The most controversial and pivotal issue of the
session is the infamous Accountability Act. It has sent the legislative session
into an acrimonious partisan stalemate. To review the scenario, Republicans
came forward with a controversial eight-page Education Flexibility Bill, which
gave local school boards the option to opt out of strict state educational
requirements. However, when the bill went to a conference committee, it grew
into a 28-page bill that was completely different. It became a full-fledged
voucher bill which allows a $3,500 tax credit to parents who choose to send
their children to private schools.
Democrats and the teachers union, AEA, claim the
bill will destroy public education by diverting the state’s already paltry
public education resources to private schools. The Republicans exerted their
super majority muscle and ran roughshod over the Democrats and AEA in passing
the measure.
Veteran lobbyists and Goat Hill observers have
lamented that the overt cavalier stampeding of the minority has caused a deep
discord never before seen around the Statehouse. Even the most effervescent and
jovial legislators on both sides of the aisle appear subdued and unhappy. A
somber cloud has set over the chambers and the losers are the lobbyists. Their
pet special interest legislation has fallen victim to the slow-down
orchestrated by the distraught Democrats.
Another topic of conversation around the Statehouse
is the shocking victory of Mobile businessman Bill Hightower to an open senate
seat in Mobile. Ben Brooks held the Republican seat but was elected to a Mobile
Circuit Court judgeship last year.
Only Republicans ran for the open seat. It was
assumed that powerful House member Jim Barton would easily win the open seat
special election. Barton amassed and spent over $500,000 to Hightower’s
$25,000. Despite being outspent 20 to 1, Hightower beat Barton 64% to 36%.
Lobbyists were stunned. They assumed the financial
advantage would assure Barton’s win. However, with only a 9% turnout in a
special election, one on one, good old fashioned door to door retail politics
prevailed over abundant slick television ads. Barton is probably still well-known
and popular with folks in Pensacola and Biloxi who watch Mobile television.
However, Hightower got the most votes in District 35 in Mobile County.
It received a lot of attention in rural Alabama when
Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered all circuit clerks’ offices in the state closed
every Wednesday beginning March 20. It was his way of dealing with the shortfall
in funding for the state’s judicial system.
Whatever the final judgment is in the BP trial in
New Orleans, Alabama will receive a windfall bonanza. The battle has already
begun over how and where to spend or save the BP money. Some senators want to
use the proceeds to pay back and build back up the Alabama Oil and Gas Trust
Fund that they borrowed $437 million from last year. However, coastal area
lawmakers argue that the money should go to their areas, which were the most
harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The Gulf Coast area has some powerful allies on
their side. Gov. Robert Bentley and Senate Majority Leader Del Marsh both have
stated they believe any dollars paid by BP should go to the coast. There will
be a fight over the money because it is a lot of money and it is one-time
money. State Sen. Trip Pittman who represents Baldwin County and whose district
stands to gain the most under the BP bonanza tactfully stated, “There’s a lot
of people that are going to look to that money to solve a lot of problems.”
There would have been even more money for Alabama if
President Obama had not stepped in and played politics last year. The Obama
administration proposed diverting money from the BP fines to a federal agency.
Their efforts would give BP funds off the top to the Natural Resource Damage
Assessment Fund. Under this proposal, the money would be retained by the
federal government and would be spent on restoration of wildlife and habitats.
Under the Obama administration’s efforts to divert
money to the Justice Department for ecological preservation, Louisiana and
Florida would benefit. Alabama, Texas and Mississippi would lose. This is most
likely due to the fact that Louisiana and Florida are the only two southern
states with one Democratic senator.
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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