Madison County GOP legislators address supporters

Three Republican state legislators serving Madison County spoke Saturday at the monthly Madison County Republican Men’s Club meeting. Rep. Mike Ball, Rep. Mac McCutcheon, and Sen. Arthur Orr each spoke for about ten minutes about the happenings in the current legislative regular session.

There wasn’t much new information for those who follow the legislature with regularity.  Each legislator offered their thoughts on the current log jam.  Ball brought a copy of the Democrats’ “Covenant for the Future” and went over it item by item and explained what the Dems have done, or rather not done, to follow through with their promises.  (It should be noted that the official “Covenant” website no longer contains the actual “Covenant.”  Maybe they think if they hide it the voters won’t remember their broken promises.  The covenant can still be found here.)  He didn’t fail to mention that the Dems have tight control over what happens in the House and that they changed the rules this term in order to pack more Dems on key committees.  This would, theoretically, help them ram their agenda through, but so far all they have shown little motivation to live up to their promises.  He highlighted his anti double dipping bill that would force state employees to disclose all financial ties the state.  He believes – and I agree – that the bill proposed by Riley is highly unlikely to pass.

Orr painted a similar picture in the Senate, where the rules changes – especially on the budget debate – were especially egregious.

McCutcheon has taken a tried and true route for local politicians everywhere: fill the potholes.  He is pushing to increase the amount of money that Madison County gets from the state for road projects.  He said that we receive about 50 cents for each dollar paid in highway taxes.  Other counties (he mentioned Tuscaloosa and Montgomery) get just under $2 in project money for each dollar paid in taxes.  He made an interesting point about how the state falls all over itself increasing our debt limit so that we can build infrastructure in other parts of the state to attract jobs, but (supposedly, I’m not convinced) there are 5,000+ people moving to North Alabama with BRAC and we don’t get the same attention.

The most interesting tidbit that I heard was that McCutcheon, a first term legislator, said that the only vote he regrets so far was his vote against the “gourmet beer bill.”  He said he was “raked over the coals” by his constituents.  I wonder if other legislators have had similar come-to-Jesus experiences with their constituents as well?  The hops may yet be freed.

I managed to track down Madison County Commissioners Mo Brooks and Faye Dyer to talk about the ongoing half cent sales tax kerfuffle.  Dyer said that Commissioner Bob Harrison plans on putting the sales tax on the May 11 regular meeting agenda at this Friday’s meeting (4/27).  That tax proposal is just like a bad penny.