Well it was an interesting day on Goat Hill for a newbie trying to figure out what the heck to do, but in the end the Gazette got to talk to three important actors in what could be a couple of very interesting sessions in the Alabama Senate.
Earlier in the afternoon, Lt. Governor Jim Folsom tried to herd the cats of the Senate Democratic Caucus together to see if some of the disagreements being voiced privately could be resolved between its members. Of course, the media were not invited to the little session squeezed in between fiscal briefings and the start of the Special Session.
There were rumors in the hallways that some of the Caucus members were unhappy with some of the documents being sent out in the media being attributed to all members of the caucus, but that's just the rumor mill. I didn't get very far with that line of questioning. Senator Roger Bedford said what came out of the caucus was "we elected Myron Penn as chairman." After a good laugh Bedford said, "Yeah there's a lot of good unity. We want to get this session right both politically as well as economically."
Lt. Governor Folsom told the Gazette, "Well there were some things discussed but there were no conclusions drawn at the caucus meeting...when they meet again they'll probably come out with an overall consensus on the votes they want to take over the next three days. But, there's been no consensus formed on any approach at this point."
Listen to the Lt. Governor (1409.4K)
Regarding the debate over possible additional oversight over the governor's proposed items, Folsom says, "I couldn't say, I think basically all I can say is discussions are ongoing and there's been no..you've heard press reports about individual senators throughout the last few days on approaches they wanted to take, but there's been really no substantive action. There's been no decision overall by the caucus at this point. I can say that. So, everything now is business. It's fluid, and a lot of things individual senators have been discussing is their opinion, which they should (have)..."
As to his supporting the governor, the lieutenant governor says, "I said when I campaigned that I would be supportive of the governor when I thought he was right and when I felt he was wrong there are some issues I may not be able to support him on. But in this one case, I've said it publicly and I do feel that we need to put our best foot forward during this special session and resolve this. Vote this package within five days up or down, which I expect it to pass and to put our best foot forward in a dignified fashion because that can make a statement about us as a legislative body and about us as a state. And we have some serious legislation here that can impact the lives of Alabamians for many generations to come. It's a very, very important piece of legislation."
Folsom says his top priority is to "bring back as much unity in the relationship among the senators in as much as I can through communications and working with everyone. You know, try and establish some dialog with everyone and just to make sure everyone feels included in the process. That's my number one priority and then addressing the budgets, addressing the key pieces of legislation that come up and basically trying to establish us a good running Senate. Sometimes that hasn't been the case, but we're going to work on that."
Asked about ethics reform the lieutenant governor says it is on the agenda. "I am very supportive of that . You're going to see legislation on PAC-to-PAC transfers coming back again through the house three or four times. It will come back to the Senate. I've stated publicly and still am supportive of that. I think we need to address that. You're going to see legislation dealing I think with probably lower caps on entertainment expense - I'm supportive of that. I think that probably needs to be addressed. You can never have too much disclosure in public office. You can never have too much transparency. That's really the key to it. If everything's reportable and everything's transparent then that removes a lot of the cynicism and skepticism. The public should be skeptical because they should be watching what we're doing."
Folsom had more to say to the press about oversight. "At this point I know it's been discussed. It's been out there in the public for open discussion. But, at this point I'm not even sure that's gong to be drawn up as legislation. We'll just have to wait and see. Any senator can introduce any bill he wants; but I think it remains to be seen as to whether or not that's going to be an issue. And I don't think anyone in this body can tell you as of right now."
Senator Bedford, he who is seldom at a loss for words, continued his previous week's theme of the governor not cooperating with members of the Senate.
Listen to Senator Bedford talk to the media (203.9K)
"So what I think we're looking for is - here's the economic development plan I've been flying all over the state talking to everybody about from Governor Riley. Here are the ten projects; here's what we're talking about doing in Mobile; here's what we're talking about doing in Colbert County, Montgomery, all these places he's been talking to the press about - I wish he would have had the legislators in a week ago and said, 'Here's my game plan. Do you want to sign up and get on board?' And I think he would find broad bi-partisan support."
Bedford says there simply has been no communication: "Not from the governor." Bedford did say that he has heard no talk of anyone "limiting the formula the governor has or the flexibility the governor would have in offering incentives."
Senator Bedford said he just wanted some details from the governor: "Here's what the other states have offered; here's what Alabama's offered; here's what the industries want and this is my game plan."
Senate Minority Leader Jabo Waggoner said of Bedford's continued litany of complaints. "Senator Bedford's been making that statement (about the governor not cooperating) for five years, ever since we've had a Republican governor elected; so, just consider the source," says Waggoner with a hearty laugh.
But Bedford says,"We need some accountability in the process. If you don't have that you can have the voters reject it like they did amendment one."
"You know there may be some other ideas that should be considered - should you have a spec building fund involved in this process? Some of the senators are wanting to line item projects in. I personally don't think that's a particularly good idea because what if the company wanted, if you had to go $5 million more to get a company. If it's line itemed at X dollars that's what you've got is X dollars."
As to Republican talk that the Democrats should just trust the governor, Bedford says, "You know we demanded accountability when Siegelman was governor. This legislature will demand accountability from Governor Riley and I hope whoever the next governor is the next legislature will demand accountability. Because you see this is the taxpayers' money coming in and this is subject to the vote of the people. And I would submit to you if you don't have a majority of the legislators going back to their districts saying 'this is a good plan,this is positive,' you're libel to have voter rejection of it. Because if they think all you're going to do is create a $400 million slush fund for Governor Riley, I'll predict they'll kill it - like they did amendment one. That's why you need to have some accountability; that's why you need to have some bi-partisan buy in to the program from both the House and the Senate and that's what I hope we'll have. That's what I hope will come out of this session because otherwise the last thing we want to do is propose something, have industries interested in coming to Alabama and then the voters reject it because they think there is no accountability. "
Bedford did say however that he is scheduled to meet with the Governor Tuesday morning so maybe the spirit of reconciliation is in the air.
Senator Waggoner says it's important the issue be settled Friday related to the governor's requests. "If we pass it by Friday, they have the referendum in June. These companies are deciding, even as we speak. 'are we going to Alabama, Louisiana, or some other state? Is Alabama really open for business?' So instead of waiting for the regular session, the governor called us into special session because we need to do this now, and let the 90 days start running. We can't wait until August or September to have this referendum. These companies will have already decided - are we going to another state or are we going to Alabama so that's the reason time is so sensitive on this. "
Listen to Senator Waggoner Discuss things with the media (209.9K)
Waggoner says he has not heard of any opposition. "We cannot stop squabbling this week. We would send a horrible message to these companies that Alabama's not really open for business; so, there's so much at stake this week. We've got to pass this by Friday and let these companies know that we want them; Alabama's open for business. It's just a very important week in the history of this state as far as industrial growth."
As to whether or not the Republicans plan on stalling tactics in the regular session the Senate Minority Leader says, "We would not even think like that if we had passed rules that were reasonable and fair and not punitive to the minority. But they saw fit to pass some rules that we simply cannot live by. They're unreasonable and the only defensive mechanism that we have is to try and slow the process down and hope to bring them to the table and maybe amend some of these rules where we feel like we have a say so in the process and that these rules won't be punitive toward the minority. So, we're not sure what we're going to do, but that's one of the things we are talking about."
Waggoner says the rule that has caused the most heartburn is "probably the one where you have when the bill comes out to the Senate for debate it will allow 30 minutes debate on the education budget and the general fund budget. We're talking about an education budget that's over about $6.5 billion or $7 billion and the rules allow 30 minutes debate on those rules - the education budget and the general fund budget and that's not fair to the people of this state when you're fixing to spend $7 billion and you have no debate time or time to ask questions. So that's unreasonable."
The Senate returns to session at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.
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