Posted by A lot of people are finding the blog through searches for information about tomorrow’s GOP primary for the special election to fill the empty Senate District 32 seat vacated by Bradley Byrne. For them and other interested folks, here is the text of a release that came out this morning.
Conservation Alabama, the state’s only conservation lobbying organization, announced its endorsement Friday of Trip Pittman in the special state senate election for District 32 in Baldwin County.
“After an extensive interview and review process of the Republican candidates in the primary, we are very impressed by the passion and vision of Trip Pittman,” said Adam Snyder, executive director of Conservation Alabama. “Our Board of Directors is excited about the possibility of Mr. Pittman representing the people of Baldwin County and making conservation issues a priority in the Alabama State Senate.”
Pittman is a local businessman, only deciding to run for office after surviving a two-person plane crash in February. When Bradley Byrne resigned his seat to become the chancellor of the two-year college system, Pittman announced his candidacy for the state senate. Pittman is a conservationist, an avid fisherman and outdoorsman, and wants to see Baldwin County and the state prosper from balanced growth.
“Alabama has a beautiful natural heritage that is the hallmark for residents and visitors alike,” Pittman said. “We must seek new economic opportunities in the state, but we also must protect the people and the natural beauty we already have. When elected senator, I will preserve Baldwin County’s and all of Alabama’s quality of life through open and honest government.”
Conservation Alabama, formerly known as the Alabama League of Environmental Action Voters, is a non-partisan, 501c4 non-profit organization who works to affect positive change for Alabama’s environment, citizens, and economy through legislative lobbying and electoral political action. Conservation Alabama is based in Birmingham with offices in Montgomery.
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Trip is a good guy and will make an excellent Senator
This is the group formerly led by ALABAMA DEMOCRATIC PARTY BOSS JOE TURNHAM. DEMOCRATS WANT PITTMAN IN BALDWIN should have been your headline.
Looks to me like they are a bunch of environmental nutjobs. What would any Republican want the endorsement of a left-wing group like this? Read their website for yourself: http://www.conservationalabama.org/
I think most of the candidates in District 32 would welcome any endorsement by conservation groups
since the environment plays such an important role in the gulf region. It seems that McKinney’s
endorsement by ALFA would be more harmful, seeing as ALFA has about canceled all property insurance
in Baldwin Co.
Yes ALFA is toxic on the coast, McKinney better hope no other candidate has the money to let it be known that he has cast his lot with ALFA.
Yeah right. Keep spinning there. GOP types do not like candidates endorsed by Joe turnham so you can just keep on spreading that one around. Don’t throw me in that briar patch, Br’er Rabbit!
Conservation Alabama has not had an association with Joe Turnham in a few years. They have changed
names and hired a new Executive Director in recent months.
Clinton no Reagan,
Joe Turnham did not endorse any candidate in this race, despite what you say in comment #6.
Turnham was in on this organization in the beginning but is no longer.
Are you saying that any organization that Turnham has ever been a part of must necessarily be made up only of Democrats? Bible Study group? Softball team? Conservation group? If so, I find that odd.
Are you saying that there are not any Republicans interested in conservation? If so, I would say that I know this is not true.
If I have misunderstood you and you are saying something else, I would be interested to know what you mean. Thanks!
Turnham was “in on the organization in the beginning?” The fact is he FOUNDED it Danny and was involved for YEARS – check the lobbyist ethics reports. I did.
And read their webpage – it is pretty much an anti-Alabama Power screed . . .
By the by, I did not say Republicans were not involved in conservation – that is a distortion of my comments. This is it in a nutshell: Republicans in this state have had a great deal of difficulty with Democrats starting with Dr. Hubbert and working their way down the food chain getting involved in GOP races trying to influence outcomes. In some cases Dr. Hubbert has been very successful at this. And when an organization once headed by the leader of the State Democratic Party has a convienient name change and starts endorsing GOP candidates, every Republican in Baldwin County SHOULD know about it – and SHOULD be highly suspicious.
Thank you for elaborating, CnR.
After your comment yesterday, someone confirmed for me that Turnham founded it (I’m not particularly familiar with the organization). I was about to type as much, then I was trying to remember if he was a co-founder, and rather than not get it quite right I went slightly more vague with the wording I had. Though I am still not sure of the relevance of that. Your implication is that a partisan individual cannot start a group that is non-partisan, and I do not agree.
And Turnham was not head of the state Democratic Party when he founded the organization.
I did not say that you said Republicans were not involved in conservation; there was no distortion of your comments. I asked if that is what you meant because I was trying to understand the real objection to the group and their endorsement of Pittman. Seemed to me that something else might be at work besides the fact that a non-partisan group was “formerly led by ALABAMA DEMOCRATIC PARTY BOSS JOE TURNHAM.” As I said, he was not party chair when he led the group, and I reject the idea that partisan people cannot be involved in non-partisan activities. But I think you’ve been clear, and as I said I appreciate you elaborating.
Turnham was the former Democratic nominee for the 2nd Congressional district when he headed the organization. He was either with Alabama League of Environmental Action Voters (ALEAV) when he became chairman of the State Democratic Party (its registered lobbyist, actually) or=r he CONTINUUED as its lobbyist for a long time AFTER becoming party chair (ethics reports support this).
Look – you can’t say John Giles and his former organization are “not really non-partisan” and then turn around and say ALEAV (or its current incarnation) “ARE non-partisan. This is an advocacy group – Joe founded it to be one. And it advocates an essentially Democratic position. So why are they interested in GOP politics?
I wonder if Pittman knew all that when he accepted their endorsement?
CnR, we are in agreement that more disclosure, more information, is a good thing.
Other than that… I simply do not agree with you that a partisan is incapable of participating in non-partisan activities.
You say that the group has “an essentially Democratic position,” as if that is your objection to the group, but you also say it is a “distortion” of your words to say that Republicans are not interested in these issues.
My understanding is that this is an issue group that welcomes allies on either side of the aisle who are concerned with those issues. And we both know that there are Republicans concerned with conservation.