Legislative pay raise sails through
By Staff
Bob Ingram, Capitol Scene
MONTGOMERY — To paraphrase an old line, you bait the hook with a pay raise and you will catch Alabama legislators every time. Hence no one should have been surprised when the whopping 62 percent expense allowance hike sailed through the House and Senate comfortably.
In fact, when the motion was made in the House to override Gov. Riley's veto you knew it was a done deal — supporters of the raise would never have brought the issue up had they not been certain they had the votes to override.
The big winners in this vote were the lawmakers who live within short driving distance of Montgomery. They sleep in their own beds at night and more often than not eat their meals at home. Their expenses are minimal. All of the sudden, to representing Montgomery, Autauga, Elmore, Lowndes and Macon County — all within a few minutes drive of the Capitol — has become an exceptionally good job.
Will the voters remember this huge raise and get revenge in the 2010 election? Don't bet on it. It will be long forgotten.
Dr. Gogue (and his last name rhymes with “rouge”) was the only candidate and the unanimous choice to become Auburn University'18th president.
Dr. Gogue earned his bachelor's degree from Auburn in 1959 and his master's degree a couple of years later. He currently is serving as president and chancellor of the University of Houston.
He is expected to begin work at Auburn in mid-July.
Hunt, the first Republican governor since the Reconstruction, was removed from office during his second term after being convicted of a felony. He is now seriously ill with cancer and has admitted he is having a hard time paying his medical bills.
Bass worked for the department for more than four decades, including 12 years as director and another ten as chief engineer.
He served at a time when it was commonplace for the governor to use roads as a political tool. In fact in a recent interview he said “every public road is a political road.”
He was a 1959 engineering graduate of Auburn.
It is obvious he is still a sports fan. Mask has introduced in the House a bill to allow students who are home-schooled to participate in extra-curricular activities at the nearest public school, including athletics. Presently this is not allowed in Alabama.
Football fans call the proposition the “Tim Tebow Bill.” Tebow, a superstar high school quarterback in Florida, played for a local public high school even though he was home-schooled. Tebow as a freshman played a key role in the University of Florida winning the national football championship in January.
The mother: Their daughter, Mary Abigail Reinhardt. She lives in Honolulu where her husband is an officer aboard a nuclear submarine.
