Election squabbles get an early start this year
By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
MONTGOMERY — There is an unwritten rule that general election campaigns in Alabama don't begin until Labor Day weekend. One reason is that the party nominees need to catch their breath from their primary campaigns; another is that the voters of Alabama would like a break from the constant campaigning before the fall election.
Gov. Bob Riley either isn't aware of this rule or he is simply itching for a fight.
A week ago at a speaking engagement in Cullman he came out slugging. I don't mean bobbing and weaving and a few light jabs, either. He was throwing haymakers in his attack on Democratic gubernatorial nominee Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley.
Then came the release a few days later of a wicked TV commercial in which he sought to put Baxley in the same political bed with U. S. senators John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.
She's “too liberal” the commercial said over and over. It also noted that Baxley had supported Kerry in the 2004 presidential election and that she was once quoted as saying she thought Hillary Clinton was an “inspiration.”
It didn't take long for Baxley to respond, and it was a dandy response that she gave: “Being called liberal by someone who proposed the largest tax increase in Alabama history is like being called fat by a hog.”
Oink, oink. The fight is on.
A spokesman for Riley was quick to defend the TV commercial, saying Riley was forced to respond to Baxley's “caustic negative attacks.”
A Baxley spokesman suggested that there was some “desperation” in Riley's campaign tactics.
The bottom line: Alabama voters best be prepared for a slugfest between Riley and Baxley for the next 90 days.
Some of you old timers might remember your boyhood when a lot of you would gather on the outdoor court with only one basketball to play with. You would all fight to get the rebound, no holds barred. We called it “root hog or die poor.”
It appears we will have a political version of that in the coming months between Riley and Baxley.
Does their protest have any merit? We will let the numbers speak for themselves. The employees will see their premiums increase from $164 to $180 a month. What are most of you in the private sector paying for similar coverage?
These premiums have not been increased since 1993 but during that time the cost of health insurance has skyrocketed. One study shows these costs have increased by 143 percent during the past six years.
The fact is, state employees have an incredibly generous health insurance plan. Add to that the very grim projection that the state faces a $20 billion unfunded liability for future health insurance costs for employees and retired employees, and this modest increase starts to look, if anything, too modest.
Recently as the debate continued over the proposal, the company which wants to build the landfill became remarkably civic-minded. They gave out bags of school supplies, and made donations to churches and volunteer fire departments in the county.
Opponents of the landfill said this sudden generosity was an attempt to buy support for the project, but a spokesman for the company says this is “beneath contempt.”
You can make up your own mind.
