Alabama Politics in
Doc’s Political Parlor
& Home of Lawn Mower Repair

In the AL-05 race, the Christian Coalition of Alabama does not care for the “Misleading Attack Ads By Casino-Funded Freedom’s Watch,” according to a Friday release from CCA Chairman Randy Brinson. Freedom’s Watch ran the ads against Democratic candidate Parker Griffith on behalf of Republican Wayne Parker.

It’s hard to know what to excerpt from their release, as it is all pretty interesting reading. Some will nods their heads in agreement, others will be incensed.

Here are a couple of excerpts:

Given the nature of the attacks on Griffith, it is especially important to note that the person funding and directing the decisions at Freedom’s Watch is casino baron, Sheldon Adelson. Adelson has made billions of dollars in the Las Vegas casino industry and through his investments in China. His casinos have been fined $1 million for rigging games; he is under investigation by the federal government for coercing employees into giving up health insurance; and he spearhead and funded the lobbying effort to secure the Olympics for China in the face of the public outcry over China’s human rights record and persecution of Christian missionaries.

And…

Our hope is that this Congressional race will be determined on the issues that concern all Christians, particularly issues of preservation of life and preservation of the traditional family. We would welcome a conversation by Wayne Parker and Parker Griffith that focused on these more important issues to the people of the fifth district.

You can read it all here.

Randy Brinson, the head of the CCA, interviewed Parker Griffith, and you can see video from that interview here.

This is not your father’s CCA.

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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a poll from Anzalone Liszt Research that shows Democratic nominee Parker Griffith 8 points ahead of Republican Wayne Parker in the AL-05 race. The entire text of the release is below.

This poll was taken Oct. 12 to 14, mostly before the flap emerged yesterday about a recording from a forum last month where Griffith is heard saying, “I think America’s greatest enemy is America and its materialism. And I think that we have nothing to fear from radical Islam. We have nothing to fear from any other religion if we are strong on our own beliefs. I don’t fear radical Islam.”

Today’s Huntsville Times has Griffith on the record about that Colbert-Lauderdale Baptist Association meeting on Sept. 15:

Griffith said he was surprised that his comments had caught the NRCC’s attention a month after they were issued. He said the forum was about faith and family, and his remarks about Islam were completely from a religious slant.

“I don’t think anyone in the room misunderstood what I was saying,” Griffith said. “I was in a room full of Baptist ministers, and we were talking about religion, not matters of national security. The point I was making was that if we are strong in our Christian beliefs, that is stronger than any Islamic threat.

“I don’t know how this got so taken out of context. It’s just a baseless negative attack.”

You can hear the comment here at Redstate.com, but there is not enough audio to add any context. Redstate.com says that Griffith “was asked about radical Islam and its threat to the United States.” You can see the planned questions in this agenda from the forum that was provided the Parlor by the state GOP. Question 12 is “Who do you think is America’s greatest enemy and why?” Question 13 is “Do you think we have any terrorist threats in North Alabama?”

David Carpenter, a Baptist minister from Florence, was the moderator of the event, and “said he was ’shocked by the misuse of the quote from that event.’”

According to the Times article:

“I sat right between Wayne Parker and Dr. Griffith during the program and thought both did an excellent job discussing issues of faith and their views,” Carpenter said. “The response that is being used against Parker Griffith was part of his comment in a longer discussion of whether radical Islam was a threat to our Christian faith.

“I was there when he said these quotes and can tell you that they have been taken out of context, and it is unfortunate that anyone would misrepresent the truth in this way.”

I am told that Rush Limbaugh hit on this issue today. If Griffith has thrown a hanging curveball here, the question is whether the Republicans have a slugger at the plate who can muscle it out of the park, or if it will be a swing-and-a-miss. The Huntsville Hospital issue from Griffith’s past does not appear to be the game-changer that Republicans hoped it would be. This poll released today suggests that the hospital issue is not the hanging curveball that the Parker campaign hoped it would be, or that Parker was not the batter to knock it out. Will Parker have a good level swing, connect solidly on this one, and drive in the go-ahead run? Or is his campaign still looking for the game-changer?

Here is the text of today’s release from the DCCC on the Anzalone Liszt poll:

(more…)

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The Alabama-West Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church adopted the below resolution related to Alabama’s tax system on June 4th. The conference adopted a similar resolution in 2003.

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The general editor of the Bible Literacy Project fires back a defense of the textbook The Bible and Its Influence in response to Sen. Scott Beason’s criticism of the project.

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Sen. Scott Beason (R - Gardendale) jumps into theological waters and offers his take on “The deception of the Bible Literacy Project” for WorldNetDaily yesterday.

Those can be difficult waters to navigate.

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Phillip Rawls for the Associated Press this afternoon:

The chairman of the Montgomery-based Redeem the Vote [Randy Brinson] said Friday he believes his organization’s campaign in Iowa to encourage voter participation by faith-based citizens helped Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama win in party caucuses.

And about the comment from Doug Gross, Mitt Romney’s Iowa campaign chairman, that “if Republican turnout today is 80,000 or more, Mr. Romney’s campaign could be in trouble,” well… “With 93 percent of GOP precincts reporting, 112,349 Republicans had participated in their caucus.”

Turnout was at an all-time high, over 346,000 Iowans caucused.

This is going to be an interesting ride.

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• Brinson's Huckabee Help

Dr. Randy Brinson, he of the prodigious email list and head of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, is among the conservative Christians rallying support for GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee in today’s Iowa caucuses. His recent mass email attempts to sway (and encourage turnout among) Iowa’s conservative Christians with faith-based doubts about rival Romney’s fitness as a candidate.

Randy Brinson, a friend of Mr. Huckabee’s who founded the nonpartisan evangelical voters registration organization, Redeem the Vote, sent out another mass e-mail directly criticizing Mr. Romney for “parsing words from his own faith experience as a Mormon and equating it to the Christian faith, which is a particularly difficult Christians to accept.”

“Many in the media have equated this to some kind of religious intolerance among Christians toward Mormons,” Mr. Brinson continued. “The fact is that evangelicals hold no animosity toward any faith but they equally disdain the fact that some want to rewrite the basic truths of the Christian faith to fit their own belief system, or equating Mormonism to another Christian denomination.”

Mr. Brinson added, “If his Mormon faith guided his present moral convictions, what guided him when he was pro-choice and pro-gay rights, since he states he has always been a devout Mormon?”

Doug Gross, Mitt Romney’s Iowa campaign chairman, said in The New York Times that “if Republican turnout today is 80,000 or more, Mr. Romney’s campaign could be in trouble.” That would indicate a larger-than-expected evangelical turnout, and presumable good news for former Baptist minister Huckabee.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the caucuses shake out on both sides of the aisle.

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Did you see the weekend’s Washington Post article suggesting that Alabama MD Randy Brinson and his email list of 71 million names get some of the credit for Mike Huckabee’s surge among GOP presidential candidates? The article called it “one of the most coveted lists in Republican politics.”

FWIW, the article did not mention that Brinson is also now head of the Christian Coalition of Alabama.

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The State Board of Education has now approved the textbook The Bible and Its Influence for use across the state though some of its members appeared not to know it until after the fact.

The book and its use in schools was a matter of contention in 2006 when a Senate committee voted 4-2 for legislation that would approve the book for use in schools. Then-senator Bradley Byrne (R - Fairhope) objected to what amounted to an end run around the state’s textbook selection process:

“Take the name of the book out [of the legislation authorizing an elective course on the Bible in public schools], and we’re fine,” he said, noting that he has nothing against the book itself but thinks it’s “bad education policy” for the Legislature to put specific textbooks in the Alabama Code.

Sen. Scott Beason (R - Gardendale) “said he didn’t like the book because of its content.” His comment speaks directly to the point of how difficult (or impossible) it is to teach religious issues in public schools to the satisfaction of everyone interested.

Local school boards will decide if they want the textbook used in their local schools.

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Three items…

1. First, a little more about John Giles’ new group Christian Action Alabama keeping the url for the Christian Coalition of Alabama (http://www.ccbama.org/). Of course that is bound to cause some confusion, but it’s worse than that. There are references all through the site that would mislead readers into believing they were actually at the website for the Christian Coalition of Alabama.

   For example, the “Email Alerts” page mentions the “Christian Coalition of Alabama” eight times, as if you are at the Christian Coalition of Alabama web page.

   The title bar (at the very top of the browser) for the “Contact Us” page reads “Christian Coalition of Alabama: About Us - Contact Us.” Could it be more misleading? And the email address offered is cca@ccbama.org, which would make sense if you were trying to contact the Christian Coalition of Alabama, but hardly makes sense for Christian Action Alabama.

   No wonder there is a suit.

2. If you want to see the details of the Christian Coalition suit (discussed at greater length here), you can see the filed papers in a large pdf file (23 MB).
3. FYI, Randy Brinson, new head of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, was mentioned at the end of a Washington Post article yesterday in a context of how a new generation of evangelical Christians has a broader agenda than their predecessors.

Update: Brinson has agreed to drop the suit and the CAA website has removed many of the references that would make you think you are on a website for the Christian Coalition of Alabama.

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• What's Behind the Curtain of Giles' Christian Coalition?

The head of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, Dr. Randy Brinson is suing John Giles, who led the Christian Coalition of Alabama for eight years.

The suit contends that after Giles was asked to resign from the CCA, he has refused to give the group’s current leadership necessary records, including membership and lists of contributors, or to give up its official Web site. The suit contends that the latter has caused confusion, leading many to believe that Giles is still with the organization.

This raises all kinds of interesting questions about why Giles won’t turn over the records. Can you imagine a pastor leaving a church and refusing to turn over the church’s membership records to the new leadership? Can you imagine the outgoing head of a charity refusing to turn over donor lists to the new director?

Why has John Giles so adamantly refused to reveal who has bankrolled the Christian Coalition of Alabama even to the new leadership of the Christian Coalition of Alabama? Would there be more embarrassing revelations like the finding from 2005 congressional hearings that the CCA was using casino money to fight Gov. Siegelman’s proposed lottery? (The CCA claimed they were “tricked.”) Steve Flowers went so far as to say in 2006, “The Coalition headed by John Giles was discredited last year when it was revealed that the group was supported financially by Indian gambling interests.”

And what kind of institution has so little organizational structure that outgoing leadership can prevent new leaders from getting those kind of bookkeeping records? I mean, I can imagine a garden club where an outgoing leader could keep anybody from knowing whose dues were current. But a professional organization?

This really reinforces the idea (suggested previously) that the Christian Coalition has been propped up by donors with a political agenda but has no real organization or membership.

Giles stated “that filing a lawsuit was not the way Christians should handle their differences.” But what is Brinson to do? He’s not asking for monetary damages. Giles has even kept the url for the Christian Coalition’s website (http://www.ccbama.org/) and is using it for his new organization, Christian Action Alabama. The title bar (at the very top of the browser) on every page of the web site except the home page reads “Christian Coalition of Alabama” though the content refers to Christian Action Alabama and has nothing to do with the Christian Coalition of Alabama.

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A bill to subject the payday loan industry to the regulation of the Small Loan Act is being introduced by Sen. Bradley Byrne (R - Fairhope) and has the support of Democratic Party Chair Joe Turnham and the Christian Coalition of Alabama.

The banking industry brought suit a few years ago charging that the payday loan industry was operating in violation of the Small Loan Act which limits the interest charged on loans to 36% annually. The case dragged on, and in the interim the legislature passed legislation which specifically removed the industry from the oversight of the Small Loan Act. That legislation allowed payday loan lenders to charge $17.50 for a $100 loan that may be only for two weeks, which amounts to an annual interest rate of over 400%. Sen. Byrne now says he made a mistake supporting the legislation.

Afterward, the courts ruled that payday loans had been subject to the terms of the Small Loan Act up until the time that the new legislation passed.

I know one policy analyst who keeps up with these things who had speculated that the Legislature, having given the authorization for payday loan lenders to operate as they do now, may be reluctant to repeal that authorization.

But there appears to be some momentum toward doing just that… GOP Senator Byrne, Democratic Party Chair Turnham, and the Christian Coalition of Alabama? That’s some broad support.

Don’t expect the industry to go away quietly into the night…

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Activities in Selma this weekend commemorate the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march. Selma pulpits are seeing visitors tomorrow, some in a “command performance:”

It was [GA’s U.S. Rep. John] Lewis who invited Obama to Selma a month before Clinton decided to go. And it is Obama, not Clinton, who has been awarded Selma’s prime real estate - the Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church where the famous march began.

Clinton will be speaking at the black First Baptist Church a few yards away on Martin Luther King Jr. Street. [Jesse] Jackson and [Al] Sharpton have reserved pulpits at Tabernacle Baptist Church and the Second Baptist Church, respectively.

Though curiously, Jackson “will not be coming because of an already scheduled trip to Ghana.”

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The National Council of Churches (whose member faith groups “include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations”) offers Christian Principles in an Election Year complete with a companion group study guide. It is also available in a reproducible format in a pdf file.

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From the Associated Press:

Redeem the Vote, a Montgomery-based group that registered thousands of religious voters in 2004, plans to distribute what it calls an “alternative voter guide” on races for statewide offices and the Legislature.

It will list candidates’ responses to a questionnaire about issues of faith, rather than highlighting their responses to hot button issues like taxes.

I know that some legislators are people of faith who are frustrated by surveys circulated by the Organization Formerly Known As the Christian Coalition of Alabama. An objection to such surveys is that by only allowing for one word answers, narrow assumptions are made about what is or is not a Christian response.

Redeem the Vote’s questionnaire asks candidates about where they go to church, their favorite Bible verse, how they will publicly acknowledge their faith, and what role their faith will pay in formulating public policy.

They can give explanations rather than using one word answers like the Christian Coalition of Alabama required.

If we are going to inject the candidates’ faith into the discussion via a questionnaire, I understand the desire to have one that allows for the expression of more of the breadth and depth of candidates’ religious experiences and backgrounds.

“… [A] voter guide that gives a real glimpse into the heart and decision-making process of a candidate is a truer and fairer measurement of a candidate’s moral position,” [Redeem the Vote] founder, Dr. Randy Brinson, said.

State Republican Party Chairman Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh responds by objecting to the messenger, not the message, and “calls Brinson ‘a Democrat propaganda machine.’” This despite the fact that “two years ago, Randy Brinson and his group Redeem the Vote helped ‘President Bush by registering 100,000 voters nationwide through concerts by Christian music acts and other events.’” She is “encouraging Republican candidates not to respond to the questionnaire.”

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Like Noah and his neighbors, Georgia’s Christian Coalition and the national organization are waving goodbye with no plans to see one another again.

This is the fourth state group to leave the national Christian Coalition. Alabama’s group jumped or was pushed last month.

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Jim Wallis of the Soujourners Community, author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, has started a new blog called God’s Politics. He and Ralph Reed are in a dialogue (well… an exchange of blog posts) to get it started.

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Judge Roy Moore points to the original author

I was flipping through some pages last night and saw again the recent quote from House minority leader Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn who charged that the positions taken by the Alabama Legislative Democratic Leadership Council in their Covenant for the Future represented “the worst case of political plagiarism in Alabama history.”

First, I get that Hubbard wants to make an issue of who got to these positions first. But if he really wanted these issues passed, couldn’t he say, “Welcome.”

And then I thought, this is the worst case of political plagiarism in Alabama history?

Which made me wonder if God got as worked up when Judge Roy Moore put a copyright notice on his Ten Commandments monument.

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Seems that the national Christian Coalition was also in the process of ending its relationship with the Christian Coalition of Alabama:

At the same time Giles was sending a letter to the national organization, the national group was sending a letter to the Christian Coalition of Alabama about terminating the agreement between the national and state organizations.

Starting to turn into an Eagles’ song.

As is often the case with ugly breakups, there is a third party involved. No names from me but the initials are I.R.S.

Hat tip to Alablawg.

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The Christian Coalition of Alabama is departing the national Christian Coalition because the national organization is too liberal. A new name and logo will be unveiled by November 1.

Thanks, Kathy.

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President Bush and others talk about promoting a “culture of life.” The term is often used in terms of framing the abortion issue. Bush addressed anti-abortion marchers (January 24, 2005) saying that “even the unwanted have worth.”

“We’re also moving ahead in terms of medicine and research to make sure the gifts of science are consistent with our highest values of freedom, equality, family and human dignity,” Bush said. “We will not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it.”

Bush also told the protesters that they will eventually prevail, if only because of what he described as the justness of their cause. “I encourage you to take warmth and comfort from our history, which tells us that a movement that appeals to the noblest and most generous instincts of our fellow Americans — and that is based on a sacred promise enshrined in our founding document that this movement will not fail,” Bush said.

President Bush also invoked the phrase when speaking about Terri Schiavo. Here is his entire statement, released March 17, 2005, before she died.

The case of Terri Schiavo raises complex issues. Yet in instances like this one, where there are serious questions and substantial doubts, our society, our laws, and our courts should have a presumption in favor of life. Those who live at the mercy of others deserve our special care and concern. It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed, and protected - and that culture of life must extend to individuals with disabilities.

Noble sentiments, and I have added emphasis to some of them.

My question: how many people would have to die in the course of a year because they don’t have health insurance before we begin to think about covering more Americans?

If 50 people a year died because they did not have health insurance, would we remember the ideal that “we will not sanction the creation of life only to destroy it?”

What if 365 people died a year because they didn’t have health insurance? If one person died every day for lack of health insurance, would we be pushed to recall “our highest values” that include “human dignity?”

What if ten times that many died every year because they didn’t have health insurance? How many heart-broken family members will that add up to if 3,650 people a year die unnecessarily? Would we begin to think about promoting society and laws that have presumption for life?

How many would it take for us to heed the President’s words, “It should be our goal as a nation to build a culture of life, where all Americans are valued, welcomed, and protected?”

Every year about 18,000 Americans younger than 65 die only because they don’t have health insurance. Fifty people will die today because they don’t have health insurance. Preventable deaths that leave behind heart-broken parents, grieving widows, children without moms or dads.

Does this represent the kind of people we want to be?

Three years ago, 41 million Americans did not have health insurance. Now, more than 46 million people - including 8 million children - do not have health insurance.

I learned from the United Methodist Church (who holds that “health care is a basic human right”) that this is “Cover the Uninsured Week.”

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The Rev. Jim Evans is saying in an op-ed piece in today’s Anniston Star what Kimble Forrister of Alabama Arise, the Tuscaloosa News, others, and I have been saying. The recent tax reform legislation that Alabama passed is “important” and it is a “first step.”

Some highlights of his piece:

• Our income tax structure, while better now, is still grossly unfair to the working poor.

• If we must have an income tax, then it must be fair. It is not fair, and it never will be fair for those who earn the most to pay the least.
• [I]t took 18 years to finally raise the level of awareness among Alabamians that our tax system was punishing the poor.
• [T]he fact remains that no one who earns such a small salary [$12,600], especially with a family, should owe any income tax.

He’s right on the money when he says, “The Scriptures are consistent in their call for the wider community to love kindness and to do justice for the least of these in our midst.”

He encourages a prayer that I can make my own: “We have taken an important first step. Let us pray now that we will have the courage and resolve to take the additional steps needed to ensure that our tax structure is fair to everyone it affects.”

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The Montgomery Advertiser reports today that the Senate version of a bill to establish a high school elective called “The Bible and Its Influence” passed out of committee on a 4-2 vote. The bill is sponsored by Rules Chair Jim Preuitt, D - Talladega.

[Sen. Bradley Byrne, R-Fairhope] predicted a Republican-led filibuster of the bill if the textbook language isn’t changed.

…

“The Republicans look stupid on this issue,” said Randy Brinson, chairman of Redeem the Vote’s board. Brinson characterizes the committee-passed bill as a move to “increase the comfort level of school boards to offer Bible courses.”

The Republican filibuster of the House version of the bill was featured in the Washington Monthly story, “When Would Jesus Bolt?” that I mentioned below. The article is recommended reading and tells how evangelical Christians like Randy Brinson are re-considering the question of which party best serves their interests.

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Amy Sullivan of the Washington Monthly tells an interesting story about watching Alabama Republicans filibuster a bill sponsored by Democrats which would authorize an elective course on the Bible in public schools.

The Republicans were filibustering the Bible bill. On a Tuesday afternoon in early February, Republican legislators in Alabama took to the crimson-carpeted floor of the state house to oppose legislation that would authorize an elective course on the Bible in public high schools. The recommended curriculum for the course had been vouched for by Christian Right all-stars like Chuck Colson and Ted Haggard, but so far as Republicans were concerned, there was only one pertinent piece of information about the bill: It was sponsored by two Democrats. And now Republicans were prepared to do everything in their procedural power to stop it, even if that meant lining up to explain why they could not—could not!—stand for this attempt to bring a class about the Bible into public schools.

She goes on to observe that some evangelical Christians are re-considering the question of which party best serves their interests - and that political stakes are involved.

“This is more than about God,” [Republican Rep. Scott Beason] reminded his colleagues. “This is about politics.”

Actually, it’s about both—a fight over which party gets to claim the religious mantle. Nationally, and in states like Alabama, the GOP cannot afford to allow Democrats a victory on anything that might be perceived as benefiting people of faith.

If you are even a little intrigued at this point, I think you would enjoy the whole story, “When Would Jesus Bolt?”

Thanks and a tip of the hat to Captain Bama.

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A nascent group of faith leaders in Alabama is considering how to address some of Alabama’s ills. At a meeting yesterday, this was one of the prayers they offered:

Daily we learn of the struggles of survival in our own communities, within the borders of our own country, and around the world - people struggling on too little pay to cover the costs of food, clothing, shelter, medicine and heat…

Out of the glaring darkness of life’s chaos, Lord, clear my eyes

That I may see the suffering of my neighbors.

Unstop my ears

That I may hear the cries of those in despair.

Unbind my hands

That they may move toward others.

Help us, Lord as we struggle for the words and deeds

That will bring light and hope to the abandoned.

Perhaps this is a prayer for all of us.

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