Daily News Digests Will Return
The Daily News Digests will return later this week.
February 28, 2006
February 27, 2006
Welcome
Welcome to our new digs… Make yourself at home.
Keep your feet off the furniture, and for goodness sake use a coaster.
February 26, 2006
Sunday 2/26/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140949546215600.xml&coll=2 – “The Political Notebook,” the Birmingham News weekly roundup of political trivia from Montgomery and Washington.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140949980215600.xml&coll=2 – Term limits bill sees little support.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/bblalock.ssf?/base/opinion/1140949412215600.xml&coll=2 – Bob Blalock’s commentary on Alabama’s ranking as number 1 in taxing poor families and the prospects for tax reform.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1140949695215580.xml&coll=3 – Poll shows Riley leading both Democratic candidates for governor’s chair.
http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140949412215560.xml&coll=1&thispage=1 – Editorial urges compromise among competing tax reform plans.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS/602260326/1050/NEWS - Editorial in support of proposed tax holiday.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS02/602260308/1009 - “The Capitol Insider,” the Montgomery Advertiser’s weekly political roundup.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS02/602260307/1009 - Approval of pay raise for retirees appears likely, despite cautions from Bronner and Riley.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/OPINION01/602260302/1012/OPINION - Editorial warns that governmental employee pay raise poses danger for state’s fiscal health, but acknowledges that passage is a given.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS/602260336/1012/editorial1 - Editorial cautions that proposed sales tax holiday will have a negative impact on school funding.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS/602260334/1013/EDITORIAL2 - “Alabama Exposure,” Dana Beyerle’s weekly political column for the NYTimes regional papers.
http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS/602260351/1011 - Speculation grows that legislature may have a short session.
February 25, 2006
Saturday 2/25/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140862563285140.xml&coll=1 – Editorial supports proposed sales tax holiday as “better than nothing.”
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-localnews-0225-richardmcvay-6b24v5723.htm - St. Clair and Talladega County legislators review activities of past week.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/APN/602241081&cachetime=5 – Montgomery County Circuit Judge announces race for Court of Civil Appeals.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/APN/602241005&cachetime=5 – Riley asks senators to apologize for comments that questioned political actions of state Revenue Commissioner.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/APN/602240815&cachetime=5 – Siegelman to formally kick off campaign on March 5th.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS01/602250356/1007 - Sen. Quinton Ross (D-Montgomery) says he will seek reelection.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060225/NEWS/602250346/1007/NEWS02 - Rep. William Thigpen (D-Fayette) announces reelection plans.
February 24, 2006
Friday 2/24/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140776738124540.xml&coll=2 – Attorney General says millions of dollars are in budget for services to developmentally disabled individuals, advocates disagree.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140776112124540.xml&coll=2 – DHR Commissioner says he wants to see private counseling clients on the side.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140776413124540.xml&coll=2 – Finance Director labels ETF budget as “not financially responsible” in comments before Senate committee.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140776527124540.xml&coll=2 – Committee chair criticizes Revenue Commissioner for lobbying for Riley’s tax reform proposal, express concerns that Department could target opponents.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140776134124540.xml&coll=2 – Editorial urges legislature to act on tax relief for poor families following release of CPBB report on state income rates, sees Riley’s plan as most viable.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1140776356124570.xml&coll=3 – Riley confirms that he is in discussion with Rep. Knight trying to work out tax reform plan.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1140776354124610.xml&coll=1 – Sen. Jeff Enfinger (D-Huntsville) announces that he will not seek reelection.
http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140776239124610.xml&coll=1 – Editorial urges readers to contact legislators and demand their support for constitutional convention.
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-pellcity-0224-richardmcvay-6b23v3150.htm - Riley urges local GOP members to work to turn Alabama into a “true red state.”
http://www.dailyhome.com/opinion/2006/dh-editorials-0224-0-6b23v2431.htm - Editorial urges legislature to raise tax threshold now.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060224/taxes.shtml - Sales tax holiday proposal clears House on unanimous vote.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060223/APN/602231033&cachetime=5 – Senate ends day early after failing to achieve quorum.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/NEWS02/602240311/1009 - Attorney General draws criticism from anti-abortion activist.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/NEWS/602240350/1012/editorial1 - Editorial uses CBPP as impetus for yet another call for tax relief for poor families.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
EDITORIALS
A rich opportunity
In our opinion
02-24-2006
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The other day, when it was announced that President Bush’s budget will eliminate the “nutrition-in-a-box” program that provides healthy meals to senior citizens, Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl asked, “How do you justify doing something like this, while at the same time giving people like Herb Kohl huge tax cuts?” Kohl is a multimillionaire. Would that more of the well-to-do would ask themselves the same question. Under the Bush tax plan, the wealthy are making out like bandits, while the poor and middle class are seeing programs they depend on being reduced or abolished. And, judging from how little the Bush beneficiaries have protested this inequity, the well-to-do must feel that what they are getting what they deserve. Closer to home, the same thing is happening. After years of pushing to ease the tax burden on lower-income earners, Rep. John Knight’s proposal to raise the minimum income tax threshold from $4,600 to $22,900 is finally getting serious consideration. But there is opposition. It rankles the well-to-do that Knight’s proposal does not include a tax cut for them (as Gov. Bob Riley’s plan does). But most galling to the rich is that revenue lost by raising the income-tax threshold would be made up by eliminating the federal income tax deduction, which is a nice break for the rich, but doesn’t mean much to everyone else. Advocates for the affluent are already attacking the elimination of the deduction as a tax increase on the middle class — a deceptive strategy, indeed unethical strategy, but one that works on middle-income earners whose tax burden is only slightly less that that borne by the poor. What we need is for Rep. Knight and his supporters to find a way to give the middle class a break as well, but more than that, we need the wealthy of our state to do what Herb Kohl did: Denounce the unfair tax code we have and let it be known that they will support efforts to change it — even if it costs them money. Alabama has many decent citizens who just happen to be financially better off than most folks. It is time that their voices were heard. |
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INSIGHT Legislature attacking women’s rightsBy Cheryl Sabel
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February 23, 2006
Thursday 2/23/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140690221140540.xml&coll=2 – Study by CBPP shows Alabama taxing its poor citizens at the highest rate in the nation.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140689768140540.xml&coll=2 – Advocates call for state to establish fund to help poor pay gas bills.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140690176140540.xml&coll=2 – Parole Board wants “temporary” board to cease.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140690051140540.xml&coll=2 – Editorial praises Senate committee members who voted for constitutional convention measure.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AL_ENGLAND_COURT_ALOL-?SITE=ALMON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT – Circuit Judge John England will seek to regain seat on state Supreme Court.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/APN/602221017 - Senate joins House in approving measure to allow use of dead force.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060223/calendar.shtml - Summary of yesterday’s legislative action.
FROM TODAY’S ANNINSTON STAR:
EDITORIALS
One small step for democracy
In our opinion
02-23-2006
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After the House Constitution and Elections Committee’s shameful vote to deny citizens the right to vote on whether to call a constitutional convention, supporters of reform put their faith in the Senate equivalent of the same committee. Tuesday, their trust was rewarded with a 10-0 vote to approve the plan and send it to the full Senate for debate. We thank the 10 senators for their bold and principled stand on this issue. We urge their House counterparts, who were not so bold and principled, to profit from their example. Of course, the fight for a new state Constitution is far from over. There are many, including Senate Majority Leader Zeb Little, D-Cullman, who are for the bill but doubt if it has enough support in the Senate to get it passed. Maybe not, but here is a chance for our increasingly influential Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston, to take a stand for reform and work to bring his fellow Republicans over to that side. In the House, Republicans have almost universally opposed a convention, but in the Senate this opposition appears softer. Sen. Marsh could be the key to giving Alabamians a chance to vote on the issue and on their future. Thus far, all the reasons for opposing a convention have been superficial and self-serving. If a constitutional convention will be dominated by special interests (as opponents claim), then why do the biggest special interests in the state oppose a convention? A new Constitution will no more expand gambling than the current Constitution inhibits it — Alabamians are gambling all around us and will continue to do so. A new Constitution, written by modern Alabamians, is more likely to propose a reasonable solution to the problem. As for taxation, a new Constitution is just as likely to lower taxes on the majority of citizens as it is to raise them. And a new Constitution is no threat to the legal property rights of citizens. These are scare tactics employed by those who like things the way they are and are afraid the people don’t. The Alabama Senate has taken the first step to letting the people vote on this issue. Now is the time for lawmakers who trusted citizens to elect them to let those same citizens vote on a constitutional convention. There is no good reason not to. |
EDITORIALS
The lordly lobbyists
In our opinion
02-23-2006
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A bill working its way through the Alabama Senate would require lobbyists to reveal what they spend to entertain and inform lawmakers (including the governor) and entice them to do their bidding. Today, a lobbyist can spend up to $250 a day on a legislator and not report a dime of it. Nothing is inherently criminal with deep-pocketed special interests doing this, but if they do, the public who elects the lawmaker has every right to know. If this bill passes, the public will. But while we are at it, perhaps it is time to do more than reveal money spent. Perhaps it is time to limit the access lobbyists have to legislators, especially when a bill is being debated. For some time, critics of the lobbying tactics of the Alabama Education Association have complained about executive secretary Dr. Paul Hubbert working the floor during committee meetings, making sure lawmakers know that he is there and that the AEA is watching. More recently, in the House committee debate over whether the people of Alabama should decide for themselves if a constitutional convention should be called, The Huntsville Times reported how “Paul Pinyan, an Alfa lobbyist, continually whispered into the ears of members.” How was it that a lobbyist could get so close to committee members during a meeting? And what was he whispering? And to whom? Was he bending the ear of local representative Randy Wood? Telling him to forget that back in 2002 he told The Anniston Star, “If we’re going to ever grow in Alabama, we’ve got to have a new Constitution.”? Was he telling Rep. Steve Hurst from Mumford that no one would remember that back in 2002 he told the Talladega Daily Home, “Yes, (the Constitution) should be changed. How should we do it? Let the people vote on how they want it done.” If that was what Pinyan was doing, he did his work well, because both men decided to vote the lobbyist’s line. Should Pinyan or Hubbert or any other lobbyist have that sort of access at such a critical time? What do you think? |
LEGISLATURE
Sales tax holiday bill gets committee approval
By Brian Lyman
Star Capitol Correspondent
02-23-2006
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MONTGOMERY — August may be holiday-free, but House members are taking steps to change that. The House Education Finance and Appropriations committee approved a bill Wednesday that would make the first full weekend in August a sales-tax holiday. The bill now will go to the House for a vote. The proposed legislation would remove the 4 percent state sales tax during the holiday on purchases of clothing items costing less than $100, on school-supply items costing less than $50, and on electronic items (for example, computers and computer accessories) costing less than $750. The first weekend in August usually is the busiest time for back-to-school shopping. Cities and counties would have the option of removing local sales taxes from those items. Anniston charges a local rate of 4 percent, for a total sales tax of 8 percent. In Oxford, which has one shopping mall operating and another scheduled to open in July, Mayor Leon Smith said he didn’t know enough about the bill to say definitively whether his city would consider suspending sales tax for a weekend. “I don’t think three or four days (without a sales tax) is going to make or break anybody,” Smith said of the tax-free days. Anniston Mayor Chip Howell said the issue has not come before the Anniston City Council. “It would be a tough call to make,” he said. “We’re on a tight budget, and a weekend would cost $50,000 to $60,000.” Local business leaders said the holiday would help the area retain shoppers who might cross the border to take advantage of sales-tax holidays in Georgia. “Communities like ours that are closer to borders with other states see the greatest impact,” said Sherri Sumners, president of the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce. “I think it will be good news for our businesses, and certainly for the consumers.” Rep. Mac Gipson, R-Prattville, said Georgia, Florida and Tennessee have sales-tax holidays that hurt retail sales in Alabama. “Now we’re about surrounded with sales-tax holiday states,” he said. The sales-tax holiday would cost the Education Trust Fund about $3.5 million. Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, who supported the bill, said the money would be made up in a bill sponsored by Rep. Terry Spicer, D-Opp, which would require entities that sell property to state agencies to collect sales taxes. That bill also passed out of committee yesterday. If the sales-tax holiday bill is signed into law, the first such holiday would take place this year from Aug. 4-6. Alabama Retail Association president Rick Brown, who strongly supported the measure, said the holiday would not lead to business declines before or after it takes place. “(Georgia businesses) see a dramatic increase in business (over the holiday),” he said. “And the thing is, they don’t see a decrease in business on either side of the holiday.” Sales-tax revenues go into the state’s Education Trust Fund; bills affecting collection of taxes generally go to the House Education Finance and Appropriations committee. Items that would be covered Items specifically excluded |
February 22, 2006
Wednesday 2/22/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140603635181430.xml&coll=2 – Senate’s Tuesday work session cut short by lack of quorum.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140604090181430.xml&coll=2 – Senate committee gives unanimous approval to measure for constitutional convention.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140603899181430.xml&coll=2 – Editorial calls for explanation of DHR’s actions in decision to start over on development of computer system which has already cost $50 million.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1140603818181440.xml&coll=3 – Mobile County considers hiring conservative think tank to study impact of sales tax cuts.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1140603701181480.xml&coll=1 – House approves expansion of use of deadly force.
http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140603528181480.xml&coll=1 – Editorial commentary on the possibility of Roy Moore running for governor as an independent.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS02/602220339/1009 - Proponents of differing bills to make death or injury of unborn child a crime join forces.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS02/602220328/1009 - Utilities tell committee that measure to require no cutoffs during winter months not needed.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/OPINION0101/602210379/1012/OPINION - Kimble’s commentary on the advantages of the Knight income tax plan.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/APN/602210994 - GOP chairperson resigns position with lobbying firm representing casino interests.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
State educators push to retain annual reappraisals
By Brian Lyman
Star Capitol Correspondent
02-22-2006
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MONTGOMERY — Educators urged a Senate committee Tuesday to vote against a bill that would require property reappraisals every four years instead of annually. “We are about to put politics back into the middle of taxation,” said Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association. “Instead of letting a system work that is already working in several counties, we’re going to put politics into it.” The bill, sponsored by Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope, would change language in the Alabama code that currently requires reappraisals to be carried out every year. While that language has been in state law since the mid-1970s, governors and state legislators ignored it. The state Department of Revenue began phasing in annual reappraisals in 2003. Calhoun County started in 2004, and about 30 counties now make annual appraisals. All counties would go into annual appraisals by 2009. Byrne, however, says he’s heard numerous complaints from revenue commissioners and homeowners in Baldwin County, which Byrne represents. A strong housing market there has boosted property values, and annual appraisals have led to tax jumps each year. “My constituents tell me that when there will be a jump (in taxes), they would rather have it every four years, because they don’t want to face a tax increase every year,” he said after the meeting of the Senate’s General Appropriations committee. Educators at the meeting argued that the annual reappraisals give school districts a reliable source of funding and made it easier to plan for future years. “What annual reappraisals have done … is create a degree of stability for the poorer school districts in this state,” said Craig Pouncey, assistant state superintendent of education. Sandra Sims-deGraffenried, executive director of the Alabama Association of School Boards, said many districts already have floated bonds for projects based on revenues coming in from annual reappraisals. “We’re almost halfway there,” she said. “Let’s give it a chance to work.” Byrne has drafted amendments to his bill to restrict the quadrennial reappraisals to residential property and allow counties to set the time for reappraisals. But he countered some of the criticism coming his way, saying revenue commissioners in his county are not able to do reappraisals on every home every year. “I think it probably is better for the school systems, but we have to balance that out against the big concerns of revenue commissioners and the serious concerns of taxpayers,” he said. |
February 21, 2006
All 772 amendments of it
I just added in the Links section at the bottom of the page a link to the Alabama Constitution - including all 772 amendments. No wonder it is the longest Constitution in the world.
If the Constitutions of Alabama four neighboring states - Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi - were combined, Alabama’s would be four times longer.
Over 70% of the amendments apply to one city or county. No wonder state legislators spend nearly 50% of their time on local issues.
No matter how you slice it, it’s a mess.
Tuesday 2/21/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114051742735010.xml&coll=2 – Bills crackdown on unlicensed health care facilities.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114051701035010.xml&coll=2 – Editorial questions the size of election year pay raises for public employees and retirees.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/114051714935020.xml&coll=3 – Rep. Greg Albritton (R-Range) announces reelection plans, draw opposition from retired educator.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/114051704235040.xml&coll=1 – Moore pledges to stay with GOP amid speculation that he may run for governor as an independent.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/NEWS02/602210366/1009 - House set to return to debate over deadly force bill today.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060221/budget.shtml - Governor says ETF budget is “unsound.”
http://www.oanow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=OAN/MGArticle/OAN_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834236009 – Minority Leader Rep. Hubbard has wide fund raising lead over Democratic candidate Carolyn Ellis.
February 20, 2006
Highest % of people in poverty in developed world
A devastating story about poverty in America (from overseas, no less):
A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty. That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world. They are found from the hills of Kentucky to Detroit’s streets, from the Deep South of Louisiana to the heartland of Oklahoma. Each year since 2001 their number has grown.
Under President George W Bush an extra 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line. Yet they are not a story of the unemployed or the destitute. Most have jobs. Many have two. Amos Lumpkins has work and his children go to school. But the economy, stripped of worker benefits like healthcare, is having trouble providing good wages.
This does not even factor in that the federal poverty line is an inadequate measure of what Americans need to earn to be self-sufficient. Here is a good study on what it takes to be self-sufficient in Alabama (Link opens up a PDF file).
Monday 2/20/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140430564202160.xml&coll=2 – Editorial critical of House for passing an ETF budget that is “irresponsible” and rejects Riley’s plan for income tax reform.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1140430691202130.xml&coll=3 – “The Political Skinny,” a weekly roundup of politics from Mobile, Montgomery and Washington from the Mobile Register.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060220/law.shtml - Alabama’s habitual offender law leads to prison overcrowding.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/editorials/060220a.shtml - Editorial calls for legislature to trust Alabamians to draft a modern constitution.
February 19, 2006
Sunday 2/19/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114034491794550.xml&coll=2 – After spending $50 million on child welfare tracking system, DHR decides to scrap effort and start over.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114034424894550.xml&coll=2 – Retirememt Systems officials say pension increases may hurt systems.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114034457894550.xml&coll=2 – Editorial blasts legislators for what is termed “a special (interest) vote” in rejecting bill for constitutional convention.
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114034458494550.xml&coll=2 – Editorial calls for legislature to take action on bill strengthening child restraint requirements.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/114034472594580.xml&coll=3 – New Mobile Register/USA poll shows gap between Baxley and Siegelman narrowing.
http://www.al.com/opinion/mobileregister/qhillyer.ssf?/base/opinion/1140189304294670.xml&coll=3 – Mobile Register’s Quinn Hillyer’s final commentary reflects on the good, bad of Alabama.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060219/casino.shtml - Alabama GOP chairman working for Mississippi lobbying firm that represents casino interests.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060219/NEWS02/602190329/1009 - The Capitol Insider, the Montgomery Advertiser’s weekly roundup from the Statehouse.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060219/OPINION01/602190302/1012/OPINION - Editorial criticizes House members for rejecting Governor’s tax reform plan, and projects that in this political year, no plan will survive.
http://www.dothaneagle.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=DEA%2FMGArticle%2FDEA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834199501&path=!frontpage – Moore speaks of God and country while campaigning.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060219/NEWS/602190334/1012/editorial1 - “Alabama Exposure,” Dana Beyerle’s weekly political column for the NYTimes regional papers. Note that the first entry in this week’s column include a report that a poll by the Capitol Survey Research Center shows 72% of those polled support the bill calling for a constitutional convention.
http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060219/NEWS/602190334/1015/OPINIONS01 - Editorial blasts House committee members for vote on constitutional convention measure, urges Senate to act favorably on proposal.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
EDITORIALS
And then there was light, or was there?
In our opinion
02-19-2006
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Excuse us while we revisit the constitutional issue, again. A constitutional convention — an idea dealt a setback in the state House this week with the help of Reps. Randy Wood and Steve Hurst — is a grassroots attempt to bring transparency to state government. It is not, as many of the Legislature-controlling special interests will have you believe, a sinister attempt to extract God and implant taxes. The not-so-brave Reps. Wood and Hurst have additional concerns, including the influence of the special interests themselves. Sure the special interests will try to grab control of a convention, if our lawmakers find the courage to let the people vote on it. But they will be doing that in the daylight, out where people can see what they are up to. Right now, those same special interests have lobbyists creeping through the back halls of the Senate and the House, prowling around, whispering this and that and spreading money all the while. You, the citizen, the voter, the taxpayer, the good people of Alabama, you never see that, you never get a glimpse of what a corrosive impact that has on the day to day workings and long-term policies of this state. So here’s your choice: you can get behind a constitutional convention, vote to send a sunshine legislator to that convention from your legislative district, where a new document will be written in the wide open, or you can choose to stay in darkness, letting the same interests that have kept a stranglehold on this state for generations continue to keep us back. Send your state senator and your state representative, even Reps. Hurst and Wood, a message. Tell them you want the sun to shine, tell them you are tired of the darkness in Montgomery. |
FROM TODAY’S DAILY MOUNTAIN EAGLE (Jasper)
Guin, Riley agree on tax cuts
But they disagree on method needed
DAN WHISENHUNT
The Daily Mountain Eagle
Published February 18, 2006 9:20 PM CST
House Majority Leader Rep. Ken Guin, D-Carbon Hill, said he does not have a problem with a tax cut, as long as it is not the one originally proposed by Gov. Bob Riley.
On Thursday the house voted down Riley’s plan to reduce income taxes by $28 million next year from state income taxes. Critics charged it would give more tax breaks to the wealthy, a critique which Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson refutes.
"The majority of the tax cut the governor proposed goes to the people who need it them most," Emerson said. "He believes all people should get a tax cut, but under the governor’s proposal millionaire would get a tax cut of $50. The average tax payer would get $375. The attack that it’s a rich persons tax cut doesn’t hold any water."
Guin said the tax structure in Alabama was unfair and that the governor’s tax cut would take money needed for education.
"He wants to give a tax cut to wealthy people in this state and we have an inequitable tax structure. We have the poorest in the state paying as much as ten percent of their income in state taxes and we have the wealthiest paying as little as two or three percent.
"The middle class, which most of us are in here in Walker County, are in that over-taxed category," he said.
The best way to bring equity to the system, Guin suggested was to not give the wealthy a tax cut at all. But his major objection comes with Riley’s proposal to take the money out of the education trust fund.
"His proposal grows every year for five years and after five years it will be taking nearly $250 million dollars out of schools, and that’s wrong," Guin said, adding, "In Alabama we’re ranked somewhere around 48th or 49th in spending per student.
The Birmingham News reported that when fully phased in, the collections from income tax would be reduced by $233 million a year.
Guin also criticized the governor for what he called election year politics.
"Before, Riley told us we needed a $1.2 billion dollar tax increase for education yet today, in an election year, he’s saying we can give up $250 million in education money. What he’s proposing is election year politics at the cost of the school children in the state," he said.
Guin said he would favor a tax cut that does not subtract money from education.
February 18, 2006
Saturday 2/18/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/opinion/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140257996229440.xml&coll=3 – Editorial praises Rep. Steve McMillan (R-Gulf Shores) for voting against ETF budget in House, criticizes Reps. Joe Mitchell (D-Mobile), Randy Davis (R-Daphne) and Joe Faust (R-Fairhope) for voting against proposed constitutional convention.
http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140257730229570.xml&coll=1 – Editorial questions how long Alabama must continue to labor under it’s current state constitution.
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-talladegacounty-0218-acasciaro-6b17v4045.htm - Talladega County delegation opposes constitutional convention.
http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-st_clair_county-0218-datchison-6b17v4158.htm - St. Clair County legislators favor article-by-article rewrite of constitution over convention.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/APN/602171041&cachetime=5 – Staff member of Secretary of State announces plan to seek boss’ job.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
EDITORIALS
Another unkindly cut
In our opinion
02-18-2006
|
As if we need more evidence that the Bush administration wants to balance the books on the backs of the poor, in comes information that the president’s budget request for 2007 will cut some $85 million from programs that fight poverty, help families, and strengthen communities. In Alabama the blow to Community Action Agencies is particularly harsh. If the president gets what he wants, there will be no more Community Service Block Grants, which have funded community-designed and community-based programs to fight neighborhood problems on the ground level. Gone too would be the money for Rural Community Facilities, this at the very time our Legislature is trying to figure out how to fund rural development initiatives. In an ironic twist, considering the president’s much ballyhooed announcement that we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the budget proposes to cut the federal Weatherization Assistance Program by more than 30 percent. Under this agency thousands of homes have been made more comfortable against winter’s blast and weather-related illnesses have been reduced. In addition, weatherizing has made homes more energy efficient — a small, but important contribution to energy conservation. With the Bush budget, that contribution will no longer be made. Rather than weatherize and conserve, the president (as a result of Congressional action) proposes a small increase in the Low-Income House Energy Assistance Program, which will help a bit with higher energy costs, but will reduce consumption only because high prices will force the poor to use less fuel and feel the chill. But the most unkindly cut is the proposed funding for Head Start, one of this nation’s most successful programs for helping children from poor families get ready for school and for a better life. Last year Head Start was cut by one percent, which may not sound like much until one translates that into the 581 Alabama children who will be, if we may borrow a phrase, “left behind.” Hopefully our congressional delegation will oppose these cuts and find another way to reduce the deficit. Maybe by making the well-to-do carry a little more of the load. Now that’s an idea. |
FROM THE VALLEY TIMES-NEWS:
Losing on a tie vote
By CY WOOD
Editor-Publisher
Published Friday, February 17, 2006 11:39 AM EST
Tie goes to the runner in baseball, but in legislation a tie vote is a loser. Constitutional reform in Alabama suffered a loss Wednesday in Montgomery.
It was just a committee vote on an issue that hasn’t energized Alabama citizens, but the 7-7 vote in the House Constitution and Elections Committee is another frustrating setback for constitutional reform advocates in the state.
The bill that failed to get out of committee because of the tie vote would put a referendum on the Nov. 7 general election ballot for the people of Alabama to decide if they wanted to call a convention to rewrite the state’s constitution. This was not a vote on a new constitution. It was not a vote on who would draw up a new constitution. This was simply a vote to determine if the people of the state recognize the need for a new constitution.
To hear opponents of constitutional reform tell it, the only people who want a new constitution in Alabama are newspaper editors and academic eggheads. If they really believe that, why are they so dead set against gauging how millions of individual Alabama citizens feel about the issue of constitutional reform?
It would seem the referendum that was stalled in committee this week would be exactly what they want — an opportunity to have their position on a new constitution validated by the people.
Except the powers that be aren’t that confident about how the people might choose to vote on a given issue. That’s why Alabama has a constitution that concentrates most of the power in Montgomery, and why those who benefit from the inequities of the state’s current basic charter are so averse to wholesale changes in the constitution.
One of the most enduring myths of Montgomery is that the best way to effect constitutional reform in the state is to let the legislature go through the document section by section. If this is such a practical approach, why isn’t it already being used? The only constitutional article the legislature has rewritten covers the judiciary, and that effort was tied up in court. That’s not a joke. That’s how effectively legislators function when it comes to reform. It’s easy to criticize Alabama legislators, but they aren’t fools. They aren’t about to bite the hand that feeds them.
A constitutional convention is not a new idea. Alabama has had six constitutions, all of them written by conventions. The six is a somewhat deceptive number for a state that is still less than 200 years old. Three of the state constitutions had to do with secession, the Civil War and Reconstruction. The last three constitutions went into effect after being approved by a vote of the citizenry.
Here’s what is so perplexing about the obstinate opposition to constitutional reform in the state: Who’s afraid of the will of the people? After all, whose constitution is it? The preamble to the Alabama Constitution begins, as does the U.S. Constitution, with this phrase, “We the people of …”
It’s the people’s constitution, not the legislature’s, not the special interests’, not the bureaucracy’s. The constitution exists for a given set of purposes, which school children a generation ago memorized: “… in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” in the federal constitution’s preamble and “in order to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” in the state charter’s preamble.
These are noble aspirations. In the preamble to the Alabama Constitution, those purposes are followed by these words, “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God …” That’s how serious Alabama citizens more than a century ago took the adoption of a constitution. To hear opponents of constitutional reform tell it today, nobody, except eggheads and editors, really cares. That’s hard to accept. Horse-drawn buggies, outhouses and sharecropping were the standard in 1901. The people of Alabama have moved forward in those areas of human existence. They would not accept the transportation, sanitation and socioeconomic realities of 1901 today, so why is it so unacceptable to offer them the opportunity to write a constitution that conforms to contemporary reality?
The 7-7 vote in committee isn’t the end of the reform movement, but it indicates how tedious the task of reform will be.
February 17, 2006
Friday 2/17/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140171890230130.xml&coll=2 – An analysis of contributions to the four primary candidates for governor reveals large contributions from PACS, support for Moore coming primarily from out of state.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140171415230130.xml&coll=2 – Senate committee unanimously approves raises for state workers, retirees.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1140171623230130.xml&coll=2 – House approves education budget.
http://www.al.com/opinion/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/opinion/1140171488229970.xml&coll=3 – Editorial criticizes House rejection of Riley tax cut plan, calls for Senate to reconsider matter.
http://www.dailyhome.com/opinion/2006/dh-editorials-0217-editorials-6b16q4523.htm - Editorial blasts local St. Clair and Talladega County legislators who voted against committee approval of bill to consider constitutional convention.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060217/rally.shtml - Wallace to kick off campaign for lt. governor with rally on Saturday.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/060217/tag.shtml - “God Bless America” tag gets House approval.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/editorials/060217b.shtml - Editorial praises selection of new prison chief.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/OPINION01/602160375/1012/OPINION - Editorial contends that Census figures reflect that Alabamians are not overtaxed, but inequitably taxed by a unbalanced tax system.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/APN/602161049 - Alabama sends more prisoners to out of state facilities.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
INSIGHT
If it’s broken, let’s really fix it
By James L. Evans
02-17-2006
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Gov. Bob Riley deserves a lot of credit for trying to do something about Alabama’s grossly unfair income tax structure. The fact that we begin assessing income tax on a family of four that earns as little as $4,600 is a tragedy. So the Governor’s desire to fix it is admirable. Unfortunately in fixing one thing there is danger he is going to break something else — public education. In the strange climate in which we live these days, seeking tax dollars for any purpose has come to represent some form of ultimate evil. It has almost become a mantra, a mindless chant that has no basis in reality. No taxes! No taxes! No taxes! That kind of fiscal religion is fine if you live on Fantasy Island, but that is not where we live. We live in Alabama where we already pay less in state and local taxes than almost anywhere else in the country. And we have the social services and public schools to show for it. Take a drive sometime into some of our poorer counties where the full effect of our low taxes can be seen crumbling all around you. Which brings us back to Gov. Riley’s plan to fix our tax system. Being a political realist, Gov. Riley knows the best way to get a tax break for anybody is to give a tax break to everybody. His proposal does just that. Unfortunately, when you cut taxes it reduces revenue. In this case it will cost the education budget $28 million a year. Now don’t get me wrong, we really need to change our tax structure, and we really need to stop taxing the working poor in our state. It’s cruel and shameless. But cutting revenue to public education is not a prudent way to fix this problem. We ease the burden on the poor with one hand, but diminish one of the critical institutions for solving poverty in the long run with the other hand. There is a better way. Alabama Arise in conjunction with Representative John Knight has put together a proposal which brings Alabama’s tax structure in line with the federal tax structure, especially in the area of the income tax threshold — that is, the point at which working families begin to be assessed income tax. In both the Riley plan and the Arise plan, the $4600 threshold is removed. But in the Riley plan it is only moved to $15,000. That’s $15,000 for a family of four. I don’t know about you, but I think raising a family on that amount of money is going to be hard to do. Assessing state income tax on top of other life essentials is not going to help. The Arise plan sets the threshold at $22,800 for a family of four. And the Arise plan is revenue neutral. That means it neither increases nor decreases state revenues. I guess sometimes holding your own is progress. The tax cuts for the poor are offset by eliminating the deduction for federal income tax. Alabama is one of only three states that allow state tax payers to deduct their full federal income tax. Eliminating this deduction allows us to raise the threshold while preserving education funding. Arise analysts point out that with their plan, three out of five Alabama tax payers pay less. Listen, if something is broken, by all means let’s fix it. But let’s don’t break something else trying to get it done, especially when we know there is another way. James L. Evans is pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church, Auburn, Alabama. He can be reached at faithmatters@mindspring.com. |
EDITORIALS
More of the same
In our opinion
02-17-2006
|
Here is the situation. Alabama teachers need and deserve a raise, a significant raise. Their pay is in no way commensurate with the importance and the difficulty of the job they do. Spend a day in the classroom with one of them and see if you don’t agree. Alabama schools need repairs. Alabama students need more and better computers and Internet access. Visit our older schools (and most are older) and see if you don’t agree. Alabama taxpayers — lower- and middle-income tax payers — need a break from regressive and unfair sales and income taxes. Compare their tax burden with the light load shouldered by the well-to-do in our state and see if you don’t agree. But we do not have the money to do it all. And no one in the Legislature is bold enough to propose a way to get it. So it follows that the special interests — and we are all are part of some special interest — are going to work to get what they can or keep what they have. Education, represented by the powerful Alabama Education Association, has made raises its top priority and if the education budget that just came out of House committee passes the Legislature, education will have its way. Republicans — representing those who want teachers to forgo raises for capital outlays and tax cuts — are attacking this budget as selfish and fiscally unsound. (Both points are valid to a degree, but no one hears the special interests that support the governor’s plan jumping up and volunteering to make the sacrifices he is asking the teachers to make.) Meanwhile, those Alabama taxpayers who need and deserve tax relief will likely get little or none while those who neither need nor deserve such help will continue to benefit from our unfair system of revenue collecting. That, in a nutshell, is Alabama’s situation. Meanwhile in Montgomery they strut and fret, preen and posture, but nothing really changes. Especially the status quo. |
February 16, 2006
Thursday 2/16/2006 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114008542950010.xml&coll=2 – Governor appoints two attorneys to lead Department of Corrections.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114008516150010.xml&coll=2 – Advocates for disabled, elderly support Money Follows the Persons proposal at legislative hearing.
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/114008540150010.xml&coll=2 – Riley blasts critics of his income tax reform plan at legislative hearing.
http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/114008542949980.xml&coll=3 – House committee refuses to give constitutional convention a favorable report.
http://www.al.com/opinion/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114008537249980.xml&coll=3 – Editorial critical of Mobile area legislators who case “no” votes on constitutional convention proposal.
http://www.al.com/opinion/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/opinion/114008509150060.xml&coll=1 – Editorial critical of state’s failure to provide for services for developmentally disabled.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS/602160348/1001 - Legislature considering whether to retain second Pardon & Paroles Board.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/OPINION01/602150355/1012/OPINION - Editorial raises questions about state’s expanding practice of sending prisoners to private, out of state facilities due to prison overcrowding.
http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060215/APN/602151027 - Montgomery County judge plans to seek seat on Court of Civil Appeals.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
EDITORIALS
The undemocrats
In our opinion
02-16-2006
This just in: A committee of the state House just killed an effort to allow the people to vote on whether or not we should have a constitutional convention.
Oh, and here’s the worse part of it, our own House members, Steve Hurst the Democrat from Munford and Randy Wood the Republican from Anniston, voted NO.
NO, NO, NO, NO, NO.
Remember that, good people of Alabama, remember that these two men voted against you having the opportunity to decide. They voted against the democratic process.
Rep. Wood told our correspondent in Montgomery he went against the measure because he feared that a convention would be controlled by — now get this —the special interests.
Oh, what a riotous statement that is.
Rep. Wood, are you really that naîve, or do you actually think we are that stupid.
OK, we’ll choose to believe, for the moment, that you don’t understand that the Legislature is controlled by the special interests, the likes of ALFA, the trial lawyers, big business, big tobacco, all the usual suspects. A constitutional convention, anyone with walking around sense and untethered to special interests understands, is an attempt to break that stranglehold.
The constitution, the dear old messed up, broken down, out-of-date, decrepit, racist, 1901 Constitution, is the root of all of our problems here in Alabama. It is a document that favors special interests. So the special interests do not want it changed. It took ALFA and the other forces of darkness more than a century to get the thing the way they want it, so why on earth would they want to allow a constitution convention that would set about rewriting it?
As for Rep. Hurst, he voted no in part because a “number of” his constituents came to him and asked him to oppose the constitutional convention.
Of course, we have to assume that a number of his constituents feel otherwise.
That’s not what one might call leadership.
Whatever reason these two give, you can’t get around the fact that what they have done is undemocratic.
This is a victory for the powerful, monied special interests in the state, and it is most decidedly a defeat for not only the people of Alabama but also the democratic process.
A version of the convention bill is still alive in the state Senate. Let’s hope that the committee members in the Senate show some backbone and are willing to stand up to the special interests, unlike their colleagues in the House.
… Speaking of conventions
In our opinion
02-16-2006
Now to push the point a little further: A funny thing happened between then and now.
Back then, back when Alabamians overwhelmingly defeated Amendment One (the attempt to overhaul the tax structure), surveys taken after the ballots were counted showed that the biggest reason for that NO vote was that Alabamians did not trust the political culture of Montgomery — legislators, the executive branch, the multiple agencies, and the lobbyists — to spend the money as it should be spent.
That’s right, they didn’t trust the system, they were sick of the status quo.
Gov. Riley and others responded, by setting up avenues of accountability. But as they were doing that, a small group of influential interests saw a chance to twist the results to their own agenda. They stepped up and announced that the people had not voted against “Montgomery,” they had voted against taxes.
Now of course, for some voters, taxes were the issue. Those who, under the Riley plan, would have seen their low taxes rise a bit didn’t like it. So they set about to convince everyone that the other Alabamians who voted NO, did so for the same reason they did. This bit of historical sleight of hand allowed them to talk grandly about how Alabamians voted to reject the “biggest tax increase in history” when in reality that wasn’t what the people said.
But these folks don’t want the rejection of Amendment One to be seen as a vote against the status quo, because they love the status quo.
And that is why they do not want to let the people vote on whether or not to hold a constitutional convention.
For a vote for a constitutional convention will be a vote against the status quo.
No one who has benefited from the old constitution wants it changed, but they are not sure they can convince voters that what benefits the anti-convention interests benefits the general public. Indeed, they are afraid that after years of hearing and reading how our current constitution spawned the sorry system in Montgomery, people may have finally concluded that nothing will change until the constitution changes.
And they would be right.
If there has ever been a chance for Alabamians to show supporters of the status quo that they are fed up with business as usual, this is it.
Which is exactly why opponents of a convention don’t want the people to vote. It will be a referendum on the status quo and they are afraid the status quo will lose.
Got that, Reps. Wood and Hurst?
Coalition backs Nabers, Stuart, Murdock for Alabama Supreme Court
The Associated Press
02-16-2006
MONTGOMERY
The Alabama Civil Justice Reform Committee has thrown its support to three Republican candidates for the Alabama Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Drayton Nabers.
Chairman Tom Dart said Thursday the group’s political action committee also decided to back incumbent Supreme Court Justice Lyn Stuart and civil appeals court Judge Glenn Murdock, who is seeking a vacant seat on the Supreme Court.
The committee is also supporting Judge Craig Pittman for re-election to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals.
“These jurists have established themselves as strong conservatives who have helped change the reputation of our high courts from ridicule to praise,” he said.
Murdock faces former Supreme Court Justice Jean Brown in the Republican primary on June 6. The Civil Justice Reform Committee has supported her in past races, but Dart said the committee had been encouraging Murdock to run for the open seat on the Supreme Court long before Brown announced her candidacy.
The Civil Justice Reform Committee is a coalition of more than 100 groups representing business, industry, agriculture, and medicine. Dart said the group will probably make more endorsements after the April 7 deadline for candidates to qualify.
(R) Jeff Sessions (1-19)
(D) Vivian Figures (33-1)
(D) Artur Davis (1-49)
(R) Mike Hubbard (13-1)