Candidate Stephen McNair calls for Alabama Legislature to pay for I-10 Mobile River bridge
Traffic crossing Mobile River and Bay on Interstate 10 has more than doubled since the current facilities were built in 1970, far exceeding the planned capacity. The Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) is working to increase capacity on I-10 by building a new six-lane bridge over the Mobile River On Wednesday, Republican and candidate for State House District 97 Stephen McNair called on lawmakers in Montgomery to pay their “fair share” for the bridge. In June, state officials found out the bridge project did not receive a federal grant that was hoped to provide as much $250 million dollars for the $2 billion project. On his campaign Facebook page and through a billboard posted on the East side of the tunnel, McNair has called for Montgomery to foot the bill for construction of the I-10 Mobile River Bridge as restitution for stealing the Gulf Coast’s BP settlement funding. “It is a travesty that the Alabama Legislature directed Mobile’s BP settlement allocation to be used as a one-time fix to balance the state budget instead of investing in our coastal communities,” said McNair. “Mobile and Baldwin County are consistently ignored and misunderstand by those in Montgomery.” Speaking to a sentiment shared by many citizens in District 97, McNair continued, “We endure hurricanes and oil spills, meanwhile Montgomery steals our BP money and ignores our aging infrastructure and coastal needs.” McNair continued “even Mississippi allocated 70 percent of their BP settlement funds to coastal counties, and yet in Alabama, 70 percent of our funds went to Montgomery.” Construction on the project is scheduled to start by early 2020. Alabama Today has reached out to McNair’s opponent, incumbent State Rep. Adline Clarke for comment. We will update this piece if/when she responds. Check-out the conceptual rendering of the bridge: In a statement posted to his Facebook page during Hurricane Michael evacuations, McNair wrote about heavy traffic on the Bayway saying, “Mobile is a city with unique challenges and recourses. We generate revenue and jobs for our entire state through the port, tourism and aerospace.” McNair will appear on the November 6th ballot against incumbent, Adline Clarke.
In governor’s race, issues of age, health and forthrightness
Gubernatorial challenger Walt Maddox’s introductory television ad aimed to convey crucial details to voters. He described rebuilding tornado-ravaged Tuscaloosa as the city’s mayor and called his politics “pro-life and pro Second Amendment.” He also emphasized his age. “I’m Walt Maddox. I’m 45 years old,” Maddox said at the ad’s start. In Alabama’s race for governor, the issue of age and health has awkwardly rippled as an undercurrent as the 74-year-old incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey faces the 45-year-old Democrat. In the GOP primary, Ivey’s younger male opponents challenged each other to release their medical records and said the state needed a governor with energy and stamina while simultaneously maintaining that they weren’t directly questioning Ivey’s health. The undercurrent — and along with it accusations of secrecy and malfeasance — burst to the surface Tuesday. The state’s former top law enforcement officer came forward with claims that Ivey was hospitalized for stroke-like symptoms during a state trip three years ago and that her office directed the trooper not to tell superiors. Ivey adamantly denied the accusations, saying she had altitude sickness and releasing a letter from her doctor. Spencer Collier, who served as the state’s top law enforcement officer at the time, told The Associated Press Tuesday that the trooper traveling with then-Lt. Gov. Ivey reported to his commanding officer that Ivey developed stroke-like symptoms during the trip and had a transient ischemic attack. “The trooper noticed that she was incoherent and made the decision to transport her to the emergency room,” Collier said. “Initially, I was told when they brought her to the hospital it was stroke-like symptoms. In the following days we were briefed it was a TIA,” Collier said. TIA is shorthand for transient ischemic attack. According to the American Stroke Association, a transient ischemic attack is a temporary blockage of blood to the brain, caused by a clot or blockage and is sometimes referred to as a mini-stroke or warning stroke. During the 2015 incident, Collier said the trooper also reported that Ivey’s chief of staff, Steve Pelham, had directed him “not to tell anyone, including his chain of command.” Collier said Ivey also later asked to have the trooper reassigned. Collier said he was not attacking Ivey’s health, noting he himself had health problems. He said he was more concerned about the instructions to the trooper to hide the matter. “Don’t take it lightly when you instruct troopers not to tell the truth,” Collier said. Pelham now serves as Ivey’s chief of staff in the governor’s office. Ivey told reporters Tuesday evening that she had “altitude illness” and released a letter from her doctor. “The letter I released today from my doctor clearly confirms what I’ve been saying all along that I’m in good health,” Ivey said. Dr. Brian Elrod said he was aware of the hospitalization and examined her a day after her discharge. “During my examination I saw no evidence of a transient ischemic attack and learned that the extensive work-up done at the Denver hospital, including an MRI, a carotid ultrasound and labs were all negative,” Elrod wrote. The letter did not say how long she was in the hospital. Elrod said he could not confirm what condition led to the hospitalization, but said he considers Ivey to be low risk for a cardiovascular event. Ivey spokesman Daniel Sparkman disputed the claim that the trooper was told not to tell his superiors. “The answer is: No… Besides, there was nothing to cover up,” Sparkman wrote in a text message. Collier said he would be willing to take a polygraph to show he is telling the truth. He said the matter was also reported to the division chief over dignitary protection and then-Gov. Robert Bentley. Bentley did not respond to a message seeking comment. Efforts to reach the division chief and trooper were unsuccessful. The two campaigns took swipes at each other. “Like most Alabamians we were shocked to learn that Governor Ivey possibly had a stroke and attempted to cover it up. We are examining all the available information and Walt will have more to say very soon,” the Maddox campaign said in a statement issued Wednesday. Ivey on Tuesday blamed the Maddox campaign for the Collier accusation. “It’s plum sad that Mayor Maddox’ campaign is pushing this issue out just three weeks before an election,” Ivey said. “It makes me have to assume Mayor Maddox is desperate because his liberal record is not connecting with Alabamians,” Ivey said. Throughout the primary, Ivey has alternately bristled to questions about her health or responded with folksy humor that age brings wisdom. In a speech at the University of Alabama’s football stadium, she suggested her experience was a good thing. “The state of Alabama is looking for a head coach. I’m the only person applying for the job who has actual experience coaching at this level,” Ivey said, adding “who would ever consider somebody who’s never coached a single game at this level to be head coach,” Maddox in similar football-themed retorts has suggested the state would fire a coach with the state government’s record. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
Forget Ivey’s age and health, what should concern you is her staff
Yesterday, Bill Britt over at Alabama Political Reporter dropped what was intended to be a bombshell story about Gov. Kay Ivey‘s health and details about the cover up of her hospitalization in Colorado for what former ALEA Chief Spencer Collier described as “mini-strokes.” The stroke accusation was quickly disputed by her doctor in a letter that raised as many questions as it gave us answers. Here are my thoughts on the whole mess: 1) Voters don’t care. Ivey is beloved in the state. Don’t believe me? Look at her favorability numbers. Understand that coming from previous administrations where some could say most of the men in recent years had behavior that was not just unethical, but sometimes criminal, Ivey is doing great. That said, I’m not sure what the continued discussion about her age or health is hoping to accomplish. Democrats were never going to vote for her. Her base is likely to be more sympathetic to her given the constant attacks, and then there’s that whole issue of math. So long as we’re in Alabama and so long as she doesn’t have a Roy Moore-style scandal in the next several weeks, she’s going to win on Nov. 6. Being sick wouldn’t qualify for the type of scandal it would take to make a difference. 2) The real story in this story is the demotion/transfer of Trooper Drew Brooks and any effort by her staff to engage in a cover-up, no matter what they were trying to cover up. You’re really, really missing the point if you read that story and your take away is “she’s not healthy enough to be governor.” Ivey’s real problem, and this is something I’ve been talking about since she took over in the governor’s office, is the staff. They screw up the basics of their job. I know, I know I’m suppose to say they’re there for the people of Alabama, but let’s be honest they’re there to make Ivey look good. It’s that simple. They have pretty easy job. Yes, the governor makes tough decisions, but at the end of the day what voters look at is the image that is portrayed by the media, her appearances, her surrogates, what her administration is doing. Her staff just needs to wrap-up her accomplishments in a pretty little package with a bow and get out of the way so that they don’t give reason to the press, or others, to write or report bad things. If you’re the staff and you’re the story for your screw-ups — you’re failing. I’ve never in my life seen an office, including Robert Bentley‘s so bad at cover-up, lies and outright laziness. Some on her staff are completely out of control and that ladies and gentleman should be the story we’re talking about. I’m all for keeping Ivey as our governor (sorry I’m a tried and true small government/fiscally conservative republican Walt and his big government agenda isn’t my cup of tea) but can we vote her staff out? 3) How do we not start an investigation into the potential misuse and abuse of the security detail? If reports are to be believed, the executive security detail in both the Bentley and Ivey administrations have become the whipping-boy of power-hungry individuals — Bentley himself, and in this case it looks like Ivey’s Chief of Staff Steve Pelham (despite his previous statements to the contrary). This is sad and should be handled not through media reports, rumors and gossip but through a professional unbiased investigation. The executive security detail has a very simple mission: protect the governor and lieutenant governor. It’s not challenging to understand even if staff would want the agents to be political lackeys they’re not. Their sworn law enforcement officers not babysitters, secret keepers, errand boys/girls. They assess threats on the ground when their principles are moving around the state or even within their offices. They also assess threats we don’t see or know about those that are called, emailed or snail mailed in. Just out of college, I briefly worked in the Florida governor’s office handling the governors travel schedule (a job not for the faint of heart or those who ever wish to have a life of their own). This job allowed me to see the interworking of all the offices and roles within the executive office of the governor and how they interacted with the law enforcement tasked with the governor and lt. governors safety. Those Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers were tremendous. I can’t imagine the ALEA officers are anything less. They travel frequently and leave their homes and families, work crazy hours. It’s a tough job. It’s tough enough to do without power-hungry staffers asking you to lie and transfer you for refusing to do so. While others may be focused on the potential implications of health scares, which won’t get us anywhere, I’m asking for folks to focus on the abuse of power and the potentially unfair transfer of law enforcement officers as retaliation for things not associated with their jobs. And if the reason for relocation was true, he tried to hack her email, that’s more of a fireable offense. We need a full, unbiased investigation into all of the actions surrounding this incident. As for the governor’s office. Stay tuned in the coming days I’ll be posting more about my efforts to hold Ivey’s staff accountable for the transparency she promised but that they aren’t delivering on.
Donald Trump tells AP he won’t accept blame if GOP loses House
Facing the prospect of bruising electoral defeat in congressional elections, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he won’t accept the blame if his party loses control of the House in November, arguing his campaigning and endorsements have helped Republican candidates. In a wide-ranging interview three weeks before Election Day, Trump told The Associated Press he senses voter enthusiasm rivaling 2016 and he expressed cautious optimism that his most loyal supporters will vote even when he is not on the ballot. The AP asked Trump “if Republicans were to lose control of the House on November 6th — or a couple of days later depending on how long it takes to count the votes — do you believe you bear some responsibility for that?” “No, I think I’m helping people,” Trump said. Elaborating, Trump added: “And I will say that we have a very big impact. I don’t believe anybody’s ever had this kind of an impact. They would say that in the old days that if you got the support of a president or if you’ve got the support of somebody it would be nice to have, but it meant nothing, zero. Like literally zero. Some of the people I’ve endorsed have gone up 40 and 50 points just on the endorsement.” Trump spoke on a range of subjects, defending Saudi Arabia from growing condemnation over the case of a missing journalist, accusing his longtime attorney Michael Cohen of lying under oath and flashing defiance when asked about the insult — “Horseface” — he hurled at Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who accuses him of lying about an affair. Asked if it was appropriate to insult a woman’s appearance, Trump responded, “You can take it any way you want.” Throughout much of the nearly 40-minute interview, he sat, arms crossed, in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk, flanked by top aides, including White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and communications director Bill Shine. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway listened from a nearby sofa. The interview came as Trump’s administration was being urged to pressure Saudi Arabia to account for the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Instead, Trump offered a defense for the U.S. ally, warning against a rush to judgment, like with what happened with his Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexual assault. “Well, I think we have to find out what happened first,” Trump said. “Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh. And he was innocent all the way.” Weeks away from the midterms, Democrats are hopeful about their chances to recapture the House, while Republicans are increasingly confident they can hold control of the Senate. Trump has been campaigning aggressively in a blitz of rallies aimed at firing up his base. He said he believes he’s doing his job, but allowed he has heard from some of his supporters who say they may not vote this November. “I’m not running,” he said. “I mean, there are many people that have said to me … ‘I will never ever go and vote in the midterms because you’re not running and I don’t think you like Congress.’” He added: “Well, I do like Congress.” If Democrats take the House and pursue impeachment or investigations — including seeking his long-hidden tax returns — Trump said he will “handle it very well.” The president declared he was unconcerned about other potential threats to his presidency. He accused Cohen of lying when testifying under oath that the president coordinated on a hush-money scheme to buy Daniels’ silence. Trump on Tuesday declared the allegation “totally false.” But in entering a plea deal with Cohen in August, federal prosecutors signaled that they accepted his recitation of facts and account of what occurred. Trump said that Washington lawyer Pat Cipollone will serve as his next White House counsel and that he hoped to announce a replacement for U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the next week or two. He again repeated his frustration with Attorney General Jeff Sessions over the special counsel investigation, saying he could “fire him whenever I want to fire him, but I haven’t said that I was going to.” On the ongoing Russia investigation, Trump defended his son Donald Trump Jr. for a Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer offering damaging information about Democrat Hillary Clinton. Trump called his son a “good young guy” and said he did what any political aide would have done. Trump again cast doubt on climate change, suggesting, incorrectly, that the scientific community was evenly split on the existence of climate change and its causes. There are “scientists on both sides of the issue,” Trump said. “But what I’m not willing to do is sacrifice the economic well-being of our country for something that nobody really knows,” Trump said. He added: “I have a natural instinct for science, and I will say that you have scientists on both sides of the picture.” Asked about his wartime leadership, Trump acknowledged that he has not brought U.S. troops home from conflict zones overseas and that there are more Americans serving in harm’s way now than when he took office. “It’s not a lot more. It’s a little bit more,” he said. Saying he’s trying to preserve “safety at home,” Trump added that if there are areas where people are threatening the U.S., “I’m going to have troops there for a period of time.” Trump increased U.S. troop totals in Afghanistan by about 4,000 last year. The president engaged on several other topics, including: He said he has given no consideration to pardoning Paul Manafort, his former campaign chairman who was convicted of numerous financial crimes. He suggested that his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would happen after next month’s midterm elections and would likely not be in the United States. He broke with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s proposed changes to
Rauf Bolden: Lodging tax and the building boom
Houses and condos are being built in Orange Beach at an incredible rate. Biking down the beach road always turns up signs of new construction, but there is a cost. A lodging tax increase is proposed, raising the rate from 11 percent to 13 percent, financing the infrastructure needed to create more building. “We have five or six condominiums coming online at some point in the near future on the beach. We have a record number of building permits being filed for,” said Mayor Tony Kennon in a Facebook video. “We cannot continue to invite people here, have additional growth and not deal with the infrastructure needs to handle the traffic that we have and the traffic we’re going to have in the future.” Let’s look at this lodging-tax increase from another perspective. An increase from 11 percent to 13 percent is 2 percent in real terms, but relative to 11 percent it is an increase of 18 percent. Illustrating the point, 11 percent lodgings tax times 0.18 (18 percent) = 1.98 percent or a 2 percent increase. Thinking of it as an 18 percent increase will not change the mindset of the people affected by the tax. Europe has an 18 percent tax in real terms and people still go to St. Tropez on vacation, but it makes one pause and reflect, considering this type of tax increase is a trend across Alabama, according to John Sharp of AL.com. Lodgings tax is not the critical-decision point for vacationers, because people are going to go on vacation no matter what the lodgings tax is, provided they have room on their cards. Too much building is a critical-decision point for local residents. The overview is about understanding 40 percent of private sector jobs were created in the housing-construction industry from 2001-2005 (pre-recession), according to John Richmond of the Federal Reserve in Richmond. We now have a glimpse of just how vital construction jobs are to economic growth, evidenced in 2016 by the number of building permits issued in Orange Beach according to Community Development: 2011: 745 2012: 910 2013: 1129 2014: 1283 2015: 1312 2016: 1599 Revenue from permits mirrors the number of permits issued: 2011: $200,245 2012: $215,207 2013: $541,710 2014: $592,402 2015: $1,603,006 2016: $1,704,583. The data supports Mayor Kennon’s claim of record increases in residential and business construction, perhaps even a bellwether of confidence in the local economy, as if one feeds off of the other. If economic prosperity feeds off of new construction, planning the lodging tax expenditure is crucial. “The City is proposing a 2 percent lodging tax increase resulting in an estimated $5,000,000 per year. These additional funds will help with the maintenance of the beaches, maintaining and investing in new infrastructure, and addressing traffic issues,” said Ford Handley, Finance Director for the City of Orange Beach. “Moving the intersection of Alabama 180 or Canal Road, and Alabama 161 a few hundred yards south (by McDonald’s) is a remedy officials here believe will improve traffic — and cost a bundle,” wrote John Mullen in the Lagniappe. I submitted a Public Records Request for a copy of any Master-Plan Documents, detailing how the new lodging-tax revenue would be spent. Renee Eberly, Orange Beach City Clerk responded, “No internal ‘draft master plan’ has been created as the issue is still being publicly discussed.” One assumes the additional tax dollars will be used to support co-pays for infrastructure grants. “Federal and State monies (Grants) are getting harder to come by and they require matching funds,” said Mayor Kennon in a Facebook video. The key issue is we, the people, do not know what the master plan is for spending the additional $5 million in tax revenue generated each year. Having a grasp of the balance between costs, efficiencies and investing for growth is a technique espoused by the Harvard Business Review, but can only be achieved by working with constituents, discussing parameters of the plan like we did with Horizon 20/20 (2006). Otherwise we are going to have to trust our elected officials, letting them make the right decision at the right time. Not everyone agrees with the tenant of trusting government officials with minimal oversight. Unrestricted development is not what local residents want, trusting elected officials to modify zoning laws to respect their wishes for less development has not happened. Some argue zoning-regulation amendments are the only way to control growth in Orange Beach. Less growth means less demand for more growth, meaning less demand for more taxes. Limiting growth also puts upward supply-and-demand pressure on property values, being a positive result, generating wealth for residents. Others hold that wealth and happiness are two different things. It would make the locals happy if the City of Orange Beach spent this revenue to finance a public beach for residents, accessed with a card like the Recreation Center, used by families, children and grandchildren, as opposed to being seen to be chasing the creation of wealth. Lodgings tax as a function of infrastructure spending, including beach re-nourishment and traffic solutions is supportable, solving our traffic problems today, but we cannot seem to balance this equation with the please-restrict-development desire of our residents. This is the cost. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
NYT highlights Homewood coach with heart for football and philanthropy
A Homewood Middle School football coach and teacher recently found himself in the national spotlight as his efforts to make an impact on local youth were highlighted by the New York Times (NYT). Steve Sills, “an evangelist for the gospel of encouragement, which he’s been preaching for 13 years at this economically and demographically diverse middle school in suburban Birmingham,” works hard to teach the middle school students he works with the importance of giving it your all. “Don’t matter if you are big or small, if you are fast or slow. If you give us the very best of you, together we can do great things,” Sills told the Homewood Patriots football team during a recent Monday night game according to the NYT. Sills, who envisioned a career in football after receiving a scholarship to play at Tennessee Tech and later played in the indoor Arena Football League, didn’t follow his expected life path. Instead he found himself teaching and coaching at Homewood Middle School. There, he teaches his students career and character where he endeavors to pass along his “look good, feel good, do good” mantra. But Sills takes his work beyond the classroom. Nine years ago, the educator founded the Homewood Trendsetters, a school club that according to the NYT, “combines sharp dressing with dozens of service projects, like feeding the homeless at local shelters or cheering on special needs students at athletic events. It now numbers more than 300, including more than 100 girls, and has logged thousands of volunteer hours and raised tens of thousands of dollars for the community.” When they NYT asked him to reduce his teaching philosophy to its core, he paraphrased the poet Maya Angelou: “These kids will forget what I said and did, but I hope they never forget how I made them feel.”
3 Alabama women catch the attention of Good Morning America as they run for office
In the suburbs of the Magic City, three Alabama women who joined forces in hopes of finding their way Election Day victory, have caught the attention of Good Morning America (GMA). In its ongoing series about “Women Who Run,” GMA on Wednesday featured the trio: Felicia Stewart, candidate for House District 46, Alli Summerford, candidate for House District 48 and Jenn Gray, candidate for House District 45. All moms and first time candidates, the women have formed a “sisterhood” as they’ve joined forces in support of one another in their efforts to unseat male opponents “who, in some cases, haven’t faced opposition in decades.” “Nobody can truly understand the internal part of this piece better than the other candidates and specifically the other female candidates and especially those who are moms,” Stewart told GMA. “Alli [Summerford] has been a terrific source of encouragement and sounding board and strategy partner.” “It’s very encouraging to have a cohort that you can connect to and have as a sounding board,” Gray explained to GMA. “It’s about this coalition of women who are running and who really have each other’s backs, just pulling each other up.” “We need to all win,” she added, of the women running in 2018. “It’s not enough for me if one of us wins.” Summerford, Stewart and Gray are among 60 women running for office in Alabama this year. Watch the GMA feature below:
Better late than never: ALDOT to hold public hearing on Bridge to Nowhere
In what may be a turning point for a highly controversial bridge project, the Alabama Department of Transportation (ALDOT) has announced the first project-specific public hearing on a proposed bridge to the beach in Baldwin County. The bridge at hand is the proposed connector from SR-180 to Foley Beach Express Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway. It will run between Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, Ala. ALDOT is inviting anyone in the Southwest Region (Mobile area) interested in the new bridge to the public hearing on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Gulf Shores Activity Center. There, they will get a chance to ask questions, make comments, and may review project information and exhibits on display. The bridge debate One one hand is those who are pro-bridge. This group includes several local mayors like Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon, Transportation Director at ALDOT John Cooper, as well as the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach Tourism board. According to their website, the tourism board operates “With 34 full-time and 11 part-time employees, the CVB has a $10.46 million budget, which is funded by a 2 percent lodging tax.” The board came under fire last year for starting what some residents called a misleading petition campaign over the bridge. In a Change.org petition to garner support for the new bridge. At the time of publishing, it had garnered the signatures of 5,508 supporters. Opponents of the bridge pointed out that the language included in the petition was at best misleading if not an outright lie. They explain their side saying: Going to the beach has become an all day affair and that’s just the drive time. We can do something about it if we stand together. By signing this petition we can tell the elected officials along the Gulf Coast that we need better ingress and egress to Pleasure Island on the Gulf Coast. A new bridge, with no tolls, will allow more traffic to come across the island and it will reduce traffic flow on our major highways. In a lawsuit against the state testimony confirmed that no studies have ever been conducted to determine the need or impact of an additional bridge. Local residents question any assertion that states that it will “reduce traffic flow” noting that it will put more traffic on Canal Road which is already an area of significant congestion. Meanwhile, those against the beach bridge have amassed in a Facebook group called “End the #Bridge2Nowhere.” They believe $87 million state-funded bridge project is a misguided attempt by ALDOT and specifically John Cooper to curry favor with local politicians while solving no problems and potentially causing more harm to locals through both increased traffic congestion, noise pollution and damage to local property owners through the states use of eminent domain to seize houses and land. ALDOT’s lack of transparency about this project has come under fire from many including local residents, State Auditor Jim Zeigler, Alabama Today’s own Apryl Marie Fogel, and most recently State Senate candidate Jason Fisher. Details and official notice below. If you are not able to make it residents can also send comments by November 30, 2018 to: Email: swinfo@dot.state.al.us Fax: (251) 473-3624 Mail: Vincent E. Calametti, P.E. Region Engineer, Southwest Region ATTN: Edwin L. Perry III, P.E. Alabama Department of Transportation 1701 I-65 West Service Road N Mobile, Alabama 36618 View the invitation Southwest Region residents received to the public hearing below:
Democrats’ not-so-secret plan to fight midterm malaise
They’re asking pastors to text their congregants about the importance of voting. They’re connecting with thousands of Puerto Ricans displaced by Hurricane Maria. And they’re relying on groups like the NAACP, which has tripled its spending from 2016 to energize black voters. Less than three weeks before Election Day, Democrats are sparing nothing to make sure their voters head to the polls. It’s all part of an effort to avoid the disappointment of previous elections when low turnout dashed high expectations. “2016 was a low point for a lot of us,” said Jamal Watkins, vice president of engagement at the NAACP. “People have awakened and said, ‘Wait a minute, we can’t lose, and we can’t lose like this.’ Folks are fired up to reinvest in turnout.” Younger voters and voters of color tend to stay home in non-presidential elections, making the midterm electorate older, whiter and more Republican-tilting. But that could change this year, Democrats and outside groups say, if unprecedented efforts to reach so-called infrequent voters galvanize people who previously sat on the sidelines. Democrats have reason for optimism: The party saw strong turnout in nearly a dozen federal special elections ahead of the midterms, with Democratic candidates consistently outperforming Republicans. But the organizing flurry comes amid concerns over ballot access and election security, which have become a flashpoint in the high-profile gubernatorial race in Georgia. There is also mounting anxiety about whether efforts to mobilize Latino voters will translate into votes, particularly in several key races in heavily Latino districts. The party is spending big to ward against such threats. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party’s arm focused on House races, is spending more than $25 million in 45 battleground districts to mobilize female voters, millennials, African-Americans and Hispanics, officials said. That’s a far more significant investment than past cycles. The committee is putting an emphasis on turning out African-American women, including running advertising focused on black women ages 18-39 in more than 40 districts. The DCCC has also run Spanish-language TV and radio ads across the country. Between field efforts and paid media, voters of color in targeted swing districts will have heard from the DCCC more than 100 times in the closing 60 days of the election. And in a twist, some of the outreach this year will be facilitated by local community leaders instead of anonymous politicos. “As an example of the local voter contact and text messaging program that we are doing, we are partnering with a series of pastors and local validators across the country,” said DCCC Executive Director Dan Sena. “When you’re getting a text message saying ‘hey – early vote’s starting,’ you’re not getting it from someone in Washington D.C. You’re actually getting it from somebody in Georgia that has a big delegation, or you’re getting it from someone on campus that you know.” The Democratic National Committee also beefed up its voter database, purchasing 94 million cellphone numbers, according to a DNC official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy. The official said the additional cell phone numbers have helped with voter contact in key races across the country, including encouraging sporadic voters to participate. Republicans say they have their own well-organized, well-funded turnout machine that dwarfs Democrats’ efforts. A Republican National Committee aide said the organization has raised more than $250 million this cycle, invested in 28 states, more than 540 paid staffers and thousands of volunteers who are focused on turning out Republicans who don’t vote often and swing voters who participate more frequently. The committee raised more than $150 million during roughly the same period ahead of the 2014 midterms. The aide said the RNC has made more than 50 million voter contacts, either over the phone or by going door-to-door The Democratic organization effort goes beyond the traditional party structure. NextGen America, the advocacy group backed by billionaire environmentalist and donor Tom Steyer, is injecting more money into a closing push to rally young voters. The group will spend more than $4 million on digital ads across 11 states, targeting more than 4.3 million young voters. NextGen is also running the first political ads on Twitch, a popular video streaming service, as well as places like Reddit, Spotify and Pandora. “Young people in general feel like they’ve really been shut out of the system,” said Aleigha Cavalier, a spokeswoman for NextGen America. “Our goal with digital is to find a message that works for them and actually put it where their eyeballs will see it.” The Human Rights Campaign’s Equality Votes PAC launched a more than $2 million campaign across eight key races spanning digital, direct mail, text and phone voter contact. The NAACP’s campaign is targeting more than 5 million “infrequent” black voters, including in the key states of Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, in a $6 million voter mobilization push, up from $2 million spent on mobilization in 2016. The push includes upward of 20 staffers focused on mobilizing black voters, the majority of those, according to Watkins, working in key states with thousands of on-the-ground volunteers. In Georgia, the organization is targeting more than 700,000 “infrequent” voters. In Florida, the number swells to more than 900,000. The NAACP is not the only group that’s boosting its turnout effort. The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, also shifted its strategy. Julie Greene, who is leading the union’s mobilization efforts, said that in 2014 and 2016, the union experimented with an independent expenditure program that had more of a focus on the general public, rather than the union’s member-to-member program. The union found that its members had not turned out in support of labor-endorsed candidates at the same levels as in the past. The union now hopes to increase turnout among its members by 5 percent, up from 57 percent in 2014. But it is also investing significantly in mobilizing Hispanic and African-American voters. Last week, the union announced plans to air ads on African-American and Spanish-language radio in
Steve Flowers: The Shorty Price story
Since this is Alabama vs. Tennessee week and we have a Governor’s Race in three weeks, allow me to share the Story of Shorty Price. Alabama has had its share of what I call “run for the fun of it” candidates. The most colorful of all these perennial “also ran” candidates was Ralph “Shorty” Price. He ran for Governor every time. His slogan was “Smoke Tampa Nugget cigars, drink Budweiser beer and vote for Shorty Price.” In one of Shorty’s campaigns for governor his campaign speech contained this line, “If elected governor I will reduce the governor’s tenure from four to two years. If you can’t steal enough to last you the rest of your life in two years, you ain’t got enough sense to have the office in the first place.” He would use recycled campaign signs to save money but he rarely garnered two percent of the votes in any campaign. Shorty loved Alabama football. Following the Crimson Tide was Shorty’s prime passion in life. You could spot Shorty, even though he was only 5 ft tall, at every Crimson tide football game always sporting a black suit, a black hat with a round top, his Alabama tie and flag. I do not know if Shorty actually had a seat because he would parade around Denny Stadium or Legion Field posing as Alabama’s head cheerleader. In fact he would intersperse himself among the real Alabama cheerleaders and help them with their cheers. There was no question that Shorty was totally inebriated in fact, I never saw Shorty when he was not drunk. Shorty worshiped Paul “Bear” Bryant. Indeed Bryant, Wallace and Shorty were of the same era. Like Bryant, Shorty hated Tennessee. Speaking of the Tennessee rivalry, I will share with you a personal Shorty story. I had become acquainted with Shorty early on in life. Therefore, on a clear, beautiful, third Saturday, fall afternoon in October Alabama was playing Tennessee in Legion Field. As always, Shorty was prancing up and down the field. I was a freshman at the University on that fall Saturday. Shorty even in his drunken daze recognized me. I had a beautiful date that I was trying to impress and meeting Shorty did not impress her. Shorty pranced up the isle and proceeded to sit by me. His daily black suit had not been changed in probably over a year. He reeked of alcohol and body odor and my date had to hold her nose. After about 20 minutes of offending my date, Shorty then proceeded to try to impress the crowd by doing somersaults off the six-foot walls of Legion field. He did at least three, mashing his head straight down on the pavement on each dive, I though Shorty had killed himself with his somersaults. His face and his head were bleeding profusely and he was developing a black eye. Fortunately, Shorty left my domain and proceeded to dance with Alabama cheerleaders that day as bloody as he may have been. Shorty was beloved by the fans and I guess that is why the police in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa seem to ignore Shorty’s antics. However, that was not the case in a classic Alabama game four years later. By this time I was a senior at the University and we were facing Notre Dame in an epic championship battle in the old New Orleans Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve. It was for the 1973 national championship. Bear Bryant and Ara Parseghian were pitted against each other. We were ranked #1 and 2. One of the largest television audiences in history was focused on the 7:30 p.m. kickoff. It was electrifying. Those of us in the stands were awaiting the entrance of the football team, as were the ABC cameras. Somehow or other, Shorty had journeyed to New Orleans, had gotten on the field and was posed to lead the Alabama team out on the field. As was customary, Shorty was drunk as Cooter Brown. He started off by beating an Irish puppet with a club and the next thing I knew two burly New Orleans policemen, two of the biggest I had ever seen, picked up Shorty by his arms and escorted him off the field. They did not know who Shorty was and did not appreciate him. Sadly, Shorty, one of Alabama’s greatest fans, missed one of Alabama’s classic games sitting in a New Orleans jail. I have always believed that Shorty’s removal from the field was a bad omen for us that night. We lost 24-23 and Notre Dame won the National Championship. See you next week. ••• Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
