http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/115589292428240.xml&coll=2 – House District 54 challenge likely to go to Democratic Executive Committee regardless of outcome of hearing.

http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/opinion/115589330928240.xml&coll=2 – Editorial uses recent reports surrounding the use of community service grants by Rep. Yvonne Kennedy as another example of the need to end legislative discretionary funds.

http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/115589294929430.xml&coll=3 – State begins investigation of allegations that ineligible students received financial aid at Bishop State Community College.

http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-localnews-0818-dmackey-6h17v1517.htm – Former opponent accuses Sen. Jim Preuitt (D-Talladega) of campaign finance irregularities.

http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2006/dh-st_clair_county-0818-datchison-6h17v1748.htm – St. Clair county residents to vote on home rule.

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/opinion/editorials/060818a.shtml – Editorial raises questions proposed Statehouse renovations while other building needs exist.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060817/APN/608170975 – Alabama NOW announces campaign to educate voters on legislators who support anti-abortion bills.

http://www.mountaineagle.com/NF/omf/eagle/news_story.html?rkey=0101914+[cr=gdn – Worley defends record, says GOP targeting state Democratic officials

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

Editorials

Reason for campaign finance reform

In our opinion

08-18-2006

No one was particularly surprised when Sen. Gerald Dial, D-Lineville, appeared on the Gov. Bob Riley campaign commercial that tried to hang the “L-word” around Lucy Baxley’s neck.

Dial has often supported Riley’s agenda and having just lost his party’s nomination in a bitter primary battle, Dial was not at all happy with his fellow Democrats.

How unhappy, however, was revealed the other day when Dial formally asked the Alabama Democratic Party to disqualify Kim Benefield, the primary opponent who defeated him, and along with four of his Party’s most powerful senators who supported the winner.

According to a 1990 Alabama attorney general opinion, unopposed candidates do not have to file financial reports before a primary because they are, in effect, already the nominee.

Four Democratic Senators — majority leader Zeb Little, Black Belt power broker Hank Sanders, the “king of pass-through-pork” Roger Bedford and President Pro-Tempore Lowell Barron — fell into that category.

However, these four senators, or at least the PACs and campaigns they control, gave more than $500,000 to the Senate Majority PAC (one of those PAC to PAC transfers you have heard about) which was set up to elect Democrats.

Apparently Dial was not the sort of Democrat those controlling the money wanted, for the Senate Majority PAC gave Benefield more than $270,000 worth of advertising, which she effectively used against her opponent.

Dial claims that the four senators should have filled out detailed campaign financing reports because they used their money to support another candidate. And Benefield should have reported these contributions.

And if the Democratic Party will not discipline these folks, Dial might just ask Attorney General Troy King for a new opinion.

Now this could get interesting.

Republicans would like nothing better than to see these powerful Democrats embarrassed or, in their wildest dreams, disqualified. Attorney General King, whose political antenna is always out, might see this as a way to hasten a GOP takeover of the senate.

On the other hand, whatever Dial’s motive, there is merit to the charge.

Anyone who contributes to a political cause or campaign should have to list where the money came from and where it goes.

Yet in Alabama, instead of campaign finance laws that open the process for all to see, we have attorney general opinions on narrow issues that tradition expands to cover things the original opinion was not designed to cover.

So what we really have is one more reason why this state needs to rewrite our campaign finance laws, abolish PACs, and let the sun shine in.

Op-Ed Columns

Staying on message with Jesus

By James L. Evans

08-18-2006

A group calling themselves Conservative Christians of Alabama, was recently encouraged by their leader to “intimidate” the city council of Huntsville. That word, “intimidate,” is the word they used.

It may seem odd to connect the word “Christian” and the word “intimidate.” After all, Jesus did tell us to love everybody. But before we go too far down the gentle Jesus meek and mild road, let’s recall the cleansing of the Temple.

Mark’s Gospel seems to indicate that the cleansing was carefully planned. Jesus arrives in Jerusalem in the late afternoon. He looks around, and then leads the disciples back to Bethany for the night. The next morning he returns to the Temple, drives out the money changers and then apparently holds the outer court at siege all day long. Mark writes that Jesus “would not let anyone carry anything through,” which would seem to confirm that Jesus sort of shut the place down for a whole day.

So, did Jesus’ actions intimidate his opposition? His actions were certainly not a violent attack on the Temple, as some pro-violence folks would seek to make it. In fact, given the symbolic character of the event, cleansing the Temple was the epitome of a non-violent protest. But even with all that, we can’t rule out the intimidation factor — especially if there was concern among some that the protest was being led by God’s only Son.

So, I’m not too upset that a Christian group would be passionate and aggressive in pursuing something they think is important. The Civil Rights Movement was a fairly confrontational faith endeavor. No, the problem with the group in Huntsville is not their tactics, its their message.

The Conservative Christians of Alabama were not protesting some political arrangement that keep people away from the resources of life — as was Jesus’ concern in the Temple. The group in Huntsville was seeking to use their influence to intimidate the city council into enforcing tougher immigration laws.

This is where the Christian group in Huntsville parts company with the Jesus of the New Testament, and the Old Testament for that matter. The Bible is a book written by illegal immigrants — it is their claim to fame. The people of Israel as portrayed in the pages of the Hebrew Bible are the quintessential outsiders. Moses continually reminds them, “remember when you were aliens in Egypt.” And in other places, “therefore, be compassionate to the sojourner in your midst.”

Jesus elevates the immigrant to a universal level of significance in the eyes of God. His expectation that his followers will care for the “least of these,” and his explicit “I was a stranger, and you took me in,” leaves little doubt about where he stood on the matter.

There are many good reasons why we might want immigration reform. We might believe there are finite resources in this country and we must protect what is ours. We might believe that loose immigration poses a threat to national security and seek to restrict immigration for our own protection. We might resent those who prosper while breaking the law. These are all legitimate arguments.

But these are not arguments Jesus would make. Jesus made it clear that he was on the side of the stranger in our midst. In fact, he indicated that he was something of a sojourner himself — in the world, but not of it. Besides all that, Jesus seemed to want something he called the kingdom of God, and in that kingdom the outcast and the immigrant always get preferential treatment.

James L. Evans is pastor of Auburn First Baptist Church, Auburn, Alabama. He can be reached at faith matters@mindspring.com.