Steve Flowers: Jabo Waggoner – An Alabama political icon
As I stroll down the halls of the Alabama Senate during this current Regular Session of the Alabama Legislature, I will stop and visit in the offices of my favorite legislative buddies. My favorite and first stop is with my longtime friend Jabo Waggoner. Jabo, being the Dean of the legislature, has the first prime corner office. He also chairs the agenda-setting Rules Committee. Therefore, there is a throng of high-priced lobbyists camped outside the door trying to get Jabo to put their bills on the Special Order Calendar. Jabo and I will swap stories of bygone years and reminisce about past experiences. Jabo is a big sports fan and was a great college basketball player. In fact, Jabo was one of the founders and remains on the Board of the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, which is located in downtown Birmingham. Jabo, Gene Hallman, and Edgar Welden were the pillars and founders of this prestigious Institution. One of Jabo’s and my favorite remembrances is going together to the Olympic Soccer Games held at Legion Field in Birmingham. Recently while visiting Jabo, I thought, “I am with an Alabama political icon.” Jabo Waggoner has been in the Alabama Legislature for 50 years this year. Folks, that is an Alabama record. Jabo Waggoner is the longest-serving legislator in Alabama history. He served 17 years in the Alabama House of Representatives and is in his 33rd year in the Alabama Senate. Jabo was first elected to the Alabama Senate in 1990. The heart of his district has always been the entire city of Vestavia. He also represents parts of Homewood and Hoover. This is a very Republican area, and therefore, Jabo is an arch Republican. Jabo is revered in Jefferson County, but his popularity extends beyond Jefferson and Shelby counties. When Kay Ivey was running for Governor for the first time in 2018, she asked Jabo to be her titular campaign manager. He introduced her as she announced her candidacy. Jabo is adored by his Senate colleagues, especially the younger state senators. They throng to him for tutoring and mentoring. The Senate leaders, Greg Reed of Jasper and Clay Scofield of Arab, seek his guidance on tricky senate maneuverings. Jabo was the Republican Minority Leader of the State Senate from 1999 until the Republicans gained a legislative majority in 2010. He was the first Republican Majority Leader, then relinquished that role to be the Rules Chairman, where he currently serves. Jabo is married to his high school sweetheart Marilyn. They have been married for over 60 years. I have never met a more beautiful or sweeter lady than Marilyn Waggoner. They had four children, three sons, and a daughter. One of their sons, Scott, died at an early age in an automobile accident. Jabo and Marilyn are ardent members of the Homewood Church of Christ. They attend almost every Sunday and sit with Jabo’s best friend, Dr. Swaid and his wife, Christy. Jabo’s and Marilyn’s children attend the same church. Jabo Waggoner has done a lot for Jefferson County for over 50 years. It would take a book to chronicle his legislative accomplishments and good deeds. In the 1970s, Waggoner sponsored legislation that spearheaded the purchase of 45 blocks in downtown Birmingham for UAB’s expansion. UAB purchased this property, which was valued at $8.5 million at that time. There is no telling what that land is worth today – probably well over $200 million to $300 million. Jabo was first elected to the legislature in 1966. It is no coincidence that UAB has grown into one of the premier medical and research institutions in America and the Crown Jewel of Alabama during that same period. Although Jabo is an arch conservative Republican, he has forged a close working relationship with his fellow Democratic Senate leader Roger Smitherman to work across the aisle for the good of Jefferson County. In closing, in all my years of following Alabama politics, I have never seen a more modest or amicable leader than Jabo Waggoner, Jr. I have never seen or heard of anyone who has ever met Jabo that did not like him. Jabo Waggoner is an icon of Alabama political history. 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.
Alabama Senate passes legislation to pay off debt to Alabama Trust Fund
On Tuesday, the Alabama Senate passed legislation that would authorize a supplemental appropriation to pay off the remaining balance the state owes to the Alabama Trust Fund, which was raided almost a decade ago by the Legislature to make up for what was then a significant shortfall in the State General Fund (SGF). Senate Bill 1 (SB1) is sponsored by State Senator Greg Albritton. Albritton is the Chairman of the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee. “This is not even one page,” Albritton said. “This is one paragraph, as we are paying off the Alabama Trust fund.” Sen. Clyde Chambliss said, “I grew up in Prattville. My father taught me that you take care of your debts. You pay off your debts and try not to accumulate debts. Sometimes though, you need a helping hand, and we had that situation during the Great Recession.” “This is part of the historical process to pay off that debt,” Albritton said. “Fortunately, we owe it to ourselves. Thanks to the people that went before us and set up the trust fund. Then we were $250 million in the hole and trying to find money.” “I didn’t want us to gloss over and pass this without pointing out what we have achieved,” Chambliss said. “Frankly, there were ways we could have gotten around this and not pay this.” Albritton said, “It was thought about.” Sen. Rodger Smitherman said, “I am with you 100% for what you are trying to do with this bill.” “We got all this money in the general fund,” said Smitherman. “We got plenty of money. It is about time for us to come up with 10 or 12 million to fund all of our needs for judges. We have got a real-life need for the state of Alabama.” Smitherman said that the judges would pay for themselves by completing the backlog of cases and generating court costs and fines. “We are going to make four times that off the court system if we have the judges in place to hear those cases,” Smitherman said. “I am with you 100% on paying the money back.” “I look forward to all of us seriously addressing that to try to solve the needs problem that exists in all of our circuits,” Smitherman said. “I look forward to voting with you on this bill.” The funds to pay off the debts will be paid with a supplemental appropriation from surplus funds from the 2022 fiscal year that ended on September 30. SB1 passes the Senate by a vote of 33 to 0. The Alabama House passed similar legislation earlier in the day. House Bill 2 (HB2) is sponsored by State Representative Rex Reynolds, who chairs the powerful House Ways and Means General Fund Committee. The bill appropriates $59,997,772 to pay off the remaining debt owed to the Alabama Trust Fund. “This is a good bill. This body knew that this was the time to pay those bills,” Reynolds said. The House passed HB2 104 to 0. Ninety-four members cosponsored the bill. HB2 passed the House 103 to 0. The Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee will meet at 9:00 a.m. to consider an appropriations bill, HB1, to appropriate $1,060,000,000 of American Rescue Plan Act funds. The full State Senate will meet at 1:00 p.m. The Legislature is currently in a special session called by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to deal with appropriating the ARPA funds. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Fight over legislative districts returns to district court
The fight over Alabama’s legislative districts is shifting back to Montgomery after a divided U.S. Supreme Court said a lower court must take another look at whether GOP lawmakers relied too heavily on race when they drew new district lines. James U. Blacksher, a lawyer for the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, which filed the lawsuit against the plan, said they will fight to have the legislative districts redrawn after the case officially gets back to federal court next week. The caucus this past week presented a map of proposed new lines, which Blacksher said should be a starting point for negotiations. “Ultimately we are going to have to have another election,” Democratic Sen. Rodger Smitherman of Birmingham said. “It’s going to be difficult, if not impossible, to do what the court said without having new elections.” The Alabama Democratic Conference and the Alabama Legislative Black Caucus had challenged the lines that were the drawn in 2012 under the newly elected GOP legislative majority. The U.S. Supreme Court last month reversed a lower court ruling that upheld the plan, saying the court did not properly consider complaints that state officials illegally packed black voters into too few voting districts. Justices said the lower court should have looked at claims of racial gerrymandering on a district-by-district level, not just statewide. The Supreme Court majority also said Alabama took a position of prioritizing racial targets when drawing districts. Instead of asking how it could maintain the minority percentages in districts, justices said, the court should have asked what percentages the minority should have to elect their candidate of choice. “The issue now will be whether the plaintiffs proved any of these districts were drawn predominantly on race,” Alabama Solicitor General Andrew Brasher, who handles appellate litigation for the state. Brasher predicted that the map would ultimately be upheld. “The district court said there are a lot of other reasons to draw the lines that way.” Republicans said their plans complied with the voting rights law by preserving all the districts in which blacks were a majority and adjusting populations so that districts contained about the same number of people. The new plan allowed only a 2 percent population difference between districts, a much lower variance than previous plans. Black lawmakers said the new lines resulted in the “stacking and packing” of black voters into designated minority districts, limiting minority voters’ ability to influence elections elsewhere. Justices put a spotlight on Senate District 26, a district that includes most of the majority-black neighborhoods in Montgomery. “Of the 15,785 individuals that the new redistricting laws added to the population of District 26, just 36 were white — a remarkable feat given the local demographics,” justices wrote. The Supreme Court majority, in its opinion, said, “There is strong, perhaps overwhelming, evidence that race did predominate as a factor when the legislature drew the boundaries of Senate District 26.” “It was so obvious and so blatant what happened,” said Quinton Ross, the senator from Senate District 26. Plaintiffs said the doubt raised by justices over that specific district is a strong indicator that they will prevail on remand. “There will be a big ripple effect,” Blacksher said. “The problems they identified in Senate District 26 are identical to those in the other districts.” GOP legislative leaders said they think their map will ultimately be upheld. “I’m confident at the end of the day, district lines are going to stay like they are,” said Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, an Auburn Republican. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
