Parker Snider: Arizona poised to expand school choice to every student
A school choice measure that would allow all 1.1 million Arizona students to use state-funded education savings accounts passed in the state’s House of Representatives this week. The bill, HB2853, expands the state’s current education savings account program, which today serves just under 12,000 children, to all Arizona students. According to Corey DeAngelis, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, the program will be the largest in the nation if approved. That approval looks likely. The Arizona Senate seems poised to vote in its favor and Governor Doug Ducey, a school choice advocate, will likely sign the bill. Passage in the House, where two Republican members switched votes to push it over the finish line, appears to have been its most difficult legislative hurdle. Even so, there is some opposition. The Arizona Education Association, a teachers union, and an organization called “Save Our Schools Arizona” are calling on Senators to vote ‘no’. Knowing their efforts are likely to fail, Save Our Schools Arizona is planning a referendum campaign to force a vote of the people. A similar referendum in 2017 and 2018 was successful in stopping an earlier program expansion. That rejection, of course, was before the pandemic which caused many parents and families to see the benefits of school choice. If the measure goes into effect, families will be able to use the money–between $6,000 and $7,000 a year–for private school tuition, tutoring, homeschooling materials, and other approved expenses. Already many Arizona children are enrolled in a school of choice. 15% of Arizona students currently attend charter schools, which are privately operated schools that receive funding and some oversight from the local school district. Another 6% are enrolled in the private schools through Arizona’s current private school choice program. In Alabama, less than .1% of students are enrolled in charter schools. Only .5% are enrolled in private schools through a school choice program. This is not due to lack of demand, as many needy students attempting to escape their failing schools are not given the opportunity. Alabama’s school choice programs are simply too limited and are only serving the smallest number of students. In the 2022 Regular Session, Alabama legislators had the opportunity to pass similar legislation as Arizona. The Parent’s Choice Act, SB140 sponsored by Senator Del Marsh (R-Anniston) and Rep. Charlotte Meadows (R-Montgomery), would have offered families over $5,000 per student to use for private school tuition and other approved expenses through an Education Savings Account. Like in Arizona, the state’s teachers union was vocally against the bill. Unlike in Arizona, Alabama’s GOP-dominated legislature did not put the bill up for discussion in the Senate or the House, much less pass it into law. The fact that expanding school choice is a part of the national Republican Party platform seems a non-issue for most Alabama legislators. Whether such duplicity matters to Alabama residents, however, remains to be seen. Parker Snider is the Director of Policy Analysis for the Alabama Policy Institute.
Steve Flowers: Bill Baxley
The 1970 Governor’s Race between George Wallace and Albert Brewer overshadowed every other political race in the state that year. However, one of Alabama’s legendary political figures burst on the scene in 1970, when Bill Baxley was elected Attorney General of Alabama. The Attorney General’s race was below the radar screen of the titanic war waged by Brewer and Wallace. Bill Baxley’s victory was a major upset. Baxley was a 28-year-old district attorney from the Wiregrass. He beat a veteran Attorney General MacDonald Gallion in a close race. Baxley became the youngest Attorney General in the nation when he was sworn in at the January Inauguration. He had just turned 29. His historic rise at such a young age made him fodder for national publications like Time Magazine, who featured him as one of the brightest rising stars in the nation. His brilliance gave new meaning to the word prodigy. It was not immediately apparent to the voters of Alabama that they had elected a true progressive liberal as their Attorney General. They soon did when Baxley began aggressively attacking the Big Mules in Birmingham and throughout the state and consistently fought for the downtrodden in the state. He sued every Big Mule in sight, including U.S. Steel, for pollution and other environmental concerns during his 20-year career in state politics. Baxley never deviated or backed down from his progressive Democratic ideology, even when it might have been politically expedient to do so. He could not be bought. He was his own man and a true Alabama political statesman. When Baxley won the 1970 Attorney General’s race over MacDonald Gallion, he openly and unashamedly courted liberals, labor, and blacks to win the race. He did not do it for expediency, but because his heart was in it. Baxley was a true progressive Southern Democrat. He openly courted, embraced, and built an overt friendship with labor leaders and black leaders such as Joe Reed. Baxley was certainly a contrast to our race-baiting Governor George Wallace. Ironically, Wallace loved Baxley. Deep down, Wallace was a hardcore progressive who had lived through the Depression. He cut his teeth as a New Deal Democrat. Baxley forged a political career with epic historical milestones in Alabama politics. He was elected Attorney General in 1970 and again in 1974. He ran second for Governor in 1978 when Fob James came out of the blue to upset the “Three B’s” – Bill Baxley, Albert Brewer, and Jere Beasley in the governor’s race. Bill Baxley came back in 1982 and was elected Lt. Governor. He served closely with George Wallace, who was serving his fourth and final term as Governor. They had a special friendship and spoke on the phone constantly. I think Wallace admired Baxley for being true to his principles. He also respected Baxley’s understanding of some of the golden rules of politics, and that is “your word is your bond” and also “you dance with the ones who brung you.” Bill Baxley was the Democratic nominee for governor in 1986. He was upset by Guy Hunt, who became the first Republican governor since Reconstruction that year. Bill Baxley left politics after that race and did what he really loved. He became one of the most prominent trial lawyers in Alabama. He loves the practice of law. He was born for it. For the last 36 years, he has been one of Alabama’s top lawyers and probably one of the most expensive. Baxley now resides in Birmingham and takes prominent cases all over the state. Baxley was born and raised in Dothan. His daddy, Keener Baxley, was a well-respected Circuit Judge in Dothan. The Baxley’s were a prominent family and among the earliest settlers of Houston County. Young Bill Baxley grew up loving the law, politics, and baseball. He grew up in his Daddy’s courtroom in Dothan and learned to love the law. There was never any doubt in his mind that he would be a lawyer by profession because he probably was not going to be a major league baseball player, which was every young boy’s dream at that time. He was always brilliant academically and was gifted with a photographic memory. He skipped a grade in school and finished high school at age 15. He entered the University of Alabama at age 16. He graduated from college at age 19 and the University of Alabama Law School at age 22. After law school, he returned to Dothan to practice law. He was elected District Attorney for Houston and Henry Counties at the ripe old age of 25. Three years later, he was elected Attorney General of Alabama. The rest is history. Bill Baxley has a place in Alabama history. It is hard to believe that young Bill Baxley turns 81 this month. 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.
Brannon Buck begins term as President-Elect of the Alabama State Bar
Birmingham lawyer Brannon Buck has begun his term as president-elect of the Alabama State Bar. Buck was installed at the bar’s annual meeting on June 25, 2022. He will become the 148th President of the Alabama State Bar in 2023, following current bar President Gibson Vance, an attorney in Montgomery. “Serving in this leadership role is truly the honor of my career, and I am truly grateful for the opportunity,” Brannon said. “I view service to the bar as a way to ensure that future generations of lawyers share the same opportunities and benefits from the legal profession that I have had.” He is a 1997 graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, magna cum laude. Brannon is also a founding partner at Badham and Buck, LLC. He has served in many leadership capacities at the Alabama State Bar. He served as a bar commissioner representing the 10th Judicial Circuit and chaired and been a member of numerous committees and task forces, including the MCLE Review and Revision Task Force and the Governance and Internal Operations Task Force. Brannon is also a lawyer-representative to the Judicial Conference for the State of Alabama, which consists of five appellate judges, seven trial judges, and three practicing attorneys. In addition to his service with the Alabama State Bar, Brannon serves on the Leadership Council for the University of Alabama Law Alumni Association. He previously has served as the chair of the non-profit Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice and as a board member for the Alabama Civil Justice Foundation. Brannon is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham, the Alabama State Bar Leadership Forum, and the ABA-TIPS National Trial Academy. Brannon is married to Mollie deShazo, who practices oncology at UAB. They have two children daughter, Emerson, and a son, Harris.
Cassidy Hutchinson, Donald Trump White House aide, now in spotlight
Just two years out of college, Cassidy Hutchinson said she watched as a valet mopped up the president’s lunch after he had smashed his plate against a wall. Donald Trump was in a rage because his attorney general had refuted his claims that the election he lost had been stolen. Weeks later, as she watched Trump resist entreaties to try to stop the rioters, the young aide who once said she went into public service to “maintain American prosperity and excellence” described her own disgust at the president. “We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie,” Hutchinson said After months of testimony from a former attorney general and other powerful officials, including Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, it was a 25-year-old staffer who perhaps put Trump’s conduct into its sharpest relief. Speaking in an even, measured tone, Hutchinson made several shocking revelations about Trump and Mark Meadows in nationally televised testimony before a House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection. An obscure aide prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Hutchinson showed detailed knowledge of the inner workings of the Trump White House, including in the critical days that Trump and his advisers plotted to reverse President Joe Biden’s election victory. There was no widespread election fraud. Trump lost more than 60 court cases attempting to prove wrongdoing, and even his own attorney general, William Barr, said his claims were meritless. Barr’s statements made to The Associated Press prompted Trump smashing his lunch against the wall, Hutchinson testified. She showed her familiarity with key Trump figures, referring at times to Meadows, security official Tony Ornato, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien by their first names. Meadows, in turn, called her “Cass,” in her retelling of one story. Although the White House is perhaps the world’s most prestigious office building, much of the staff is young, sometimes even fresh out of college like Hutchinson. They often previously worked on the president’s campaign or the national party, and they’re distinguished by their ambition and willingness to work long hours for little pay. They’re also critical to any administration’s machinery. They help with the logistics of media coverage, prepare for public events and answer the phones. Because they’re often within earshot as the country’s most powerful people gossip and plan, discretion is expected. Young aides often go on to bigger government roles or prestigious positions in business or the media. Some run for office themselves. But Trump’s White House turned many aides into government witnesses. The Justice Department and Congress probed allegations of Russian influence on his first presidential campaign, his efforts to pressure Ukraine’s president to produce derogatory information about Biden and his son Hunter, and the insurrection. Meadows has refused to testify, as have some others close to Trump. Hutchinson described Meadows as detached and frequently scrolling his cellphone at key moments. Meadows didn’t immediately look up from his phone when Ornato, a Secret Service official detailed to the White House, warned him about weapons in the crowd outside the White House on the morning of January 6, where Trump’s supporters were waiting to hear from him. Many in the crowd had guns and other weapons, including spears attached to the end of flagpoles, Hutchinson recalled. She said she was close enough to Trump at one point to hear him demand that attendees not be screened so that they could fill the crowd, saying, “I don’t effing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me.” And she alleged Trump became so irate at being driven back to the White House after his speech — when he exhorted rallygoers to “fight like hell” — rather than the Capitol that he tried to grab the steering wheel of the presidential limousine away from a Secret Service agent who was driving. “I’m the effing president,” Hutchinson said she was told Trump had said. Trump, writing on his personal social media network, dismissed Hutchinson as “a total phony and ‘leaker.’” “Never complained about the crowd; it was massive,” he said. “I didn’t want or request that we make room for people with guns to watch my speech. Who would ever want that? Not me!” The events in her testimony — explained in new and vivid detail for the first time publicly — are of potentially vital interest to both the committee and the Justice Department. Federal agents have seized the phones of Jeffrey Clark and John Eastman, two lawyers who pushed false claims of election fraud and the discredited theory that Biden’s electors could be replaced. Republicans in at least five states have also been served with subpoenas or warrants. There was relatively little known about Hutchinson prior to her public testimony. In a 2018 profile published by her undergraduate alma mater, Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, Hutchinson recalled being “brought to tears” when she received an email telling her she’d been accepted to a White House internship program. “As a first-generation college student, being selected to serve as an intern alongside some of the most intelligent and driven students from across the nation – many of whom attend top universities – was an honor and a tremendous growing experience,” she is quoted as saying. She says in the article that she attended numerous events hosted by Trump and often watched out her window as Marine One would depart the White House’s South Lawn. “My small contribution to the quest to maintain American prosperity and excellence is a memory I will hold as one of the honors of my life,” she said in the piece. One sign of Hutchinson’s possible willingness to cooperate with investigations is her choice of lawyers. She recently switched from a former Trump White House official to a veteran former Justice Department official who served as chief of staff to former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and who emerged as a key witness for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. Jody Hunt, the new lawyer, recounted for Mueller’s team the extent to which
Justices nix 2nd mostly Black district in Louisiana for 2022
The Supreme Court on Tuesday put on hold a lower court ruling that Louisiana must draw new congressional districts before the 2022 elections to increase Black voting power. With the three liberal justices dissenting, the high court short-circuited an order from a federal judge to create a second majority Black congressional district in Louisiana. The state will hold elections this year under a congressional map adopted by its Republican-dominated legislature with white majorities in five of six districts. The court’s action is similar to an order issued in February in Alabama that allowed the state to hold elections in 2022 under a map drawn by Alabama’s GOP-controlled legislature that contains one majority-Black district. Alabama has seven seats in the House of Representatives. The justices are hearing arguments in the Alabama case in October. The Louisiana case will remain on hold under the court renders a decision on the Alabama case, the justices said. Every 10 years, state lawmakers — armed with new U.S. Census Bureau information — redraw political boundaries for seats in the U.S. House, state Senate, state House, Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the Public Service Commission. The process ultimately affects which political parties, viewpoints, and people control the government bodies that write laws, set utility rates, and create public school policies. This year’s redistricting process in Louisiana has been a tense political tug-of-war, with the Republican-dominated legislature and Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards fighting over the boundaries since February, when lawmakers approved a congressional map with white majorities in five of six districts. The governor vetoed the map. However, the legislature overrode the veto — marking the first time in nearly three decades that lawmakers refused to accept a governor’s refusal of a bill they had passed. Democrats and the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus argue that the adopted map dilutes the political clout of African American voters and that based on “simple math,” at least two of the six districts should have Black majorities. Nearly one-third of Louisiana’s population is Black. Sen. Sharon Hewitt, a Slidell Republican and a leader in the remapping effort, has insisted that trying to include the state’s widely dispersed Black population in two separate congressional districts would result in two districts with very narrow Black majorities that could actually diminish Black voter power. Along with tense debate on Louisiana’s House and Senate floor, the legal battle to determine the state’s congressional boundaries has played out simultaneously, at all three levels of the federal judiciary. In early June, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick struck down the map for violating the Voting Rights Act, citing that the “evidence of Louisiana’s long and ongoing history of voting-related discrimination weighs heavily in favor of Plaintiffs.” She ordered lawmakers to redesign the map and, this time, include a second majority Black district by June 20. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal briefly put a hold on Dick’s deadline but later removed the hold and scheduled to hear arguments in July. With little willingness to compromise from the GOP and a tight deadline that was not extended, the session ended with no new map, and as a result, the task was passed to Dick. The judge scheduled a hearing on the issue for Wednesday, but it has been canceled following the Supreme Court’s decision. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
