Ted Cruz clarifies immigration stance in renewed Southern offensive
Ted Cruz, facing increased scrutiny as he rises in national polls, is taking to the campaign trail this week with a renewed effort to remind his base of just how deep a conservative he is. As reported by Katie Glueck in POLITICO, Cruz began a swing throughout the South this weekend, starting with a fiery speech in Alabama to more than 1,300 supporters. It was the start of a 12-day 12-city tour throughout the Southern states, an area where Cruz is thought to have the best organization of any candidate. Saturday’s performance focused on an attempt to backtrack comments Cruz made during last week’s Republican Party debate, insisting to the raucous crowd he “never” supported the legalization of undocumented immigrants, something at odds with comments he made during an attempted Senate immigration reform bill in 2013. “One of the things you’ve been hearing about is criticism of Ted and what he did with regard to the massive immigration bill they tried to ram through in 2013,” said Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions at the event. Sessions, one of the party’s leading immigration hard-liners, has been considered a potential Cabinet member in a Cruz administration. “Let me tell you, I was there every step of the way,” Sessions said. “Ted Cruz was on my side, he fought this legislation all the way through.” Cruz’s Alabama stump speech, made in what is considered one of the most conservative states in the country, had much of the conservative talking points he used elsewhere in the country, but seemed to resonate a little more with the crowd there than elsewhere. Glueck writes that many in the audience responded with cheers and shouts of “amen.” However, talking about immigration drew the loudest cheers, especially after Cruz had sparred with Marco Rubio over the issue during the most recent Republican Party debate. Cruz attempted to explain away his rhetoric in 2013 by saying it was all part of a larger plan to stop comprehensive immigration reform proposal the Gang of Eight — which included Rubio — tried to push through the Senate. Since then, Rubio and Cruz have been battling it out, with the Texas senator trying to portray his rival from Florida as a supporter of “amnesty” — a word frowned upon in Republican Party circles — as well as someone tied to liberal Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer from New York. That led to Cruz, on defense from the Rubio campaign, having to explain intricate procedural matters and rhetoric that appears, at least at face value, contradictory. For his part, Rubio has been attempting to portray Cruz as “inconsistent” in his immigration stance. In addition, a New York Times story published Friday showed Cruz, as a domestic policy adviser for George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, taking a much more conciliatory tone than the hard-line stance he embraces today. If that narrative gains traction, it could hurt Cruz in the eyes of his conservative base. “My gut is, people see Ted Cruz as so far to the right, a really far-right conservative guy, and people see Rubio as conservative but a little more mainstream, more moderate, so when this immigration thing is thrown at both of them, it’s much more likely to stick to Rubio than to Cruz,” one Republican source told POLITICO. “Cruz had an awful interview with [Fox News’s] Bret Baier, but he’s going to fix that.” Nevertheless, Glueck says Cruz continues to wow Southern audiences with tailor-made stump speech lines such as: The “single biggest difference” between himself and his debate opponents is that “with me, when I tell you I’m going to do something, I’m going to do exactly what I said I’m going to do.” And the Southern crowd eats it up.
A roundup of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – A Saturday night affair for Democrats Saturday night, in the lyrics of Elton John, is “alright (sic) for fighting.” But is it a good time for a presidential debate? Hillary Clinton’s top Democratic adversaries, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, don’t think so. Their camps are none too pleased that the Democratic National Committee has scheduled the party’s third presidential debate for Saturday night on ABC — opposite a nationally televised NFL game and on the final shopping weekend before the Christmas holiday. “I guess Christmas Eve was booked,” Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, told The New York Times. Sanders and O’Malley aren’t worried about television ratings per se; it’s that they need every opportunity to show Democratic voters that they can compete for the nomination. Front-runners don’t need the air time. As challengers, Sanders and O’Malley can’t waste any chance to take Clinton to task on such a coast-to-coast stage. But ratings are part of the equation, and thus far the Republican Party debates have become must-see television, even for Americans who are apathetic about politics. They’re Washington’s version of reality TV: a bombastic, unfiltered businessman; a candidate with a legacy last name; a bright up-and-comer; a smart Texas senator; a brash New Jersey politico; and the field’s only female, a former CEO who has seemingly lost the ability to smile. Put them in a room. Turn on the cameras. And watch the sparks fly. Tuesday night’s GOP debate drew more than 18 million viewers for CNN, making it the third most-watched political debate in U.S. history. The top two: the first two Republican debates this fall, which each drew more than 23 million viewers. The Birmingham News – Alabama hired Obamacare website developer to ‘fix’ accounting system Ken Rollins, the vice president of the Alabama Council of the Vietnam Veterans of America, has good instincts. This week he told AL.com reporter Mike Cason that the state’s transition to a new accounting system seemed a lot like the Obamacare rollout of Healthcare.gov. Like a lot of organizations, Rollins’ group has a specialty car tag, and when the state sells one of those specialty tags, Rollins’ group gets $3. Or that’s what typically happens. Since September, they’ve gotten nothing. The Alabama Finance Department is in the middle of updating its accounting software, and the upgrade has been anything but smooth. Throughout the state, government vendors and contractors have been paid late, if at all. Tom Layfield, director of the Alabama Road Builders Association, told the Montgomery Advertiser this week that the late payments have been hurting some of their members. “One of my members said, ‘I’ve begged, borrowed and stolen everything I can. I really have to get paid now,’” Layfield told the Advertiser. The finance department has brought on extra staff to try to unstick the backlog of accounts payable. But that’s work the IT contractor should be doing. The Decatur Daily – Morgan sheriff should consider using 911 Center An embarrassing dispute between the acting Morgan County attorney and the head of the Morgan County 911 Center may have pointed to an explanation for what appears to be an inefficient decision on emergency dispatching. At the Morgan County Commission meeting Wednesday, commissioners approved Sheriff Ana Franklin’s $400,000 purchase of radios and other equipment for use by the Sheriff’s Office’s in-house dispatchers. The Morgan 911 Center would have supplied the Sheriff’s Office with radios if it switched to using the center. Morgan County 911 already handles emergency calls for every agency in the county except for the Sheriff’s Office and Somerville police, which dispatches through the Sheriff’s Office. The expense of the radios is not the main issue. Emergency 911 calls to the sheriff must first go to Morgan County 911, which must obtain much of the necessary information before handing it off to the sheriff’s dispatchers. Ryan Welty, director of Morgan County 911, said this duplication adds up to 90 seconds to deputy response time. Moreover, Morgan County 911 has the ability to efficiently pull in other agencies and ambulances to assist deputies if an evolving situation warrants it. Centralized dispatching also creates economies of scale, allowing Morgan County 911 to have the most advanced dispatching equipment and the most qualified dispatchers. Morgan County Commission Chairman Ray Long said Wednesday the commission can’t force Franklin to use Morgan County 911 dispatchers. While the commission can’t make Franklin use the 911 Center, it does have power to attempt to make her change her mind. The commission has the power of the purse string, as demonstrated by the commission’s approval of the $400,000 radio purchase. Dothan Eagle – Back to the drawing board on fees for serving documents The creation of a framework of government is a work in progress. Laws are passed, amended, rescinded, or rewritten as time goes by, and it’s not unusual to find, once a new law is in effect, that it causes unforeseen consequences. Such is the case with a measure passed in the state Legislature earlier this year to allow the Houston County Sheriff’s Office to collect fees for serving civil papers. The measure should have been put in place long ago. There’s an avalanche of paperwork produced by the local court system, and the task of serving those documents falls to the sheriff’s office. Getting the job done requires personnel and vehicles, and all the related expenses from salary and benefits to tires, maintenance and fuel. An established system of fees for document service would go a long way toward offsetting those costs. However, the wording of the legislation passed in the spring doesn’t specifically include juvenile court and family court, and makes no provision for documents from outside the local judicial district. So it’s back to the drawing board, with Sheriff Donald Valenza and county officials huddling to redraft legislation and clear the necessary hurdles to get the measure in front of the local legislative delegation prior to the next regular session in a few
