MUMBLINGS June 1, 2006

Since I arrived in Bay Minette in 1936, it has been my privilege to know and work with numerous county office holders… I’ve written about several in this column.

Off hand, I recall writing about the late Probate Judge G. W. Robertson who died in the 1940’s; Taylor Wilkins, long time sheriff for 28 years; Frank Earle, who was long time chairman of the Baldwin County Board of Education; Jim Gaston, Sr., who was a County Commissioner for a long time; and L.D. Dick Owen, Jr., who was a successful state senator and probate judge and others.

But the Baldwin official seen in recent years who has been popular, well known, efficient, hard working and determined to do a good job is David W. Whetstone. David retired after 22 years of service in March of this year.

Upon his resignation, Governor Bob Riley appointed Judy A Newcomb, who had been his assistant. The transition appeared to be smooth. More about this later, hopefully.

Many people joked about David’s desire to be on television and make the newspapers. Actually, he caused much of the news to happen and deserved to be recognized for his activities. Occasionally, but not often, he was talking when he should have been listening. He was usually very well informed on what he was discussing and could speak on it with clarity and intelligence.

At one time, he was prominently mentioned as the statewide candidate for Attorney General. He obviously had a lot of support… even though he might not have won, he would have ended up with a lot of statewide recognition and support.

However, in my humble opinion, he made a serious political mistake. Congressman Sonny Callahan decided not to run for the United States Congress and David decided that’s what he wanted do and switched from Attorney General to that. It is a mistake for candidates to switch races because the public feels like they are just seeking any office they can get. However, he made a good race for Congress and it didn’t seem to hurt him politically, certainly not in this county.

His original appointment to the office of District Attorney by Governor George C. Wallace is an event that few people know of the full truth. Here are the true facts.

There was a vacancy in the judgeship of the circuit court and among the candidates were Charles Partin and Tom Norton. Tom was District Attorney at the time. I was pledged to support Partin, as he was the first to ask me, and I did not break my pledge, even though Tom was a cousin.

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The governor thoroughly understood he was going to appoint Partin and those around him knew this to be the truth. I thought I had and did have the backing of the main Wallace leaders in the county. However, while Governor Wallace was sick in the hospital in Birmingham, a small group went to see him and convinced him that I would not object to Tom Norton because he was my cousin and they told him that if he would appoint Tom to the vacancy, there would be a vacancy in the District Attorney’s office and, therefore, he would get two appointments. Wallace did this.

After he got out of the hospital, he called me and wondered if he should apologize for not appointing Partin and admitted he was misled. In fact, he apologized to me several times. And then there was the question of appointing someone to succeed Tom as District Attorney. The governor called and asked me to suggest a name for this office. In a day or two, I called him back and said “David is my choice.” He thanked me and then appointed David. He was appointed with the understanding from David that he remain loyal to the Democratic Party. However, he did switch without asking the governor to be relieved of his commitment.

Later, there was another vacancy and the governor immediately kept his promise to me and appointed Charles Partin who has served ably ever since. Judge Partin came to me and said he would like to change to the Republican Party and would like to know what the governor would think about it. I said, “You call him and he’ll relieve you of your commitment.” That was done and Partin switched to the Republican Party with the blessing of Wallace.

Since resigning, David has been honored and made supernumerary District Attorney, which gives him the privilege of trying cases from time to time. He is in private law practice and will succeed in that as he has in his other endeavors.

A native of Butler County in Greenville, Alabama, when I ran for statewide office in 1958, he put up signs for me, a fact for which I have thanked him and still appreciate his friendship. David, you will long be remembered as a great citizen and in whatever you decide to do – good luck!

See you again soon, I hope.