Del Marsh wants you to get coronavirus. State senators should remove him from leadership!

  I couldn’t believe it when I saw Sen. Del Marsh (R-Anniston) – the leader of the Alabama Senate – say he wants to see more people get the coronavirus!

  During an interview with CBS42 News, Senator Marsh was asked if he was concerned about the growing number of confirmed cases of people infected with COVID-19 in Alabama. His response was, and these are his exact words: “I’m not as concerned so much as the number of cases, in fact, quite honestly, I want to see more people because we start reaching an immunity as more people have it and get through it.”

Hank Sanders: Sketches #1642 - Transitions are powerful, and I am in transition

  Transitions are powerful. Transitions may be powerfully good or powerfully bad. Transitions are rarely neutral. Transitions are nearly always powerful.

  I am in transition. After 35 years in the Alabama Senate, I have transitioned out of that body and that world. The Senate did not dominate my life, but it did frame it. The Senate did not determine who I needed to be, but it did reflect who I needed to be. The Senate did not make me the man I am, but it did enlarge my reach.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1640 - My last Sketches written as an Alabama Senator

  This is my last Senate Sketches. Wait! Wait! Wait. Don’t be disappointed. Sketches will continue, but Senate Sketches will cease. My tenure in the Alabama Senate ended on November 6, 2018. The new senator for Alabama Senate District 23 is Malika Sanders Fortier. I have written Senate Sketches for 1640 weeks over more than 32 years. That’s too, too long to stop now. Therefore, my weekly writings will be Sketches, not Senate Sketches. I no longer have the right to call it Senate Sketches because I am no longer a member of the Senate.

  I was elected to the Alabama Senate on November 8, 1983. As I recall, Gov. George Corley Wallace called us into Special Session immediately after the election. I had to hit the ground running. I have been running ever since for 35 years. I published the first Senate Sketches on April 29, 1987. I have not missed publishing Senate Sketches even once in nearly 32 years. I can’t miss now. It just will not be Senate Sketches. It will be Sketches.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1505: Right and wrong vs. Senate customs

  What do we do when we are caught between institutional customs and right and wrong? I am facing such a dilemma at this very moment. The institutional customs of the Alabama Senate says that one senator does not get involved in another senator’s local legislation except to vote yes or no. On its face, that is as clear as black and white.

  The issue is electronic bingo, which the Alabama Supreme Court has repeatedly struck down. If a bingo bill affects only one particular county, it is clear where customs stop and a question of right or wrong begins. When that is the case, there is no question to ask and no answer to make. That is as clear as black and white.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1435: The power of faith

  Senator Vivian Davis Figures, Alabama Senate Minority Leader, asked each of the eight Democratic senators to say whatever was on their hearts and minds. I did not congratulate anyone. I did not say I was glad to be re-elected. I did not say what I intended to do. I did not say what others should do. Because we are so few, just eight out of 35, I shared my version of the biblical story of Gideon. I want to share the same with you.

  Gideon was a great general. He had some 32,000 troops. God told him to go forth and fight the Midianites. Gideon’s response was that he was willing to fight but he did not have enough troops. The Midianites had far more, “a whole host of troops.” Instead, God directed Gideon to reduce his troops. He had too many troops to fight effectively.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Senate steps to the right

  The 2014 elections were quite uneventful. The seven statewide constitutional offices were all retained by Republicans. In fact, the reason the election was so dull was because the top five constitutional offices were held by incumbent Republicans who all waltzed to reelection. These included Gov. Robert Bentley, Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, State Treasurer Young Boozer, Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan and Attorney General Luther Strange.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1416: Don't stir in mess

  “Don’t stir in mess,” my mother said on many occasions. “It makes worse the sight and smell.” She did not mean just physical mess but any kind of mess. I see mess all the time.

  Every elected official encounters mess. Every public personality encounters mess. In fact, most of us encounter mess of one kind or another. We just have to remember not to stir in it.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1408: Vantage points from behind-the-scenes in elections

  What really goes on behind the scenes in elections? We see signs on the roads. We see ads on television. We hear ads on the radio. We see candidates at forums, at meetings and sometimes in our neighborhoods. None of these actions tell us what really goes on behind the scenes in elections.

  With this primary election coming to a conclusion as this Sketches is published, I thought it might be worthwhile to peek behind the scenes at a few election issues. This is not about the race I just concluded or my previous races. It is a collection of experiences shared and information gathered over 42 years.