GOP State Senators Endorse Smith for AL-02 - Updated
The Smith Campaign released an updated statement and this post has been edited appropriately.
Ten other GOP state senators and former Lt. Governor Steve Windom endorsed State Sen. Harri Anne Smith in her race against state Rep. Jay Love for the GOP nomination for AL-02, according to an updated release (pdf) from the Smith Campaign this afternoon. The senators included Jabo Waggoner (Senate Minority Leader), Scott Beason (Senate Minority Whip), Charles Bishop, Ben Brooks, Hank Erwin, Steve French, Rusty Glover, Jimmy Holley, Arthur Orr, and Trip Pittman.
The release notes, “Senator Del Marsh stayed neutral because of his Alabama Republican Party position as Finance Chairman. He stated that he believed that state party officials should stay out of primary elections.” (zing!)
Other than Marsh and Smith this endorsement represents all the GOP state senators besides Larry Dixon. The Smith Campaign told the Parlor that Dixon declined to endorse.
I guess she’s such a pain in the ass they don’t want to serve with her anymore!
Comment by BGJ — June 26, 2008 @ 7:27 pm
no doubt…
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2008 @ 8:05 pm
The writing is on the wall gents, for sure! Looks kinda bad when the entire Senate has to jump in to try to salvage her campaign an effort to pull her out of this position she put herself in. And it certainly ain’t a good one either…
Comment by 02 voter — June 26, 2008 @ 8:24 pm
my take on the opinions of the Alabama State Senate…..
…..Yawn…..
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2008 @ 8:57 pm
I am voting for Smith . She has been there when I called her on anything i needed to Know
Comment by Difter — June 26, 2008 @ 9:16 pm
Oh this should put her over the top!
Comment by Wow — June 26, 2008 @ 9:34 pm
Will all of these Senators be standing in for her at events. Either Beason is running for Congress or she is hiding - or both!
Comment by Wow — June 26, 2008 @ 9:36 pm
Well all the support Harri Anne can get against Jay Love is always positive. Those are all good Republicans who are well respected. Charles Bishop punched Lowell Baron if you cant respect a guy who punches Senator Baron who can you respect.
Comment by Jay Loves Taxes — June 26, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
I’m just a lowly House member, but if the Senators are going to weigh in, so am I: I endorse Jay Love.
Comment by Mike Ball — June 26, 2008 @ 10:30 pm
i thought i would NEVER agree with “Jay Loves Taxes” but….I must agree anyone that punched Lowell Baron…well, you just gotta love that.
Comment by Anonymous — June 26, 2008 @ 10:54 pm
I heard Love couldnt get but 4 in the house to agree to endorse him that says a lot
Comment by anonymous — June 26, 2008 @ 11:06 pm
I disagree, Jay could easily get 4 in the house because those want to get Jay out of the way so their nose can break when Hubbard sits down.
Comment by Earning their money — June 26, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
Anyone got a tally on how many of these senators endorsed or voted in favor of Amend 1? I know that Jabo was one of the ringleaders in support. Formed some group called the “Real” Republicans, or some such, which lambasted the anti-Amend 1 crowd in the party.
Comment by Scorpius — June 26, 2008 @ 11:32 pm
Jay hasn’t asked all the Republican House members to endorse him. He didn’t ask me. I doubt folks in District 2 really care much about Senators & Reps at the other end of the state think about their race.
Jay has been a solid conservative vote in the House, just like Harri Anne has in the Senate.
As far as the amendment one vote goes: Allowing the people to vote of that proposal was the right thing to do. When it was soundly rejected, we were able to pass a responsible budget and you haven’t heard much about tax increases since then.
Ballot initiatives can provide excellent opportunities for voters, rather than political hacks, to change the direction of their government. That’s why I am a strong proponent of it. So is Jay, who has been a solid supporter of my initiative bill in the House every year.
Comment by Mike Ball — June 27, 2008 @ 5:15 am
Danyh - loved the “zing!” after citing Del Marsh saying party officials should stay out of contested primaries.
This will come back to haunt Mike Hubard. Hubbard seems to have no concept of the truism “what goes around comes around” . . .
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 5:29 am
Where I see this going?
Senators going with Beason and Smith!
Splitting from Jay Love and company?
That could be the story!
Comment by Zorro — June 27, 2008 @ 7:04 am
Excuse me - but I don’t recall Mike Hubbard endorsing in this race. Ummm…..it is because he hasn’t! Smith - Beason and all you anti Hubbard anti Riley conspiracy theorists need to calm down. Amendment One lives - Amendment One lives - oh wait, it died five years ago. Get a life folks.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 7:06 am
If you don’t think Hubbard has endored Love you a) haven’t been paying attention b) are being deliberately dishonest or c) are brain dead.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 7:15 am
18, point to any facts that you may have on that “endorsement”. doubt you’ll be able to, but ah what the heck, might as well throw it out there and see where it goes
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 7:26 am
1) Hubbard arranged for Jay Love to sit in his (Hubbard’s) seat at the State of the State address, giving Love extra exposure during the elction
2) Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh told a state legislator that she had confronted Hubbard about his supporting Love inappropriately (for a party chair) and Hubbard said “Well, Jay is my friend” - Danny, the state rep Twinkle told this to you is known to you and I can give you his name for a confirm if you want it.
3) Hubbard has been heavily and personally involved in Love’s campaign - to the extent of attempting to influence media coverage and in working in concert with the Love campaign on stories
There is plenty more. Ask some other GOP candidates. And Hubbard is involved - personally - in many other primary races.
It should be examined. If the GOP allows this, fine. But it is a horrible precedent.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 7:35 am
wow, did he really tell twinkle that jay was his friend?? no freaking way. that does it, the party needs chris brown and marty connors back, ahh those were the gop glory days.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 7:50 am
Danny, the real ultimate story here may be a deep division developing inside the state GOP.
MIke Hubbard’s actions have had the result of creating a hierarchy inside the state party. If you are seen as being inside the magic circle , you’ll have the support of the party - directly - in contested primaries. It’s quite a leg up for the candidates selected, such as Jay Love, Twinkle Andress, Mary Windom, etc. And quite frankly these candidates MAY have won without any party favoritism. BUT the fact that the party chair is actively campaigning for (and in some cases, doing business with) the candidates getting preferential treatment may cause a great deal of resentment in the future . . .
To some extent this started with the Roy Moore types in 2006, when Twinkle was accused of using party machinery to further Governor Riley and marginalize Moore. In that case, any extra effort by the party was not needed, and practically no one got mad at the party for perhaps being unfair to Moore.
But this year the pary favoritism has gone much further - even to races such as PSC president which is not even a terribly important political job. And some of the people angered by party actions - such as Harri Anne Smith, David Grimes, and Chris Mixon - are NOT Roy Moore type fringe figures, but people who have been good party Republicans for years.
This situation may dissipate after this primary season. But I have come to believe it won’t. I think that in 2010 there will be candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor, etc. that will have the “Hubbard Brand Name” on them - and real support from party HQ in the primaries.
It worked this year. I don’t think anything will change unless the run of success changes, or a party outcry begins.
However, if Bright wins election to congress due to divisons in the GOP - along with Wayne Parker failing in district 5 - there may be some dissension within the ranks sooner rather than later.
If the GOP in state loses those high profile elections - along with the PSC presidency - some will fault the leadership. And due to the actions of this election season, support for that leadership is far from unanimous in this state.
There could be a change in the state GOP in late Novemebr.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 7:55 am
Hubbard has hurt the party with his actions. His “behind the scenes” support for Love is a violation of the trust of those who support the Party.
He promised many of the Republican Party supporters that he would stay out of the primary and he lied.
I think this will cause a division in the Party and be bad for the Alabama GOP longterm.
The true GOP supporters do not like this type of Republican, period!!!
I see new leadership in the Alabama GOP or a continued dominance for the Democatic Party.
Comment by Agree w/ #22 — June 27, 2008 @ 9:22 am
In addition to the points made above about Mike Hubbard’s support of Jay Love, you can also just follow the money. It is well known that Hubbard is a primary investor in Craftmaster Printers, located in Auburn. Check Love’s FEC report to see where he is getting printing done.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 9:23 am
walker printing. nice try though. but whatever 22-24, who needs change in the party. i mean the party was kicking ass anyway before mike. had a ton of money, was running like a well oiled machine. they are making a little noise now, but nothing like the glory days, right guys? hell, let’s vote now…who will be on the top of the ballot to overthrow mike? i want to hear your laundry list of folks who can do a better job, raise as much money, energize the base and put the party on the map…ok, ready, go
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 9:35 am
Puh-leez. The state party has given direct support to Jay Love, Twinkle Cavanaugh and Mary Windom? What a bunch of baloney. This is nothing but the whining of unsuccessful campaigns. The common thread these three candidates have is NOT help from the party, it is that they OUTWORKED their opponents. All of these races had good people running, but good, ol’ fashioned hard work counts for a whole lot.
Love supplemented his TV advertising with a strong grassroots effort (I had Love volunteers on my doorstep twice), aggressive fundraising efforts (he actually called people directly while other candidates relied more heavily on a finance team) and he travelled all over the district (which includes attending candidate forums and debates).
Twinkle, the former party ED and Chmn, drew upon her party contacts in every county to line up a strong grassroots network and to get in front of party groups across the state. She also reached out to editorial boards for interviews, while other campaigns complained (particularly on this site) that the newspapers never called them. And she also did a good job of raising money.
As for Mary Windom, I am sure it is news to her husband that Mike Hubbard was pulling strings for her campaign. Mary raised money, criss-crossed the state, sent out good mail pieces, and had robo-calls going out the week before the election. That’s golden stuff in a down ticket judicial race.
So what was Mike Hubbard doing while these three candidates were hustling? While others were doing what they do best — talking a good game — Hubbard was leading the House GOP caucus and getting beat up by AEA. Oh yeah, and he was busting his butt on Campaign 2010 to help it reach its fundraising goal of $4 million so that the party can mount a strong legislative effort in the next cycle. I guess no good deed goes unpunished. Would anyone like to complain about the party letterhead or the color scheme on the party web site? Maybe someone got a bad table location at the recent GOP dinner? Fire away!
Comment by Pachyderm — June 27, 2008 @ 9:38 am
Haaaaaa,a hahaahahah!!!!!! to the first comment
Comment by Walt — June 27, 2008 @ 10:53 am
Mary Windom, Twinkle, and Beth Kellum all did business with Mike’s firm in the primary. That simply should not happen. It’s a conflict. I cannot agree with Mike or his supporters on that.
And Jay’s support from Mike has been blatant, all protestations aside. Is that good for the party? I think not, but the proof will be in the pudding. If the candidates the party gave assistance to in the primary lead to GOP dominance, no one can complain much except the defeated candidates (although handpicking could lead to other obvious problems in the future - consider the results if someone along the lines of Paul Hubbert were doing the candidate-picking as an example . . .).
I think that there is no doubt that the party is beginning to show signs of dissension, and if it gets worse Mike will have to be held accountable. He knew what he was getting into when he decided to ivolve himself in primaries.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 10:57 am
other than a select few, 28, what signs of dissention can you point to as back-up to your claim? (and let’s not include losers of races who are grasping for something or someone to blame for their loss, which is baffling to me)
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 11:05 am
#29, I would throw that to Danny. I think he is aware of more than a few signs of dissension that he has discussed with some of us on here from time to time. I would also say that there was some dissemsion earlier (Judge Moore, the loyalty oath, caucus matters). Until this election, I don’t think any of those matters were that important. But a pattern is emerging in which the party HQ is becoming more assertive. I would have been all for that in the past as I believed the party needed to take on AEA head on as there had been a lot of “RINOS” hiding out in the GOP, but some of the people pushed by the hierarchy aren’t exactly purebred Republicans (remember, Jay Love was a creation of Demo unions when he first ran and unions have continued to be his biggest financial backers).
The HQ seems to be pushing candidates based on their closeness to Hubbard and the party insiders rather than their devotion to core Republican principals. It’s starting to look like Mayor Daley and Boss Tweed around here instead of Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan.
If the GOP starts to be an “insiders club” we will marginalize ourselves - at the very time when polls show a smaller portion of the American electorate consider themselves republicans than at any time since Herbert Hoover was president.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 11:29 am
Personal perferences of candidates and personal financial gain from campaigns should be disallowed for all party executives. GOP members want to change a corrupt Alabama legislative system, not recreate it within our party. If Mike Hubbard is involved either directly or indirectly in any campaign, he should step down and resign from the party to keep the GOP from losing support.
He has supported Love, regardless of what he says. Love has lied about Bob McKee to be elected in the house, aligned himself with unions, consistantly voted for tax increases, and been a puppet of the Riley/Hubbard machine that has sold out to the AEA time and time again.
We need real change, not just superficial retoric. Our state deserves it.
Comment by correct #30 — June 27, 2008 @ 11:53 am
Wow Mike Hubbard supporting Jay? NO JOKE why is that that every move the Smith campaign makes draws a newspaper quote against it from Mike Hubbard. This guy is a moron. He headlined Amendment 1 and Republicans like him are the problem with our party. I post on this forum specifically for that purpose. Harri Anne is really not in the IN CROWD of Riley Republicans. The same Republicans who tried to raise our taxes. This is the main reason everyone needs to get out and vote for the outsider crowd of good republicans like Chris Mixon, David Grimes, Chris Mixon, among others are tired of this garbage.
Comment by Jay Loves Taxes — June 27, 2008 @ 1:54 pm
excuse i meant Harri Anne not Chris Mixon on the repeat
Comment by Jay Loves Taxes — June 27, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Jlt, you’ve got your head in the sand. Mike is not one man making decisions for the party, there are plenty of capable folks working for one goal; beat the dems. And he is not using his chair position to work for jay. Your agenda is too obvious
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 3:05 pm
“JLT” … I like calling him that much better … JLT it is.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 3:48 pm
Folks, I don’t think some points are even worth arguing. And anyone who works at the Statehouse knows Mike Hubbard is supporting Jay. That just is not a point in question. He’s backing him. Danny, you have a lot of contacts in government and politics. Could you weigh in on whether or not Mike Hubbard is backing Jay Love? I think you have heard info on these lines since November of last year at least.
I am not saying that it is illegal or immoral to do what Mike is doing. I just think that it is certainly controversial. And it shouldn’t be a point that we cannot discuss. The attempt to shout down anyone who dares question what Mike Hubbard has done in the primaries is not good for the GOP. What he is doing - favoring certain candidates - could be his way of advancing party goals and beating Dr. Hubbert. But don’t claim he isn’t doing it - that is just disingenuous.
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
Anonymous in 36,
I don’t know enough to say or know that Hubbard is backing Jay Love. He says he isn’t, and I don’t know different from that. I know that there are those in Montgomery who believe he is.
You are right that it would be controversial. That is one reason that Hubbard is so careful to say that he and the state GOP have not taken sides.
He freely admits that his media company does business with GOP primary candidates. Detractors say that is more than enough evidence, and defenders disagree. Detractors say that either he makes money and has a vested financial interest in a candidate’s primary success, or he doesn’t make money so he is giving a primary candidate an advantage with below market prices. He says that his hands are off that business, but that he doesn’t get paid for the time he puts into being party Chair, so his business interests are not going to stop doing business as usual.
There was a picture in the Advertiser of Love as the only one standing behind Riley for a bill-signing on a bill that Love had sponsored, but the bill didn’t get passed until it was introduced by a Democrat (in the Dem-majority House). How/why he was the only one in the picture with Riley might make an interesting story.
Comment by Danny — June 27, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
How about this insider info. My friend works for Jay Loves campaign. He has told me that Mike Hubbard occasionally graces Love’s headquarters along with the like of Todd Strange and others. This is probably one of the worst kept secrets in Alabama politics right now.
Comment by Jay Loves Taxes — June 29, 2008 @ 6:20 pm
good job JLT, you’re a super sleuth! this must be reliable information - what can we do to stop this corrupt attempt to steal the election?
Comment by Anonymous — June 29, 2008 @ 6:59 pm
YOU LIE A LOT. Lets bet some sum of money that Mike Hubbard has never been there. You know, you come on this site and you post all these lies and it gets really old. Go lie about something else.
Having said that, I bet Mike Hubbard is invited anytime!
I hate liars. JLT and others will continue to be called out as they are - LIARS
Comment by JLT is a LIAR — June 29, 2008 @ 8:13 pm
[…] Danny’s been following this well as usual. It’s not a very good narrative for Jay Love’s bid for Congress. It came out last week that national Republicans were funding and supporting his campaign for the GOP runoff against State Senator Harri Anne Smith. […]
Pingback by AL-02 GOP runoff heating up | Daily Dixie — June 29, 2008 @ 9:38 pm
of course they are funding him - he’s a winner.
Comment by Anonymous — June 30, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
yes, if you call being elected to positions through questionable means a “winner” … go jay!
Comment by anonymous — June 30, 2008 @ 9:33 pm