Davis Wants to Make History
February 6th, 2009Folsom Wants to Solve Difficult Economic Problems
by Glynn Wilson
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. Feb. 6 — Congressman Artur Davis is trying to make history in the Deep South state of Alabama by trying to follow on the coattails of his Harvard cohort Barack Obama, who made history by being elected as the first African-American president of the United States, a country that has wrestled with the issue of race since its founding.
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| Glynn Wilson |
| Jim Folsom Jr. talks about Alabama’s economic problems with the Downtown Democratic Club |
And nowhere in the country does race play a more prominent role in political life than Alabama, the state famous from the highway in Selma to the jails of Birmingham as the battleground state for Civil Rights.
It must have seemed like interesting political theater for Davis to hold his official announcement for governor first in downtown Birmingham, on the same appointed hour a figure from Alabama’s Old Guard was to address the Downtown Democratic Club.
But there is a problem with this picture. Jim Folsom Jr., the state’s Lt. Governor who served as governor for part of one appointed term in the early 1990s, comes from a long tradition of populists, who fought hard on the race issue all the way back to the 1930s, when poll taxes were used to keep blacks and poor whites from voting. His father, “Big Jim” Folsom, did more for the little man than any governor of Alabama in the 20th century, symbolized by his famous “farm to market” roads.
Folsom is now orchestrating a highway bill of his own through the state legislature, at a time when President Obama is pushing a stimulus package with billions of dollars for roads and bridges and other infrastructure.
Davis is a young Congressman, 41, with an excellent resume for a poor, fatherless son of Montgomery. He has distinguished himself as a student at Harvard and Harvard Law School, as a prosecutor and a Congressman, who publicly led the House Judiciary Committee investigation into the Bush Justice Department’s political prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.
Since Obama’s election, however, Davis has decided to abandon his duties on the important House Judiciary Committee as a Congressman to run for governor, leaving many of his constituents — and potential voters for a Senate run in the future — wondering why he is leaving them high and dry.
“If this is true and he leaves Don hanging, then he’ll not get my vote or support, that’s for sure,” wrote one commenter on a major Democratic Party listserv in Alabama, where the support for Siegelman is the subject of conversation on a daily basis for far more people in this state than you would think, considering how little it is talked about on Alabama’s television news shows, talk radio, or written about in the local newspapers.
Davis has already indicated he is counting on the public memory of Siegelman to fade before the election of 2010. About 100 people showed up at the Harbert Center in Downtown Birmingham to hear his announcement, where he acknowledged that winning the governor’s race in Alabama as the first black “will be hard.”
Some of the small crowd then rode the escalator upstairs to have lunch with Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr., and about 200 people, where Folsom took the high road and declined to join in the governor’s race so soon, with the legislature in session. The election is not until November of 2010, a year and a half away, and the candidates cannot even formally raise money for the race until June.
Davis reportedly has a little more than $1 million in his Congressional campaign coffers, but apparently he is going to use that to jump start his race for governor.
As for Folsom, he said there will be a time to talk about personal, partisan political decisions, “but right now is not that time. The Bible tells us that there is a season for everything.”
These are difficult economic times, and the Legislature is in session, grappling with economic issues as the U.S. Congress debates President Obama’s stimulus plan.
“Right now,” he said, “Alabama faces the most difficult economic crisis of our lifetime.”
For the first time in awhile, the state budgets are in deficit and education is facing proration of as much as 9 percent.
“In these calamitous times, failure is not an option,” he said. “We have no choice but to succeed.”
Folsom has created the Lt. Governor’s commission on public private partnerships to explore creative funding solutions for the state’s immediate and longer-term infrastructure needs. The commission is seeking ways to fund the long-needed and much talked about West Alabama Highway that will connect Florence and Mobile.
“This road will open up the western side of our state to future economic development that will have a positive impact for generations,” he said.
He also highlighted legislation he supported to create a network of rural trauma care centers that will make it possible for people living in rural areas to have access to world class and immediate trauma care during the most critical time after an injury.
“This is the season for hard work, and difficult choices, a time when elected officials should focus on the jobs they were hired to do,” he said, an indirect criticism of Davis, who by then had finished shaking hands downstairs.
“I am going to focus on getting us through this critical session at this crucial time,” Folsom said. “We must put partisan differences aside to focus on real life issues that affect the people of Alabama. We have to do the job we were hired to do.”
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Tags: Artur Davis, Jim Folsom
February 7th, 2009 at 6:32 am
Folsom is good at the old cliches that tell us nothing – “failure is not an option” …”no choice but to succeed” …”hard work” … difficult choices.”
Does he support a constitutional convention which means take on ALFA, its major opponent? Does he condemn Bill Canary’s big business outfit, whose theme song is oppress Alabama’s working men and women?
Folsom’s got a commission on creative funding he appointed. Who’s on it? Anybody representing working people who will argue for them?
I’m not a Davis supporter, but I wonder about Folsom’s smarts.
Last time he ran, while we were busting our butts trying to get votes for him, he got on the gambling hall owner’s plane for a tropical vacation that knocked him out of the race. Well, nobody claims Folsom’s real smart.
February 7th, 2009 at 7:14 am
Well, Ivan, I guess if he wants to have a full run as governor, we’re going to have to “educate” him, then : )
Don’t forget, sounding like a slow, Southerner never hurt Howell Heflin’s political career in Alabama. I could be proved wrong about this, but I think Folsom will listen to some good ideas. We will see.
Also, it wasn’t just that trip that doomed his candidacy in 1994. It was how it was covered in the Newhouse press. They love to investigate Democrats for their trips. And, as I recall, that race in 1994 was one of the first races where the New York Times reported on the “stealth” races of the Christian Right. Fob James used the conservative Baptist churches to his advantage.
Pam Miles and others say he ran a great campaign this last time for Lt. Governor.
February 7th, 2009 at 8:12 am
There seemed to be more than a hundred people at the Davis announcement. Several accounts have put the count at around 170-200. Also, a number of folks that went to the Folsom speech were mulling around at the Davis announcement before 12. I also noticed a number of folks that arrived at the Harbert Center after Davis speech thinking it would still be going on, while most left a few did go upstairs.
I also don’t understand the criticism of Davis running for Governor as related to the cry “he is abandoning the Siegelman case”. Isn’t Gov. Siegelman simply waiting on a decision from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Right now?
February 7th, 2009 at 8:37 am
I don’t think the space where Davis spoke would hold more than 100 people, first of all, but I don’t think it’s all that important to argue whether there were 100 or 200. When Obama came to Birmingham for the first time, he drew thousands.
As for the criticism of Davis by Siegelman supporters, I guess you would have to ask them. Maybe they will make some comments here and answer you.
As for all of us interested in getting to the bottom of the crimes of the Bush years, as opposed to letting them go and moving on, we are wondering if Davis has any real convictions about justice or our constitutional rights — or if he is just another politician interested only his political career?
As for his “progressivism,” unless he defines it the same as the Southern Progress Corporation, I don’t see how cozying up to the conservative Business Council, Alabama Power and ATnT makes him a progressive.
What sort of progressive reforms is he proposing for Alabama? Is he going to fight to get Alabama on the forefront of fighting climate change due to global warming by taking on the power companies? Or is he going to reside in their hip pocket?
February 7th, 2009 at 9:55 am
Here’s a question for the people who call themselves “progressives.” What do you mean by that? Is it just another word for “liberal” because the Republicans turned liberal into a bad word starting in the 1980s?
Have you given it some deep thought? Are you familiar with the history of how the term has been used over time? Have you read the academic literature on the subject?
February 7th, 2009 at 10:46 am
From Pam’s List:
Artur Davis is hosting an event in Huntsville tonight. The invitations are from Artur Davis for Congress yet he announced for Governor yesterday.
Also on ArturDavis2010.com (the website that was announced at his Gubernatorial kickoff yesterday) at the bottom of the site it says paid for by Artur Davis for congress.
Thirdly, on the site is a contribution button on the left that says he can’t take gubernatorial money right now.
However at the top of the page is a contribution button that lets you donate to Artur Davis for Congress.
As you know, he can raise congressional money and then use it statewide with no restrictions. However, the law forbids him from raising money for the congressional race after announcing for Governor. He is walking a fine line here.
February 7th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Pam’s List highlights one of the crazier restrictions on political fundraising, many if not most of which have nothing to do with protecting the public.
Rather than all having all the arcane restrictions, limits, etc., better would be a simple requirement that all donation amounts and donors be reported, real time, on websites.
Information is power. Exposing the names of donors and amount of donations to the universe on a real time basis would instantly do more to clean up politics than thirty years of mismanaged federal campaign finance regulations.
Davis and other candidates should be able to raise money for any campaign they might conduct at any time, without worrying about the wrong word (in Davis’s case “congressional”) appearing on their websites.
February 7th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Should being the operative word, I guess, in an illusionary “ideal” world. I agree. Let’s change the rules. But shouldn’t candidates abide by the rules they passed into law?
February 7th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
While sometimes “progressive” is used as a substitute for “liberal” I don’t tread so lightly. For me progressive is a break from the liberal vs. conservative discussion. It’s about making things happen. There are varying degrees of progressivism.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
The point is, Alabama law states that you can not raise money for governor or any other state office while the legislature is in session. Period. He is not running for congress, as of noon yesterday, he is running for governor. Artur is playing with fire. IMO
February 7th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
On progressivism:
OK, Progressive E, that’s a start. At least you have thought about it some.
Let me add this: Some people look at this Web Journal and see a progressive news operation online. It has even been called that on one Birmingham progressives’ e-mail signature. A progressive newspaper, that is, even though there’s no paper or ink involved, unless you print it out at home : )
What I think that reader sees here is something that is new and forward-looking and perhaps solution oriented.
The reason I threw out the Southern Progress Corporation is that for some of us hard news journalists, Southern Living tends to perpetuate an old fashioned view of the South. By focusing on food and home and garden stuff and avoiding journalism about politics or the environment, it tends to contribute to keeping the population of the South in the dark.
When Time magazine bought it out in the late 1980s, that corporate news empire also bought and killed another magazine called Southern Magazine out of Little Rock Arkansas, which had started to compete with Southern Living and challenge it’s view of the South with a more progressive outlook.
We tried to do the same thing when we created The Southerner magazine out of Knoxville, Tennessee in the late 1990s. But there is a long history throughout the 20th century of publishers trying to create “progressive” publications, but failing economically. Why? Because the conservative, corporate money has never supported such an endeavor.
There is even a magazine called The Progressive, but it has to be propped up by foundation money. Nothing wrong with that. Non-profit media plays an important role in the new media mix these days. That’s how Harper’s magazine survives.
Let me ask you this: Do you consider alternative, renewable fuels to be a progressive idea? We do, which is why we support that.
I noticed the ABC affiliate in Birmingham picked up that line Davis used about “renewables” from his speech. We have seen many a commentator call Obama a progressive. That’s a better term than “moderate” in our view, which has simply seemed to mean “do-nothing” to offend on the part of some politicians. It’s certainly boring, and there are not many real moderates around in politics anymore because of the over-hyped liberal-conservative divide that has derailed real progress in this country on many fronts for a number of years.
Since the talk radio crowd has bashed the word “liberal” into submission for so many years, nobody seems to want to be one anymore, even though the root meaning is “open-minded.”
That would make the opposite word, conservative, mean “closed-minded,” which seems to be the case much of the time.
As for me, I call myself a “liberal-tarian,” meaning an open-minded person who actually believes in real freedom, as in “civil libertarian.” That is opposed to another definition of conservatism. Mostly I see conservatives who scream about taxes and freedom really do not stand for freedom at all, but “social control.”
The religious right does not believe in freedom. They believe in controlling your behavior. They don’t want you to be able to decide for yourself whether you should be allowed to buy a lottery ticket, use a condom — or smoke a joint. They go right along with the fake “war on drugs” all day long every day, as well as allowing the “drug” companies to peddle heavy duty pharmeceuticals in “drug” stores on every corner.
The hypocrisy is enough to make one’s head swim.
February 7th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Also, since Folsom is featured here, perhaps I should point out that because of the era he’s from, he considers himself to be a “conservative Democrat.” That’s typical of Southern Democrats from the second half of the 20th century. Even Bill Clinton was considered that when he was governor of Arkansas, although he ran for president as “a new kind of Democrat,” maybe a progressive?
But Folsom comes from a Populist tradition, which if you go back and read about the history of that movement, you will also see the term “progressive” all tied up with it. You will also encounter the term “New South.”
Nobody has used that term much since Siegelman was elected governor of Alabama in 1998. He was called Alabama’s “First New South governor” by Governing magazine and the New York Times. I covered his inauguration for The Southern magazine online, and tried to define it with the help of academic experts.
It’s a tad over the head of the mass audience in Alabama, but if you are interested, here’s the link.
The New South Rises, Again: Alabama Gets Its First ‘New South’ Governor
February 7th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Oh, and I hate to belabor the point, but perhaps it would be helpful for newbies here to know that I wrote one of the key stories in the Siegelman investigation for a newspaper out of Austin, Texas, called The Progressive Populist : )
Justice Off the Tracks in Alabama
February 7th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I asked Jim Gundlach, the retired professor emeritas from the Auburn Sociology department, to weigh in here. He said, via e-mail:
Folsom has some of the best and brightest advisers, starting with his wife, in the state. And, he listens to them.
I think his responses to Davis yesterday were masterful.
Davis is running to make history, Folsom is running to solve problems. He is clearly not running away from Davis. Watch for him to be a lot more visible during this legislative session. I think he is our best hope this time around.
Jim
February 7th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
I agree with Glynn here. Folsom is the candidate with an issues-focused message, while Davis seems to be running “just because.”
The congressman might want to get some advice his good friend the president, who ran a very highly-focused, superbly directed issues-focused campaign.
If we’re two years into a recession, as is likely in 2010, “just because” will not be enough.