Thursday 8/9/2007 DAILY NEWS DIGEST

Birmingham News – U.S. Rep. Artur Davis (D) praises Riley, talks of race for governor.

Birmingham News – Jury to begin deliberations today in Bobo trial.

Mobile Press-Register – Riley reports that state will miss deadline for HAVA compliance.

Decatur Daily – The Decatur Daily says proposal that would give chancellor authority to grant or deny requests by legislators to take off without pay could be abused, calls for absolute ban on double-dipping.

Times Daily – The Times Daily contends that commission should look to improving enforcement of child support orders rather than adopting increases in support guidelines.

FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:

Policies would put lawmakers out of jobs

MONTGOMERY — Two state representatives employed by Gadsden State Community College are keeping mum about proposed policies that would keep legislators from holding jobs in the two-year college system. If adopted, the policies would put them both out of jobs.

New Chancellor of Postsecondary Education Bradley Byrne has proposed rules that would keep two-year colleges from employing legislators, and require any system employee elected to state office to resign.

They are policies that most state school board members have said are long overdue, and they plan to support.

While the policies would allow current legislators to keep their employment with the Alabama College System until 2010, policies regarding flexible work schedules would make it nearly impossible to use unpaid leave to perform legislative duties. In fact, two-year college employees would have to ask permission for unpaid leave from the chancellor, and Byrne said that time off to perform legislative duties would not be a good enough excuse.

Though other legislators such as Rep. Neal Morrison, D-Cullman, who works for Wallace State Community College, have spoken about the proposed policies, Galliher and Page have not made their feelings known to the public.

Rep. Blaine Galliher, R-Gadsden, has been unreachable for two days, and Rep. Jack Page III, D-Gadsden, said Monday that Gadsden State policy requires employees to refer all media calls to the president’s office.

Both Galliher and Page began working for Gadsden State in 2002, according to spokeswoman Kay Smith Foster. Though Page was known to have been at Gadsden State on Monday, he was unreachable Tuesday.

Foster could not confirm whether Galliher was on vacation or not. Calls to his office and at home were not returned.

Galliher and Page have been legislators since 1994 and 1993, respectively, according to the most recent version of the Alabama Law Institute’s legislative directory. Documents provided by Gadsden State show that both men received a $72,337 yearly salary, with their current contracts ending at the end of this month.

Galliher is the director of training for business and industry and his job is primarily to develop and coordinate training for businesses and industries for the Calhoun County area. Essential functions of his job, according to the college’s job description, include assisting college administrators in securing local, state and federal grants and

appropriations.

Page is the community and external affairs liaison for Gadsden State where his primary job is to assist the vice president and other college administrators in identifying and securing funds from local, state and federal grants, special legislative appropriations and private sector grants, according to the college’s job description.

On Aug. 23, state school board members will determine at its regular meeting if Galliher and Page get to keep these jobs.

Though the polices would allow some legislators to keep working until 2010, provisions within the policies would have immediate impact on both Gadsden State employee/legislators. Their contracts are up for renewal at the end of the month.

Under the new policies, contracts that have a definite end date would have to be terminated. Presidents would not have the discretion to allow a legislator to stay on the job until 2010.

“The issue is not that they are elected or not elected,” Byrne said. “The issue is ‘Are they really performing the essential functions of their job during the time that they are away?’”

In Byrne’s mind serving in the State Legislature just happens to be the issue that has brought problems with the two-year system to the forefront.

“Being in the Legislature requires you to be away from your job for three-and-a-half months,” he said. “If you’re a teacher, who’s teaching your classes? If you’re a program director, who’s directing your program?

“You can’t teach and serve in the Legislature because you’ll miss too many classes.”

Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, concedes that for a teacher working in the K-12 system, serving in the Legislature would be difficult, but apparently not impossible because Sen. Rusty Glover, R-Semmes, does it.

Hubbert says the policies are discriminatory against educators, and punishes everyone for the sins of a few. He believes that the policies are partisan, and designed to force out Democrats, who currently control the Legislature, and get rid of Republicans like Galliher who work to preserve the education trust fund.

“The Alabama Constitution in section 47 sets the qualification for holding office and since 1819 we have had a part-time Legislature,” he said. “Everybody in the Legislature makes a living doing something else. As long as we have a part-time Legislature, there will always be a potential for conflict.”

Hubbert said AEA suggested a flex-time policy that required institutions to report how many hours a legislator/educator worked on a monthly basis, and if they failed to make up those hours, their salaries should be cut to reflect that.

Byrne said the policies aren’t designed to keep people from serving in the State Legislature, but they are designed to keep people from performing legislative duties while they’re supposed to be working for the two-year system.

“I don’t think there is any constitutional right to work in the executive branch and the legislative branch,” he said.

While there might not be a constitutional right to work for both branches, there is nothing that prohibits such an arrangement, according to Bill Stewart, a political scientist and professor emeritus of the University of Alabama.

“I think if there were such a provision legislators wouldn’t be doing it,” he said. “It would be unconstitutional.”

Byrne’s proposed polices are in response to the scandal and federal investigation that have damaged the reputation and image of the two-year college system. They also follow Gov. Bob Riley’s unsuccessful attempt to get legislation passed during the 2007 session that would keep elected state officials from collecting paychecks for working for a state agency and in the state Legislature.

Because of what has happened in the two-year system Stewart says that there needs to be some guidelines in place. What he’s most certain of is that these policies will likely find their way into the hands of a judge.

“For example, one of the things that’s problematic is that there are African-Americans who are both legislators and working in institutions of higher learning,” he said. “If they’re kicked out of one or the other, there could be conflict with the Voting Rights Act.”

Stewart said the policy could create conflict because it appears to disproportionately impact Democrats, and there are certainly fewer blacks in the state who are Republicans. Once polices are passed, Stewart says it’s just a matter of time before an entity such as the AEA files suit.

“I see a lot of litigation and contention before this is settled,” he said. “We’re not anywhere near having this issue settled definitively.”