11/11: Special sessions on ethics, no one is happy about proposed cuts and more Sarah Palin hate…

It’s Veteran’s Day…

Tell me where I am in this photo (x rows from the top and x from the left) and win a NEW WVNN/US Citizen T-shirt!

E-mail your answer to dale@wvnn.com

No prize for this one…

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Special session for ethics?

 

Yes.

Here are some good starting points brought to you by Artur Davis…

1. Institute a Total Gift Ban with NO Special Loopholes – That’s right. No more $250 per day from lobbyists. No more free football tickets.
2. Tough Conflict of Interest Rules for State Legislators – No spending discretionary funds to benefit your employer or lobbying fellow legislators to benefit your employer.
3. Ban Unregulated PAC-to-PAC Transfers – No exceptions for political parties or legislative caucuses.
4. Cap Campaign Contributions from Individuals, PACs, Unions and Political Parties – $5000 per election for individuals, $10,000 for PACs and unions, and $50,000 for political parties.
5. Require Indicted Public Officials to Step Aside – This is coupled with allowing a public official acquitted of ethics or corruption charges to recover damages if they can show the charges were wrongfully brought, with the potential to hold the prosecutor personally liable I don’t like this one. Innocent till guilty, blah blah blah
6. Extend Lobbying Registration Requirements to Executive Branch Lobbying – Treat them just like lobbyists for the legislative branch.

Believe it or not, this probably cost him the Democratic nomination for Governor.

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Everyone is mad at the debt panel…

 

A White House commission laid out a sweeping proposal to cut the federal budget deficit by hundreds of billions a year by targeting sacrosanct areas of U.S. tax and spending policy, such as Social Security benefits, middle-class tax breaks and defense spending.The preliminary plan in its current form would end or cap a wide range of breaks relied on by the middle class—including the deduction for home-mortgage interest. It would tax capital gains and dividends at the higher rates now levied on wage income. To compensate, one version of the plan would dramatically lower and simplify individual rates, to 9%, 15% and 24%.

For businesses, the controversial plan would significantly lower the corporate tax rate—from a current top rate of 35% to as low as 26%—but also eliminate a number of deductions. It would make permanent the research and development tax credit.

Everyone.

“Before anybody starts shooting down proposals, we need to listen, gather up all the facts, and be straight with the American people,” Mr. Obama said at a press conference Thursday in Seoul, where he attending a Group of 20 nations summit, when presented with a statement from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the commission chairmen’s recommendations are “simply unacceptable.”

Earmarks would be banned…

Congressional earmarks—provisions inserted into legislation for lawmakers’ pet projects—would be banned permanently, saving $16 billion.

What would that mean for The Tennessee Valley?

Final product?

Despite the raft of spending cuts and changes to the tax code, it would still take until 2037 to balance the budget entirely.

How far are we from here…

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At 7 we will continue the Sarah Palin hatefest…

 

Spencer Bachus is right, Sarah Palin is to blame (kinda)…

Not Saint Sarah! Her worshipers will cry.

But Spence Bachus is right on the money…

“Sarah Palin cost us control of the Senate,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

He of coursed hedged after that when called on it.

Questioned about those comments on Tuesday, a spokesman for Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama said the remarks had been taken out of context but didn’t retract them.

CNN

“Congressman Bachus, like other political observers, said that seats in states like Delaware and Nevada could have been won by stronger candidates and that’s a lesson going forward,” Bachus spokesman Tim Johnson was quoted telling CNN.

There are two rules for GOP politicos…

1. Don’t criticize Rush Limbaugh
2. Don’t criticize Sarah Palin

And in reality it’s only sort of about Palin, it is also about the more irrational parts of the conservative movement. Which she represents.

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Open meeting laws are important and it appears the Huntsville City School Board broke them…

 

Despite campaign pledges to the contrary, the new Huntsville school board is already struggling with transparency.

Last month, shortly after the city elections, three members of the new board were observed discussing board business in a private meeting at O’Charley’s’ restaurant.

Then, earlier this month, state Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, fired off a letter to the board. He argued the board broke a three-year-old promise to build a new elementary school in northwest Huntsville.

Instead of owning what they did was questionable, they tried to find a technicality…

All three say Blair had not been officially sworn in yet as the new representative of east Huntsville’s District 2.

“Iwas not on the board,” said Blair. “We got together as friends.”

“We didn’t think this one out,” said Birney. “But I think legally we were OK.”

But that’s not necessarily the case. State law states that public officials elected, but not yet seated, count toward a private meeting. That starts the day the election results are certified.

Why are they imporant?

They keep the elected leaders from making backroom deals and then coming into a meeting and voting without discussion.

The Dale Jackson Legislative Pay Act of 2011…

Remember the pay raise?

Of course you do.

Remember all the talk about repealing the pay raise?

Of course you don’t.

So far I have found one candidate for State Senate or House that campaigned on the “repeal the pay raise”.

Brian Taylor is that man.

The problem was not so much the pay raise, it was more about the ridiculously underhanded way it was done.

Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, who was one of the six senators requesting a recorded vote, said that by ignoring the efforts of the six senators, Folsom “…blew through the constitution.” The state constitution requires a recorded vote when at least four senators request one.

Folsom claimed he did not see the senators rushing toward his desk frantically waving their hands in the air. He said, “I didn’t see any hands. Seriously.”

More…

• Not one single legislator mentioned the pay raise only months before on the campaign trail.  Not one.
• It was the very first item to pass that session.  They tried to put as much time between the pay raise and the next elections as possible.
• The well orchestrated passage through both houses on voice votes was done to “sneak” it through before anyone would notice.  They knew it was wrong and would be unpopular.
• Even after the veto and overwhelming groundswell of public opposition they voted to put the raise into effect anyway.

So I have been wondering why the media is implying the goal of the ALGOP’s Campaign 2010 was to repeal the pay raise…

Many Republicans won elections by criticizing Democratic lawmakers for passing a 61-percent pay raise as a recession loomed. Now that Republicans have their first majority in the Legislature in 136 years, they’re uncertain what to do about the increase.

Newly elected Republican legislators said the $18,790 increase didn’t come upwhen they held their first meetings in private Thursday and there’s no party consensus on an issue they had used to fuel voter anger against Democrats last Tuesday.

But many said they would like to take out automatic annual increases that were built into the pay raise legislation. “That part needs to be changed regardless of what else is changed,” said Sen. Del Marsh of Anniston, the Republican senators’ choice for president pro tem and one of a handful of legislators who never accepted the 61-percent hike.

And why the Alabama Democratic Party is talking about “broken promises” that were never made after 1 week.

The 2007 raise was the first legislative pay raise since 1991 and increased legislators’ annual compensation from $30,710 to $49,500 in order to cover the increasing cost of living. While the pay raise was supported by both Democrats and Republicans, the pay increase was a central part of the Republican campaign platform against Democrats this fall and was used to fuel voter anger against the Democratic candidates and help elect republicans, but now these very candidates are back peddling.

I do have a solution.

First, let’s table the talk of the pay raise repeal, 1 of 22 elected State Senators campaigned on it, it is NOT happening.

So let me make lemonade out of lemons…

I will call it the “The Dale Jackson Legislative Pay Act of 2011″.

Page 0
1 HB???/SB???
2
3 By Representative/Senator X
4 RFD:
5 First Read: ???
Page 1
1
2
3       PROVIDING FURTHER FOR LEGISLATIVE EXPENSES.
4
5       BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF ALABAMA, BOTH
6 HOUSES THERE OF CONCURRING, That commencing with the current
7 quadrennium, the expenses payable under Act 87-209, HJR 287 of
8 the 1987 Regular Session, Act 91-95, SJR 45 of the 1991
9 Regular Session, and Act 91-108, HJR 7 of the 1991 Regular
10 Session, are adjusted as follows:
11     There shall be no cost of living allowance until January 1, 2021.
12 After that date pay may be adjusted annually to reflect any
13 increase in the cost of living as indicated by the United States
14 Department of Labor Consumer Price Index or any succeeding
15 equivalent index.
16     Furthermore any other allowance adjustments for the Legislature of
17 Alabama shall require a majority vote of the people to pass.
18 The provisions of Act 87-209, HJR 287 of the 1987
19 Regular Session, and Act 91-108, HJR 7 of the 1991 Regular
20 Session, are repealed only to the extent there is a conflict
21 herein.

There ya go. Put that bill in and ensure the pay raise fiasco will never be repeated.

Here is what my bill will give you…

• A freeze on COLA adjustments for 10 years.
• Requires a vote of the people to increase pay.
• Keeps legislators from having any impact on their pay without a vote of the people, which will never pass.

Granted, I don’t have a legislative aide in my pocket, but this bill seems pretty straight forward.

Who wants to sponsor that?

Also who wants to sponsor one of these for me?

When the Republican Party won control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections, the freshman Republican class awarded Limbaugh with an honorary membership in their caucus. This event confirmed him as an influential figure on the national political scene.^[11]

11/9: Standards in schools are unfathomable, pay raise battle looming and civil disobedience…

Pay raise battle being brought up in the Alabama legislature…

The Democrats are even getting on board, after the media wing of the party started this yesterday…

The Alabama Democratic Party today criticizes the Alabama Republican Party’s (ALGOP) newly elected Republican majority on failing to discuss rescinding the 62% legislative pay raise. During the first organizational meeting of the new quadrennial, Republican leadership failed to formally address the highly contentious legislative pay raise, an issue that was a pivotal pillar in the ALGOP campaign platform.

The 2007 raise was the first legislative pay raise since 1991 and increased legislators’ annual compensation from $30,710 to $49,500 in order to cover the increasing cost of living. While the pay raise was supported by both Democrats and Republicans, the pay increase was a central part of the Republican campaign platform against Democrats this fall and was used to fuel voter anger against the Democratic candidates and help elect republicans, but now these very candidates are back peddling. 

And remember while Democrats bitch about change not happening in one week, let’s listen to their chairman point out all the problems they left…

“The pickup truck is maybe between a half a billion and a billion dollars in new money they will have to find or cut that much government service, underfunded (state teacher and employee health insurance), a broken corrections system and a pent-up demand for roads.”

But hey maybe the GOP will throw people out of nursing homes…

“There were 1.5 million votes, and we lost anywhere from 200,000 to 300,000,” he said. “By the time they throw enough people out of the nursing homes, double the size of classrooms, find no new money, they will have several hundred thousand people turn on them.”

What?

Vote in poll..

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Leaf pickup=9/11

Mayor Tommy Battle and the City Council, remember, idled the city’s fleet of leafsucking vacuum trucks to help eliminate a $15 million budget deficit. Those trucks made it a breeze to deal with the trappings of autumn: just blow or rake your loose leaves to the curb and let city crews do the rest.

Now, homeowners are going to have to stuff their leaves into plastic bags and lug themto the street. City crewswill haul them to the landfill with other yard waste.

Was this civil disobedience?

Vicki Guerrieri, who lives on Woodcrest Drive in south Huntsville, was among the first homeowners to receive a reminder notice about bagging her leaves.

Who is she?

The South Huntsville Civic Association treasurer was among about 330 people to sign a petition against the elimination of loose leaf pickup.Guerrieri said some of her neighbors know they are supposed to bag their leaves, but others are still blowing them to the curb as usual.

330? Awesome.

So did the SHCA call Mayor Battle about helping people, including their own members, take care of their leaves?

Didn’t think so.

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I have been talking about across the state standards for education for some time…

Local school board officials are excited about the possibility of Alabama becoming the next state to adopt common standards forEnglishandmath, which they saywill help the adjustment of children of military families transferred here.

The state school board is expected to vote Nov. 18 on whether to adoptnewstandards as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative. The initiative is a state-led effort aimed at creating a curriculum framework thatwould put uniform standards in all public schools across the country.

I don’t see how anyone can be against this…

Some Alabama state school board members were also initially hesitant, but have warmed to the initiative. Dr. Mary Jane Caylor, representative for the Huntsville area, has made a 180-degree turn in her stance on the measure.

‘When it first came up, I just frankly didn’t have enough information to understand it,’ Caylor said. ‘It appeared then that it might be more of a federal intervention, a No Child Left Behind kind of thing, and I’m opposed to that.’ After learning more about the initiative, Caylor said, she plans to vote for it.

 No Child Left Behind was hated/is hated because there is an accountabilty angle to it. It appears there is no punishment here, just a guideline.

Consequences are bad in education…

Mary Louise Stowe, president of the Madison County Board of Education, agreed, and said she believes common core standards would give school districts a better way to measure their students’ progress against those in other districts, other states, and other countries.

‘Personally, I am in favor of it,’ Stowe said. ‘It would give us some standardization across the board, from school to school, system to system.’ Stowe, Caylor and Birney all pointed out that the core standards would be particularly useful in an area like North Alabama, where there is a large military presence. The children of military members are often uprooted mid-year, resulting in an interruption in their studies.

If they are moved to another school where they are learning the same thing, at the same pace, as they were in their old school, that can ease their adjustment.

11/8: Pay raise talk is back as the Times holds people accountable for campaign promises never made…

Guest today:

• 8:00 AM – State Representative Mike Ball

 

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The Hacksville Times is now doing a story on campaign promises… specifically a promise never made.

 

Repeal of the 62% pay raise… which I don’t think (I could be wrong) ever came up on the trail. (If I was a Democrat, I probably would have raised the issue of it’s repeal).

Many Republicans won elections by criticizingDemocratic lawmakers for passing a 61-percent pay raise as a recession loomed. Now that Republicans have their firstmajority in the Legislature in 136 years, they’re uncertainwhat to do about the increase.

Newly elected Republican legislators said the $18,790 increase didn’t come upwhen they held their first meetings in private Thursday and there’s no party consensus on an issue they had used to fuel voter anger against Democrats last Tuesday.

But many said they would like to take out automatic annual increases that were built into the pay raise legislation. “That part needs to be changed regardless of what else is changed,” said Sen. Del Marsh of Anniston, the Republican senators’ choice for president pro tem and one of a handful of legislators who never accepted the 61-percent hike.

This is a fake issue… no one ran on “repeal the pay raise”. The problem was not the money, it was how it was rammed through…

The resolution swept through both chambers on unrecorded votes.  In the Senate it was passed despite at least six Republicans shouting for a roll call vote.  According to the state constitution a vote must be recorded if at least four senators request one.  Folsom must not have been wearing his glasses, because he claimed he saw no one.

Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, said Folsom purposely didn’t look at senators. “He was looking straight ahead, looking at the gavel.”

After the Senate passed the resolution they stole away like cat burglars, despite having some serious unfinished business.

After the voice vote on Thursday, the Senate then immediately adjourned without a second reading of several bills, including one to help with the rebuilding of Enterprise High School.

I guess they were in a hurry to take advantage of the $250 a day that lobbyists can spend wining and dining them.

Here are the thoughts of some of The Dale Jackson Show regulars at the time…

“I thought it was a sham, an absolute sham,” said freshman Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. “We called for a voice vote. We were standing there with hands uplifted, and the gavel fell.”

Orr said the Alabama Constitution allows three senators to request a roll-call vote.

“I know three of us were up there, hands raised, saying, ‘Mr. president’, ‘ayes’ and ‘nays,’ and the gavel falls, and that’s it,” he said.

…

Asked if he voted for the raise, Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison, said, “Hell, no.”

 

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A purely coincidental letter to the editor appears in the Times today…

 

Republicans. Democrats.

What differences are there between them? Republicans are claiming, even promising, they are committed to change. Well, let’s see if one puts forth a resolution to repeal the 62 percent pay raise the Democrats shoved down the taxpayers throat in the 2007 legislative session.

If Republicans are unwilling to do this their first session, then I say the taxpayers can expect business as usual in Montgomery.

David Baker

Huntsville, 35811

Right, the pay raise or it’s business as usual.

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11/5: A liberal says I am right, the Tea Party doesn’t get it and 2012 is already here…

Guest today:

• 8:00 AM – The Mobile Press-Register’s George Talbot

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To further expound on the headline section “A liberal says I am right”, I need to point out the liberal actually says Mo Brooks and I are right…

 

Mo and Dale are right, the nation has to exist within its means. What they need to remember is that the majority can increase its means by taking from the wealthy. That “redistribution of wealth” thing is a legitimate threat.The new American majority — the non-wealthy — can increase its financial status without deficit spending. It can simply take from those who have benefited most from our capitalist system.

Obama — black and a champion of the poor — is terrifying to the wealthy minority, because he may let the cat out of the bag. It seems less likely after Tuesday, but there is that slight chance that the new American majority will realize its power.

The wealthy should have embraced Obama. He offered a (basically) capitalist delay to the time when the majority in our polarized nation realized the extent of its power. Their utter rejection of Obama worked in 2010. The wealthy minority, I think, will one day regret its Tuesday victory. Because capitalism works better than the alternatives, the rest of us also will feel the regret.

This reads like a commie wet dream, where the American Majority (socialists) are close to taking over the government and will use that power to punish the wealthy.

They tried that, listen to Obama’s rhetoric…

• Business are bad
• Insurance companies are bad
• rich people are bad

The people have rejected that.

Or have they?

Maybe they rejected the fact that Obama didn’t bring the redistribution fast enough?

I think it has a lot to do with the “American Dream”… I want to be rich, I want to have money and I believe one day I will be. If that happens the last thing I want to do is to have my money taken and given to someone else.

Does that make me a monster?

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I have been watching Twitter over the last 24 hours and have noticed a trend…

 

Tea Partiers don’t get government.

They don’t like government

They don’t like politicians.

They don’t like the process.

But they also don’t understand the process either.

State Rep. Mike Hubbard this afternoon became the first Republican House Speaker since Reconstruction. By all measures, it’s a historic day for the Grand Old Party.

Fellow House member, Paul DeMarco, however, may not be celebrating. He had planned to run for Speaker but he pulled his name from contention as a result of a meeting yesterday afternoon with Hubbard and Governor-elect Robert Bentley, who urged a compromise between the two.

After hours of give and take, a compromise was hammered out. Hubbard would be Speaker and DeMarco would be Speaker Pro Tempore.

“We looked each other in the eye and shook hands on it,” DeMarco says.

A few hours later, this morning about 11 o’clock, Hubbard reportedly called DeMarco to inform him that there was blowback from some caucus members. Hubbard wanted to redo the agreement sans DeMarco. State Rep. Victor Gaston of Mobile was to take the leadership post.

Head of the ALGOP Mike Hbbard is the GOP nominee for Alabama Speaker of the House and this has people very upset because he voted for the Billion Dollar Amendment.

But that is not why he is being supported for this post.

He is being supported because he went out and built the Campaign 2010 machine which flipped the House and the Senate. Did the Tea Party believe the ALGOP  folks were gonna toss him aside when they caucused for Wayne Johnson, Jim Partterson, Ed Henry or Dan Williams ( I use them as examples because they are the new blood in the House)?

The same thing is happening in the AL State Senate where Sen. Scott Beason’s (who is truly one of the good guys in the AL State Senate) supporters are feeling snubbed…

State Senator Del Marsh will lead the new Senate as president pro tem, besting fellow Senator Scott Beason. State Senator Jabo Waggoner was named majority leader.

The 22-member GOP senate caucus met today at the Alabama Forestry Association offices less than 48 hours after voters elected the GOP to the majority in the Legislature’s upper house.

Marsh (R-Anniston) raised money for Republican senate challengers, directling funds to their campaigns against entrenched Democrat incumbents. Earlier this year, Marsh campaigned for Bradley Byrne for governor.

Beason (R-Gardendale) also campaigned for Republican challengers, providing hands-on support. He has been an early Tea Party supporter.

Waggoner (R-Vestavia Hills) has been the Republican Senate leader.

House Republicans, also in the majority, will elect leadership today. House GOP Leader Mike Hubbard of Auburn is expected to emerge as the new Speaker. Hubbard also is Alabama GOP chairman. He and Governor Bob Riley organized the GOP leadership fund that raised $5 million to fund the party’s takeover of the Legislature.

UPDATE: Our friendly sources are reporting a lot of information via e-mail, telephone calls and text messages.  Here is a sampling:

“Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”

“The motion to reward Paul DeMarco was just tabled.”

“The BCA and pro-Amendment One forces are still in charge.”

“Scott Beason was just bitch slapped by the establishment.”

“Nothing ever changes.”

Folks, it has been ONE DAY and this rejection of Democrats was not a coronation of Republicans, nationally or locally, it was a rejection and a change of course. It will be up to the Tea Party, you and me to keep these new majorities focused on the Tea Party principles.

It’s been ONE DAY.

I am going to be watching the behavior of the Alabama Legislature like I always have and there will be no free passes. We expect more out of the new majority than we did in the past, but they get more than one day to change the state.

Furthermore… Mike Blakely drops the quote of the year…

Alabama Coach Nick Saban running on the Democratic ticket could not have beaten a one-legged child molester running as a Republican.

Love that guy.

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2012… 2012…

 

2012!

Asked who they would vote for if the Republican presidential primary were held today, 20% say Romney, 19% Huckabee and another 19% Palin. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Dale Jackson is NOT running for office… Yet.

I have popped up 3 times in the last 24 hours as a potential candidate…

Here.

Here.

Here.

one name – three syllables – one shiney head – Dale “Kingmaker” Jackson. The man has his finger of the pulse of Madison County and the metro area, he has a strong following and has the vision to lead SE Hsv (assuming he lives in the district)

Ok, so two of them are the same person but still… No.

One day. But not right now.

For now just call me the “Kingmaker!“

11/3: GOP takes the state, Democrats in denial and a broken media narrative…

Guests today:

• 7:30 AM - Chairman of the ALGOP and possible Speaker of the House in the Alabama State House Mike Hubbard
• 8:00 AM – Congressman-elect Mo Brooks

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Mo! Mo! Mo!

 

And for the first time in more than 140 years, North Alabama elected a Republican to represent the 5th Congressional District. Across the seven counties, Brooks earned 130,927 votes, or 58 percent of the total, to Raby’s 95,078, or 42 percent.

“We have resoundingly told the folks who have been in control that your ideas are not American ideas,” announced Brooks on stage at the Davidson Center for Space Exploration at the U.S Space & Rocket Center, calling on dozens of supporters with the bright red “Fire Pelosi” signs to hold them high.

Throughout the campaign, Brooks never strayed from his theme that the election was not about him and not about Raby. On Tuesday, he told supporters that his victory was part of a return to conservative movement that has “erected a large stop sign that says to Barack Obama you shall go no further.”

Across town in Huntsville, at their hotel suite at the Holiday Inn downtown, Raby’s team watched the returns like a prairie family watches an approaching tornado. Putting down their BlackBerries after each incoming call, they called out names of fallen Democrats.

Ouch.

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North Alabama leads the way in taking Alabama completely red!

 

Senate District 7: Incumbent Paul Sanford (R)

Senate District 2: Challenger Bill Holtzclaw (R)

House District 21: Challenger Jim Patterson (R)

House District 22: Challenger Wayne Johnson (R)

House District 5: Challenger Dan Williams (R)

Senate District 8: Challenger Shadrack McGill (R)

Senate District 9: Challenger Clay Scofield (R)

Henry wins District 9 House seat

‎Hunter beats longtime educator Yates for school board

Terri Collins wins another for women: Statehouse District 8

Zeb Little loses and now we have Senator Bussman

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Robert Bentley wins governor’s race

Kay Ivey completes stunning GOP sweep in slim victory for lieutenant governor

Martha Roby defeats Bobby Bright for U.S. House District 2

Amendment for road projects appears headed for a pothole

Republicans win U.S. House, prepare to oust Pelosi

Democrats preserve U.S. Senate majority; GOP grabs 6 seats

Luther Strange wins attorney general post

John McMillan wins agriculture commissioner seat

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So all this is happening and the media is trying to understand it…

 

They can’t.

The Tea Party is blamed for the losses in Delaware and Nevada and not given credit for the tide in general.

With tea party champions Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada both losing their races and Ken Buck in a race still too close to call in Colorado, the Senate remained out of Republican control even as the Democrats faced historic economic headwinds and an angry and dissatisfied public.

11/2: Election day…

Guests today:

• 7:00 AM – 9:00 AM – 2 full hours of Dr. Jess Brown and State Representative Mike Ball

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Great headline:

House Forecast: G.O.P. Plus 54-55 Seats; Significantly Larger or Smaller Gains Possible

Even better…

5 Reasons Democrats Could Beat the Polls and Hold the House

Those reasons?

1. Cell-phones
2. robo-polls
3. bad polling
4. Dems have good GOTV machines
5. things are not so bad for Democrats

Sounds like wishful thinking to me…

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538 projections:

Governor: Bentley 55.4-44.6

AL-05 – Mo Brooks 56.4-43.6

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Democrats using the school system and government material to attack conservative candidates?

Shocking…

The material surfaced at least twice, the first incident occurring Oct. 22 when a support employee at Butler sent an e-mail using a school e-mail account to several other school employees criticizing several Alabama Republican candidates. The employee urged the recipients to register to vote in today’s election.

The second incident occurred Monday when fliers were put in Butler employees’ mailboxes at the school. The flier had a photo of the president and first lady with the message, ‘Republicans have made it clear that they want our president, Barack Obama, to fail. Vote Democrat, or they win.’ The material was forwarded to The Huntsville T i m e s by Elbert Peters, president of the Madison County Republican Men’s Club. Peters said he’d received the information from the spouse of a teacher at Butler.

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Remember the 11,000,343,423,A43 jobs created by Amendment 3?

George Pierce, Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, says, “If this goes on the ten years they’re talking about, progressing jobs it could mean work for thousands of workers bringing more workers in just could be a tremendous shot in the arm and we all get the benefit of it.”

It’s a decision voters will have to make down the road in the November election.

A recent study indicates passage of amendment three could create or sustain 30,000 jobs over the next ten years.

Yeah, now it is 9,000+ jobs…

‘David Bronner has failed the people of Alabama by not telling the truth,’ said Lochamy. ‘I have heard more than one time on public radio the statement made by the current head of The Retirement Systems of Alabama that Amendment 3 will not create one job. That is absolutely absurd.’ Lochamy conceded that Amendment 3 ‘is not a cure-all,’ but he said it’s not just about roads. ‘It’s about repairing some of the bridges where school buses have to go 1,900 miles a day, according to the Department of Education, to avoid bridges that will not hold the bus with the school children.’ Dr. Keith Malone, an economist at the University of North Alabama, said a study he and a colleague, Dr. Jim Couch, conducted showed the proposal would have an economic impact of $2.2 billion over 10 years and create 9,731 new jobs.

Shocking.

But here are the facts…

1 billion / 10 years / 9,731 jobs = $10,276.43

11/1: Endorsements, tons of interviews and Lowell Barron’s gambling bosses…

Guests today:

• 6:30 AM – Candidate for State Representative (HD-21) Jim Patterson
• 7:00 AM – Candidate for Congress (AL-05) Mo Brooks
• 8:00 AM – Candidate for State Senate (SD-02) Bill Holtzclaw
• 8:30 AM – State Senator Paul Sanford

 

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Full endorsements:

State and Regional offices

State House and State Senate

Amendments and other stuff

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Alabama Democratic Party thinks the Tea Party is full of extremists…

 

Here it is…

Raby Trounces Extremist Brooks in Congressional Debate

Not the first time Raby has taken a shot at the Tea Party…

“Bottom line, we’ve got to protect the most sophisticated work force in the country,” Raby said. “And you can’t do this with silly Tea Party stuff.”

Raby declared himself “independent,” saying: “I’m not part of a national effort one way or the another.”

Now isn’t the same group trying to convince us that they are different from the national party?

Yep.

That crap doesn’t fly.

The days of conservative Democrats are over. Killed by the craziness in their own party both in Washington and Montgomery.

Meanwhile, the Democrat candidates don’t want to be Democrats…

Then we have the types of Democrats mention in the Augusta Chronicle article, State Senator Tom Butler and State Representative Butch Taylor are running as far away from the Democrat label as they can but they need the base to show up in order to win.

And even more hysterically State Senator Lowell Barron is running a series of ads that makes me wonder if he has an honorable bone in his body. Today alone I have heard and seen two ads that continue to make me angry.

Ad 1 is a radio ad that talks about how Lowell Barron is tough on meth. WTF does this have to do with anything? Is his opponent pro-meth? (No.) What is he hoping to accomplish here?

Ad 2 is TV spot where he, and I am not kidding you, he talks about how he “fought ObamaCare”.

This lying piece of garbage did everything in his power to thwart Alabama Senators who wanted to block ObamaCare in Alabama. And the only reason, the sole reason, he actually got on board was because we blew up his cellphone and he knew this was going to become an election issue.

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Wow…. Lowell Barron is raising a ton of money..

 

In the last five weeks of the local campaigns for state Senate, Democratic challenger Jeff Enfinger has all but shut down his prolific fundraising while seven-term Democratic incumbent Lowell Barron has suddenly raised enough in a few weeks to run for Congress.

State Sen. Barron, D-Fyffe, has found himself in a knockdown political fight with firsttime Republican candidate Shadrack McGill. And Barron responded by raising more than $300,000 since Sept. 20.

Gambling PACs or Steve Raby’s family PACs…

In fact, Barron’s financial disclosures show an even greater gulf between him and McGill. Officially, Barron declared that he raised $619,000 in the last five weeks. But half of that appears to be his own campaign money, money he handed to a PAC and saw returned as a contribution two weeks later, inflating his fundraising totals.

Barron, who between campaigns sits on a war chest of more than half a million, received three checks of $100,000 each on Sept. 30, each check coming from a PAC created by Steve Raby, the Democratic candidate in.

And this comes with the backdrop of McGill saying that in March or April he was offered a bribe to withdraw from the election. He said the offer came from a gambling lobbyist he declined to name.

McGill said he immediately contacted the FBI and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. Those officials met with him the next day and served him with a subpoena two weeks later, on April 26, to appear before a grand jury that returned indictments in the gambling probe earlier this month, McGill said.

McGill said he testified before the grand jury on May 5. But the bribe-offering lobbyist was not among those charged, McGill said. Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public, and FBI officials were not available to confirm McGill’s testimony.

“He simply offered me a sum of money and said there could be more where that came from,” said McGill. “He wanted me to back out so Lowell Barron would win unopposed. He mentioned $15-20,000 in cash.”

Oddly enough, Randy Owen is campaigning for Lowell Barron. Why is that odd? Because that is exactly what the indicted gamblers promised in their indictments…

Gilley and McGregor conspired to “provide campaign contributions, campaign appearances by country music celebrities, political polls, media buys, fundraising assistance, offers to pay money to opposition candidates in return for their withdrawal from races, and other things of value, to incumbent legislators and candidates for election to the Legislature

Money for opponents to drop out? Check.

Country music celebrities to campaign? Check.

Tons of checks? Check.

Democrats don’t want to be known as Democrats… Do you blame them?

This article in the Augusta Chronicle tells you everything you need to know about 2010.

It really has it all… An incumbent Democrat, Congressman John Barrow, that should be super safe using pathetic and shady campaign practices.

He tells Democrats one thing…

The first mailing has a cover with a picture of the Democratic president next to a headline, “NOW more than ever.”

“John Barrow,” it says, “is working hand in hand with President Obama to create jobs and turn the economy around.”

And then Republicans something else…

The other mailing has a headline that proclaims the 12th Congressional District representative as “not another rubber stamp.”

It says he “stood up to (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Washington.” It also notes his vote against Obama’s energy bill and “the Wall Street bail-out.”

Then they tell the media that these are not the droids you are looking for…

Barrow spokeswoman Jane Brodsky didn’t deny the mailings and the commercial targeted specific audiences, but she defended them, saying they show Barrow is independent and above party politics.

“This not about party or ideology,” Brodsky said. “It is about doing what is best for the people Congressman Barrow represents. That means working with the president to get jobs at the Savannah harbor … and new energy and housing renovation projects.”

It’s pathetic.

We have seen it in North Alabama as well…

The only Democrat that is proud of being a Democrat is State Rep. Randy Hinshaw and he only mentions it to say he voted agaisnt most other Democrats on a tax increase (Paraphrasing: Randy Hinshaw is one of only three Democrats to vote against a tax increase). That tells me other Democrats wanted tax increases.

Hinshaw, like I said, is a rare breed right now. He is a Democrat and he sort of wants people to know that…

Then we have the types of Democrats mention in the Augusta Chronicle article, State Senator Tom Butler and State Representative Butch Taylor are running as far away from the Democrat label as they can but they need the base to show up in order to win.

And even more hysterically State Senator Lowell Barron is running a series of ads that makes me wonder if he has an honorable bone in his body. Today alone I have heard and seen two ads that continue to make me angry.

Ad 1 is a radio ad that talks about how Lowell Barron is tough on meth. WTF does this have to do with anything? Is his opponent pro-meth? (No.) What is he hoping to accomplish here?

Ad 2 is TV spot where he, and I am not kidding you, he talks about how he “fought ObamaCare”.

This lying piece of garbage did everything in his power to thwart Alabama Senators who wanted to block ObamaCare in Alabama. And the only reason, the sole reason, he actually got on board was because we blew up his cellphone and he knew this was going to become an election issue.

At issue is the fact that Senator Lowell Barron is refusing to put a bill up that has cleared it’s Senate committee. The Democrats in Montgomery are refusing to even let their voices be heard on the issue because they fear the voters.

We melted Lowell Barron’s cellphone over the last few days by calling and texting him at…

256-996-5916

… and he went from demanding who gave it out to claiming he doesn’t care.

I could care less if he cares, what I know is that the effort is working. Other legislators are coming around.

The first vote was 15-2-18, with Senator Tom Butler (D) joining Senate Republicans and voting for SB 233. Yesterday the issue came up again BUT some Senators changed their votes. The final tally was 18-2-15 with Senators Wendell Mitchell (D), Jim Pruett (D) and Zeb Little (D) changing their votes.

Lowell Barron is trash. Period.

The only people this guy is fighting for is himself and gambling interests.

And this comes with the backdrop of McGill saying that in March or April he was offered a bribe to withdraw from the election. He said the offer came from a gambling lobbyist he declined to name.

McGill said he immediately contacted the FBI and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. Those officials met with him the next day and served him with a subpoena two weeks later, on April 26, to appear before a grand jury that returned indictments in the gambling probe earlier this month, McGill said.

McGill said he testified before the grand jury on May 5. But the bribe-offering lobbyist was not among those charged, McGill said. Grand jury proceedings are not open to the public, and FBI officials were not available to confirm McGill’s testimony.

“He simply offered me a sum of money and said there could be more where that came from,” said McGill. “He wanted me to back out so Lowell Barron would win unopposed. He mentioned $15-20,000 in cash.”

Oddly enough, Randy Owen is campaigning for Lowell Barron. Why is that odd? Because that is exactly what the indicted gamblers promised in their indictments…

Gilley and McGregor conspired to “provide campaign contributions, campaign appearances by country music celebrities, political polls, media buys, fundraising assistance, offers to pay money to opposition candidates in return for their withdrawal from races, and other things of value, to incumbent legislators and candidates for election to the Legislature

Money for opponents to drop out? Check.

Country music celebrities to campaign? Check.

How can people not see this? How could The Huntsville Times endorse this?

I really thought Sen. Charles Bishop was classless when he punched Lowell Barron in the face…

I think I changed my mind. Let’s hope voters deliver a knockout blow on Tuesday.