Two Alabama Political Blasts from the Pasts have released new books. While both pols were once at the top of the state’s political heap, the books could not be more different.
The more traditional release is a biography of former Alabama Governor John Patterson. The book Nobody But the People is actually written by Warren Trest, but Patterson worked closely with Trest and has been on the circuit promoting its release. From his role in cleaning up organized crime in Phenix City, to a tumultuous term as governor, to the transition to a respected jurist Patterson’s political career has had many acts and Nobody But the People chronicles them all.
Former State Senator Bill Drinkard has also become an author recently. Drinkard served three terms in the Alabama Senate and chaired the powerful Rules Committee before leaving the Senate to become an influential lobbyist. In the mid 1990s Drinkard pled guilty to a corruption charge and dropped off the political map before recently resurfacing as an aide to the Senate Democratic Caucus.
However, while Drinkard probably could pen an interesting biography about his ups and downs in Alabama politics, that is not what he’s done. Drinkard’s book Elom is a sci-fi novel that introduces (according to Publisher’s Weekly):
a low-tech world where human reproduction is controlled to concentrate desirable traits. Life is regulated by the scriptures of Geerna, a primitive human who long ago reached a covenant with the goddess Shetow. The wise women of the Medora Council interpret Geerna’s words and protect her secret prophecies, overseeing the competitions where adolescents demonstrate their skills and suitability for mating.
Drinkard’s book while obviously aimed at a specific market has met with at least some critical success as prominent sci-fi author David Drake said the book contains “engaging characters in a story told with the feel of a myth passed down by word of mouth.”
Whether or not either of these books is your cup of tea, it’s good to see two Alabama politicians enter the world of the published word. Now if only we could get more Alabama pols to blog…
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Original post has been removed.
Wow… a fabulous source told me a very interesting story that I repeated here. A commenter did some research and revealed that the story was not true. I checked with my source who said that the story was a well-worn chestnut and who was very surprised to find also that the story could not be verified.
Since the basis of the post was a story that was not true, I’ll remove the story and am noting the error for anyone who may have seen it. In time I may delete the post entirely, but I wanted to be sure to give people an opportunity to see the correction here. My apologies all around… I always want to provide the best information available and am eager to correct the record on this occasion.
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WBHM’s radio show Tapestry interviews Mark Berte, Grassroots Education Director for Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform on the documentary “It’s a Thick Book” and the shortcomings of the state’s 1901 constitution. You can hear it online from this webpage.
Interesting, for example, on what this constitution costs the taxpayers… Berte says the amendment ballot initiative that we’ll be voting on June 5 is costing us $3.5 million.
FYI, the documentary “It’s a Thick Book” will be shown this evening at 6 p.m. at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.
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In 2004, Homewood High School student Lewis Lehe exercised his right to vote for the first time. Though he thought he had prepared himself, he was surprised to find constitutional amendments on the ballot that affected places in Alabama he had never heard of. Why was he asked to vote on an amendment that affected Crenshaw County?
His curiosity led him to create “It’s a Thick Book,” a well-done, engaging and even funny documentary on our state’s 1901 Constitution. The movie premiered Sunday, March 4, and Lewis Lehe, now a college sophomore, spent his spring break travelling to most of the nine locations around the state where the movie was shown in its premiere week to answer questions after it was shown.
| I said, “Wait a minute. It’s Friday night, and you are watching the movie in the frat house. On Friday night.” I felt like I had really made it. |
The movie will show tonight (Monday) in Mobile and Auburn and tomorrow in Birmingham at the Civil Rights Institute. (Details for the events are here.) You can even order your own free copy of the DVD or watch it online. (My two cents is that if you have the opportunity, you’ll enjoy watching it with a group more.)
Lewis was kind enough to sit down in the Political Parlor for a brief chat to share some comments about his experiences making the movie. You can read it all after the jump.
(more…)
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I continue to tell folks that “It’s a Thick Book” is an entertaining look at our state’s 1901 Constitution. Now you can easily see for yourself to tell me how right or wrong I am.
“It’s a Thick Book” can now be seen online via streaming video. It doesn’t get any easier than that.
My two cents is that watching video on the computer screen is a pretty unsatisfactory experience, so once you check it out for a bit, I suggest you click the link there to have them send you your own copy on dvd so you can watch it in a more comfortable setting, perhaps with others. (Who wants to sit in front of a computer screen watching a video for 45 minutes?)
I’d be interested to know what you think. The folks I know who have seen it have been saying positive things.
“It’s a Thick Book” was made by Homewood High School graduate Lewis Lehe.
BTW, the posts in Related Articles (immediately below) have various links to what newspapers have said about “It’s a Thick Book.”
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On the occasion of the state Democrats’ Jefferson-Jackson Banquet featuring President Bill Clinton tomorrow night, here is a photograph from a similar occasion in the past with another Clinton connection. The featured speaker at the state Democrats’ fundraiser in May, 2002 was James Carville, famed for his work on Clinton’s presidential campaign and later a senior political advisor to the President.
As politicians sometimes do, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charles Bishop (and his wife) took advantage of the opportunity for a photograph with the guest. (The picture has since picked up some discoloration.) Bishop, former Democratic Agricultural Commissioner for the state, is now the Republican state senator from Jasper.
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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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In the wake of Martha Brewer’s passing last week, Bob Ingram remembers the attacks on her character in the 1970 governor’s race between incumbent Albert Brewer and former Gov. George Wallace. One book called this race the most negative political campaign of all time.
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| Gov. Kilby |
Cleaning out some files…
Since 1901, Alabama voted only two lieutenant governors into the governor’s seat: Thomas E. Kilby in 1914 1918 and Don Siegelman in 1998.
Several more than that have run and not been elected, most recently Steve Windom in 2002.
Two others, Albert Brewer and Jim Folsom, Jr., ascended to the office to finish their predecessors’ incomplete terms but both lost their races for full terms.
Update: The source above had the year of Kilby’s election incorrect. He was elected in 1918.
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While looking up some other things, I ran across this account of Karl Rove’s role in the 1994 election of Republican Perry Hooper, Sr. to the Alabama Supreme Court. At the time, no Republican had been elected to the Supreme Court in more than a century.
The 2000 [presidential] election was not Rove’s closest race. That had come earlier, and serves as a greater testament to his skill. In 1994 a group called the Business Council of Alabama appealed to Rove to help run a slate of Republican candidates for the state supreme court…
Interesting reading.
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(R) Jeff Sessions (1-19)
(D) Vivian Figures (33-1)
(D) Artur Davis (1-49)
(R) Mike Hubbard (13-1)
(?) David Bronner (OFF)