Kay Ivey offers encouragement to Distinguished Young Women of Alabama participants
Gov. Kay Ivey made a visit to the Distinguished Young Women of Alabama rehearsals, a program that high school senior girls have to chance to earn college scholarship money. One young woman will go on to represent the state at the national level as the Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama. The participants, representing 45 counties across the state, arrived in Montgomery Sunday afternoon. The 65th annual program will be held at Frazer United Methodist Church this weekend. Distinguished Young Women of Alabama is part of a national scholarship program that promotes and rewards scholarship, leadership, and talent in young women. The girls compete in several categories on and off stage for a chance to represent Alabama in the national program. Ivey, a former participant of the program, offered her congratulations to the girls and encouraged them to continue being leaders in all they do. She offered words of wisdom as they prepared for their weekend of competition. “It is important that we lay the groundwork now in Alabama for what’s to come, and that most certainly means putting a renewed emphasis on our young people. I am always encouraged for our future when I spend time with groups like Distinguished Young Women. These young ladies, no doubt, are some of our leaders for tomorrow,” Ivey said. “We are pleased to welcome these amazing young women to Montgomery as they compete for scholarships and an opportunity to represent the state at the national level,” said state Chairman Michael Jones. “And equally as important, we are excited to see these participants expand their horizons by establishing new friendships that will last a lifetime. This group represents the best of what Alabama’s future looks like and it is a bright future ahead.”
Kay Ivey has literally left the building in an effort to dodge the press
After coming under fire from local officials and her Democratic gubernatorial opponent Walt Maddox over her refusal to direct state funds to Mobile to restart the Amtrak Coastal Connection, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey has seemingly doubled down on her campaign strategy of dodge and deflect. On Friday, Ivey was in Mobile, Ala. speaking to the Distinguished Young Women’s group, when a local news station covering the event asked her a question. Ivey not only refused to answer, but she proceeded to walk through the conference room, exit the building, and leave town. WPMI reported they were seeking answers to stories that affect not only Mobile, but the state as a whole. Apparently, they planned to ask her about the removal of Southern Rail Commissioner Jerry Gehman, the immigration issue in Baldwin County, and why she thinks Alabama could lose 4,000 jobs due to the Trump Administration’s new tariffs. It appears the Governor is much more comfortable in prepared statements and campaign ads, than speaking directly to the press. Nothing new under the sun In all reality, Ivey’s deflect and dodge strategy shouldn’t be all that surprising as it’s what we’ve seen from her in campaign mode for months now. Her Republican primary opponents challenged the governor to debates several times during the primary election cycle, calling on her to show up, and discuss her ideas. She declined all offers, saying that as the current Governor her schedule was too full to fulfill their requests. Her Democratic opponent Maddox has also pressed Ivey to debate, but it remains to be seen whether or not she will ignore his request. Alabama Today specifically has had problems in the past securing information from her office, and in comparison to former governor Robert Bentley‘s press office it’s easy to see the difference. Earlier this year Alabama Today Publisher Apryl Marie Fogel went over the challenges and changes inside the governor’s press operations citing a request for a list of the governor’s appointments since she took office, and a list of top agency heads she had replaced from the Bentley administration. Alabama Today made the request on January 4, and finally received and answer on January 23, with only half of the information that was requested. Under the Bentley administration, similar requests were answered within 24 hours.
