Roundup of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – Our ‘frustration’ over the Alabama Legislature In recent years, Alabama’s modern-day lawmakers have shown no willingness to right the state’s sinking financial ship. No one in their right mind should have thought these lawmakers would be any different this go-around. They weren’t, obviously. Oh, they passed a $1.64 billion General Fund budget Thursday, but it mimicked Monopoly money. Its value was nil. It didn’t solve the state’s budget crisis. It didn’t repair the $200 million hole in the General Fund. It didn’t remove the specter of closed state agencies, laid off state employees and shuttered state parks. It also didn’t escape the governor’s wrath. “It annoys me that the Legislature did not do their job within the allotted period of time,” Gov. Robert Bentley said, “but you can’t get frustrated.” Really? That’s exactly what Alabamians should be — frustrated, or worse, that lawmakers continue to subscribe to the discredited theory that the only way to write a sensible state budget is to cut fat like the grocery-store butcher. They don’t give a hoot about the ramifications: on public safety, on prisons, on state parks, on state employees, on the state’s reputation. All they care about — particularly the Republican members of their ranks — is adhering to a low-tax, small-government mantra that sounds good on Election Day but isn’t practical in reality. Bentley vetoed the budget because it doesn’t move the ball forward. It checked off a box — budget passed, mission accomplished — and that’s it. Bentley, eschewing his party’s no-new-tax beliefs, rightly prefers the state face reality that new revenue, through tax increases, is the wisest choice. Feelings of frustration should overtake us all. Alabama got in this situation because Montgomery’s men (and women) have played their roles well. They’ve fought tax increases. They’ve argued against most forms of revenue creation. They’re preached sermons that say small government equals good government. They’ve played shell games with the state’s finances, moving money from one account to another, borrowing from a rainy day account, relying on federal dollars. Everyone knew that one day, barring a massive influx of new money, that the spigot from which cash flows into the state’s coffers would run dry. Legislators have been in session since March and found no viable solution. That’s not merely frustrating. That’s reprehensible. The Decatur Daily: Legislature failed to do its job Governmental dysfunction is not surprising when an executive branch and legislative branch are controlled by different parties with contrasting ideologies. It’s been a feature of our federal government since Republicans controlled first the House and then the Senate, while a Democrat occupied the White House. The results at the federal level have been maddening, if not surprising. The Republican Congress doesn’t trust the agenda of the Democratic president, and consequently doesn’t trust his advice. Whether the topic is Iran or international trade pacts or the federal budget, suspicion and mistrust lead to inaction. Such stalemates come as a surprise when the same party controls both the legislative and executive branches, as has been the case in Alabama since 2010. When it comes to budgetary matters, Gov. Robert Bentley, a former Republican legislator, is ideologically indistinguishable from the Republicans who control the Statehouse. Bentley is an advocate of smaller government. He resents taxes. He successfully won the governor’s seat twice by touting his fiscal conservatism. He spent his first term acting on these principles, cutting agencies to skeletal levels and swearing the state could function without new revenue. For Bentley, reality finally intruded. He still favored small government and low taxes, but his day-to-day management of state government convinced him the state would fail its citizens if revenue dropped. And he knew, as did his Republican colleagues in the Legislature, that revenue had to drop. Years of one-time windfalls that had propped up the state finally were at an end. Something had to be done before fiscal 2016, which begins in October. So Bentley did what no conservative wants to do. He proposed new taxes. He reminded legislators fiscal responsibility is a cornerstone of conservatism. He explained he already had cut $1 billion from state government, and any further cuts would irreparably harm Alabama. So what did the Legislature do with this information from one of their own? They rejected it. In a rebuff that made two-party Washington look harmonious, one-party Montgomery could not find the level of cooperation needed to run the state. The result is inefficiency in a government that does not have the luxury of being inefficient. After the Legislature passed a budget the legislators themselves agreed was irresponsibly austere, Bentley vetoed it. State agencies and the people they serve have no idea what preparations to make for fiscal 2016. Bentley has promised a special session, which will cost the state $320,000 it doesn’t have. Senate Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee Chairman Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, received enthusiastic applause from his colleagues on the last day of the session. Yet the Legislature rejected his budgetary advice as well. Orr called the session “extremely frustrating.” “Just the inability to come to a consensus,” he said. “It took time for an agreement that there really is a significant problem and that just passing a cut budget is not the best answer to the problem.” Extremely frustrating? Yes. Also expensive, irresponsible and embarrassing. The Gadsden Times: Celebrate open meetings Alabama will soon have a stronger Open Meetings Act, and that’s news worth celebrating. It’s a common misconception that open meeting laws are for the benefit of media companies. The reality is that open meeting laws are for the benefit of the public. Most people aren’t going to attend public meetings even if they have a direct stake in the actions above and beyond being concerned about how their tax money is being spent. They rely on media outlets to report on the actions. Without open meeting laws, it’s more difficult for media companies to get that information
Round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – Which summer blockbuster most closely resembles the Alabama Lege? Maybe it’s just me, but over the past week the Alabama Legislature brought to mind a movie. Not great cinema, either. It’s a summer blockbuster with all the trappings: unoriginal storyline, tired dialogue and lots of loud crashes and explosions. Thursday, both houses of the Lege worked on the state’s General Fund budget, the one that finances everything but public education. Granted, “worked” is way too generous. Better to describe last week as a slow and uninspiring shuffle toward inaction. The competing plans to withstand a $280 million shortfall — tax increases or deep budget cuts or expansion of gambling — seemed to cancel each other out. Now it appears the General Fund will be put aside until a special session of the Legislature in August, which will leave lawmakers less than two months to come up with a solution. It’s just like the movies, right? We wait until the very last minute for the hero to sweep in and save the world. With that in mind, I tried to fit Montgomery’s budget dithering into the plot of some of this summer’s blockbusters. The Birmingham News – Readers battle over casinos, common core and Kings: week in review Gambling legislation may have stalled in the state house but reader opinions seem to be shifting the odds in favor of casinos. Additionally, a former state Republican chairman has some bold claims about Hillary Clinton. You don’t become a beloved football coach without taking a few gambles. So it makes sense that former Auburn head coach Pat Dye would support Senator Del Marsh’s lottery and gambling plan. He even frames it in football terms: “From a coaching standpoint, these surrounding states have a tremendous advantage in their athletic programs due to the lottery and gaming revenues that are allocated to scholarships.”Jim Stein, Sr., agrees. He says that the states happiest about Alabama’s current lack of gambling are our neighbors. Carl Dimnick, however, writes that Alabama would be “selling our soul for $70 million a year” in its pursuit of gambling revenue. Instead, he recommends generating $150 million a year by adding a five cent gasoline tax increase. The next generation of feuding over the legacy of a King? That may sound like the subject of a Shakespeare play but it’s also the reality of a dispute between the niece and daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Earlier this week, King’s niece, Alveda, pleaded with Alabama lawmakers to repeal Common Core. In response, his daughter, Bernice, argued that we should honor King’s push for equality and respect by respecting our students enough to hold them to higher standards. Here’s hoping you make your decision based on the content of their arguments. Speaking of Civil Rights Era icons, what are the odds that Hillary Clinton will wind up like Lyndon Johnson? Bill Armistead, former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, says that Clinton and Johnson share a history of “failed foreign policy,” which will ultimately be Clinton’s undoing. He also argues that Clinton may eventually drop her pursuit of the Democratic Nomination. He notes there are some differences though. He points out that Clinton is older, for example. I agree with part of Armistead’s argument. I do think Clinton and Johnson have something in common – they’ll both be listed in the history books as “president.” The Decatur Daily – All’s quiet when China comes up Our politicians can argue until they turn blue about what the United States should do about terrorists in the Middle East and missile launches from North Korea. But the country that will exert the greatest impact on the United States’ place in the 21st century is China. And for all the atrocity committed by the group calling itself the Islamic State, for all the absurd stories about Kim Jong-Un and his temper, everyone in Washington wants to share their opinion until the talk turns to China. That’s when the room grows quiet. A strategy paper issued by the Chinese military this week only hinted at the country’s ulterior goals in its recent appearance in the Spratly Islands. You probably saw video on TV or the Internet last week of a U.S. military surveillance plane flying near a contested atoll in the islands and the subsequent response from Chinese military, ordering it to “leave immediately.” That’s not how friends behave, and the Chinese strategy paper makes it quite clear that it considers the largely uninhabited Spratly Islands its sovereign territory. Even though Vietnam has claimed the island chain since the 1600s, China rarely takes no for an answer, as it has shown in “claiming” parts of India, Tibet, Japan, Taiwan and others. So far, the bully has gotten its way, not without stern lectures from Western leaders who know how to posture but have little will to show the growing Chinese power their teeth. China is pursuing a policy of expanding its military footprint, certainly its naval prowess, in a way that should cause concern. Other world powers have done the same, or tried and failed: Britain, France, Germany in the most recent past. And the United States. Yes, even though the United States was more politically correct in its strategy to establish a worldwide presence, our forefathers had a similar goal in mind: create forward bases to reach foreign countries for military operations and for trade. That’s why we have or had bases near key passes such as the Strait of Hormuz, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, etc. The U.S. now has more than 300 bases on foreign soil, if you’re counting, and these bases serve us well. Without “colonizing” like the British did in so many lands, America used its far-flung presence to establish itself as the world’s pre-eminent power, at times both militarily and economically. Dothan Eagle – Positive news from the cops beat In recent months, several incidents involving police and unarmed suspects
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – Quite a legacy for Letterman Twenty-three years ago, in May 1992, Johnny Carson stepped down as host of The Tonight Show on NBC. He was 66 years and had been at his post for 30 years. David Letterman, who many expected to replace Carson on The Tonight Show, was 45 back then. Once Jay Leno was tapped to replace Carson, Letterman bolted NBC in order to star on a late-night program for CBS. Back in 1992, Jimmy Fallon, the current host of The Tonight Show, was soon to graduate high school in Saugerties, N.Y. Jimmy Kimmel, host of his own late-night program on ABC, was working in Los Angeles radio in 1992. In 1992, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, another stalwart of late-night TV programming who will soon step down, was a standup comic and regular performer on MTV. Conan O’Brien, host of a late-night chat show on TBS, was a writer for The Simpsons in 1992. The point is that Letterman’s retirement is an excellent time to reflect on the changing media environment. Time has passed and big changes have occurred since the early 1990s. Carson left his program after 30 years. Most of that time he spent as the undisputed king of late-night programming. A standup comic’s career could either soar and collapse based on a five-minute performance on The Tonight Show. If Johnny laughed, it was a good sign. If after several appearances a comic was invited to have a seat on the sofa next to Carson, it was a treasured moment, a golden ticket to fame, fortune and maybe a starring role in a sitcom. The Birmingham News – UAB conspiracy theories and trolls shout louder than state budget hawks From unearthing conspiracy theories to praising Ray Watts, AL.com’s readers can’t seem to stop talking about UAB football this week. A few guest writers also want to remind us that there are some important budget discussions taking place in Montgomery this month. John A. Knox, Ph.D., an associate professor of geography at the University of Georgia and a 1988 UAB graduate, has developed a cottage industry investigating alleged conspiracies involving the UA Board of Trustees – his work has appeared in illustrious, peer-reviewed journals like The Crimson White. As an expert on meteorology, Knox offers his forecast for the future of UAB in a column for AL.com. His take? A cold front of Board obstruction will move directly over Birmingham, casting shade on the development of any future academic programs. The ongoing UAB saga raises another interesting question, says Molly Yanity, Ph.D, “are black students in college for my entertainment?” Citing a piece by AL.com’s John Talty stating that cutting football at UAB would decrease black male student enrollment by 12%, Yanity says this argument rings false. She cites additional reports stating that the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) at UAB ranked fourth worst among all NCAA Football Bowl Series schools, to say that we need to move past the notion that athletics are the primary way for minorities to mobilize socially. Virginia Sharbel writes that UAB President Ray Watts should be commended for ending UAB football, not shamed. She suggests that the program has been a “waste of money.” Based on my experience this week…I hope she doesn’t have a Twitter account. The #FreeUAB crowd is relentless. The Decatur Daily – Morgan DA: ‘I will beg for these people’ Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson does not often get riled up, but he did after a recent encounter with state Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle. His frustration is increasingly common among those who want the best for Alabama and its citizens, yet are hampered by legislators who are caught up in political games. The issue that prompted Anderson’s comments was a relatively benign bill limited to Morgan County. The Legislature, afraid of the political consequences of raising taxes to fund the essential services of government, has for years whittled away at the budget that funds courts and district attorney offices. To make up for the deficiency, many counties have successfully pushed their local delegations to increase court fees. It’s not a good solution — high fees block many from the court system — but the increased fees at least keep the criminal justice system functioning. Morgan County’s court fees are below those of most neighboring counties, and Anderson joined with other local court officials in requesting an increase in the fees that fund their offices. The request was especially urgent because the House fiscal 2016 budget contains a 17 percent cut for all district attorney offices in the state. Traditionally, the Legislature will pass a local bill if the local legislative delegation unanimously supports it. Anderson’s frustration came in his dealings with Henry, whose support he needed. “Rep. Ed Henry has informed me that he understands the court system in Morgan County is in need of these funds, he further instructed me to hound him publicly and ask him to do it,” Anderson said. It’s a request that did not sit well with Anderson. Dothan Eagle – Thin blue line This week has been National Police Week, and the City of Dothan marked the occasion with a poignantly appropriate event honoring local officers who lost their lives in the service to our community. Law enforcement is dangerous work, and officers put their lives at risk every day. The fate of Dothan’s fallen officers shows that death in the line of duty doesn’t necessarily come by the hand of a criminal: Officer Hugh DeShazo died on Dec. 8, 1914, after having been shot while on duty the day before. Sgt. Shelby Owens was on duty as a motorcycle officer when he was killed in a vehicle crash on Nov. 9, 1970. Lt. Robert Jackson was shot at close range in front of his home on Jan. 31, 1978. Cpl. Robert E. Armstrong was working on DUI detail when an intoxicated driver on the wrong side of
