On Hearing Back from the Man in Flak
Alabamians naturally have interest in whether the state’s top law enforcement officer, Troy King, wears a flak jacket. Has there been a specific threat? Does the Attorney General feel unsafe? Does he wear it at all public events?
I asked the first person who told me about King wearing the flak jacket at Sen. Holley’s party-switch announcement if it was ok for me to repeat the story. “Sure,” was the reply. “”200 people saw it.” One attendee to the state GOP’s Winter Dinner the next night told me that a “lot of people were talking about it on Friday night” at the dinner.
Last Tuesday, I asked Joy Patterson in the Attorney General’s press office the questions that Alabamians would like to know. “How long has Troy King worn a flak jacket? Why does he wear it? Has there been a threat? Or does he wear it to err on the side of caution?”
“I don’t know anything about it,” she said, “but I’ll submit your questions.”
The next day, Wednesday, I called back with a completely unrelated question, and she mentioned that she had submitted the questions to King’s Chief of Staff Chris Bence. To this point, I have not heard any response to my inquiries, and given the responses in yesterday’s Press-Register I probably will not.
Of course, I want all of our public officials to be safe, and I can hardly fault someone who does not feel safe for taking a measure like this to protect himself. I know firsthand from response to the earlier post that Alabamians are very interested in whether our state’s top law enforcement official feels unsafe in our state, in his hometown of Elba.
Why would he wear it? He apparently doesn’t want to confirm that he’s wearing it (else he would have), but if he denies it, he will be calling a lot of people liars who have already been talking about seeing him wear it. Why the secrecy?
The Press-Register yesterday reported that Doc’s Political Parlor (identifying the Parlor by description, if not by name) “said King wears the flak jacket ‘everywhere.’” While that came from a source I quoted accurately, I do believe it likely that he doesn’t wear it everywhere. However, I do have sources naming at least one other occasion that he has worn it.
But people are asking, “Why?”
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Danny - I have confirmation from a very reliable source that Troy King was wearing a flak jacket at the inauguration of Governor Riley in 2007. I will privately give you the source’s name if you want to e-mail me.
Comment by Anonymous — January 22, 2008 @ 11:02 am
You are officially “a tabloid Internet Web site” as declared by the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Alabama. I assume that he is using the term in reference to your work “featuring stories of violence, crime, or scandal presented in a sensational manner” as opposed to “a newspaper of small or condensed format.” Troy King has no room to criticize the size of anyone’s format.
Comment by Roy — January 22, 2008 @ 11:06 am
By its security by obscurity? As AG, it is reasonable to conclude the number of credible threats he receives is higher than the average bears.
He should have remembered the flap when Folmar was photographed wearing a pistol during a campaign speech. As I recall, Folmar said he did, then went on to talk about the rights of citizens to bear arms and the matter died. He did lose the election against Wallace, but I doubt his pistol packing had any thing to do with it.
King could have used this issue to spin a message on crime control or other voter friendly issues but took the easy way out.
Comment by walt moffett — January 22, 2008 @ 11:28 am
Has Troy King even TRIED any cases that would make him a “target” of some angry defendant?
What, the oil companies are going to take out a hit on him?
Oh yeah, we never sued them.
Comment by InTheKnow — January 22, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
I hate getting on this slippery slope…
I removed a comment of an insulting and speculative nature.
Honest political differences with one another are to be expected. Personal attacks or insults are not necessary. Let’s err on the side of civility.
Comment by Danny — January 22, 2008 @ 12:34 pm
The flak jacket stuff is interesting and appropriate for Doc’s fine site, but not nearly as pertinent or damaging as troy’s shady dealings with Roy Johnson and the folks at post-secondary or his alabama power funded jaunts to ball games in atlanta, to pick just a few. Democrats and repubs embarrassed by his antics would do well keep the focus on his piss-poor performance as attorney general rather than debate whether he’s wearing body armor.
Comment by anonymous — January 22, 2008 @ 1:09 pm
There is no question he wears a bullet proof vest, but it isn’t really a military style flak jacket. If you stand behind Troy and look around his collar, you can see the outline of a vest, but it is more of a foam like padded substance. Still begs the question of why he needs to wear it. But remember, this is the same guy who takes 2-3 security guards with him even when he goes to the Governor’s Mansion or to court. He must have something bad in his background
Comment by Anonymous — January 22, 2008 @ 8:10 pm