One of the most conservative municipalities in Alabama has determined that human rights should trump all other parochial issues and public officials are about to state that publicly and unanimously, according to a source who would rather not be identified. Never mind that it was probably a federal lawsuit that led to the change of heart in Hoover City Hall.
The City of Hoover will issue a Proclamation on Monday that was approved unanimously by the City Council at its most recent “working session,” according to the source. There will apparently be a little ceremony at Monday’s council meeting presenting a framed copy of it to the Principal of Gwin Elementary School, “a handy occasion to make a rather sweeping announcement of the city’s (new) position on human rights.”
“Keeping in mind Tip O’Neill’s statement that all politics is local, this Proclamation reflects the consensus of the City Council and appears to eviscerate and excoriate much of the jingoistic, xenophobic extremism contained in (Alabama’s anti-immigration law) HB56 and in whatever upcoming bastardization the extremists in the Alabama Senate might seek to introduce,” the source says. “For a municipality with as questionable a track record as Hoover has in observance of anti-discrimination policy to adopt something so ‘humane’ represents a reflection of a new direction in that city’s official thinking. It should certainly eliminate much of the racial and ethnical demonization that characterized the political races the last time around.”
The Bill Goes to the Senate, but Voters Will Have a Chance to Defeat it at the Polls in November
by Glynn Wilson
The Republican controlled House of Representatives in Alabama voted 65-22 this week to pass a bill dubbed “The Goodyear Bill” that is being billed by Republicans and the mainstream media as “Gov. Robert Bentley’s jobs plan,” another amendment to be tacked onto an already overburdened constitution that would authorize new and expanding corporations to keep the income taxes of their employees rather than paying them to the state.
No where in the Republican rhetoric or the news coverage does anybody address the fact that the state can’t afford to give away more tax money to corporations which already pay no corporate taxes, because the state is already too broke to continue funding many state agencies and programs. They state can’t afford to continue maintaining some roads. There is all kinds of hand-wringing going on over continued funding for the state retirement system.
While Governor Bentley pledged to raise no taxes yet continue fully funding law enforcement in his State of the State Address, it has become obvious that the state does not have the money to continue paying for an already over-crowded prison system.
The bill now moves over to the 35-member Senate. It will need 21 votes to pass. If approved there and signed by the governor, opponents would have a chance to raise a campaign to stop its approval at the polls. The voters would have a shot at defeating it in a referendum vote during the general election in November.
A scheme to privatize Florida’s prisons failed in the state Senate this week by a vote of 19-21 after a huge public outcry led by Florida working families, community and civil rights groups.
The plan was backed by Republican Gov. Rick Scott, private prison companies and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), one of the key players in the drive to privatize prisons throughout the nation. The corporate takeover would have cost 3,800 workers their jobs, and Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams says it would have “devastated small communities, working families’ economic stability and safety.”
The privatization bill was one of the largest efforts so far to give private corporations control of a state’s prison system. It would have turned over control of 27 state prisons and work camps in 18 south Florida counties to the GEO Group—formerly Wackenhut Corrections.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken J. Mascara says prison privatization puts the public’s safety at risk.
“In the continued race to the bottom, private prison contractors reduce pay, benefits and quality of personnel in the interest of slashing budgets; but as in most other areas of life, you get what you pay for,” Mascara said in a letter to state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, a Republican. “I know when protecting our families from the most heinous individuals in our society, I don’t want the guard who will work for the least pay—I want a professional who receives proper training, a reasonable wage and benefits and the security of knowing that the people of Florida, and its elected leaders, appreciate the value of the often thankless job they do.”
The Alabama Democratic Party Also Opposes This Legislation
by Glynn Wilson
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama branch of the AFL-CIO is mounting an opposition campaign to try and stop passage of bills in the state Legislature that would create another amendment to the state’s already overburdened constitution that would allow corporations to keep their employees income tax withholdings.
“The Alabama AFL-CIO is very much in favor of job creation in the state, even if incentives are required to get them,” state AFL-CIO president Al Henley said. “But we believe taking money from the Education Trust Fund and denying our children as good an education as possible to get the jobs is a horrible idea.”
If passed by both houses and signed into law by the governor, House Bills 159 and 160 would have to be approved by voters at the polls in November to become law.
“It is a sorry state of affairs when Alabama taxpayers have to give the wealthiest corporations in the world money to stay in the state,” Henley said.
Opponents Say Unfair Anti-Immigration Law Must by Repealed
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Several hundred protesters filled the courtyard outside Alabama’s Statehouse on Valentine’s Day in a “One Heart One Alabama” rally aimed at convincing lawmakers to love one another rather than hate their Latin brother. Opponents don’t want the controversial anti-immigration law “tweaked” as legislators have promised since alleged “unintended consequences” drove away new industry from creating jobs in the state. They want the law repealed, as the Obama Justice Department is still suing to have it overturned in federal court.
Protesters delivered lollipops and Valentines to lawmakers, urging them to strike down the law. They carried signs with messages such as “Gov. Bentley, don’t you have a heart?” and “No Juan Crow,” along with “Una Familia, Una Alabama,” all while chanting in English and Spanish, “no more HB56″ and “one family, one Alabama.”
Hans von Spakovsky speaks to the Federalist Society in Birmingham
by Glynn Wilson
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The fate of the world is often decided by powerful men meeting in secret. That is a fact, but it’s not always the case — and doesn’t have to be so.
No, this is no “conspiracy theory.” It’s just a narrative story explaining how politics, government and public opinion are often guided by the rich and powerful, but also how common citizens can make a difference when the press does its job of educating the public in a democratic society.
How the public thinks about politics and government is often guided by the metaphors and symbols embedded in our national narrative. It’s just that the rich have much more power to influence this narrative and set these symbols than the rest of us.
The press in this country also has a tremendous power to influence this debate, in spite of a lot of communications research which is designed to protect media corporations from legal liability by showing the limits of media influence on public opinion.
You’ve got to love it when the public gets involved in the Democratic process.
Thousands of Websites and who knows how many tens of thousands of people who get their news through the Internet took a day off Wednesday to protest two bills making their way through Congress without enough reasoned debate or time and effort to educate the public.
According to The Hill newspaper, a source for news we trust and use on a regular basis, it was “an unprecedented display of political muscle,” a day when thousands of Websites “went dark” to protest two Internet piracy bills, the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect IP Act.
The protests got the attention of Web users, and could get a real debate going on in this country on how we use this new technology to educate the public.
A close view of the growing coal ash mountain in Perry County, Alabama (click on image for more photos)
by Glynn Wilson
Attorney David Ludder has filed an administrative complaint against the Alabama Department of Environmental Management that could result in a federal takeover of the state’s enforcement of national environmental laws by the Environmental Protection Agency and result in a loss of federal funding for the state.
The formal complaint was filed with EPA’s Office of Civil Rights on behalf of the people of Perry County in Alabama’s Black Belt. According to Ludder, they have been the subject of an environmental injustice due to their racial and economic disadvantage by the permitting and placement of a landfill near them that is now full of toxic coal ash from the Tennessee Valley Authority’s major environmental disaster in the Cinch River in 2008.
Ludder’s complaint alleges that the landfill and its contents pollute the environment in a poor, minority area without the means to fight it politically. In addition to potential health problems from the air and water pollution, the landfill exposes local residents to a constant bad odor, lowers property values and causes dangerous traffic problems in the area.
“If EPA determines that ADEM did violate EPA’s regulations without ‘justification,’ EPA must initiate proceedings to deny, annul, suspend or terminate EPA funding to ADEM,” Ludder said in an e-mail interview. “This could cripple ADEM, and no doubt would require ADEM to surrender EPA-authorized programs.”
A federal appeals court has balked at deciding a controversial legal case pitting the Alabama Education Association and its ability to raise membership dues against the new Republican administration dead set on weakening public employee unions and suppressing votes for Democrats.
According to a court filing that just popped up online from the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, the federal appeals court panel tossed the state’s appeal in the case back to the all Republican Alabama Supreme Court. The professional organization for teachers won a victory in a lower court and obtained a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of a law passed by the new so-called “Super Majority” of Republicans in the state Legislature, a law written to prohibit payroll deductions to groups that use some of the money for “political activity.”
The appeals court panel indicated it would be “constitutional” for the Legislature to block the payroll deduction if the organization is guilty of “electioneering.”
During the Bush years, we specialized in covering the politicization of the U.S. justice system as much as any news organization. Our archives are about the most comprehensive for anyone researching the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, and the original case against Richard Scrushy, which Glynn Wilson covered for The New York Times.
