Inside the Statehouse
Viewed: 1904
Posted by: Steve51
Date: Feb 22 2017 9:20 AM
INSIDE THE STATEHOUSE
by Steve Flowers
As I have suggested to you, we are looking at one momentous 2018-election year, and it has begun. Get this folks; we have an open governor’s race. We have openings at Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Treasurer, Agriculture Commissioner, three seats on the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice position, all 35 state Senate seats, all 105 House seats, one hotly contested congressional seat, as well as 67 sheriffs. Folks, that’s the most political marquee year in my long political life. If media outlets do not make money next year, they ain’t ever gonna make any money.
As though the aforementioned cavalcade was not enough of a circus, we’ve got ourselves an open U.S. Senate seat. I believe that Ringling Brothers Circus closed in deference to us in the Heart of Dixie and our road show Vaudeville act called
Our good “ole” Governor Robert Bentley has been a great ringleader. He is quite a show. Poor ole Bentley has relegated himself to not only being irrelevant, but is considered a clown.
I have been around the state on a speaking/book signing tour and everywhere I go they ask about “ole” Bentley. I have to deflect the questions about his personal advisor following him to
In fact, I try to put some levity to the situation by telling folks, “Well, you know my observation of
Big Jim Folsom stayed drunk his whole second term, George Wallace was on pain pills his last term and did not know where he was, Fob James seemed disinterested and went duck hunting his second term, and they put poor ole Hunt and Siegelman in jail. At least Bentley shows up and does his duties to the best of his abilities. He just leans on one advisor, exclusively. They say she wrote his last State of the State speech. If she did, she ain’t much of a speechwriter.
Well, ole Bentley got himself a U.S. Senate seat appointment to grant. He milked it for what it was worth. He ultimately used it as a get out of jail free card. Even if his appointment of Luther Strange looks like chicanery and collusion, it was a shrewd political move by Bentley. It keeps him and his advisor out of the pokey.
The Luther Strange appointment looks brazen and audacious. The facts are clear, Strange as Attorney General of Alabama openly asked the House Judiciary Committee to cease their impeachment proceedings because he and his office were investigating the Governor and his advisor. Then all of a sudden, the Governor appoints him to a coveted senate seat. If that does not look like collusion, I do not know what does.
If given those facts the average fisherman in
Luther Strange will probably go on to be a good U.S. Senator. He is imminently qualified for the role, and has planned meticulously for this seat for the last 20 years. However, the taint of Bentley will follow him to
Big Luther is betting that as the incumbent senator for the next 15 months, he will be able to raise so much
We have a great 15 months of
See you next week.
Steve Flowers is
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