Friday 5/16/2008 DAILY NEWS DIGEST
Birmingham News - Advocates expect fewer reports of child abuse in summer months.
Birmingham News - State’s drought conditions easing slightly.
Mobile Press-Register - State Board of Education member Randy McKinney (R) accuses AEA of using push-poll to hurt his candidacy for reelection.
Mobile Press-Register - Alabama would get $50 million for Katrina related housing needs under emergency spending bill, President threatens veto.
Mobile Press-Register - Proposed defense bill would trim Mobile-area spending.
Mobile Press-Register - New study puts Boeing’s impact on state’s economy in 2007 at $700 million.
Huntsville Times - Legislators face full plate on final day of 2008 regular session.
Huntsville Times - The Huntsville Times urges Governor to veto measure that would expand number of supernumerary DAs.
Montgomery Advertiser - Proposed ban on PAC-to-PAC transfers likely to die on final legislative day.
Montgomery Advertiser - Governor announces expansion of health screenings in state’s schools.
Montgomery Advertiser - The Montgomery Advertiser urges legislators to approve measure that would create rainy day fund for General Fund and expand ETF rainy day fund.
Montgomery Advertiser - Commentary by Rep. Greg Wren (R-Montgomery), author of proposed rainy day bill, urges his colleagues to approve bills.
Tuscaloosa News - Tuscaloosa County property owners group wants home rule back on the ballot, concerns raised about County Commission ordinance controlling junk on private property.
Tuscaloosa News - The Tuscaloosa News predicts that efforts to tie return to four-year property tax appraisals to removal of sales tax from food will kill plan.
Tuscaloosa News - The Tuscaloosa News contends that rainy day accounts are necessary, but that the real issue is the state needs adequate revenue to provided needed programs and services.
Times Daily - Times Daily has problems with Governor’s tax compromise bill, but praises him for trying to stimulate action on issue.
Anniston Star - The Anniston Star calls for legislature to reject Governor’s proposal to remove sales tax, urges Senate approval of House-passed measure.
Opelika-Auburn News - The Opelika-Auburn News says Department of Forensic Science should not be subject to budget cuts in next year’s spending plan.
FROM TODAY’S ANNISTON STAR:
Sen. Marsh grows into leader, mulls fourth term
Capitol Correspondent
MONTGOMERY — If compromises are being brokered in the state Senate, chances are Sen. Del Marsh, D-Anniston, is in the thick of it.
Marsh helped smooth concerns over one of the first general bills to clear the Legislature this session — a bill that gives the Department of Environmental Management authority over solid waste management, and he’s heavily involved in negotiations that will impact the education trust fund budget that lawmakers will tackle Monday.
In just three terms, the Republican businessman has risen from a new senator trying to learn the ropes, to the go-to-guy when everybody is tired of fighting.
While there’s no fancy title for what he does, Marsh said he handles it like business negotiations and he enjoys it.
“I feel fortunate that people believe that I have the ability to work with people on both sides of the aisle, and special interest groups on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “I’ve had some success, and I enjoy trying to find a solution to a problem.”
State Republican Party Chairman Mike Hubbard said Marsh is a prime example of the kind of person the party wants to get elected: business people who won’t make politics their business.
Elected to the House the same year Marsh won his Senate seat, Hubbard tapped Marsh to serve as the finance chairman of the party, and the two are now the force behind the party’s Campaign 2010, a fundraising venture to elect Republicans during the next election cycle.
They also serve as point-men for Gov. Bob Riley in their respective chambers.
“He’s not a long-term political person, and he’s not someone trying to further his career,” Hubbard said of his friend Marsh. “He’s a business person who was looking to get involved for all the right reasons.”
But therein lies the rub for an up-and-comer like Marsh who realizes he’s just hitting his stride half-way through his third term.
“I have changed my philosophy a bit,” he said. “I use to think that two terms were enough, but now I’m more inclined to accept three.”
Marsh sponsored a bill this session that would amend the state constitution and limit legislators to no more than three full terms in the House and the Senate.
He’s sponsored a term-limit bill every session.
If his bill had passed, this term, where he has arguably as much influence as some longer serving senators, could have been his last if he decided not to use the out-clause that exempts legislators who were elected before 2006.
Marsh said he’s still undecided about whether he will pursue a fourth term in two years.
“I still believe in term limits, and I’ve had that bill every session,” he said. “I also understand that it takes a term to really learn how everything works, and then another term to build relationships and hopefully gain the respect of your colleagues.”
Marsh said he’s concerned that people get so entrenched in the way things are in the Legislature, that they lose their energy and aren’t willing to change.
Rep. Randy Wood, R-Anniston, said it would be a great loss if Marsh decided to step down.
“I think Senator Marsh is just the type of individual that anything he does, he is going to try to do to the best of his ability whether it’s business or politics,” he said. “But anytime you have a person who’s been there for a while it’s going to be a loss.”
Hubbard said the Legislature’s loss might be the party’s gain in some other statewide office.
“He’s a personal friend, a political ally and a tremendous asset to the party and the state,” he said. “His ability to look at the big picture, condense it down and then bring both parties together and work with people without compromising his core principles is why he has been so successful.”
Marsh said at the present time it feels good that people believe in what he’s doing to help keep the process moving.
“I get excited when different people tell me that they appreciate my help,” he said. “The rewards aren’t monetary, but you truly feel like you’re doing something worthwhile.”
