Strange Politics in Alabama

My hometown of Huntsville, Alabama had the honor of a Trump visit last night. Trump is campaigning in a Republican primary for the candidate of his choice. Nothing wrong with that I guess even though it is almost unheard of for the National Party to interfere in a state primary; much less the President of the United States. Trump couldn't seem to help himself as he stirred up more controversy by attacking football players protests and cursing them explicitly. His base loved it of course. Red meat for the masses.

In any case, the supposed reason for Trump's visit was to push for the election of Luther Strange, current sitting US Senator from Alabama. Strange was appointed by Governor Robert Bentley to finish out the term of Jeff Sessions when he vacated that office to assume the mantle of Attorney General in the Trump administration. Bentley appointed Luther Strange while at the same time eschewing a special election until the normal end of the term even though this was against Alabama law. No surprise there. Bentley was being investigated by the Attorney General of Alabama for misuse of campaign finance and state funds. Luther Strange was Attorney General of Alabama at the time. Strange held up the investigation long enough to get the appointment to the Senate. Bentley gave him the Senate seat and decided not to have a special election which would have given Strange several years before having to run for election.

Unfortunately for Bentley and Strange, the next attorney general he appointed did proceed with letting the legislature investigate Bentley and he wound up being forced to resign. Bentley was also convicted of misuse of campaign and state funds. The misuse was used to pay his lover, Rebecca Caldwell Mason, and her husband some $500,000 in campaign and state funds to assist him in public relations. Mrs. Mason, an ex TV weather girl, wasn't satisfied to collect a lot of money; she more or less ran the governor's office for the last two years of Bentley's term as his "special assistant" paid directly out of campaign funds. Having a public affair with someone else's wife who also worked for him wasn't enough to get Governor Bentley in trouble in Alabama; but he made the mistake of asking the legislature for a tax increase to help fund the collapsing state prison system before the Federal Government shuts it down for cruel and unusual punishment. In Alabama, as long as you go to church and act Christian a lot of things are seen as acceptable, but raising taxes to cover government essentials such as a prison system is not one of them.

The new governor, Kay Ivey, correctly called for a special election as soon as she took over after Bentley resigned. Luther Strange found himself facing Mo Brooks and Judge Roy Moore for the Republican nomination. It's technically a Republican nomination but essentially the general election because since Obama was president, there is almost no possibility of a Democrat winning a Senatorial race unless all the Republicans running are convicted felons and even that wouldn't make it a sure thing for a Democrat. Luther Strange also presided over the investigation, at least until he recused himself, of the powerful Speaker of the House of Alabama; Mike Hubbard.

Hubbard, who ran the Alabama Republican Legislature with an iron fist, was indicted on 23 felony counts shortly after Strange recused himself. That didn't stop the thoroughly crooked Alabama Legislature from re-electing Hubbard as Speaker AFTER he was indicted. Like I said earlier, you can get away with a lot of things in Alabama politics if you go to church and act pious. Hubbard was soon convicted on 12 felony counts and sent to prison which did necessitate his being removed as Speaker or I am sure he would still be there.

Meanwhile, Judge Roy Moore was removed from office as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to follow the US Constitution and US Supreme Court decisions. Moore, not satisfied with putting his own decisions above those of the legal authority he was sworn to uphold also advised lower courts in Alabama to do the same. This happened to be the SECOND time Moore was removed from the same office for the same offense. His first removal was over a Ten Commandments statue he had installed in the Alabama Supreme Court building. He refused to remove it when ordered by a Federal Court to do so and found himself booted out of office while the state was stuck with the legal fees for fighting the case all the way through the system.

Roy Moore is a cartoonish figure who has been around Alabama politics for a long time. He has stated on numerous occasions that the Bible is the root of all Constitutional law. This is a strange position for a man named as Chief Supreme Court justice in the state but you have to remember we are in Alabama (see my earlier comments about being a good christian). Moore has suggested that homosexuals should be imprisoned in one of his more enlightened comments and started out this campaign by going on a local radio show where he openly admitted he didn't know what the DACA program was. He promised he would look into it and form an opinion about it. I suppose if DACA isn't in the Bible, Moore can't be expected to know much about it. Add to this a constant litany of woefully ignorant quotes regarding Islam, abortion, and an abysmally misinformed understanding of actual history; and you begin to get a picture of the mental midget bigot that Moore has always been proud to be.

In short, we have an ex State Attorney General who wouldn't do his job and investigate the Governor or the Speaker of the House of Alabama. The Governor then rewards him for his inaction by appointing him Senator and ignoring Alabama law that says a special election has to be called so that he can build up a war chest of funds when he does have to actually run for the office. He is opposed at the moment by a twice removed ex Supreme Court Justice whose personal ignorance is quite possibly exceeded only by Donald Trump himself. Trump may have found himself a home in Alabama. We would probably appoint him lifetime Governor and give him the unlimited power and praise he desires if he would just ask.

THAT.... is how strange politics are in this state since the Republicans took over. It would be funny if it weren't so depressing.