Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Icons we lost in 2016

  At the close of every year my tradition is to acknowledge the passing of significant political players in Alabama. We have truly lost some political icons in the Heart of Dixie this year.

  Lucy Baxley passed away in October in Birmingham at 78. She was born on a farm in rural Houston County in the community of Pansy. She went to school at Ashford. After graduation from high school she went to work at the courthouse in Dothan and worked for Judge Keener Baxley.

  When Judge Baxley’s son, Bill, got elected attorney general in 1970, young Bill Baxley asked Lucy to come to Montgomery to be his administrative assistant. Eight years later she and Bill married. She was an integral part of Baxley’s first campaign for governor in 1978.  Bill became Alabama Lieutenant Governor in 1982, then lost in the race for governor in 1986.  Soon, thereafter, Bill and Lucy ended their ten year marriage.

Our Stand: Choose substance over pure politics in PSC race

  Voters have a clear choice November 6 in the race for the presidency of the Alabama Public Service Commission. One candidate carries a solid record of laudable service to state taxpayers and the other is merely a political opportunist.

  Lucy Baxley has compiled a well-respected and hard-earned record as a public servant. From her tenure as Alabama’s State Treasurer, Lieutenant Governor and in her first term as president of the PSC, she has proven to be a tireless advocate for the responsible use of state dollars and as a fighter for Alabama’s citizens.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: No contest in Alabama

  The November 6th Presidential Election is less than four weeks away. It will not be very close or interesting here in the Heart of Dixie. The only question to be decided is the margin by which Mitt Romney will slaughter Barack Obama in the state.

  It was ugly four years ago. McCain beat Obama 64 to 36 in 2008. My guess is that it will be by about the same numbers this year. That, my friends, is what you call a landslide. In some corners it can be referred to as a shellacking.