Steve Flowers: Who are the nine people who sit on our state Supreme Court?
This week allow me to share with you a sketch of the men and women who sit on our State Supreme Court. These nine Justices are all Republican, all conservative on both social and business issues. All are very devout in their faith and very connected to their church and their family. Chief Justice Tom Parker has been on the State Supreme Court since 2005. He was born and raised in Montgomery and went to Dartmouth College and Vanderbilt Law School. Chief Justice Parker and his wife the former Dottie James of Auburn have been married 39 years. Dottie was a supervisor of the governor’s mansion during the Fob James administration. They are Methodist. Justice Jay Mitchell is the most personable and definitely the tallest member of the Supreme Court. Jay was a star basketball player at Birmingham Southern where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. He is imminently qualified for the Supreme Court having graduated from the University of Virginia Law School and had a sterling career with a Birmingham Law firm prior to being overwhelmingly elected to the high tribunal in 2018. Justice Mitchell and his wife, Elizabeth Mitchell, have four children. They reside in Homewood and are members of the Church of the Highlands. Justice Tommy Bryan is a popular and conservative member of the high court. Tommy was born on a family farm in Crenshaw County. He served on the Court of Civil Appeals and was an assistant attorney general prior to being elected to the Supreme Court in 2012. Justice Bryan and his wife, Pamela Bryan, are very active members of the First Baptist Church of Montgomery where he is a Deacon, Sunday School teacher, and sings in the choir. He and Pam are very close and have raised two fine children. Justice William “Will” Sellers, like Justice Parker, is a Montgomery native, as is Will’s outstanding wife, Lee Grant Sellers. Justice Sellers and Lee have been married 33 years and have three adult children and are active members of Trinity Presbyterian Church of Montgomery. Will was a prominent Tax Attorney prior to going on the court. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama Law School and has a New York University tax degree. Justice Brad Mendheim was a Circuit Judge in Houston County prior to going on the Supreme Court. He was born and raised in Dothan and is one of the most respected young men to have come out of his hometown. He is a graduate of Auburn University and Cumberland School of Law. He and his wife of 24 years, Michelle Mendheim, are very active members of the First Baptist Church of Dothan and they have three fine sons. Justice Greg Shaw epitomizes a judge both professionally and personally. He is said to be the hardest working member of the Court and takes his role seriously and is well above reproach. He has an outstanding wife, Samantha “Sam” Shaw, who has also had a sterling career in politics. She was overwhelmingly elected State Auditor twice, serving eight years. Greg and Sam live on a farm about an hour from Montgomery. They have two outstanding sons and are members of the Auburn United Methodist Church. Justice Shaw graduated from Auburn and Samford’s Cumberland School of Law. Justice Sarah Stewart is a longtime Mobilian and was a Mobile Circuit Judge prior to going on the Court. She is a very respected jurist and a graduate of Vanderbilt Law School. She and her husband, Craig Stewart, have two children and are Methodists. Justice Mike Bolin is one of the finest men I have ever known. Mike was a stellar and popular Probate Judge in Jefferson County prior to his service on the Supreme Court. He is a graduate of Samford University and a graduate of Cumberland School of Law. Justice Bolin and his wife, Rosemary Bolin, have one daughter. They attend St. Peter the Apostle Church in Hoover. Unfortunately, Judge Bolin cannot run for reelection next year. He will be over 70 and is term limited under state law. However, last but not least, Justice Kelli Wise is well below 70 and can and will run for reelection next year and she will win. She is a very popular member of the high court. Kelli served several terms on the Court of Criminal Appeals before matriculating to the Supreme Court. Justice Wise and her husband, former District Court Judge Arthur Ray, have one daughter and are members of the St. James United Methodist Church. Kelli is a Wiregrass native up for reelection next year in 2022. 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.
Five things you need to know about Miranda Joseph
Miranda Joseph ran unopposed as the Democratic nominee for the State Auditor’s seat in the June 5 primary, but now that the primaries are over, the real battle has begun. Joseph will face incumbent Jim Zeigler in the November 6 general election, giving those who remember déjà vu — the two were opponents in the 2014 general election. With that in mind, here are the five things you need to know about Miranda Joseph: 1. She is a board certified internal auditor. Joseph is a certified internal auditor. The certification she received from the the Institute of Internal Auditors means she is competently prepared to communicate and understand the International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing, and how to apply them in any position. Her opponent, Zeigler, is not a certified auditor. 2. She has been the democratic nominee for the state auditor’s office in every election since 2010. Joseph is not new to the election scene, having first begun her run for State Auditor in the 2010 general election. However, she has never prevailed against her opponents in the deep red state. In 2010 Joseph lost her first election to Samantha Shaw. When she ran again in 2014, she faced against Zeigler who also bested her. But after two lost elections and years spent campaigning, she’s not giving up. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to say, for the first time in Alabama, we actually elected a certified auditor to be the State Auditor of Alabama? Alabama, let’s send a Certified Auditor to Montgomery to do an Auditor’s job,” Joseph told her Facebook followers. 3. She has a B.S. in accounting, an M.B.A. and twelve years of experience in the accounting field. Joseph earned her Bachelors degree in accounting and M.B.A. from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and began her twelve year career in the accounting field; holding positions as a bank teller, staff accountant, tax accountant, and external auditor. “Just as we sit at our kitchen tables to save and watch our pennies, our government should do the same with our tax dollars,” Joseph’s campaign page reads. “Government should be fair and accountable and I have the experience we need to make sure we have this in Alabama.” 4. She was endorsed by the ‘Republicans for Doug Jones’ group. Although she’s received endorsements from several organizations including Citizens for Better Government, Joseph also collected an endorsement from the Republicans for Doug Jones: 5. She’s a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. The Delta Sigma Theta sorority “a sisterhood called to serve,” was founded in 1913 to give women in the greater Birmingham community a place to serve beside other women. The sorority focusses it’s efforts on implementing programs in economic and educational development, political awareness and involvement, international awareness and involvement, and physical and mental health. “From the core of these five areas, we implement programs for youth that increase scholarships, scholastic achievement, leadership skills, and promote high self-esteem,” reads the sorority’s website. “We feed the homeless, support educational awareness at home and abroad, support scientific studies, voter registration and voter education.”
Jim Zeigler fighting to stop massive cuts to auditor’s office budget
State Auditor Jim Zeigler says he is being unfairly targeted by budget cuts by Gov. Robert Bentley and legislative allies after speaking out against the governor’s tax and spending proposals – and this week, he is taking his fight to the statehouse in Montgomery. Zeigler will testify before the Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee meeting today at 1 p.m. Central in the Capitol building, where the panel is taking up HB 1, better known as the bill that will enact the state budget. As of Monday morning, the budget proposal contained a whopping 60 percent cut to the office of the State Auditor, the statewide elected ombudsman position occupied by Zeigler since he took office earlier this year, taking over for term-limited Samantha Shaw, like Zeigler a Republican. The 60 percent cut, Zeigler said in an announcement Monday, is by contrast to the mere 10 percent cuts faced by the offices of other statewide positions In a social media post, Zeigler issued the following appeal: Your help is needed quickly to stop the obliteration of the State Auditor’s office. You can contact members of the Senate Finance & Taxation Committee General Fund. Ask them to amend HB1 so that the State Auditor’s budget will be around $1 million instead of the $400,000 it now reads, which is a 60% cut. This committee meets at 1 p.m. today (Mon, Sept 14). It will take up HB1, the general fund budget, which passed the House Friday. HB1 singled out the State Auditor’s office for about a 60% cut that would cripple essential auditing. Other agencies received cuts in the 10% range, which the auditor’s office could live with. We ask for your help quickly in maintaining bare-bones funding for the State Auditor’s office. Amending HB1 to provide the State Auditor $1 million instead of $400,000 would still allow essential auditing and be a cut in line with other agencies. Zeigler also pointed out his opposition to the removal of the Govs. George & Lurleen Wallace portraits from the capitol rotunda, the four-laning of historic North Eufaula Avenue, the closure of 15 state parks, the use of taxpayer funds in campaigns for tax increase referendums and the removal of Confederate items from the capitol museum gift shop in an appeal to supporters Monday. The Senate F&T meeting will be held in room 727 in the statehouse in Montgomery.
