Worley’s actions land her in hot water
By Staff
Bob Ingram, Capitol Scene
MONTGOMERY — It has almost become a joke in the halls of the State House. Every year, early in the regular session, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passes a bill that would ban the transfer of money among political action committees. These PAC-to-PAC transfers make it impossible for the voters to know who is funding political campaigns.
But once the House members have passed the bill it goes to the Senate, where it is never heard from again. For five straight years the same thing has happened — the bill is passed by the House but is never even considered in the Senate.
Here we ago again. The 2007 Regular Session is but a couple of weeks old and already the House has passed the measure again. It is now in the bosom of the Senate, as the expression goes. Any bets on its approval in that chamber?
A tip of the hat should go to Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville. He has been the persistent sponsor of this legislation on every occasion. Unfortunately, he has no control over what the Senate does.
Former Secretary of State Nancy Worley has been indicted by a grand jury for violating that law. She called the indictment a “Republican witch hunt.” Her lawyer called it “much ado about nothing.”
Nobody denies that last spring Mrs. Worley — then campaigning for the Democratic nomination for a second term — sent a letter to her employees urging their support and including a bumper sticker. And while the letter did not make a specific request for money, there was an envelope and card enclosed that had spaces for contributions for as little as $25 to as much as $1,000.
Was that a violation of the above-quoted law? That is what a jury will have to decide.
Last week one of the few women association executives, Dr. Sandra Sims-deGraffenried, the executive director for the Alabama Association of School Boards, announced she would retire at the end of the regular session.
For 19 years she has headed the school board group and earned nothing but plaudits for her work. Don't say anything to her about the “weaker sex”– she has made a lie of that line.
Her decision to retire comes only a few months after the unexpected death of her husband, former State Sen. Ryan deGraffenried.
Talk about a wholesale, high-profile house cleaning, consider this: Last week, only moments after she had anchored the 5 p.m. news on WPMI-TV15 in Mobile, Kim McCrea was summoned to the office of the general manager and fired.
An hour later, only moments after they had co-anchored the 6 p.m. News on the same NBC station, Peter Albrecht and Drexel Gilbert were summoned to the same GM's office and fired.
General Manager Bob Franklin, who wielded the axe, said the wholesale firings were brought about because of the station's low ratings on its news shows.
