Craig Ford's Statement on HB159 Vote

by: mooncat

Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 14:14:22 PM CST

This is what House Minority Leader Craig Ford (D) says about the HB159 vote, via Facebook:

"On Tuesday, we put five amendments on House Bill 160 that will protect the Education Trust Fund. This bill is a double-edged sword. It is far from perfect, but with these amendments I had to vote in favor of this bill because it was in the best interest of my district. We have a large manufacturing plant in Gadsden. It is largest employer in my district, and I have to balance the needs of our schools with the needs of all those hard working families. We are having to compete with other states to keep this plant and all of those jobs in Gadsden. Furthermore, House Bill 159 is a constitutional amendment which has to be approved by the voters in a statewide election. We live in a democracy, and I can't justify denying the people of Alabama the right to vote. That is also why I am also advocating for a constitutional amendment to institute a state lottery. It is time to let the people decide this issue.

The teachers in my district know my reputation and my voting record. I have always supported our teachers and our schools, and I will continue to do so. This year, I have introduced legislation to give teachers a 4% pay raise and reinstitute the DROP program. I have also sponsored legislation to repeal the Rolling Reserve Act so that our schools can get access to the $110 million dollars that should be going to our schools but are instead sitting in the bank. I appreciate teachers and all that they do for our children. I will continue to support them, just as they have supported me."

FYI.

mooncat :: Craig Ford's Statement on HB159 Vote

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Craig Ford's Statement on HB159 Vote | 3 comments

I will comment on this later (0.00 / 0)

Have to run to the vet now.

Work harder and work smarter!

by: mooncat @ Fri Feb 17, 2012 at 20:15:03 PM UTC

I'll comment... (4.00 / 2)

This was a terrible vote and every single Democrat who took it deserves a primary challenge in 2014. This was every bit as bad as Artur Davis' flip flop on health care if not worse (Davis' "No" vote made it harder for HCR to pass narrowly but it ultimately did so anyway; these Dems were the decisive votes in this bill passing).

Why was this vote so terrible? Let me count they ways.

1) Education funding is sacrosanct for a reason. The reason is that Alabamians do not trust the state legislature. I know there are some "good government" advocates who want to get away from earmarking, but I think that is putting the cart before the horse. The Alabama legislature FIRST must demonstrate trustworthiness and then we should start talking about removing budget earmarks. Few states can match us historically for graft an corruption. Those who know the history of tenure, another contentious policy, know that it was adopted in this state to stop the historically-common practice of legislators and elected superintendents firing all the educators who supported their opponents and hiring their cronies instead. Earmarking (in this context, not pork earmarking) serves the same purpose; it ties the legislators' hands and limits their capacity to engage in corrupt activity.

2) Even if you disagree with me on earmarks, we are in a budget crisis and this diverts money not from education to other government entities in even greater need, but from education to private companies. This is, put simply, a BAILOUT paid for by our kids. I am all for saving Goodyear in Mr. Ford's district. I am all for keeping Hyundai in Mr. Hubbard's district. But let's find money somehere else to do it, or - even better - fight and scratch and claw for a new revenue stream to pay for it. Rep. Hubbard had a good plan on the cigarette tax increase. Perhaps a small increase in alcohol taxes would be in order too. Republicans want tax incentives for businesses in their districts too. Make them figure out a way to pay for it that doesn't involve robbing our children to hand over another BAILOUT.

3) You have handed a blank check to the most irresponsible governor's administration of our lifetime. The governor's discretion on how much money to steal from our kids and who to give that stolen money to is ABSOLUTE. This is a governor who believes Jews are only useful if they convert to Christianity. A governor who gleefully signed the nation's most discriminatory immigration bill and then bragged about it. A governor who is under fire from his own party and has bowed to political pressure from them at every opportunity. I cannot imagine the dirty crap they are going to push on him (how much will go to Trip Pittman's contracting company? How much to Mike Hubbard's sport information firm? It will be fun to watch).

Last election cycle, I heard a lot of Republicans criticize the few thousand dollars in discretionary monies legislators were given to dole out to Volunteer Fire Departments and the like. This is a blank check potentially for hundreds of millions of dollars. This is, without question, the single worst bill passed this session alongside the immigration bill. Craig Ford needs to resign his leadership position immediately and Joe Hubbard needs to abandon any hopes of higher office.

by: bluebearcat @ Sat Feb 18, 2012 at 14:22:28 PM UTC