State Rep. David Wheeler of Vestavia Hills passes away at 72
State Rep. David Wheeler passed away on Wednesday at the age of 72, Yellowhammer News reported. Wheeler was running unopposed in his bid for a second term representing House District 47. A Vestavia Hills resident, Wheeler was a retired Alabama Power employee and a longtime member of the University of Montevallo board of trustees. Wheeler was in the final year of his first term in the Legislature. Gov. Kay Ivey issued a statement following the news. “Rep. Wheeler was a good man, devoted to his values, his community, and our entire state. He was taken from us too soon, and I know he will be missed by all, especially by the people he served in Jefferson County. His wife Diane and all of his loved ones are in my prayers.” “The people of District 47 and all of Alabama have lost a devoted servant, and I’ve lost a good friend,” House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said in a statement. “It was rare that David came to the microphone to speak on legislation, but when he did, his words carried weight. I’ll miss him, and so will the members of the House.” House Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter issued a public statement on behalf of the House Republican Caucus expressing sadness over Wheeler’s passing. “Every member of the House Republican Caucus is shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of our colleague, Rep. David Wheeler, and his loss is deeply felt by all who knew him,” stated Ledbetter. “A kind and jovial man with a broad smile and firm handshake for those he encountered, Rep. Wheeler was dedicated to his district and worked hard to represent the constituents who elected him. He stood firm in his conservative beliefs and understood that the moral character and values unique to Alabamians are what make our state such a special place to live, work, worship, and raise a family,” added Ledbetter. “Alabama has lost a statesman, and those of us who were fortunate to work alongside him have lost a good and trusted friend.” Ivey has also directed flags to be flown at half-staff immediately and through sunset tomorrow, March 10, 2022.
AG Steve Marshall calls out Joe Biden for refusal to allow new domestic oil production
Attorney General Steve Marshall called out President Joe Biden for his continued refusal to lift his ban on the Keystone XL pipeline and grant new oil and gas leases on public lands. Top Republicans have blamed Biden for the higher gas prices and for promoting climate change-fighting environmental measures that they said had hurt U.S. energy production domestically. “Prior to President Biden’s entering office, America was a major exporter of oil and gas, yet today, we are witnessing in dramatic fashion the impact of the Biden administration’s 180-degree energy policy reversal from energy independence to dependence on foreign countries,” Marshall stated in a press release. “Gas prices in January 2021, averaged $2.39 a gallon nationally. Today, they are at a historic high of $4.17 a gallon and rapidly rising. Over the last 12 months, President Biden has doubled down on his policy of limiting domestic fossil fuel production in favor of more expensive green energy. Incredibly, today, as Americans face a worldwide fuel shortage not seen in a generation—the very definition of a national energy emergency—the Biden administration continues to keep its foot squarely on the brakes of increased American energy production.” Marshall criticized Biden for approaching oil-rich Venezuela and its socialist President Nicolás Maduro. “Rather than demonstrating leadership and marshaling all of America’s energy resources to combat the effects of the ongoing world energy crisis, President Biden used his press conference today as a commercial for his costly and unproven green energy agenda, all the while he begs Saudi Arabia and communist Venezuela to bail us out by increasing their drilling.” Even if the Biden Administration were to loosen environmental rules, it’s unlikely production could ramp up fast enough to ease currently spiking prices at the pump. “I sued President Biden over his illegal reversals of oil and gas drilling permits on public lands as well as his blocking of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. The crisis in Ukraine underscores the seriousness of these efforts. My colleagues and I will not quit fighting until the Biden administration restores America’s energy independence; otherwise, our country will continue to be at the mercy of world oil supply disruptions resulting in ever-higher gas prices.” According to Statista.com, the U.S. is home to the greatest number of oil and gas pipelines in the world. As of December 2020, there were 185 operational oil pipelines in the country and a further 34 under development. There are more than 200 oil pipelines running across the U.S., which is more than the number of pipelines in Russia, China, and Canada combined.
Steve Flowers: Incumbency prevails in secondary constitutional offices
Incumbency is a potent, powerful, inherent advantage in politics. That fact is playing out to the nines in this year’s Alabama secondary constitutional and down ballot races. Several of the constitutional office incumbents do not have Republican or Democratic opposition. Of course, having a Democratic opponent is the same as not having an opponent in a statewide race in Alabama. A Democrat cannot win in a statewide contest in the Heart of Dixie. Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth will be elected to a second four-year term without opposition. He will be waiting in the wings to follow Kay Ivey as Governor. Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will be reelected without opposition. He has done a good job in this important state post. State Treasurer Young Boozer is running unopposed for another four-year term. He does an excellent job and is uniquely qualified for the Treasurer’s job. State Supreme Court Justice Kelli Wise is running for reelection unopposed. Kelli is popular and is a good jurist. She is home free for six more years on the state’s high tribunal. Attorney General Steve Marshall has token opposition in his run for reelection. One Republican and one Democrat qualified against Marshall. However, he will coast to reelection. There are two seats up for election on the Alabama Public Service Commission. There are three seats on this regulatory panel. The President of the PSC runs in a presidential year. Twinkle Cavanaugh is President and pretty much runs the ship. The two incumbents are Jeremy Oden and Chip Beeker. Oden has two unknown Republican opponents. Beeker has two opponents in the GOP Primary. One has some name identification, who has run before. Beeker and Oden will probably win reelection. There are only three hotly contested and interesting secondary statewide races. That is because these three posts are open without an incumbent on the scene. Popular Supreme Court Justice Mike Bolin, the former Probate Judge of Jefferson County, is term-limited by an antiquated law that prohibits a judge from running for the court after age 70. There are two qualified candidates seeking to follow Judge Bolin. Birmingham Defense Attorney Greg Cook is facing Anniston Circuit Judge Debra Jones. Cook appears to be the favorite to win. It is apparent that the business community in the state is backing Cook. He has also been endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federation. The latest campaign finance reports reveal Cook has $552,000 to spend compared to Jones’s $15,000. The State Auditors position is open. Jim Ziegler has served his eight-year stint. This will be an interesting three-man race for this benign position. Former Mobile State Representative and State Senator Rusty Glover is facing Muscle Shoals State Representative Andrew Sorrell and Jefferson County Pastor Stan Cooke. All three are getting out and working the state. The race to succeed John Merrill as Secretary of State will be a good race. Merrill is term-limited after eight years. State Auditor Jim Ziegler is wanting to move next door in the Capitol and become Secretary of State. Because of his name identification advantage, Ziegler will be favored to win the race. However, he will get a significant challenge from State Representative Wes Allen. Young Wes Allen has been running for over a year and has a good many significant endorsements, including Alfa. He has an impressive resume having served a decade as Probate Judge of Pike County and four years as a State Representative. He also has two home bases. He has lived and served in office in Troy in Southeast Alabama and was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, where his father, Gerald Allen, has been a long-time State Senator. Ed Packard, who has run the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s office for decades, is also running. He is very well qualified. The aforementioned current Secretary of State, John Merrill, is not seeking any elective office in 2022, even though he is still relatively young. I have said this before, and it holds true today, Merrill is currently the best and most prolific retail politician in the state and one of the best I have seen in Alabama. He has a real grassroots organization in Alabama. He is literally everywhere. Even though he is not on the ballot running this year, he is outworking every candidate mentioned in this column. You have not heard the last of John Merrill. 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.
Mo Brooks signs resolution to charge Vladimir Putin with war crimes if Ukrainian president harmed
Congressman Mo Brooks co-sponsored a resolution asking for Vladimir Putin to be charged with war crimes if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is harmed by Russian forces. Texas Rep. Michael Burgess wrote resolution H.Con.Res. 76. Brooks joined U.S. Reps. Robert Aderholt, Barry Moore, and Gary Palmer in cosponsoring the resolution. “Vladimir Putin is an evil dictator. He has a long track record of poisoning and imprisoning political opponents. He has viciously brought war to the peaceful Ukrainian people. He’s a tyrant akin to the worst in world history such as the murderous Adolph Hitler, Mao Zedong, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot, Brooks said in a press release. Brooks emphasized the need for Putin to face stiff consequences for what he has done. “The United States and freedom-loving nations worldwide must confront him as such. If his vicious, unprovoked attack on Ukraine results in one scratch on Ukrainian President Zelensky, Putin should be charged with war crimes and brought to justice.” Brooks concluded, “History teaches us that dictators are emboldened when freedom-loving countries do nothing to confront them. Putin must face stiff consequences for his diabolical actions or he’ll continue wreaking havoc. I support making life as hellish as possible for Putin and his oligarchical cronies, and I urge the Russian people to bravely stand up and do what America regularly does: replace our political leaders. Putin has terrorized long enough.” The resolution stated that Russian entities had been linked to the poisoning of several political dissidents and Russian enemies, including Ukrainian Presidential candidate Viktor Yuschenko in 2004, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in 2004, former Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, former Russian FSB officer Sergey Skripal in 2018, and Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny in 2020.
First trial in Capitol riot ends in conviction on all counts
A Texas man was convicted on Tuesday of storming the U.S. Capitol with a holstered handgun, a milestone victory for federal prosecutors in the first trial among hundreds of cases arising from last year’s riot. A jury also convicted Guy Wesley Reffitt of obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021, of interfering with police officers who were guarding the Capitol and of threatening his two teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement after the attack. Jurors deliberated about three hours and convicted him on all counts. The verdict could be a bellwether for many other Capitol riot cases. It could give Justice Department prosecutors more leverage in plea negotiations and discourage other defendants from gambling on trials of their own. Gregg Sofer, a former federal prosecutor who served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas from October 2020 to February 2021, said before Reffitt’s trial started that it would be “the canary in the coal mine.” “If you’re a defendant awaiting trial at this point, the canary just died,” said Sofer, now a partner at the law firm Husch Blackwell. “I do think it is likely to affect people’s perceptions about the likelihood of their success.” Reffitt, 49, of Wylie, Texas, didn’t testify at his trial, which started last Wednesday. He showed little visible reaction to the verdict, but his face was covered by a mask. Outside court, his wife Nicole said the verdict was “against all American people. If you’re going to be convicted on your First Amendment rights, all Americans should be wary. This fight has just begun.” She said her husband was being used as an example by the government. “You are all in danger,” she said. In a statement after the verdict, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves in Washington thanked the jury “for upholding the rule of law and for its diligent service in this case.” During the trial’s closing arguments on Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower told jurors that Reffitt drove to Washington, D.C., intending to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Reffitt proudly “lit the fire” that allowed others in a mob to overwhelm Capitol police officers near the Senate doors, the prosecutor said. Reffitt was not accused of entering the Capitol building. Defense attorney William Welch said there is no evidence that Reffitt damaged property, used force, or physically harmed anybody. He will be sentenced on June 8. He could receive 20 years in prison on the top charge alone, but he’s likely to face far less time behind bars. Other rioters have pleaded guilty; the longest sentence so far is five years and three months for Robert Palmer, a Florida man who pleaded guilty to attacking police officers at the Capitol. The riot resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer. More than 100 officers were injured. Rioters caused over $1 million in damage to the Capitol. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich presided over Reffitt’s trial. Donald Trump nominated her in 2017. Welch has said Reffitt worked as a rig manager and as a consultant in the petroleum industry before COVID-19 restrictions effectively shut down his business. Jurors saw videos that captured the confrontation between a few Capitol police officers and a mob of people, including Reffitt, who approached them on the west side of the Capitol. Reffitt was armed with a Smith & Wesson pistol in a holster on his waist, carrying zip-tie handcuffs and wearing body armor and a helmet equipped with a video camera when he advanced on police, according to prosecutors. He retreated after an officer pepper sprayed him in the face, but he waved on other rioters who ultimately breached the building, prosecutors said. Before the crowd advanced, Reffitt used a megaphone to shout at police to step aside and to urge the mob to push forward and overtake officers. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said Reffitt played a leadership role that day. During last Friday’s testimony, prosecutors zoomed in on a video image of Reffitt at the Capitol. FBI Special Agent Laird Hightower said the image shows “a silvery metallic linear object” in a holster protruding from under Reffitt’s jacket as he leaned forward. Shauni Kerkhoff, who was one of the Capitol police officers who tried to repel Reffitt, said she launched pepper balls that didn’t stop him from advancing. She testified that Reffitt appeared to be leading the crowd upstairs toward police. Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, testified last Thursday that his father threatened him and his sister, then 16, after he drove home from Washington. Reffitt told his children they would be traitors if they reported him to authorities and said, “traitors get shot,” Jackson Reffitt recalled. He said the threat terrified him. His younger sister, Peyton, was listed as a possible government witness but didn’t testify. She said that she would talk more later on her own time, but: “Kids should never be used against the parents.” Jackson Reffitt used a cellphone app to secretly record his father boasting about his role in the riot. Jurors heard excerpts of that family conversation. Jackson Reffitt initially contacted the FBI on Christmas Eve, less than two weeks before the riot, to report concerns about his father’s behavior and increasingly worrisome rhetoric. But the FBI didn’t respond until January 6, after the riot erupted. Another key witness, Rocky Hardie, said he and Reffitt were members of the “Texas Three Percenters” militia group. The Three Percenters militia movement refers to the myth that only 3% of Americans fought in the Revolutionary War against the British. Hardie drove from Texas to Washington with Reffitt. He testified that both of them were armed with holstered handguns when they attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally before the riot erupted. Reffitt also took an AR-15 rifle to Washington but left it locked up in his car, Hardie said. Hardie said Reffitt talked about dragging lawmakers out of the Capitol and replacing them with people who
Second case of deadly deer disease found in NW Alabama
A second case of a disease that’s deadly to deer has been found in Lauderdale County in northwest Alabama, a state agency said, prompting stricter rules about feeding wildlife. The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said Monday it was banning baiting and supplemental feeding practices in Lauderdale and Colbert counties in an attempt to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease, which was first found in the state in January. The initial detection prompted testing measures, and the agency said samples were taken from 966 white-tailed deer killed in the two counties during the hunting season. One additional case of the illness was detected, and the state said that was enough to impose additional rules. The disease, which affects the behavior of deer because of microscopic changes in the brain, previously was detected in neighboring Tennessee and Mississippi in 2018. A deer can carry the disease for years without symptoms, and in latter stages, it may cause listlessness, lowering of the head, weight loss, walking in patterns, and unresponsiveness. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
