Steve Flowers: Career politicians, good or bad?
In recent years, candidates for political office have lambasted, run against, and proclaimed that they were not career politicians. Every television ad for someone who has never held office has proudly stated that they are not career politicians. That all sounds good, but is it really good? In my lifetime, the word politician has become synonymous with someone sinister and untrustworthy. In fact, politics has become something that the brightest and best people have come to avoid. That was not the case when I was a boy growing up in Alabama. The most outstanding young men in the state chose to go into public service. Having roots in the state was important towards success for the men who rose to public office. The great Alabama storyteller Katherine Tucker Windham would say, “Alabama is a big front porch.” Boys would grow up with aspirations of being governor, United States senator, or congressman. People in their hometowns would identify young men who were talented and groom them to be future governors or congressmen. A study of Alabama political history will reveal that Alabama has done pretty well over the years in the halls of the United States Congress by electing homegrown boys to be their Representatives in Washington. These gentlemen of bygone years were born, trained, and ready to be the most powerful, erudite, and respected men in Washington. Their paths were laid out to be career politicians. A look back to 60 years ago in Alabama politics reveals that we had the greatest statesmen in our state’s history representing us in Congress. They all amazingly took the same path. Their career path to Congress was textbook. They grew up in their hometown, went to The University of Alabama, continued and went to The University of Alabama School of Law, came back home and practiced law for a short time. They then went to Congress and started building seniority and power in Washington. In 1963, 60 years ago, we had the greatest tandem in history as our two U.S. Senators, Lister Hill and John Sparkman. Senator Hill grew up in Montgomery, graduated from The University of Alabama and then The University of Alabama School of Law. He served the old second district in Congress for a decade and then was elected to the Senate, where he served 30 years. Senator John Sparkman was born in rural Morgan County, graduated from The University of Alabama and then The University of Alabama School of Law. He practiced law for a few years in Huntsville before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served 32 years. The man who took Sparkman’s Tennessee Valley Congressional Seat in 1946 was the great Bob Jones. Congressman Jones was from Scottsboro and was one of the state’s greatest congressmen and a savior for the Tennessee Valley. He was a graduate of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama School of Law. Carl Elliott was in that 1963 class. He was a giant in Washington. Congressman Elliott was born in Red Bay but practiced law in Jasper and called Walker County home. He was a graduate of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama School of Law. George Andrews was a great Congressman for the old Third District. He served a decade with extreme effectiveness and distinction. Ft. Rucker would not be the mainstay of the Wiregrass if it were not for George Andrews. He was a graduate of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law. He was born and raised in the third district. Congressman George Grant served the old second district with distinction for 28 years. He followed Lister Hill in this seat. He was born and raised in the district and practiced law in Troy before going to Congress. He was a product of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama School of Law. Albert Rains represented the Gadsden area for decades in Congress. He was a power. He was successful in business and banking concurrently with his Congressional career. He graduated from The University of Alabama School of Law. George Huddleston Jr. represented the Birmingham area with distinction during this era. He had a law degree from The University of Alabama and was a prominent lawyer before going to Congress. The great Black Belt Congressman, Armistead Selden, was a freshman in that 1963 group. He was a graduate of Sewanee and The University of Alabama School of Law. These men, who made up the Congressional delegation representing us in Washington in 1963, will be remembered in the annals of Alabama history as some of Alabama’s greatest and most powerful public servants. Their game plan was to be a public servant. Therefore, you might say they were pretty good career politicians. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. Steve served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
Steve Flowers: Friends and neighbors politics
Last week I discussed young State Auditor Andrew Sorrell. Recently, when I had him on my Montgomery television show, we discussed his successful race for State Auditor. He understands the golden rule of politics, “money is the mother’s milk of politics.” In his 2022 race, he raised an amazing, record-breaking $714,000 and was able to outspend his opponents 7-to-1. More impressively, he spent the 7-to-1 advantage prudently and wisely. He designed and produced his own television ads, which cut out a 20% distribution and production charge. The most impressive revelation was that he wisely used his personal campaign time in locales where he took advantage of friends and neighbors politics. His opponent, Rusty Glover, had a very strong base of support in Mobile, where he had been a state representative, state senator, and taught school for years. Stan Cooke, his other opponent, was a well-known preacher in Jefferson County. Therefore, he acknowledged that these two urban enclaves would vote for their native sons, which they did. Sorrell realized that this left him as the only North Alabama candidate. He was from the Muscle Shoals, Tuscumbia, Florence area, and he worked in the Tennessee Valley area as their boy. He carried the vote-rich North Alabama. He also worked and cultivated the Wiregrass, where there was no hometown candidate. He did well there, also, with the help of television. In the runoff with Glover out, Sorrell swooped down to Mobile/Baldwin, garnered Glover’s votes, and trounced Cooke. What surprised me was that in 2022 the old “friends and neighbors premise” still prevailed, and even more surprising that it existed in a low-profile down-ballot race. I have been preaching and telling you about the pervasive friends and neighbors politics in Alabama for the last 20 years in my columns. When folks come to visit with me in anticipation of running a statewide race, I make them aware that it still exists, especially in the governor’s races. Those of us who are students of southern and Alabama politics attribute the highlighting of friends and neighbors theory to the brilliant southern political scientist Dr. V. O. Key Jr. In Dr. Key’s textbook, Southern Politics in State and Nation, written in 1948, he points out that friends and neighbors politics has existed in the South for decades. I am here to tell you that it still exists today. What is friends and neighbors? It is simply a trend whereby folks will vote for someone from their neck of the woods. Alabamians will vote overwhelmingly for a candidate from their county and adjacent counties. When I taught Southern Politics to college classes, I would tell the students this habit of voting for the hometown boy in Alabama politics was so pervasive that if a candidate from their county or neck of the woods was running statewide and were a well-known drunk or crook, they would vote for him. They might say, “I know ole Joe is a drunk or crook, but he’s my drunk or crook.” You can look at every governor’s race in the last 80 years and see our local friends and neighbors voting for the hometown candidate when you dive into the numbers. It is unmistakable. Dr. Key illustrates it well, first in the 1946 races for governor, Congress, and U.S. Senate. There was an open U.S. Senate when Roosevelt appointed our liberal senator, Hugo Black, to the Supreme Court. The congressman from the Tennessee Valley, John Sparkman, won the Senate Seat riding a 75% hometown vote from Madison and Morgan counties. That Tennessee Valley Congressional Seat was won by Scottsboro lawyer Bob Jones because he got an unheard-of 97.8% of the vote in Jackson County. In that same year, Big Jim Folsom won the 1946 governor’s race because he had two hometowns. Big Jim was born and raised near Elba in Coffee County but spent his adult life in Cullman in north Alabama. In that 1946 race, Big Jim garnered 72% in Cullman and 77% in Coffee in the first primary, where his statewide average was 28% in the crowded field. You can point to countless examples in all governor’s races since 1946. There are clear-cut examples of localism and regionalism voting for the candidate from your neck of the woods. Friends and neighbors politics is still alive and well. 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.
Steve Flowers: Richard Shelby coming home
Our iconic Senior United States Senator, Richard Shelby, will walk out of the Senate chambers in Washington, D.C., next week and come home to retirement in Tuscaloosa. History will reveal Senator Shelby as Alabama’s greatest U.S. Senator, especially when it comes to bringing home the bacon to the Heart of Dixie. To say Shelby is the greatest is saying a mouthful because we have had some great ones. Shelby will rest with the likes of John Bankhead, John Sparkman, Lister Hill, and Howell Heflin. He has served longer in the Senate than any Alabamian in state history – 36 years. He served eight years in Congress before beginning his senate tenure in 1986. Many of you have perceived, and correctly so that I admire and appreciate the accomplishments of Senator Shelby. A good many of you will be glad to see me stop writing such glowing things about him. Over the years, many of you have accused me of actually being his press secretary. My favorite restaurant is the historic Bright Star in Bessemer. A good many Tuscaloosans, especially older ones, Shelby’s contemporaries, and friends and neighbors, drive up to eat at the Bright Star. Invariably, they will ask me to come over to their table to visit. They always say, “you sure do like Richard Shelby.” Many of them are familiar with the fact that we are also friends. We have, indeed, been political friends and confidantes for close to four decades. This does not take away from the fact that, in my humble opinion, he is Alabama’s greatest Senator. The facts speak for themselves. In Washington, Shelby is considered royalty with omnipotent power. He is treated like a king. Shelby has served in the Senate alongside eight different presidents. He has been more powerful than the last three. He has controlled the federal purse strings. Therefore, national political pundits know the political golden rule; ‘those that have the gold make the rules.’ Presidents, congressional leaders, and especially powerful lobbyists treat Shelby with deference akin to royalty. When he enters a room, people stare and stand up. This is especially true when he enters any famous Washington restaurant. The maître de has assigned him the best table. When he enters the fine dining establishment, every head turns to see which million-dollar-a-year lobbyist has been bestowed the honor of dining and visiting with the king, Richard Shelby. Other lobbyists will reserve a table next to him to simply be able to say they sat next to him. However, when Shelby comes home to Tuscaloosa next month to the home he and his wife Annette have shared in the Druid City for over 50 years, his peers and neighbors will just call him Dick Shelby. “A setting sun sets off very little heat,” a “prophet is not recognized in his own country,” “familiarity breeds contempt,” and “Alabama is just a big front porch,” all of these admonitions will ring true for ole Shelby. However, I do not think he will mind. Even though he has lived his life as a public person – eight years in the state senate, eight years in Congress, and thirty-six years in the U.S. Senate – he is a private person and really enjoys his time with Annette. He will very much enjoy his anonymity. This coming home to rest in obscurity has played out throughout the years with our Washington giants. Old timers in Jackson County say that the legendary, powerful Tennessee Valley Congressman, Bob Jones, in his retirement, would go into a restaurant to eat in Scottsboro by himself, and nobody would hardly know him. I was friends with Senator Howell Heflin, who we all called “Judge.” After 18 years in the Senate, Judge came home to the Quad Cities. He would ask me to come up to visit with him and talk politics, which I gladly did. We would go to breakfast or early lunch at a downtown restaurant, which doubled as a coffee club gathering place in Tuscumbia. We would walk in, and they would nod, and he would speak, but they would not make a fuss over the former, powerful U.S. Senator. In fact, I am not sure some of them even knew who he was. Tuscaloosa is a bigger place than Scottsboro or Tuscumbia, so Shelby will be private. In the meantime, Alabamians will soon begin to realize what immense power Shelby had in Washington. 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.
Steve Flowers: Sam Rayburn’s legacy lived on in Alabama’s Bob Jones
The legendary Speaker of the U.S. House, Sam Rayburn, coined a famous phrase he used often and imparted to young congressmen when they would arrive on Capitol Hill full of vim and vigor. He would sit down with them and invite them to have a bourbon and branch water with him. The old gentleman, who had spent nearly half a century in the Congress, after hearing their ambitions of how they were going to change the world, would look them in the eye and say, “You know here in Congress there are 435 prima donnas and they all can’t be lead horses.” Then the Speaker in his Texas drawl would say, “If you want to get along, you have to go along.” Mr. Sam Rayburn ruled as Speaker during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt post-Depression and World War II era. The Democrats dominated Congress. Mr. Sam could count on the big city Congressmen from Tammany Hall in New York and the Chicago machine politicians following the Democratic leadership because they had gotten there by going along with the Democratic bosses who controlled the wards that made up their urban districts. But the country was still rural at that time and Mr. Sam would have to invite a backsliding rural member to his Board of Education meeting in a private den in the basement of the Capitol and occasionally explain his adage again to them that in order to get along you have to go along. One of Mr. Sam Rayburn’s young pupils was a freshly minted congressman from Alabama’s Tennessee Valley. Bob Jones from Scottsboro was elected to Congress in 1946 when John Sparkman ascended to the U.S. Senate. Speaker Rayburn saw a lot of promise in freshman congressman Jones. The ole Texan invited Jones to visit his Board of Education meeting early in his first year. He calmly advised Jones to sit on the right side of the House chamber in what Mr. Sam called his pews. He admonished the young congressman to sit quietly for at least four years and not say a word or make a speech and to always vote with the Speaker. In other words if you go along you will get along. Bob Jones followed the sage advice of Speaker Rayburn and he got along very well. Congressman Bob Jones served close to 30 years in the Congress from Scottsboro and the Tennessee Valley. He and John Sparkman were instrumental in transforming the Tennessee Valley into Alabama’s most dynamic, progressive and prosperous region of the State. They spearheaded the location and development of Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal. Bob Jones was one of Alabama’s greatest congressmen. At the time of Bob Jones’ arrival in Congress in 1946 we had nine congressional seats. By the time, he left in the 1960’s we had dropped to eight. We now have seven. Folks, I hate to inform you of this but population growth estimates reveal that we are going to lose a seat after the next census in 2020. Our current seven-person delegation consists of six Republicans and one Democrat. This sole Democratic seat is reserved for an African American. The Justice Department and Courts will not allow you to abolish that seat. Reapportionment will dictate that you begin with that premise. The growth and geographic location of the Mobile/Baldwin district of Bradley Byrne cannot be altered, nor can the urban Tennessee Valley 5th District, nor the Jefferson/Shelby 6th District. They are unalterable and will also reveal growth in population. Our senior and most powerful Congressman, Robert Aderholt’s 4th District has normal growth and you do not want to disrupt his tenure path. Therefore, the odd man out may be a woman. It is conjectured that Martha Roby’s 2nd District is the one on the chopping block. Her second and Mike Rogers’ 3rd District will be combined into a new 2nd district. However, Roby may exit before she is carved out. She made a colossal blunder in 2016 by denouncing and publicly stating that she was not going to vote her party’s GOP nominee, Donald Trump. The fallout was devastating. She has become a pariah in her southeast Alabama district. It is one of the most conservative and pro-Republican districts in the state. She may survive 2018, because any serious challenger who has their own money to buy the seat may be wise enough to realize that District will not be here in four more years. It will be over in Georgia around Atlanta. 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.
