See also the AL - 05 Big List.
Welcome to the AL - 02 Big List.
This list has been an attempt to keep up with everyone in either political party who has been credibly mentioned (in public or private) as a potential candidate for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District since Rep. Terry Everett (R - Rehobeth) announced that he will not run for re-election.
Both parties’ qualifying period ended April 4, 2008. Three Democrats and six Republicans qualified for the primary race, and they are listed below. The primary is June 3.
The Political Parlor will update the Alabama Line (found in the sidebar) for the race, though perhaps not as fast as you like since input from a wide array of people is sought.
| Democrats |
Republicans |
IN
Bobby Bright, Montgomery Mayor
Cendie Crawley, Dentist, Troy native
Cheryl Sabel, Alabama NOW President
OUT
William Boyd, Montgomery Mayoral Candidate
Seth Hammett, Speaker of the House
Jimmy Holley, State Senator
Jimmy Lunsford, Troy Mayor
Gary McAliley, Pike/Coffee Co. DA
Wendell Mitchell, State Senator
Scott Ninesling
James Perdue, Crenshaw Co Probate Judge
Cooper Rutland, Union Springs Atty
Ron Sparks, Agricultural Commissioner
Terry Spicer, State Representative
Glen Zorn, former Florala Mayor
|
IN
David Grimes, State Representative
Jay Love, State Representative
John W. Martin, Retired Army (Dothan)
Craig Schmidtke, Dothan oral surgeon
Harri Anne Smith, State Senator
David Woods, President, WCOV-TV (Montgomery)
OUT
Greg Albritton, former state Representative
Wes Allen, former candidate for Auditor
Kenneth Boswell, Enterprise Mayor
Bobby Bright, Montgomery Mayor
Terry Butts, former Supreme Court Justice
Jim Byard, Prattville Mayor
Steve Clouse, State Representative
Mark Culver, Houston County Commissioner
Larry Dixon, State Senator
John Giles, former Christian Coalition of AL President
Jack Hawkins, Troy Univ. Chancellor
Jimmy Holley, State Senator
Tim James, Greenville businessman
Troy King, Attorney General
Ben Lewis, State Representative
Barry Mask, State Representative
Charles Nailen, Dothan businessman
Steve Pelham, former Everett staffer
Jim Sullivan, PSC President
George Wallace, Jr., former PSC Commissioner
Dot Waller, Autauga County Bd. of Ed.
Greg Wren, State Representative
|
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i have some questions. MH do you have a life? or do you just sit here all day and wait for comments on the computer all day on this site. i am just wondering, another one is “enogh is enough is enough ” are you a democrat? i am new tooo here so if you could enlighten me but one more for MH, are you like Harian’s mom,sister,husband or Harian herself
because all you can do is defend Harian
Comment by Emma claire — April 5, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
LB,
You would have to ask Smith. I’m not privvy to the inner workings of her mind or anything else. But, it would seem obvious to me that she is trying to tighten the language of the bill so that there are no loopholes in it for some smarmy alwyer to drive a truck through, enabling the voters of Houston county to decide for themselves whether or not they want a gambling den in their back yard.
Seriously,
Your insinuations about Mafia and Nazis are offensive. But, I guess that when the only mud you can sling is either manufactured or distortions of the truth, some people will sink to any level.
Comment by MH — April 5, 2008 @ 11:37 am
On March 24, the Dothan Eagle published article about Harri Annes’s confusion about bingo http://www.dothaneagle.com/gulfcoasteast/dea/search.apx.-content-articles-DEA-2008-03-24-0012.html. She said that she was still researching it to learn more about it.
The last amendment to the Constitution was Amendment 569, dated 1993.
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/ACASLogin.asp
On April 3, Sen. Harri Anne Smith, R-Slocomb, introduced the bill on Thursday afternoon in Montgomery. The 5-page bill tightens language in the original amendment that only allowed charitable bingo in Houston County, leaving no room for bingo to be played on anything other than paper cards. http://www.rickystokesnews.com/cgi-bin/MyWeb/article_proc.pl?object=9257&category=26
So my question is, what prompted her to, out of the blue, want to change a law that had been on the books for 18 years? If she was not influenced, then what motivated her to make this change? MH?
Comment by LB-22 — April 5, 2008 @ 11:27 am
MH, you would defend Smith if she were caught red-handed shutting the oven doors in Nazi Germany. Smith is bought and paid for. The voters in the Wiregrass are smarter than you and the whole Dothan Mafia think they are. This is going to cost Smith the seat. Not to mention do you think alot of people in Dothan don’t know Milton McGregor is also behind this effort to stop Mr. Gilley. McGregor is as greedy as they come. McGregor wants this project kept out of Dothan because it would take dimes and nickels out of his pockets. The Dothan Mafia wants it out because they don’t have a piece of it and they think they should be consulted on ALL things in advance. I hope Harri Anne gets buried in this election. It will serve her right for thinking her citizens are so stupid as not to know the real deal here. As for you MH you are simply a blind follower who appears to very politically ignorant. I apologize for the harshness of my message here but sometimes you have to call it like you see it.
Comment by Seriously — April 5, 2008 @ 9:15 am
I agree with you, JT
Comment by ChrisJman — April 4, 2008 @ 9:51 pm
Here we go again. Amendment One bull&*%$. It never fails. But “enough is enough” you do seem to be arguing about someone’s spelling (and it is hard not to have a typo on here)and creating a diversion from their point. I think GOPer is correct about allowing bills to move forward that actually have substance when you know, and the whole purpose is, to put a bill together that will not pass and was never intended to pass without a public vote. And as noted, Senator Smith now seems to promote this idea. The point from GOPer makes sense in my opinion. Additionally, anytime someone talks about Senator Smith, the Harri Anne fanatics think the blogger must Like Jay Love. That is a false assumption in many cases I bet. Be surre to Cheack me spellang….
Comment by JT — April 4, 2008 @ 4:50 pm
Did you mean ‘misspell’?
Sorry…couldn’t resist…..(impish grin)
Comment by MH — April 4, 2008 @ 4:28 pm
Too bad there is not a spell check on here. But my main point - of passing bills knowing they are part of a package that will not become law unless voted on on by the public - and allowing that process to go fwd - makes perfect sense to me. I am glad our very bright Harri Anne Smith now agrees with that. Oh wait - did I mispell forward???
Comment by GOPer — April 4, 2008 @ 4:23 pm
Still wrong GOPer. And if anyone on this board still doubts your subhuman intelligence, the correct term is “PRINCIPLES” - not “PRINCIPALS.” “PRINCIPALS” are the top dogs at all of the primary schools in which you spent 4 years to complete each grade level . . .
Comment by Enough is Enough is Enough — April 4, 2008 @ 1:56 pm
this is ridiculous - those legislators that voted on the tax pacakge did not vote for taxes to be levied upon the folks of alabama without a later vote of the people. they voted for the package knowing it would be put to a statewide vote. in essence, they offered a real package to the people of alabama to vote on. and as harri anne said, important issues like this should go to the people. you are correct enough, it is easy to understand. what is easier to understand is that Harri Anne will do whatever you pollsters and financial backers ask… Principals anyone?
Comment by GOPer — April 4, 2008 @ 12:54 pm
As an aside - GOPer why do you wish to keep calling peoples attention to the fact that Jay Love voted repeatedly to hike taxes. Do you secretly hate him?
Comment by Enough is Enough is Enough — April 4, 2008 @ 10:51 am
GOPer you are more than a bit off base on Amendment 1 (and this is coming from someone who is truly tired of rehashing it). I was there- the parts Love voted for - the actual taxes - were voted on FIRST. If Love and others had NOT approved these - one by one - they would have NOT been part of the Amendment 1 package presented to voters by the REFERENDUM that passed unanimously.
In short if Love had voted against individual taxes - as Smith did in fact do -and those taxes had lost (as SOME DID) - they would NOT have had any chance of imposition on the people of Alabama. The taxes that failed on individual votes -seven of the 19 taxes I think - were NOT part of the referendum. So Love voted for those taxes that passed and Smith did not and there IS a certain, easily understood difference between voting for the taxes and the referendum. I just explained it, GOPer.
MY 9 year old can understand it. So can the other readers of this board.
In short, GOPer your argument is flawed fatally. The final vote on the referendum was for a vote of the peopel ONLY.
I am right and you are wrong here GOPer. As I stated before I know what happened in this process.
Comment by Enough is Enough is Enough — April 4, 2008 @ 10:49 am
Smith voted ‘no’ on all the tax bills. She voted ‘yes’ to allow the people to decide if their taxes should be raised or not.
Comment by MH — April 4, 2008 @ 10:46 am
I find it truly amazing that MH is now discussing how Harri Anne Smith wanted folks to be able to vote on Amendment One just as they now can vote against electronic bingo (maybe). If you will recall, all we used to hear about Harri Anne and Amednment One is how she opposed it and did all she could to stop it. Jay Love and others allowed Amendment One to move forward to a public vote, and now MH says Harri Anne, in her wisdom, suported just the same thing. Thanks for finally acknowledging such, MH!
Comment by GOPer — April 4, 2008 @ 10:33 am
David Grimes is a nice guy but I don’t think he has a shot to win the ace. He waited too late. In terms of Love or any other candidate, they cannot hide donors from the FEC in this race…
But I will take another look at Grimes…I am still looking for a candidate to support.
Comment by Dbone — April 4, 2008 @ 9:56 am
Dbone, I would not disgree that Smith pays attention to her donors. Pretty much all pols do. In her defense, howvere, at least we know who her donors are. She doesn’t hide them until after elections as Jay Love does and is currently doing in this congressional election. If you want a Montgomery legislator as your congressional candidate David Grimes is clearly and unquestionably superior to Love.
Comment by Anonymous — April 4, 2008 @ 9:35 am
LB is correct on one thing - whatever Harri Anne’s financial supporters want - she jumps. Believe me - if they were behind this development there is no way Smith would have introduced such a bill in the legislature then hid behind her statement of loving democracy so let’s all vote! Hypocrisy at its best…don’t you just love a true leader?
Comment by DBone — April 4, 2008 @ 7:58 am
LB,
Smith is proposing that the people of Houston County be allowed to vote on the proposal–just as she voted with the previously discussed referendum, that the people should be allowed to vote on whether or not they want their taxes raised.
It seems to me that when we have an issue that affects a large portion of the citizens in a given area, particularly one in which the people are ardently divided, it should be set before the people to decide. That way we can all be sure that no special interests are carrying more weight in that decision than Joe Voter.
IMHO, it is never a bad thing when you let the people who are most affected make the decision. Too often important issues are decided by a handful of people whose interests may not be the same as yours or mine.
If Electronic Bingo is the only thing that will make this project work, perhaps the project is already on shaky ground. But, my opinion aside on this issue, why would the developers be afraid to let the people decide on the gaming issue; unless they have a strong reason to believe that it will be voted down and are trying to shve it down our throats?
Personally, I do not want to see gambling expanded in any way, shape or form in this area. I’m all for the development. I just don’t want to see it based on gambling. I think the venue can, and should, stand on its own without the Electronic Bingo. But that is just my own opinion…and we all know what they say about opinions…..
As far as this being a ‘them and us’ issue with Dothan, I think you are seeing a consipracy where none exists. Money generated from this venue would benefit the entire area….including Dothan.
Comment by MH — April 4, 2008 @ 1:45 am
Apparently Harri Anne’s introduction of a bill yesterday http://media.gatewayal.com/dea/images/content/news/sen_casino.pdf to limit bingo in Houston County is clearly an effort to stop neighboring Coffee County developer Ronnie Gilley and Nashville investors from creating “Country Crossings” in Dothan. Before I begin, M.H., please reread the text and verify that the language regresses from what has already been in place for decades and please preface that on your next comment. And in reference to your comment # 451, “I wish more Legislators were as cautious as Smith”, it has taken her a week while the Senate was in session to check with her contributors to verify her marching orders. Cautious indeed.
In H.A.S.’s introduction to the change to the constitution of Alabama, she clearly indicates that she, an elected official to the most deliberative body in the State of Alabama, prefers a Democracy rather than a Republic form of government. She has bowed to the select few in Dothan that controls the money, the politics, and a few politicians. As a second term Senator H.A.S. has had plenty of time to change the bingo law in Houston County that she now feels so passionately about. However, it was not an issue until an outside developer wanted to bring a Country Music/Entertainment Venue into Houston County disregarding the “deep pockets” of Dothan. So, who stands to loose here? A few Elite Dothan businessmen or the entire population of the Tri States area? She has demonstrated once again the puppets of politics that so many of us are tired of. (ending with a preposition intentional)
This is a true demonstration that Southern Politics has not evolved over the years, though it has kept pace with technology. Money talks and H.A.S. walks, a thin straight line. An old saying in Dothan goes: “Say WATSON, did you see the DOVE with the SOLOMON white DOWNS flying over BONDY”S with a message to Montgomery? No JACK, It was just our carrier pigeon,”
Comment by LB-22 — April 4, 2008 @ 12:27 am
Although you may think him creepy, it appears he’s appreciative of your watching the station …
Comment by AnchorsAweigh — April 2, 2008 @ 9:54 pm