Good of State Requires Rising Above Partisan Gridlock

In the election of 2008, national Democrats were successful at getting the voters on board by advocating “change.” Barak Obama’s slogan, “Change We Can Believe In,” struck a chord with the electorate, and the man we knew little about captured the White House and many new seats in Congress.

The year 2010 in Alabama will present new challenges and new opportunities for both political Parties, and we are likely to see change. The Democrats are licking their chops to take back the office of Governor, held eight years by Bob Riley. Republicans smell victory in both the House and Senate where they believe new seats are within their grasp. No doubt next year will be interesting, especially for political science professors, pollsters and pundits in general.

More important than political posturing is the future of Alabama. We are making progress in many areas, but the barebones truth is that our public education system is in need of an overhaul; state budget planning methods are unreliable; transportation projects continue to be based on politics rather than need; state parks are in disrepair; ethics for public officials is almost a joke; our tax system is antiquated; the Pre-Paid College Tuition program is in peril; some public safety entities are operating with outdated equipment; and falling tax revenues are providing instability in our economy. These are not Republican or Democrat issues, but issues that impact people and businesses. And they need our immediate attention.

Representative Greg Canfield (R-Vestavia Hills) proposed making our budget process more in line with realistic revenue expectations, but it was never given a chance. Rep. Mac Gipson (R-Prattville) carried the Governor’s ethics reform package, and it stalled as well. I sponsored a bill to grant the Ethics Commission subpoena power to question witnesses and examine records in their investigations, but it died a slow death. All of these measures to improve the operation and openness of state government failed, and the voters are the real losers because of it.

When I think about the coming year in the Legislature, I am reminded of what baseball great Yogi Berra once uttered: “Nobody said it was gonna be easy.” Yogi was right. It won’t be easy for many legislators to temporarily remove their partisan hats and work for the common good. We have one more regular session of the Legislature before the June 2010 Primary. That is plenty of time to address the issues that, quite frankly, have been put on the backburner of legislative priority for far too long. And the issues are much larger than Party.