Our state constitution is antiquated and restricts
the power of county commissioners. Therefore, legislators spend an inordinate
amount of time voting on local bills like whether Fayette County can buy a
tractor. Unfortunately, these local issues have to appear on a statewide ballot
for your final approval. This year was no different. There were three local
amendments. However, there were some constitutional amendments on this year’s
ballot that actually will have ramifications and significance.
For example, you approved Amendment 1, which extends
the Forever Wild Land Preservation Act for another 20 years. Also, Amendment 2,
which was endorsed by Gov. Bentley, passed 69% to 31%. It allows the state to
sell more bonds to allow us to offer incentives to industries to build or
expand in Alabama. We also passed an amendment which serves more as a
resolution to undercut the federal Affordable Care Act, known as Obama Care. It
officially prohibits anyone from being compelled to participate in any health
care plan. You gave overwhelming approval to constitutional Amendment 8 that
sets legislative compensation based on Alabama’s median household income.
Finally, you strengthened Alabama’s claim as being one of the most devout right
to work states by passing a provision that provides that unions can only be
organized by a secret ballot rather than by simply signing a card.
Over a decade ago the people of Macon County
overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment giving them the right to have
electronic bingo gambling. It is hard to understand how Gov. Bob Riley
circumvented this constitutional measure and brazenly brought half of the
Troopers in the state into Macon County and militarily closed down their
largest employer, VictoryLand.
Johnny Ford, the longtime mayor and now new mayor of
Tuskegee, has made reopening VictoryLand priority one in his new
administration. Ford was the sponsor of the original bingo legislation in 2003
when he represented Macon County in the legislature. He went to great lengths
to make sure that the measure had the proper language that allowed for
electronic bingo. Ford has vowed that he and his Macon County constituents “are
prepared to fight until death when it comes to our voting rights, civil rights
and our economic rights and we will continue our fight until VictoryLand is
reopened and our people are back to work.”
It was well documented that former Gov. Bob Riley
received over $400,000 in campaign contributions from Indian gambling interests
for his election campaign for governor in 2002. It appeared pretty transparent
and obvious that Riley’s efforts to raid and close the non-Indian gambling
facility in Macon County was a quid pro quo pay back to grant a monopoly to the
Indian gambling bosses.
Now come the Macon County officials with fire in
their eyes and they have filed an ethics complaint against Attorney General
Luther Strange whereby they claim that Big Luther receiving $100,000 in
campaign contributions from the Poarch Creek Indian gambling interests and his
persistence at continuing on the same path as Bob Riley is unethical and
illegal.
The Alabama Supreme Court established during the Bob
Riley administration that the governor is the ultimate law enforcement officer
in the state. Therefore, the Macon County officials argue that Gov. Bentley
should take charge of this issue rather than Attorney General Strange.
The electronic bingo saga continues to play out in
Alabama politics.
See you next week.
About the author: Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading
political columnist. His column appears weekly in more than 70 Alabama
newspapers. Steve served 16 years in the state legislature. He may be reached
at http://www.steveflowers.us.
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