Major players in Alabama have large sums in DROP program

The following is a list of the people with the top 50 balances in the DROP program or Deferred Retirement Option Program. The Alabama Senate voted on Tuesday to kill the program and the House could vote on its version as early as Thursday. The name of the officials are followed by their balance in the program.

REED, JOE LOUIS; $1,475,952.21; Associate Executive Secretary, Alabama Education Association

HUBBERT, PAUL R; $1,374,311.70; Executive Secretary, Alabama Education Association


PORTERA, MALCOLM; $1,325,210.85; Chancellor, University of Alabama System

MOULTON, V GORDON; $1,188,669.94; President, University of South Alabama

PEEVY, KEITH JACKSON; $850,979.97; Pediatrician, University of South Alabama Hospital

MOORE, MAL M; $849,659.52; Athletic Director, University of Alabama

HAWKINS, JACK; $841,726.82; Chancellor, Troy University System

DAVIS, M WAYNE; $836,460.20; Vice-President, University of South Alabama

DELUCAS, LAWRENCE J; $835,433.66; Optometrist, University of Alabama at Birmingham

MASON, JOSEPH B; $769,941.43; Dean, University of Alabama College of Business

CAPILOUTO, ELI; $757,275.19; Provost, University of Alabama at Birmingham

LOBUGLIO, ALBERT F; $755,807.85; Director, University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Center

ROQUEMORE, PERRY JR; $750,454.75; Executive Secretary, Alabama League of Municipalities

BLAKENEY, LARRY; $748,161.90; Football Coach, Troy University

WHITT, JOE; $699,555.01

WHITLEY, RICHARD J; $696,527.03

KAHN, SHIRLEY SALLOWAY; $669,933.96

IRWIN, J DAVID; $661,061.84

MORTON, JOSEPH BRUCE; $660,675.91

JAHERA, JOHN STANLEY JR; $632,137.14

ALDERMAN, CHARLES W; $631,116.91

JONES, RONALD L; $621,247.48

ROGERS, WILLIAM J; $615,526.07

LUCAS, LINDA C; $614,172.99

QUINDLEN, EUGENE A; $601,967.87

BENEFIELD, R ALAN; $599,568.08

DALE, LOUIS; $586,065.84

BREZOVICH, IVAN A; $579,167.38

DULEK, RONALD E; $578,125.32

STAGNO, SERGIO; $570,164.37

WYSKIDA, RICHARD M; $569,713.41

COCHRAN, JOHN E JR; $569,431.00

YANCEY, DONALD L; $563,241.18

SCRIPA, ROSALIA N; $559,557.32

DYER, DAVID F; $558,511.68

GREGORY, JOHN C; $556,001.70

MERRITT, JUDY MILES; $554,659.42

STEPHENS, JERRY W; $546,935.11

MCALPINE, HELEN T; $545,568.25

RODRIGUEZ-KABANA, RODRIGO; $544,243.46

BLOUGH, DAVID K; $540,709.13

BRANCH, GARY LEO; $530,272.28

ANDREWS, J BARRY; $529,213.67

CAPLES, VIRGINIA; $526,227.74

DOUGLASS, PEGGI L; $525,464.47

MICHALEK, SUZANNE M; $521,521.73

ESSARY, REBA J; $520,759.17

BONNER, JUDITH L; $518,955.73

BROWN, DAVID B; $499,686.03

VAN MATRE, JOSEPH G; $497,818.97

source: Legislative Fiscal Office

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Republican slams AEA involvement in Republican primary

A local Republican activist started a campaign to try to deflate membership in the Alabama Education Association because of what he believes are the dishonest and deceitful tactics the powerful teachers union is using to influence the outcome of the Republican primary for governor.
Rick Sellers, a member of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee and his party's nominee for U.S. Senate in 1992, said he will start picketing out in front of the AEA's Dexter Avenue office today and will continue until the July 13 runoff.
When he worked for the National Rifle Association and it ran negative campaigns against Democrats, Sellers said those had the name of the NRA on them and were truthful.
He is talking about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that AEA is spending, through political action committees, against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne. None of that money is coming directly from AEA, Sellers said.
Instead, much of it was directed through a political action committee called True Republican PAC.
Byrne, former chancellor of the state's two-year college system, and state Rep. Robert Bentley are in the Republican runoff for governor.
Paul Hubbert, head of the AEA, did not return a call to his cell phone on Monday.
Sellers said they have started an e-mail campaign and are working on a website to inform AEA members that the group is liberal and dishonest. He said he will picket in front of the AEA headquarters from 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. starting Tuesday. He said he did not have the permit to picket, but hoped to receive that approval from the city.
Sellers, whose wife Heather is on the Montgomery County Board of Education and is the county chair for the Byrne campaign, said his purpose is to get AEA members to drop their membership. To drop their membership, he said they need to write a letter to the payroll office with the local board of education before Sept. 30, to ensure they are not a member next year.
Those dues help to pay for the millions of dollars AEA contributes to political campaigns every cycle.
More than 60 percent of AEA's 105,000 members are Republican or independent, according to a release the union sent out last week asking members to vote in the runoff.
Byrne and his campaign have expressed concerns about AEA and other interests pushing Democrats to cross party lines and vote in the Republican runoff.
"Educators have every right to participate in the party elections of their choice, especially since elections are funded by taxpayers, and we will continue to encourage them to vote July 13," AEA spokesman David Stout said in the release.
The AEA release pointed out that pro-business special interests including the Business Council of Alabama, the Alabama Retail Association, the Home Builders Association of Alabama, the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, and the Alabama Association of Realtors have encouraged their members to vote for Byrne.
Byrne's campaign has accused Bentley of being too close to AEA, which is operated by two vice chairmen of the Alabama Democratic Party, and voting with the union on major issues including charter schools and double dipping.
Bentley told the Montgomery Advertiser on Friday that he treats AEA and Hubbert like other special interests. He said he votes with them when they are right and against them when they're not.
Bentley said he has had his picture in the AEA's Alabama School Journal almost every year as a "bad guy."
He said he has disagreed with the union on some issues, including his support of putting a teacher code of ethics into state law and using a 15-year rolling average to determine the size of state budgets.
Sellers said he absolutely believes AEA will be instrumental in determining who is the Republican nominee for governor and calculates that the money spent on ads and other avenues to attack Byrne could top $3 million.
While AEA has attacked Byrne, he has also spent much of his time and resources attacking the association. Before his ads and speeches on the campaign trail, he battled the AEA as a state senator and even more so as chancellor of the state's two-year college system. The AEA is still fighting some of the policies he pushed as chancellor in the state court system.
Byrne tried to stop double dipping, which allows legislators to also work in the two-year college system, and he disagrees with the AEA on charter schools, which he believes provide more options for high-risk students in under-performing schools.
AEA points to charter schools failing in some other areas. Association officials and supporters believe that charter schools would be "exclusive" and drain money from other public schools.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Sanders to run for eighth term

After originally saying he was not running for an eighth term, powerful state Sen. Hank Sanders changed course on Wednesday and said he is going to let the voters decide if he should serve another term.
"Since I don't know what to do, I'll let the people decide," he said.
People cheered as he made his decision in a Senate chamber filled with legislators, lobbyists, staffers, supporters, and state officials including state schools Superintendent Joe Morton.
"In truth, I still don't want to run. I knew this needed to be brought to a conclusion," said Sanders. People had already announced they were running for the Senate seat they thought would be open.
Sanders, chairman of the Senate education budget committee, said he "struggled mightily" with the decision. He said he did not know whether he was running again when he walked into the chamber and that his wife did not know his decision.
The Selma Democrat said he planned to walk into the chamber with two press releases, one saying he would not run again and another that said he would. He said he did not have time to write the releases.
He sent an e-mail to friends, colleagues and supporters last year informing them he would not run again, but he said the reaction to that statement was extraordinary.
"In truth, I never anticipated the strength of this reaction," he said.
His wife, Rose, said the respectful and loving response was uplifting.
Morton and Paul Hubbert, head of the Alabama Education Association, said they were glad to see the senator run again.
They talked about Sanders' calm and fair demeanor in talking through tough situations.
Morton said he had talked about the decision with Sanders.
"Deep down I was hoping the outcome would be like this," he said.
The superintendent said "all of Alabama should be too." He said Sanders has left an imprint on the state and used his influence to increase funding for vital programs that improved reading, math, science, and technology.
Morton said he worked intimately with Sanders in his role as chairman of the education budget and said the senator was always professional and courteous, even during contentious discussions including 2008 when fighting lead to the legislative session ending without lawmakers passing an education budget.
Hubbert said people have been curious about Sanders' decision. He said Sanders has been a "great chairman" and credited his success to his demeanor, the way the senator approaches people and issues, and the way he is able to build a consensus. He said Sanders often had lined up support for the education budget before it was brought to the Senate floor for a vote, which he said is "remarkable."
Sanders, who came from poverty to graduate from Harvard Law School, was the first African-American to represent the Black Belt in the Alabama Senate. He said he never wanted to run for public office, but eventually did at the encouragement of his law partner, J.L. Chestnut.
Sanders, 67, said his mind and spirit did not want him to run three decades ago and they did not want him to run again.
"I don't want to do it, but I'm going to do it because duty calls," Sanders said.
He added "These are difficult times. I don't think I've ever been one to abandon the ship in difficult times."
On Wednesday, he sounded like he was sticking with his original decision when he began talking. He had told the Montgomery Advertiser this month that he was leaning toward not running again.
"This is a watershed moment for me and I have struggled mightily with it," Sanders said. "I struggled because logic and reason say I should run again, but I could not align my spirit with it."
After saying he was running again, Sanders said "nobody has ever outworked me in an election."
He said his goals this session were to pass a budget that would not go into proration, to work with others to try to create jobs, to work to pass accountability measures including those to place more restrictions on no-bid contracts, and has again proposed a bill that would place a moratorium on the death penalty, which he said he really wants to push.
"We can't afford a budget that leads to proration," he said.
In the Senate, Sanders said he has most enjoyed being able to help people. He said he could make a call and help someone in two minutes with something that might make two years if he was not in his current position.
He said he disliked the Legislature becoming more and more partisan.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen