Posted by Concluding the list of the Political Parlor’s top 15 most memorable moments of the legislative session…
| Political Parlor’s Top Most Memorable Moments of Session Continued… |
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#1. |
The punch. What else? They will be talking about this one for years to come. (Unless, of course, it’s overshadowed by a melee on the Senate floor next year.) Sen. Charles Bishop (R – Arley) provided coarse bookends to this year’s Senate session. He started the session by referring to colleagues as “pinheads” and ended it with a bang – on Sen. Lowell Barron (D – Fyffe). Caught on videotape by Alabama Public Television, the punch has been seen over 150,000 times on YouTube in several uploaded videos. (See the video here.) Bishop claimed that Barron’s use of an epithet provoked him. Senators present say they did not hear that, though all sides agree that Bishop himself was cursing. Bishop has said someone will corroborate what he claims Barron said, but so far no one has. As if all that mattered. Bishop has a history of fights, near-fights, and threats. (A member of the Senate Leadership’s staff has provided a timeline.) When Bishop was running for the Senate in 2006, a lobbyist I know referred to him regularly as “the last Senator to take a swing at someone on the Senate floor” in reference to an earlier incident. Bishop has never apologized for hitting Barron, though he regrets it happened on the Senate floor. The Senate Ethics and Conduct Committee will consider what consequence, if any, should follow. Should Bishop step down? I don’t know. But if he were representing my district, I think I would prefer a new senator. Not simply because of the pattern of incivility shown by my elected official that has escalated into violence, but because I would want effective leadership for my district in the Senate for the next three years. The Rules Chair (i.e., Lowell Barron) is the last person in the Senate you want to engage in a grudge match. Will my district’s local legislation get a hearing if I am counting on Charles Bishop to get it through Lowell Barron’s Rules Committee? This is not the most important moment of the session, but it is the most memorable by a longshot.  |
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The comment, “Figures said Bishop then commented he might have something to spray on her” sounds more like a sexual, flirting comment than a threat – which would be inappropriate, but I’m not sure it goes in the same category as challenging people to fights.
Do you ever get the feeling that Figures just says things so people will pay attention to her?
Alright, the background in the still shot provided makes it look like the Alabama Senate meets in a building only slightly less artistically and architecturally questionable and ridiculous then that of the Teletubbies.
Does anyone know how this event is playing in the Senate Districts of Barron and Bishop? Can’t find too much from the online edition of their local papers.
[...] #1. The punch. [...]