MUMBLINGS June 23, 2005

Potential candidates for public office are beginning to come out of the woodwork. June 1, in Alabama, office seekers can form a financial committee and begin raising money. At the same time, they can announce their intentions of which office they are going to seek.

This means a lot of people are going to try to get into your pocket book for the next 11 months. Candidates must have money to spend if they expect to be elected. Fortunately for the citizens, it is illegal for candidates to raise money other than certain times, which is usually about one year before the election.

The most expensive races are those for statewide offices. If a person running for governor can't raise $5 million or more, then they better stay at home and be quiet… same for U.S. Senate. It has also been known that some seeking Supreme Court positions have spent that much or more. However, this is unusual.

Months of speculation became realization last week when Lucy Baxley, Lt. Governor called and said, "Jimmy, I have decided to run for governor of Alabama". Of course this was no surprise. "I love Lucy" signs have been popping up all over the state for months. All candidates like to make a big financial reserve show early. She told me the first campaign report is to be made July 1. You can guess the rest.

Lucy is not new to the campaign trail, having successfully run for Secretary of State and Lt. Governor. Although some candidates cannot raise much money, you can bet that Lucy can.

She further stated that she would like for me to write the names and addresses of all those people who tell me they are going to support her. My reply, "Lucy, I don't have time to do that, too many people tell me they are going to support you." She replied by saying, "Well, do the best you can. Thanks."

Thus, Mrs. Baxley becomes the first gubernatorial candidate to make her wishes known. Rest assured there will be others. I talked to Don Seigelman former governor who hopes to run again. However, before June 1 he was raising money to help pay his legal expenses.

Many Alabamians probably consider the governorship of this state to be the most important in the land. But it is the presidency that holds the most power and which is the most important office in the world.

Who else is going to run for governor is not known but people are saying our incumbent, Governor Bob Riley will seek a second term. At this time, he is not saying.

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Continued

Well, it came true. You know I told you that Judge Roy Moore would have a huge crowd at his fish fry in Fairhope… he did. Most estimated he had 1,000 present. Some tried to discount the huge crowd but most saying it was 1,000 because of the free fish fry. This wasn't exactly true; probably not over 10% of his audience was there because of something to eat. They were there out of curiosity, admiration or to see who else would be there. It would probably be a safe statement to make at this time that no other political figure in Alabama could attract 1,000 people on an average night. Late Governor George Wallace, or his wife, Lurleen, could do it without free food.

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Of our many problems, transportation is among the greatest. Crowded highways have become a real nuisance, dangerous and expensive to the driving public. Unfortunately, it will get worse before it gets better.

Mobilians are often heard to complain that the state highway department puts more money in north Alabama than they do in our area. This is probably true. Whose fault is it?… Mobilians. Every time the state wants to improve a highway in Mobile, there is so much opposition that they sometimes give up and spend it elsewhere. Wouldn't you?

Although I have not seen the sign, I have talked to several people who have told me about it. In Birmingham, a sign on a beautiful new five-lane highway states "Thanks Mobile"…meaning that Mobilians couldn't agree and complained, so the money was spent in Birmingham. A good case in hand is the Cochran U.S.A. Africatown Bridge across Mobile Bay. It is already over capacity and planning has been going on for several years and will go on for several more years if they wait for Mobilians to agree on something.

No matter how good or important a project may be, there will always be opposition, particularly in Mobile. The Corps of Engineers say that 10 percent are against anything, regardless of how good it is and these are the ones who make the most noise. Unfortunately, those who are against it are the loudest.

See you again soon, I hope.