Governor - Bob Riley (R)

  • This choice is a prime example of selecting the lesser of two evils.  I’ll give Bob Riley credit for running a scandal free administration for four years, which is a big deal in my opinion.  Sure, scandals seem to be coming out of the woodwork now, but I attribute the bulk of them to election year politics.  Riley doesn’t deserve as much credit as he is claiming for the good economic times in Alabama, but he does deserve credit for not harming the economy, as Lucy Baxley has promised to do by pushing for a higher minimum wage.  In the end we have two major party candidates to choose from: a bad one and a decent one.  I’ll go with the decent one.  [Note: I originally called Riley the "descent" candidate.  Damned keyboard!  He could still lead us down a perilous path, though.]

Lt. Governor - Luther Strange (R)

  • As much as I despise lobbyists I would rather have a markedly pro business guy in this position than a pro status quo, good ol’ boy fellow like Folsom.  I would much rather see Mo Brooks in this position.  Excuse me while I cry over spilled milk.

Attorney General - John Tyson, Jr. (D)

  • Tyson is experienced and qualified.  Additionally, I think there is some merit in avoiding party uniformity across the major state offices.  King lost a lot of points in my book for his dogged pursuit of price gouging suits, which I view as an attack on a natural free market response to a catastrophe. 

Supreme Court Chief Justice - Drayton Nabers, Jr. (R)

  • I feel that he has been an effective manager of the Supreme Court and I see no reason to vote him out of office.

Supreme Court Justice, Place 2 - Tom Woodall (R)

  • Woodall’s stand against Parker and his “flunkies” impressed me.

Supreme Court Justice, Place 3 - Lyn Stuart (R)

  • Similar rationale as used in place 2 decision.

Supreme Court Justice, Place 4 - Undecided for now, convince me if you have an opinion

Court of Civil Appeals, Place 1 - Terry Moore (R)

  • Both men in this race seem very qualified.  I give the slightest of edges to Moore based on his extensive experience in workers comp. law.

Court of Civil Appeals, Place 2 - Craig Pittman (R)

  • My reasoning for this decision may seem pretty flimsy, but he is from my hometown and from a good family.  My little brother helped maintain his parents’ property for years.

Court of Civil Appeals, Place 3 - Jim McFerrin (D)

  • McFerrin gets the nod because he is not Terri Willingham Thomas. 

Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 1 - Greg Shaw (R)

  • If there is no compelling reason to vote against an incumbent for a position like this, then vote for him (or her).

Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 2 - Kelli Wise (R)

  • Same logic as applied to Shaw. 

Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 - Sam Welch (R)

  • More experience dealing with criminal cases gives Welch the edge here. 

Secretary of State - Beth Chapman (R)

  • A vote for Chapman is a vote against Nancy Worley.  Period. 

State Treasurer - Kay Ivey (R)

  • The only knock on Ivey, and I’m not positive this is her jurisdiction, is the poor selection of administrator (Van Kampen) of Alabama’s 529 plan.  Van Kampen’s fees are very high compared to administrators of other state plans, which led us to open out of state 529 plans for our children.  Other than that I have no qualms with her scandal free tenure.

State Auditor - Sam Shaw (R)

  • At least Shaw has experience conducting audits. 

Ag Commissioner - Ron Sparks (D)

  •  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Public Service Commission, Place 1 - John Rice (R)

Public Service Commission, Place 2 - Susan Parker (D)

  • Speaking of being insulated from the energy lobby, Hooper’s ethical lapses give me pause in that regard.

Amendment 1 - N/A

  • This amendment relates to Pritchard - let them decide.

Amendment 2 - No

  • This is the 10-mill bill.  Sales taxes are the least preferred form of taxation and this amendment would require 30 school districts to increase property taxes to 10 mills for education purposes.  Right now those districts assess less than 10 mills in property taxes and fund the remainder through sales taxes.  This is nothing other than an imposed tax increase on those districts because there is no automatic mechanism in place to reduce the sales tax rate by the amount of the property tax increase.  The backers of this amendment are asking the voters in the unaffected districts to vote yes because it won’t affect them - a tactic I abhor.  Ordinarily I would abstain and let the affected people decide this matter, but I will vote no simply to cancel out one of the yes votes generated by the proponents.  Yes, I’m petty.

Amendment 3 - N/A

  • Let voters in Macon County decide for themselves.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Alabama, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.