Senators appoint members to key posts

The Alabama public, political observers and Alabama state senators found out Tuesday who will chair key committees in that body.
Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, who is considered one of the most conservative members of the Senate, was selected as chairman of the powerful Rules Committee that determines which bills come to the Senate floor for debate. He succeeds powerful Sen. Lowell Barron, a Democrat who lost in the November election.
Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, will be chairman of the Senate general fund budget committee which sets funding levels for Medicaid, prisons, public safety and most other non-education entities in the state. Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, the previous chairman of the committee, will serve as a minority member.
Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, will preside over the education budget in the Senate. The former chairman, Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, will continue to serve on the committee.
The House did not announce committee assignments on Tuesday, although Rep. Jay Love of Montgomery and Rep. Jim Barton of Mobile are expected to serve as the chairmen of the House education and general fund budget committees, respectively.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

ALGOP releases ad attacking Democratic aristocracy

The Alabama Republican Party, as part of its Campaign 2010 to try to take control of the Legislature from Democrats for the first time in more than a century, released the following web ad, which features images of Sens. Roger Bedford, Lowell Barron and Zeb Little, House Majority Leader Ken Guin and Rep. Terry Spicer:



-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Sparks, lawmakers look at Mobile command center for spill

Several top state lawmakers, back in Montgomery after traveling to view operations to combat the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, said they were impressed with the work and they are willing to go into special session if there is a need.
The Monday trip to Mobile was organized by agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, who is also a Democratic candidate for governor.
He was joined at a Montgomery press conference by Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, Sen. Lowell Barron, House Majority Leader Ken Guin, and Rep. John Knight, chairman of the House General Fund budget committee.
Other legislators joined them to tour the command center in downtown Mobile and were briefed by officials with the nine state agencies who are helping with the effort.
Barron, D-Fyffe, said there are hundreds of federal employees working alongside state employees. He said "perhaps Katrina taught the federal government some lessons."
Barron said they want to ensure all needs are being met.
"Nobody knows how the disaster will affect Alabama," Sparks said.
Sparks said the disaster has already hit Alabama, affecting tourism and the fishing industry.
"I think the fear of this has paralyzed tourism in the area," said Guin, D-Carbon Hill.
Sparks and Barron said they want oil giant BP held accountable for the spill.
"We want to know that every claim that is laid on the table is dealt with responsibly," Sparks said.
He said they do not know how many people will be on unemployment.
"This could be a long drawn out situation," Sparks said.
Knight, Sparks and Barron encouraged Gov. Bob Riley to begin a public relations campaign to let people know the beaches are open in Alabama.
State tourism officials have already produced commercials.

-- posted Sebastian Kitchen

Sparks campaign manager resigns

Gubernatorial candidate Ron Sparks announced Friday that he accepted the resignation of Sharon Wheeler as his campaign manager and said Rick Dent, who had advised the campaign since January, would assume the position.
Authorities arrested Wheeler early Thursday for allegedly having a blood alcohol level above the legal level of .08 percent. She was pulled over for illegal lane usage.
"She wishes to focus on her situation and does not want to become a distraction from our effort," Sparks said in a statement. "I agree that this decision is what's best for both Sharon and the campaign for which she has worked so hard. She is an extremely talented individual, who has done a tremendous job on my behalf and I hate to lose her.
"I don't drink. Drinking and driving is a serious offense and can never be tolerated. Everyone makes mistakes. Sharon is entitled to a presumption of innocence and I will support her in any way that I can. I wish her only the best."
Wheeler joined Sparks' campaign after resigning as chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith of Huntsville after he switched parties to become a Republican. She also previously served as the chief of staff for then-Senate President Pro Tem Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe.
Recently, Dent has been a consultant for the Senate Democratic Caucus.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Senate expects gambling fight on Tuesday

Sen. Lowell Barron, chairman of the committee that decides which bills come to the Senate floor for debate, said "the gaming bill probably will come up on Tuesday."
"That will tie us up for a time," said Barron, D-Fyffe. Barron said he was offering a list of bills to debate on Thursday that he said were not controversial before the gaming bill comes up next week.
Republican Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, offered his own bill to debate on Thursday and that was the bill that would, if approved by the Legislature and voters, create a gaming commission to oversee casino operations at 10 points of destination in the state and tax the revenue.
Marsh, who opposes the legislation, said he wanted people to know Republicans are not holding up the bill. He said they want to move on to bills that Republicans believe will create jobs. His effort to bring up the gambling bill on Thursday failed.
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, said people were still in discussions and needed time to look at the bill. She said she did not know where she stood on the legislation.
Most Republicans believe the bill would create a monopoly for existing casino operators in the state and would expand gambling.
Democrats who support the bill said it would allow the people to vote, would tax gaming in the state and use the revenue for Medicaid and education, and would stop small illegal operations from popping up throughout the state.
Democrats and casino operators have intensified their push to pass the bill since Gov. Bob Riley's Task Force on Illegal Gambling began attempting raids on large facilities in the state, which have shut down following those attempts and rulings by the Alabama Supreme Court.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Dems consider shutting off debate on roads bill

A powerful state senator said he and his Democratic colleagues will consider shutting off debate on Thursday on a bill that would use $1 billion over 10 years to improve roads and bridges.
Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, said they might stop debate and try to move forward with a vote if they do not believe the Republicans are serious about moving forward on Thursday.
The Senate has debated the bill for three business days, much of it slowdown tactics by Republicans, and is expected to continue debate on Thursday.
If the Legislature passes the bill, people would vote on whether they wanted the program in November and the work could begin in 2011.
Republicans have concerns about taking $100 million a year for 10 years from the Alabama Trust Fund, royalties the state receives from oil and gas. Some of the money is used for the General Fund budget.
"I just don't think now is the time to jeopardize the trust fund or the savings account of the state of Alabama," said Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston.
Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, said it makes sense to leave the money and live off of the interest. If money is pulled out, he said there are millions and millions of dollars in interest the state will never see.
Sen. Larry Means, D-Attalla, plans to introduce an amendment that would place a floor at $2 billion, which would automatically halt the program if it reached that level and keep it parked until the principal climbed back above $2 billion again.
Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, believes the floor should be at least $2.5 billion and took up much of Tuesday afternoon discussing his proposal.
Barron, chairman of the committee that decides which bills come to the Senate floor for debate, thought they might vote on Tuesday. He said he had concerns about voting cloture, or shutting down debate, because it often creates hard feelings, which he did not want so early in the session. Barron, the Senate sponsor of the bill, said they have the 21 votes necessary to pass the bill in the Senate and he expects at least 25 votes. The House sponsor of the bill is Rep. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton.
Barron, Beasley, and about a dozen other senators joined road builders for a Tuesday press conference between the State House and large equipment the builders parked along South Union Street.
They called on Republicans to stop delaying.
Beasley said the work would make Alabama roads and bridges safer.
Barron said the bill is more important now with unemployment at 11 percent. He said about as many people are underemployed.
Lee Gross of Ozark Striping Company, which he said has 125 employees, said the unemployment rate in the construction industry is 18 percent.
State Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said people could already be working if Republicans did not kill the bill a year ago.
Beasley and Barron said the bill would create 30,000 jobs, a number Republicans have disputed.
Supporters of the bill said the job creation information is from the Federal Highway Administration.
Marsh said that would equate to workers making less than $2 an hour.
State Sen. Larry Dixon, R-Montgomery, said the trust fund should be "sacrosanct" and the principal of the money should not be touched because revenues are is used for corrections, public health, and public safety.
"When you're having trouble funding government, you deplete one of the major sources by depleting the trust fund," he said.
Dixon is concerned that the money will be discretionary and handed out to friends of Democrats. The senator said the bill is the "biggest pork project ever."
He said there is language to diminish some of that discretion, but that projects will be line-itemed in the General Fund.
The appropriation, according to the bill, "may be made in either the general appropriation act or a separate appropriations act." Dixon believes that puts the discretion in the hands of the General Fund budget committee.
"No committee in the Legislature ought to have that discretionary money," he said.
While the money will be directed to projects in cities, counties and congressional districts, Dixon said no language in the legislation states that the money will be turned over to local governments.
Barron said there is not language that would make the money discretionary. He said most of it would go to the Alabama Department of Transportation or to local governments that would spend it.
"They make decisions on how that is spent," Barron said.
Seventy-five percent of the money would go to the Alabama Department of Transportation and 25 percent would go to cities and counties.
Barron and Bedford criticized proposals by some Republicans, one by Marsh and one by gubernatorial candidate Tim James, that would allow counties to increase their gas tax and that would use bonds to fund construction, respectively.
They called those terrible ideas that either increases taxes or increased the state's debt.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen