Considering Holley’s Switch

Last night, Sen. Jimmy Holley (of Elba) officially announced a change of his party allegiance from Democrat to Republican (a story that the Political Parlor broke three weeks ago).

The statement from the state Democratic Party on Holley’s switch says, “The Democratic Party did not leave Holley. Holley left the Democratic Party.” And there is some merit to that. Sen. Jimmy Holley was no DINO (Democrat In Name Only) even though he was one of the so-called dissident Democrats to caucus with Senate Republicans for a couple of years now.

One insider pulls out of memory the beginning of the end, the moment some years ago when it all began to go bad between Sen. Holley and Democratic Sen. Lowell Barron (former Senate President Pro Tem and now Senate Rules Chair).

there was an agricultural bill primarily written and backed by alfa that was passed into law that provided aid to farmers across the state (fuzzy on the details) but for some reason it, unintentionally, didn’t cover peanut farmers which is the major crop in holley’s district.

alfa took the lead in trying to push through legislation that would cover peanuts, but given barron and alfa’s history of antipathy toward each other, barron didn’t bail out alfa on their sloppy bill and killed the effort to pass the follow up piece for the peanut farmers. holley was enraged by this and took it as a personal insult, but barron wouldn’t budge, preferring instead to stick it to alfa.

so much of the personal animosity between barron and holley was really collateral damage in barron’s efforts to screw alfa.

The divisions that led Holley and a few other Senate Democrats to caucus with Republicans had less to do with policy and more to do with personality and power. Our Chauncey Sparks examined that nicely a year ago.

In his own orientation, Holley was a Democrat. He was a strong supporter of Wes Clark’s presidential run in 2004, and Clark is solidly liberal on most policy issues. Just a little more than a year ago (October 2006), Holley was helping to organize events for Clark in the Wiregrass. One insider told me that Holley paid to keep the Dale County Democratic Headquarters open with his own campaign funds. In these respects and others, Holley was a Democrat.

Already unhappy enough with the Senate Democrats to caucus with the Republicans, Holley was no doubt affronted that other Democratic Senators funded primary challengers in 2006 against himself and other dissident Democrats. (Dissident Democratic Senator Gerald Dial was ousted by Kim Benefield in the primary that year.) Still, however, Holley was endorsed by the Alabama Democratic Conference (described as “the black wing of the Alabama Democratic Party”) led by Joe Reed – because the differences between Holley and some Senate peers were not about policy.

The final straw for Holley? The Dothan Eagle reported this morning:

Holley also said that the Senate Democratic leadership’s actions in reducing funding for rebuilding Enterprise High School in retaliation for bucking their lead on various issues pushed him into the Republicans’ arms.

“I told Mary (his wife), ‘This is the straw that broke the camel’s back,’” Holley said.

The divide between Holley and the Senate Democrats was not about one being too liberal or too conservative; it was about personality and power, born out of Lowell Barron’s desire to screw ALFA.

As a Republican, Holley’s future in the Senate looks more secure. He could undoubtedly win a general election as a member of either party, but the district trends Republican, and a long-term future in the Senate (if he seeks one) is likely more secure as a Republican.

But consider that in 2006, Holley received almost $100,000 from traditional Democratic constituencies like AEA ($75,000), State Employees’ PAC ($17,500) and the AFL-CIO ($5,000), which doesn’t even count the several hundred thousand dollars he received from other PACs. One may reasonably assume that Democratic leaning groups were behind much of that money. (By contrast, Holley’s 2006 Republican opponent Dwight Adams received donations from tried and true GOP faithful like the Republican Women of Coffee County, Alabama Federation of Republican Woman, and Mitt Romney’s PAC.)

Yes, Holley caucused with the GOP, but with the Senate shutdown there were so few votes of consequence last year, that you could hardly say that Holley’s policy allegiances were tested.

Would local GOP activists in the district question Holley’s loyalty? Enough to give him another tough primary fight in 2010, this time from the GOP? Did Holley get any GOP “incumbent insurance” along with his switch?

State GOP chair Mike Hubbard confirmed what one GOP insider told me: the GOP party leadership including the other 12 GOP Senators will do whatever they need to do to dissuade others from mounting a primary challenge to Holley. Hubbard said that the GOP was “going to do everything we can to keep a primary challenge from happening. We can’t keep someone from qualifying obviously, but short of that, we’ll do all we can,” adding, “We’d do that for all of our good incumbents.”

Hubbard has been meeting with GOP chairs in other states to learn how they have encouraged party-switchers and protected them from primary challenges (from an unhappy GOP activist or from a Democrat running as a Republican). The state GOP’s fundraising effort, Campaign 2010, has gone “better than expected” according to one insider who added, “there WILL be money to protect incumbents such as Holley. That commitment is there.” (More on Campaign 2010 later.)

Hubbard acknowledged that Holley’s past showed Holley to be no DINO, that Holley had been solidly with the Democrats on many policy issues. “I’m confident that the next three years will show he’s going to be a solid Republican, and that this [Holley's past] is not going to be an issue.”

“Last night [when Holley announced his switch] was a great event. The media and Democrats may want to play it down, but it’s huge. Anytime we pick up one, and they lose one, it’s huge. It was a packed house. Over 200 people were there. A number of his colleagues from the House and Senate were there. His opponent in the 2006 election, Dwight Adams, was there and couldn’t have been happier.

“Jimmy had to have felt the love.”

Related Articles:

• BREAKING: Dem Senator Switches Parties