also been much speculation about who would run if he did. Names on the Republican side have included state Representatives Steve Clouse, David Grimes, Jay Love, and Greg Wren, state Sen. Harri Anne Smith, Attorney General Troy King, and possibly even PSC President Jim Sullivan.  Add former PSC Commissioner George Wallace, Jr., state Representatives Benjamin Lewis and Barry Mask, and state Sen. Larry Dixon as possibilities.  Larry Dixon ran for the seat in 1992, losing in the GOP Primary to Everett.

Names mentioned on the Democratic side have included Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, state Sen. Wendell Mitchell, state Rep. Terry Spicer, state Senator Jimmy Holley, Speaker of the House Seth Hammett, and Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks.

Check the comments for more speculation.

Charles Bishop scores a TKO......

State Senator Charles Bishop punched Senator Lowell Barron today on the floor of the Senate:

MONTGOMERY -- State Sen. Charles Bishop hit Sen. Lowell Barron on the floor of the Senate this afternoon.

The Senate was in recess when Bishop, a Republican from Arley, and Barron, a Democrat from Fyffe, started an animated conversation. Bishop suddenly hit Barron in the face, and Barron fell back onto a desk.

[...]

  Bishop in an interview later said Barron called him a s...o...b, so he hit Barron in the face.

"If he calls me that again, it'll happen again," Bishop said.

Get the inside scoop at Doc's Political Parlor.

Also blogging, Between the Links (with a nice photoshop).  Dan wants Republicans to distance ourselves from Bishop.  I understand Dan's point, but considering it was Lowell Barron.............I don't know.  That's a tough one.

Posters at Lucianne are having a little fun with it, too.

***Update 6:05***

Charles Bishop is on Matt Murphy's (with Hunter) show now, he said he's not proud of what he did and he apologized to the Senate because it happened on the Senate floor.  He's sorry that it happened, but he's not apologizing for saying it.  "If he called me that tomorrow, I'd whup him again."   Don't insult his Mama.

***Update 6-8-07*** 

From The Right Track:  TD says "It's about time".

Wade on Birmingham has the video, he dubbed "geezer-on-geezer" in the comments here.

Brian at Flashpoint:

Fortunately for Barron the punch landed on his head, so there’s no likelihood of any long term damage.

Alabama Power gets windfall.....Alabama Taxpayers foot the bill

The heavy hitters came out in support of Amendments One and Two and as happens all too often they prevailed.

MONTGOMERY - Alabama voters by wide margins Tuesday decided to let the state borrow an extra $400 million for industry recruitment and to ban spending from two trusts on anything but health care for retired teachers and other retired public employees.

[...]

The Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Education Association teachers' lobby and Alabama State Employees' Association asked members to vote yes on both amendments.

A group chaired by Montgomery businessman Winton Blount III raised more than $500,000, including $150,000 from Alabama Power, mainly to buy ads asking people to vote yes.

Speaking of Alabama Power, a friend of mine works there and she got a memo urging all employees to vote yes on Amendment One.  (I'm not sure if the memo addressed Amendment Two.)  I can't quote it exactly, but the gist of it was that the ThyssenKrupp deal would mean a huge boost in Alabama Power revenues (again that's not an exact quote.)   What the memo probably did not say was that the boost for Alabama Power would be at the expense of Alabama taxpayers.  While the mighty power company will get their revenue, the state agreed to give up "our" revenue.  One of the many tax breaks TK got in the deal was this:

A ten-year exemption from payment of utility taxes.

So here's Alabama Power encouraging everyone to vote yes, and no doubt many people had no idea what the amendment was about in the first place, and the end result is the company gets a windfall and taxpayers get zip.  There's just something not quite right about that.  Think about it the next time you write that check for your power bill.  Oh and check to see if Governor Riley gave you an exemption on utility taxes. 

Alabama voters, please vote Tuesday......

If we don't get out Tuesday and vote NO on Amendments One and Two, the scheme to keep us in the dark will have succeeded.  These are amendments to our Constitution, very hard to undo once they've passed.

I wondered here if the lack of publicity about the election Tuesday was intentional.  I'm not the only one.  I heard a repeat of one of Matt Murphy's shows today and he has the same opinion.  There are other amendments on the ballot for certain counties but One and Two are statewide.  The Birmingham News did write about it today in the editorial section, with a big Vote Yes in the headline. 

Brian at Flashpoint has a great post on Amendment One.  Please read it and consider his arguments.  They are well thought out and (in my opinion) on the money.

As for Amendment Two:

Proposed Amendment 2, endorsed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner and the Alabama Education Association, would create trust funds for education and state employees for health-care benefits.

According to an editorial in the RSA’s June newsletter, the health-care trust funds would be similar to pension funds created for retired state and public education employees in the 1940s.

Do you have a trust fund for your health care?  Why should state employees have one, at your expense?  We will be paying for these benefits one way or another.  But if they are in the Constitution it will be much harder to adjust the benefits if the need arises.  The Montgomery Advertiser (also urging Yes votes)

Until this year, Alabama state government covers its health-benefit costs for state employees and public education employees on a "pay-as-you-go" basis, essentially coming up with the money each year to cover that year's costs.

But federal accounting rules changes now require states to have full disclosure of all long-term liability for future retiree health-benefit costs, which is estimated now at about $20 billion for Alabama. Unless it is addressed in some significant way, that outstanding liability could cause the state to have to pay much higher interest rates on money that it has to borrow.

The Legislature addressed this issue earlier by creating new health-care funds for both state employees and state education employees. The state can set aside money in these funds to help offset these huge liabilities. The money that is set aside would then earn interest that could help cover the cost of health benefits in future years.

But what the Legislature creates it can uncreate. Legislators could dip into the money set aside for health benefits in future years unless this amendment passes to provide constitutional protection to ensure these funds were used only for the purpose intended. (my emphasis)

Well cry me a river.  Average Alabamians, those of us not represented by Paul Hubbert, have to suffer the whims of the Legislature, why should state employees get special treatment?  Why should state employees get the benefit of a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee their benefits?  If these benefits are guaranteed by the Constitution, our elected representatives (we the people) will effectively lose control over an "estimated" $20 billion.  That's billion, folks.  Just vote NO.  We've been jerked around by Paul Hubbert enough. 

Alabama is having an election next Tuesday....Did you know?

***Update below***

It all seems kind of hush, hush because very few people I've talked to know about it, but there is an election next Tuesday, June 5th.

TUSCALOOSA | Election officials expect a minuscule turnout for a statewide election Tuesday on two proposed amendments to the Alabama constitution.

“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.

“But we will still have to have all 54 voting places open and have poll workers there all day."

The Legislature unanimously passed the two proposed amendments in special session earlier this year. The lawmakers set the election for June 5.

Suppose they held an election and nobody came?  Is it just me or does anyone else get the feeling the lack of publicity for the election is intentional?  If the majority of Alabama voters don't know about it only those with a vested interest will show up and two new amendments will be added to our constitution.  I admit to not knowing much at all about the amendments, whether to vote for or against, but here is the Cliff Notes version from the Tuscaloosa News:

Proposed Amendment No. 1 would increase from $350 million to $750 million the maximum amount the state Capital Improvement Trust Fund could issue in bonds. Gov. Bob Riley asked for the increase in bond money to help lure new industry to the state.

At the time, Riley said passage of the amendment would help secure a major industrial prospect and that the state would use money from the sale of the bonds to help the company with infrastructure needs.

The prospect turned out to be German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp AG, which announced this month that it would build a $3.7 billion manufacturing facility in Mobile County, which will employ about 2,700 people.

The capital improvement fund will also be used to provide incentives for other economic development projects.

Proposed Amendment 2, endorsed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner and the Alabama Education Association, would create trust funds for education and state employees for health-care benefits.

According to an editorial in the RSA’s June newsletter, the health-care trust funds would be similar to pension funds created for retired state and public education employees in the 1940s.

It appears some of the money for the Capital Improvement Trust Fund in Amendment One has already been committed to lure ThyssenKrupp AG.  Kind of putting the horse before the cart:

Legislative Fiscal Office Director Joyce Bigbee told lawmakers on Feb. 26 that the CITF's available balance has dwindled from $89.9 million at the end of FY 2004 to just $31.5 million at the end of FY 2007. According to numbers released by the governor's office, 568 companies located or expanded in Alabama in 2006 and announced 24,780 new jobs and more than $3.1 billion in capital investment.

The proposed expansion will accommodate the incentive packages offered to German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp, which announced last week it would locate its new, $3.7 billion plant in the Mobile area, and other industries considering Alabama, state officials have said.

In remarks he made at the conclusion of the special session, Gov. Bob Riley said the increased bonding authority is "absolutely essential if Alabama is going to continue competing for new jobs."

Amendment Two will probably be an automatic NO vote from me.  Governor Riley has teamed up with Paul Hubbert on this one:

Riley has said that the trust funds are necessary to "help the state maintain a good bond rating, which will keep interest payments down on money the state borrows."

The passage of legislation authorizing the education retirees' trust fund created an unusual alliance between Riley and political powerbroker Dr. Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association.

As a general rule, if Hubbert's for it, I'm against it.  That's a rule I rarely (if ever) break.

I'm sure these amendments are real important to a few folks in Montgomery, but to have an election where only 5-10% of the voters show up is probably not the best use of our time or money.  According to the Tuscaloosa News story, it will cost Tuscaloosa County about $100,000. to hold the election:

County Accounting Manager Bill Lamb estimated Tuesday that the election will cost the county about $100,000 in supplies and manpower.

“Elections like this are one reason people don’t want to be poll workers," McCollum said. “They will have to sit at the polling place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with next to nothing to do."

I'm sure it will cost the other 66 counties that much or more.  Next we'll be voting on an amendment to set up a Trust Fund to pay for elections.

I'm not sure how I'll vote on Amendment One, it seems to be necessary.  I'm hoping some of our more knowledgeable Alabama Bloggers who have looked at it closer than I have will say a few words about it.  Number Two is a definite NO.  I don't have a Trust Fund for my health care.

***Update***

See this post at Flashpoint re: Amendment One.  We need to vote NO.  Please encourage everyone you know to go to the polls Tuesday and vote No on both amendments.

Update post here.

Alabama Voters, a request from Beth Chapman

Secretary of State Beth Chapman needs our help. 

My staff and I composed legislation to allow our military and overseas citizens the right to vote electronically via the internet in the November 2008 elections.  This bill can be viewed at www.sos.alabama.gov. 

The good news is that it has passed the Senate Com. unanimously and has 47 (almost half) of the House signed on as co-sponsors, and has received bipartisan support and endorsements from Governor Riley, Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, Senate Pro Tem Mitchem, Adjuntant Gen. Mark Bowen and the state Veterans of Foreign Wars. 

The bad news is that though all of us held a well attended press conference last week, the story did not make it into the press so few people know about it and there are a couple of very vocal people who want to substitute and/or kill the bill-it would appear-to create their own legislation and get the credit for it’s passage. 

I could care less about who gets the credit for anything or I wouldn’t be in politics.  I care about getting the job done and giving our military men and women in uniform who fight for our right to vote the right to cast their own vote.  This bill make it too far to be killed and have someone else introduce it.  Time is running out on this legislative session and this legislation is crucial to fulfill that goal. 

Please call 334-242-7600 and ask for Speaker Hammett’s office.  You can also email him at Seth.Hammett@alhouse.org.  Tell them you are calling in support of House Bill 800 re: military voting and that you would like to see it passed.  The Speaker is supportive of the bill, but it is imperative that he hear from you, as there are key members of the House who are being pulled in another direction.  When you call, please be respectful and kind, but determined in your support of this bill. 

This is a no-brainer, folks. Please make the call today.

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.

Alabama's Two-Year College Scandals Keep Piling Up

Speaking of T.D., he's seeing red and you will be too if you live in Alabama (and it won't be Crimson Tide Red).  Brett J. Blackledge, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the scandals in our two-year college system, has more damaging evidence of financial shenanigans.  From The Birmingham News:

Alabama two-year college presidents send more than $150,000 a year in state money to a group that lobbies for their causes, including efforts to kill Gov. Bob Riley's ban on colleges hiring legislators.

The presidents' group has opposed Riley's legislation to ban hiring lawmakers, although the state school board hasn't taken a position because it remains sharply divided on the issue.

[...]

The presidents' group, called the Alabama College System President's Association, collects money from two-year colleges. The group has declined to disclose how much money it collects and how it uses the money.

But system financial records show that the group receives at least $7,125 a year each from most colleges, although it's not clear from available records if each community college and technical school pays the group. Some colleges pay the group more than $7,125 a year, records show.

More than $150,000 in payments to the group were identified in college financial records obtained by The Birmingham News covering a period between October 2004 and September 2005. But not all schools are represented in those records. The group could receive more than $185,000 a year from the colleges if all sent payments.

Sounds like a nice little racket for the presidents' club.

T.D. breaks it down nicely in his post and concludes:

What we have currently in the two-year college system in Alabama is an 800-pound gorilla. It’s become so big and so powerful and has influenced, corrupted, or bypassed those whose job it is to oversee that system, that real oversight is lacking – at least in the case of funds disbursement for political candidates and/or issues.

Previous posts on this taxpayer abuse here and here.

Initiative & Referendum to be considered this week

Dan at Between the Links has the details (his links):

A bill sponsored by Mike Ball (R-Madison), HB263, is a constitutional amendment to allow for an initiatives process to the state. Randy Hinshaw tells the world that the bill is going to be taken up by the the House Constitution and Elections Committee on Wednesday.

(Be sure to read the comments at Dan's post for a good question and answer about potential ballot overload due to I&R)

For more information check Dan's I&R page.  He has a list of each lawmaker in Montgomery and his position (if known) on Initiative and Referendum.  He and Dr. IQ have done a lot of work getting the word out on this and if you have any questions about I&R you can find the answers at their sites. 

If we're serious about reforming our state government, Initiative & Referendum is the place to start.  Let your representatives know you expect them to support it.  It will be an uphill battle, getting legislators to give more power to the people, at the expense of their own power, is never easy.  (Talk about stating the obvious).  There is some support in Montgomery, however and it's start.