Tom Parker, longtime Roy Moore ally seeks Alabama chief justice job
Alabama’s Roy Moore fell short in his quest to become a U.S. senator, but voters this November could install one of his longtime allies as the state’s chief justice. Associate Justice Tom Parker says in a campaign ad that he won’t “sit back while liberals destroy our law and liberty.” Like Moore, he sees Alabama’s courts as a key battleground for overturning U.S. Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion and same-sex marriage. “President Trump is just one conservative appointment away from giving us a conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court and they are going to need cases that they can use to reverse some of those horrible decisions of the liberal majority from the past that have no constitutional foundation whatsoever,” Parker told The Associated Press in an interview. Parker’s rallying cries to social conservatives propelled his primary win over a rival he dismissed as too “moderate:” Chief Justice Lyn Stuart, a better-funded incumbent who had taken over chief justice duties after Moore was suspended from the bench for a second time. Now he faces Bob Vance, a county circuit judge who would become the only Democrat on the Alabama Supreme Court. The race has undertones of a rematch. It was Vance’s strong showing against Moore in the 2012 race for chief justice — he lost by just 62,000 votes with support from moderate Republicans — that helped inspire U.S. Sen. Doug Jones last year in his defeat of Moore for the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. After years of upheaval — no chief justice has completed the six-year term since 2001 — both Parker and Vance emphasize the need to address systemic funding and staffing shortages. Parker says he would draw on his lobbying experience to secure funding. Vance said judges are “grappling every day” with defendants plagued by addiction and mental health issues. Vance, 57, a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia law school, has been elected three times since his appointment in Jefferson County in 2002. He says Moore was a “divisive” justice, and he fears more of the same if Parker takes charge. “The chief justice really should stand there for everyone, because the courts should be there for everyone,” Vance told the AP. Vance says personal ideologies have no place in the judiciary. He cites his father — federal appellate Judge Robert Smith Vance Sr., who was assassinated with a mail bomb in 1989 — who said his religious opposition to the death penalty couldn’t influence his legal decisions. “He emphasized to me that if you do your job as a judge, and do it well, you’ve got to put aside your personal beliefs sometimes and just stick with what the law tells you to do,” Vance said. Parker, 66, graduated from Dartmouth College and Vanderbilt University law school, then worked as an assistant attorney general and director of a conservative think tank tied to James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. Moore hired him as deputy administrative director of courts, and he served as Moore’s spokesman during fights over a Ten Commandments monument Moore erected in the state Supreme Court building. Those court fights ended in 2003 with Moore’s first ouster from the bench. Parker was elected as justice the next year, and Moore was re-elected chief justice in 2012. Bill Stewart, a political scientist and long-time observer of state politics, said Parker could be viewed as “Moore- light.” He hasn’t been directly involved in Parker’s campaign. But neither has Parker sought to put any distance between him and Moore. Parker contends Moore was wrongfully suspended in 2016, after an ethics panel ruled he was urging probate judges to defy the Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. He says Moore was treated unfairly because of his Ten Commandments fight. Moore remains embroiled in defamation lawsuits over the allegations of sexual misconduct with teens decades ago that doomed his Senate race. In 2014, they were the lone voices against a 7-2 ruling denying a “birther conspiracy” effort that had sought to keep President Barack Obama’s name off Alabama’s 2012 ballot. Parker wrote that the state had “received notice sufficient to raise a duty to investigate” Obama’s qualifications. Parker says now that he wasn’t commenting on the “truth” of the accusation. But Parker is not just Moore’s judicial acolyte. He has now been on the state Supreme Court twice as long as his former boss. And while Moore was twice ousted for violating judicial ethics, Parker cites his defeat of an ethics complaint as a victory for free speech. The Southern Poverty Law Center had complained about comments Parker made on a Christian radio show criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay marriage ruling. The same group had criticized him a decade earlier for posing with rebel battle flags alongside white extremists at the funeral of a Confederate widow; Parker said at the time that he had only just met the men, and that the criticism from a group like the SPLC showed he “must be doing the right things.” The complaint about his radio comments was dismissed, but Parker kept fighting until the Judicial Inquiry Commission agreed not to enforce the rule against off-the-bench comments unless they impact the fairness of impending proceedings. A Parker campaign ad says he’s “unafraid to stand up to bullies like the SPLC in defense of our Judeo-Christian heritage.” He told the AP that the victory allows judges to speak their minds and voters to learn the positions of “the judicial candidates that they are voting on.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
7 things to watch in monthlong sprint to Iowa’s caucuses
The 2016 presidential election has defied all expectations so far. An enormous field of GOP candidates, still a dozen strong with a month to go before the leadoff Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. The billionaire outsider who has tapped into the anger and fears of a nervous nation. A son and brother of presidents who is struggling to connect with voters despite his tremendous financial advantage. In less than a month, voters will begin having their say in what could turn out to be a bitter, monthslong fight for the Republican nomination. On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton is banking on neatly locking up the nomination as her GOP rivals tear each other down. Some things to watch for in the four-week sprint to the Iowa caucuses: DONALD TRUMP’S CHECKBOOK To date, wealthy businessman Donald Trump has run a frugal campaign, skipping expensive television advertising as his Republican rivals and their affiliated super political action committees spend tens of millions of dollars on airtime. Trump has promised that that’s about to change, announcing plans last week to spend $2 million a week on the air in three early voting states. Will Trump follow through on that promise? Television ad prices are only increasing as the voting draws closer, and Trump has yet to reserve any airtime. TED CRUZ’S CLERGY Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is building a large organization of support in Iowa, amassing county leaders across the state and tapping a member of the clergy in each of the 99 counties. The son of a preacher, Cruz aims to take a well-worn path to victory in Iowa: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008 and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in 2012 generated similar support among the state’s evangelical voters, and each won the caucuses. The question is whether that network of religious conservatives will coalesce behind Cruz this time or splinter. Cruz has made strides, picking up the endorsements of Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. ESTABLISHMENT CHOICES Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who entered the race in June as the front-runner, jokes that his father, former President George H.W. Bush, has taken to throwing shoes at his television set in response to Trump. But as the caucuses near, the laugh lines have given to persistent frustration among party elders and its professional class that Trump remains a viable candidate. Several have said an effort must be mounted to take down Trump, but a coordinated campaign of negative ads has so far failed to materialize. That’s because in part to concerns that it could backfire and further motivate Trump’s supporters, but also because several candidates vying to be the establishment choice are still in the race. Will there be an attempt to undermine Trump? Will Bush — or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — emerge as the clear alternative to Trump before Trump or Cruz collects too many delegates to matter? DEPARTURE LOUNGE Two low-polling Republicans quit in December: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki. While all the remaining candidates insist they’re not going anywhere, pressure could grow on other candidates to bow out and narrow the field. Among those feeling the heat: Santorum, who has failed to produce the kind of excitement that propelled him to that Iowa victory four years ago. If he and others at the bottom dropped out and endorsed the same candidate, it could give rise to the Trump alternative who some are desperately seeking. CLINTON’S TEST A third-place finish in 2008 in Iowa completely disrupted Clinton’s strategy to win the Democratic nomination, and she never could catch then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. This time, Clinton has poured significant resources and staff into the state. Polls show her with an edge over her chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. If Clinton wins Iowa, a loss in New Hampshire to Sanders would be easier to contain. Back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire would generate fresh worries among Democrats about their front-runner. JANUARY SURPRISES The attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, shifted voters’ focus to national security issues. That was to the detriment of less-experienced and less-hawkish candidates, including retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on the GOP side and Sanders. Another attack, especially on American soil, could further diminish candidates without experience in office or those uncomfortable with a campaign focus on foreign policy. FINAL DEBATES The Republicans have two more debates — Jan. 14 in South Carolina and Jan. 28 in Iowa — before the Feb. 1 caucuses. Democrats will debate Jan. 17, also in South Carolina. The GOP debates in 2015 broke viewership records, and the next two probably may provide make-or-break moments as undecided voters begin making up their minds. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Ted Cruz taps evangelicals, Tea Partiers to fuel campaign
When Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz first ran for U.S. Senate in Texas, the only thing lower than his name recognition was the expectation that he’d win. Then the state solicitor general, Cruz amassed a coalition anchored by Tea Party conservatives and evangelicals on his way to defeating a sitting lieutenant governor who entered the primary with the financial and organizational muscle of the GOP establishment. Now Cruz is trying to take the model nationwide, even as some of his White House rivals, especially Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, compete for the same voters in a scrambled GOP race. The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, Cruz will continue his efforts this week with a two-day meeting at a remote Texas ranch that began Monday and was expected to bring together about 300 Christian leaders and key financial backers for a fundraiser. Some are already supporting him, while others are undecided, Cruz said. The Cruz campaign combines a traditional get-out-the-vote operation – making phone calls and knocking on doors – with modern data analytics to identify and mobilize supporters, beginning with Iowa on Feb. 1. He’s pairing that with state-by-state teams filled with grassroots Tea Party leaders, local elected officials and state lawmakers who hail from the most conservative corners of the GOP. “Our objective has been to follow a biblical principle: to build on a foundation of stone, not of sand,” Cruz told reporters in North Little Rock, Arkansas, last week. Cruz boasts of having 160,000 volunteers and collecting more than 600,000 contributions nationwide. JoAnn Fleming, Cruz’s Tea Party chairwoman for Texas and a longtime conservative organizer, called it “an aggressive hand-to-hand combat situation.” “It’s the kind of campaign that takes an enormous amount of time and personal dedication,” she said. “Frankly, you can’t buy that.” Becky Gerritson, a Cruz supporter and Tea Party leader in Alabama, one of several Southern states holding March 1 primaries, said Cruz’s effort appeals to frustrated conservatives who don’t just want an evangelical voice or a critic of politics-as-usual, but a “proven fighter” who demonstrates that “he shares all of our values.” Cruz, she said, “understands the conservative grassroots, what we want.” The senator hopes the network he’s building in that community ultimately will separate him in a primary battle that could go deep into the spring, well beyond the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Cruz recently spent time at his South Carolina headquarters making phone calls alongside volunteers before the South’s first primary. “You guys are spreading hope one phone call at a time,” he told the team. The gathering of preachers in Texas this week, which is to conclude with a public rally on Tuesday featuring music by Christian rock band Newsboys, is the latest sign that conservative evangelical leaders may be coalescing behind Cruz. He has already announced the backing of Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. Cruz certainly has competition for evangelicals. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum have made strong plays to Christian conservatives. But it’s Rubio and Cruz who are perhaps best positioned to harness evangelicals as part of a challenge to front-runner Donald Trump. Recent polls suggest Cruz is leading in Iowa, where he has built a deep organization with endorsements from state and local officials and support in all 99 counties. He’s also seeking backing from at least one minister in every county. “He’s invested in a ground game,” said David Lane, an influential activist who has organized events across the state where Cruz has addressed pastors. Cruz will be the only candidate appearing at meetings Jan. 25 in Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, the last such gathering before the caucuses a week later. Lane said Cruz has cultivated leaders in Iowa’s evangelical community for a year. Rubio, he said, didn’t start reaching out until recently. “It doesn’t make sense.” Cruz’s campaign says it has leaders in every county in the first four voting states. Spokeswoman Catherine Frazier said the same is true in 153 congressional districts in the 24 states that have primaries before March 15. Shak Hill, a 2014 Republican candidate for Senate in Virginia, is co-chairing the effort to get Cruz elected in that state. He was among more than 1,000 people who showed up to hear Cruz speak in a week-long campaign swing before Christmas that took Cruz to 12 cities in seven states that vote on March 1. Hill said each of the state’s 11 congressional districts has a “Ted Cruz Champion,” and the goal is to drill down even smaller and find a chairman in every voting precinct. Said Hill: “We’re building this from the bottom up.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
