Jim Folsom 
Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 12:53:08 PM CST
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Who would believe that it was just a year ago that Alabama Treasurer (and candidate for governor), Kay Ivey, was touting Alabama's Affordable Prepaid College Tuition (PACT) program and encouraging parents and grandparents to invest?  Using her "folksy charm," Ivey told the Andalusia Chamber of Commerce banquet that they needed to buy more PACT contracts!
“There are 160 students in Covington County enrolled in the PACT program,” Ivey said. “Y’all have got mo’ chil’en than that,” she said, asking those present to encourage parents and grandparents to participate in the program.
What's happened to those "chill'en" enrolled in the program since then isn't so charming. So, in honor of Cowgirl Kay Ivey, here's a recap of the PACT program's history. Take a look and see if you agree with my assessment that Ivey and the PACT board are either totally delusional or just flat out lying when they blame the whole problem on the stock market fall.
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Wed Jan 06, 2010 at 15:51:08 PM CST
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Just how committed is former PACT board member Bradley Byrne to the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program? How committed is present Treasurer Kay Ivey? (ASK HER! She's hosting the Dale Jackson show on WVNN in Athens (92.5 FM - 1-866-494-WVNN) from 6-9am tomorrow morning!)  Mooncat asked this question when she blogged about Byrne's contention that a "moral obligation" is "more important" than a legal obligation. Oh really? Hey, I can't wait to go to court and ask the judge to enforce someone's "moral obligation" to me. How about you?
Now, other candidates for governor and other statewide offices are asking the question that many PACT contract holders asked when they saw Byrne's comment: "Just how committed is Byrne to PACT? If there's no legal obligation, what recourse to contract holders have? Are they to be dependent solely on Byrne's good will if he's elected governor?" Candidate for Alabama Treasurer, Jeremy Sherer, is unequivocal in his support: “The recent actuarial study conducted by the Retirements System of Alabama found that Alabama had a legal obligation to honor all PACT contracts. Further the RSA reported that any compromise of PACT contractual benefits would amount to a breach of contract, resulting in litigation that the State of Alabama would likely lose. I share RSA’s opinion, and believe that today’s decision by the PACT Board is a step backwards in solving PACT”.
Now, Congressman Artur Davis has weighed in and is urging voters to sign a petition urging Bradley Byrne to keep his promises: Alabamians need to know we can trust our government. Bradley Byrne, show that you understand our legal responsibility to uphold Alabama's promise to the 48,000 families whose children need PACT money for college.
Byrne will no doubt try to write off this effort as "politics," but it's "politics" that's going to resolve this issue. His statements about "no legal obligation" call his support of PACT into doubt and he shouldn't whine when people criticize him for it. Davis' press release is on the flip. Ron Sparks hasn't issued a statement, but his speech to the Save Alabama PACT group in August had a succinct, "veni vidi vici" rythm to it: "You paid for it.
You ought to get it.
It's that simple."
Yes it is, Commissioner!
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Thu Nov 05, 2009 at 13:22:00 PM CST
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Alabama's troubled Prepaid Affordable College Tuition board met yesterday to discuss the health of the program, review investments, and discuss working with the Alabama Legislature to fix the program. Immediately following the meeting, members of Save Alabama PACT met to plot strategy and hear from Lt. Governor Folsom, Treasurer Kay Ivey, and the three announced candidates for Treasurer: Jeremy Sherer (D), Charles Grimsley (D) no Web site yet , and George Wallace, Jr. (R). Although the PACT board meeting was "packed" with TV and print reporters, most drifted away quickly after Lt. Governor Folsom addressed the Save Alabama PACT meeting. Lacking the deadlines (or dinner plans?) of traditional media, Mooncat and I stayed throughout the meeting and got excellent footage of the treasurer candidates and even got the chance to grill Cowgirl Kay Ivey on her lackluster performance managing the program. News accounts in today's papers are rather, well, dry. Not to mention short. Bob Lowry covered the meeting for the Huntsville Times and Stan Diel was there for the Birmingham News. (Note: I'm not criticizing the reporters who sat through the entire meeting, but rather the editors who don't give them enough space to adequately report what they saw.) Want more? On the flip, we have video and turn a rather more acerbic eye on the proceedings, players, and decisions made.
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Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 15:30:00 PM CDT
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 One Alabama state treasurer, Kay Ivey, helped break PACT. One Alabama Democratic candidate for Treasurer, Jeremy Sherer, is working on solutions to fix Alabama's Affordable Prepaid College Tuition program.
In an open letter to PACT contract holders, he discussing the following issues and possible solutions: - The State of Alabama must reassure parents and students that tuition will be paid. Sherer: "I say this because at the moment, tuition payments are only guaranteed by PACT through spring semester 2010. I firmly believe that PACT families deserve more certainty regarding their children’s college future than that."
- Cut the administrative costs for PACT and make better investment decisions. We're paying almost $2 million each year to these investment "manager" who advised the board to "stay the course" last year as the market bottomed out. Countrycat's side note: Our investment advisor moved us out of stocks last summer and we lost less than 10%. And he charged a LOT less than $2 million/year!
- Don't try to rush a solution. With the shaky economy and state budget crisis, we need to carefully design a long-term solution.
- The Oil & Gas Trust Fund shouldn't be our first stop. It funds Medicaid, the general fund, and other state programs. Sherer: "I do not believe that taking funds from the O&G TF is a moral or politically viable solution for PACT."
- Alabama's Unclaimed Property Fund. Sherer: "The Unclaimed Property Fund is now valued just short of $400 million. I believe we can siphon money from this fund, to help restore PACT investments."
- Get some cooperation from state colleges. Sherer: "The best way this can be done is by the state legislature giving stable, predictable funding to our higher education institutions."
- Flexibility is critical. Sherer: "...state leaders must also appreciate that the best source of revenue in 2012 might not be the best source of revenue in 2020."
Wow. Someone who's giving this careful thought, considering the best solutions, and not looking for a "quick fix" that will help him/her get elected, but could hurt the long-term viability of the program. That's a candidate I can support. For too long, PACT has been used by candidates to help them get elected or re-elected. This is the case even when other candidates were questioning the program's financial viability, even when actuaries where warning that the program was unsound, and even when the PACT board itself knew in 2004 there were financial problems. What happened to Ivey and company is that they didn't expect the huge market downturn last year. They all knew there were structural problems in PACT, but they seemed very far away and so Ivey, Byrne, even Folsom seemed willing just to kick the can down the road and leave the problem for someone else. Jeremy Sherer though, knows what he's getting into and is working for real solutions, not just sound bytes. He has the vote of this PACT parent! Sherer's entire press release is on the flip.
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Tue Jun 09, 2009 at 15:26:00 PM CDT
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At its February 25, 2004 meeting, the Alabama PACT board learned that the program was funded at 92.7% and had an actuarial deficit of $51.8 million. The board "discussed the need to regain a fully funded status." At the PACT board's August 25, 2004 meeting, Alabama Commission on Higher Education director, Dr. Mike Malone, gave the board what turned out to be a prescient warning: Dr. Malone briefly discussed the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act and his expectation of massive unfunded mandates. He expressed concern about the affordability of higher education, stating that federal initiatives such as this would only exacerbate the problem.
While it's good to know that the PACT board was on top of the problem - at least a little bit - their two-fold attempt to solve the problem by making riskier and riskier investments and embarking on an aggressive marketing campaign wasn't, in retrospect, the best solution. The marketing campaign, in particular, seems more than a little deceptive. At almost every board meeting from 2004 on, the board discussed the need for more contracts and higher investment returns. They grew increasingly nervous about poor performance by investment managers, even getting rebuked in 2005 by a Callan representative who told them they couldn't "can't just fire managers every six months"  But instead of approaching the Legislature or other state leades about the problem, the board kept quiet - publicly at least. Treasurer Kay Ivey scoffed when her Democratic opponent criticized the PACT program as poorly-run and underfunded. The board brushed off a request from PACT parent, Dale Goode, at the May 14, 2004 meeting to guarantee benefits, telling him that the board "was very conscientious about the program and believed that benefits would be paid..."
Why the public silence? Maybe it had something to do with the $100,000 marketing campaign the board was using to sell more contracts. If parents and grandparents thought the program was unsound, who would join? The board discussed the need to sell more contracts to keep the program afloat and worried about the effect of declining sales. The new marketing campaign launched in 2007 (page 16) included a new tag line: "Prepay A Child's Tuition." Prepaid? There's that pesky word again....
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Thu Jun 04, 2009 at 09:14:14 AM CDT
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 Monday, June 1st was the official starting gun for the 2010 Alabama elections. To mark the occasion, countrycat and I interviewed Democratic Congressman and gubernatorial candidate Artur Davis. We'll be posting video clips question by question over the next few days -- uncut so you can see and hear Davis' remarks in context.
One of the most interesting things we heard Monday was the reference to Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom as a potential partner, both in governing and as a candidate. Until a couple of months ago Folsom was viewed as Davis' strongest and most likely rival in 2010. We already knew that, if elected, Davis planned to tackle ethics reform legislation in his first year but he also plans to take on education reform in his second year. He also talks about making Alabama government more accessible, saying "the various special interests have every right to be at the table, they don't have a right to have exclusive seats at the table." As a congressman, Davis has held monthly town hall meetings around the district and he would bring that accessibility to the governor's office as well, particularly to build support for his reform agenda. The Congressman also referred to the changing political climate, pointing to increased identification with the Democratic party and approval for President Obama, even in Alabama, as positive developments for his campaign. The first question was an easy one: Are you where you want to be one year from the primary? We hoped to hear what Davis will be telling crowds around the state as he officially kicks off the campaign and get a hint of what he and his staff are telling prospective supporters, and more to the point, donors, as the campaign begins in earnest. June 1 was the first day state candidates could solicit or accept contributions for the 2010 election.
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Wed Jun 03, 2009 at 10:15:00 AM CDT
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Insurgents break the rules. That's generally the only way they can win the battle against a better armed, funded, and/or more numerous opponent. It works in war and it works in political campaigns as well.
 Alabama Democrats (maybe Republicans, not as familiar with them) have a political system where the most important rules aren't written, but just understood by the main players. It's easy to get complacent and quite content with the status quo. Make a few calls to the right people and the money rolls in and the nomination is (almost) a lock. All before you even fill out the qualifying papers.
How does the outsider fit into this system? He/she doesn't. The only way to win is to follow the written rules to the letter (after all, they'll be waiting for you to slip up on that) and consider your unwillingness to follow the unwritten rules as a strength, not a weakness. You "press" (to use the basketball term): try harder, keep the pressure on and the opposition off guard.
This appears to be Artur Davis' strategy. He's said he plans to follow the written rules of campaigning to the letter, even though he hopes to reform many of the campaign finance and disclosure rules as governor. "I'll be following the rules we have now because my opponent will be," he said in an interview with LIA on June 1st in Birmingham.
It's the unwritten rules that he's breaking. The rules that govern who runs for what office, when, and how they raise money. Those Alabama political mores include the following:
NOTE: Part 1 of this series was posted yesterday.
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Wed May 20, 2009 at 21:23:20 PM CDT
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 The Alabama PACT board of directors met in Montgomery today, and did... well.... nothing much.
Over 100 anxious parents, grandparents, and press folks gathered to hear the latest financial reports and find out what - if any - action the board decided to take.  The days' winner is undoubtedly 2-yr College Chancellor - and expected Republican gubernatorial candidate - Bradley Bryne. He was absolutely the first person in the room (I know, because I was the second!), and came over to introduce himself and greet each person who entered.
Bryne took a number of questions from us bloggers, parents, and press people. Once a good crowd had gathered, he stopped answering questions individually and made a statement to the entire group, then took more questions.  The days' loser has to be Treasurer (and announced Republican candidate for governor) Kay Ivey. She entered the room looking like she'd just sucked on an unripe persimmon - and her demeanor didn't improve over time.
Of particular interest to many was her lecture to those of us present to behave ourselves and "be patient" because it was taking the Treasurer's office so long to respond to requests for information. Oh, and not to mention her lengthy discussion of how she personally has always championed openness in government and accountability. Perhaps her department could back that statement up by releasing the minutes for the board meetings from the past few years. They are, after all, public documents! Memo to Kay: If you'd put the information we all want up on the Web site, you wouldn't have to respond to individuals demanding it!!
Mooncat has the video - which we'll get cut and uploaded in the next couple of days, but this is just my initial reaction to the day. Not much happened, but at least they didn't dissolve the program. Yet. Those of us interested in an accounting of who did what, when, and why were heartened to find out that the RSA study of the PACT program will include analysis of what went wrong and why. That's the first step towards needed accountability - and the only way to make sure that we don't find ourselves in this situation in another few years. We can't choose a good solution for the future unless we understand how we got in this situation in the first place.
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Wed May 20, 2009 at 05:00:00 AM CDT
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 Oh wait, that resignation isn't effective until August so I guess we can expect Bradley Byrne to be helping fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Kay Ivey blow fend off the concerns of PACT (Prepaid Affordable College Tuition) parents in Montgomery this afternoon. After all, as state Treasurer, Ivey is the principal bagholder in this mess, but the rest of the Board, including Byrne and Lt. Governor Jim Folsom, are sitting close enough to get dirty when the sh*t hits the fan.
Speaking of which, the PACT Board meeting will be Wed., May 20 at 1 pm in the Archives Room (205) of the State Capitol in Montgomery. Kay Ivey and Co. may not expect much of a crowd for this one, but I figure parent and grandparent interest will still be high, especially since the Legislature just kicked the PACT can down the road until 2010 at the earliest. Approximately 48,000 contract holders are in limbo and all the public servants are hoping someone else will deal with the problem. Business as usual in Montgomery.
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Thu May 07, 2009 at 09:14:09 AM CDT
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What if the State of Alabama made a pact but failed to follow through? Looks like we're about to find out, and I guarantee that it's not going to be pretty. The only people who'll come out ahead in this will be the attorneys for both sides. Governor Bob Riley, after months of public silence on the subject, finally did something. He made a dramatic visit to the Legislature yesterday - accompanied, of course, by TV cameras. WSFA in Montgomery has the video. He called for legislative action, and noted that "some people" (WHO? Name names, Governor - we're not mind readers) in the Legislature don't want address the matter. The word is now that the bill to turn over the PACT program to the RSA has to pass the Senate today (SB581) , or it's dead for the session. The House passed a separate bill (HB748) yesterday, which now goes to the Senate. The clock is ticking and kids are about to graduate from high school. They and their parents stand a good chance of being left high and dry by a state that sold them a contract that - up until a couple of months ago - was advertised on TV, local banks, at PTA meetings, and state Web sites as a "contract to prepay 128 hours of undergraduate tuition." Follow me on the flip and see how the Treasurer's office was describing the program on its own Web site!
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Wed Apr 01, 2009 at 15:19:56 PM CDT
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 Jim Folsom will seek re-election to Lt. Governor in 2010.
Folsom said he's optimistic about what can be accomplished in the state Senate and wants to continue his role as the Senate's presiding officer.
Well, this certainly shakes things up a bit. I don't think Ron Sparks will be announcing a run against Folsom on Friday. Meanwhile, Congressman Artur Davis has released this statement: "I greatly respect and like both Jim and Marsha Folsom. He will be a valued part of the Democratic ticket as Lieutenant Governor and if both of us are successful in 2010, he will be invited to be a genuine partner in my efforts to revive Alabama’s economy. Whoever ends up running for governor, I will continue to prepare to take my case to voters in every sector of this state."
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Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 08:45:19 AM CDT
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The Birmingham News' Stan Diel did a nice job detailing the differences between Alabama's PACT fund and those in other states. We're exceptional. Does that mean better? Not in this case. Bob Crompton, the Atlanta accountant who prepared the PACT program's 2008 actuarial report, told the board last week that the deficit today is $481.3 million, meaning the deficit is nearly equal to the program's assets. To further put that in perspective, the Alabama program's deficit now is about twice the size of the next-biggest prepaid program deficit, in Texas. And the Alabama program has less than a third the assets the Texas program has. "You will need to take some action," Crompton told the PACT board.
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Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM CDT
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An INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING ...
or THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS  The photo was contributed by someone I'll call PACTDad. He owns two Alabama Prepaid (Oops, we're just kidding) Affordable College Tuition (PACT) contracts for his teenagers. Let it serve as a reminder to Kay Ivey, Bradley Byrne, Jim Folsom, Paul Hubbert, the rest of the PACT Board and the entire Legislature, not to mention the Alabama press and public, that in the end we're talking about the future of Alabama's children here, not the stock market or the next election. Will 50,000 or so young PACT beneficiaries get the college education their families thought they paid for or will they be forced to forego dreams of a higher education or end up deep in debt in order to earn a degree?
Back to PACTDad who sent the photo. In hindsight, the PACT purchase looks like a terrible decision. Why did he purchase a PACT contract for his kids instead of investing the money himself or putting it in a mutual fund or savings account? In the late 90's I was kicking myself as to why I purchased the PACT when my investments could have returned so much more. In the early 2000's I was thankful for the PACT because the tech bubble had burst. Bottom line, the PACT contract offered a guaranteed solution.......an insurance policy...... that I could always fall back on. I didn't have to worry about college tuition (I thought). My other investments could pay for housing and books. All investing inolves risk........which is why I purchased the PACT's.....to avoid the risk. They are now trying to say I purchased an investment vehicle with limited upside gain but maximum downside risk. Who in their right mind would purchase a traditional investment with such framework?
Note that PACTDad was sufficiently savvy to notice the PACT contract only covered the cost of tuition and fees for his children. Since 1994 he's been arranging his finances so the money would be there for the other costs of a college education: room and board, books and so forth. Lots of PACT parents are in the same boat. They planned ahead, bought their PACT contract, then saved toward the costs they knew PACT didn't cover. Little did they dream PACT might fail to deliver on the costs it did promise to cover.
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Sat Mar 28, 2009 at 05:15:00 AM CDT
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At Tuesday's Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Program Board meeting, Dr. Greg Fitch led the discussion of options for the future of the program. Fitch is Executive Director of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. Fitch laid the groundwork for the options with background on the financial situation the PACT Board is facing. Then he began to present options for the future.
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Thu Mar 26, 2009 at 10:51:05 AM CDT
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Just two days after the PACT board voted unanimously to kick their problem into the lap of the Alabama Legislature, they find Alabama's newest political football sailing back into their territory. Reporter Bob Lowry of the Huntsville Times reported this morning that two prominent Alabama politicos "see no need to fix PACT now." Two Statehouse figures normally at odds with each other agreed Wednesday there's no need for the Legislature to rush to fix Alabama's embattled prepaid college tuition program this session. Rep. Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, House minority leader, and Paul Hubbert, executive secretary of the Alabama Education Association, said there's plenty of time for lawmakers to take a thoughtful approach to the problem. It's not a "crisis situation," Paul Hubbert notes, "because we can pay tuition next year." Mike Hubbard is equally sanguine, pinning his hopes on a rebounding stock market. (Pssstttt…. Hubbard is also chair of the Alabama Republican Party. I guess he didn't get the memo about wanting Obama's stimulus package to fail.) I'm glad these guys aren't in charge of anything really important, like, say flood control. I can just hear them as the waters rise: "Well, before we take action, we need to know what's causing the flooding. But of course, we have enough sandbags to last a day or two. Oh, and the Farmer's Almanac says that next year is supposed to be a lot drier than normal. That would fix the problem without us having to throw a lot of money or effort into it. Everyone just be patient and hold your breath." Now, we've been all over the PACT board's inexplicable lack of interest in how the stock market crash was affecting the PACT trust fund and how the money was invested (see HaveALittleTalk's PACT posts for more info). It appears that they asked no questions and took no action until half the money was gone. Now, it's an emergency situation where options are limited and action is needed. Amazingly, Hubbard and Hubbert are using the same logic. "Hey, they've got enough money for next year so it's not a crisis." If anyone ever had any question about why the Alabama state government is so reactive and crisis-driven, here's your answer. Nobody is interested in long-range planning, transparency, and accountability. Our "leaders" in Montgomery don't want to act until the situation is so critical that taking just about any action looks like an improvement. It's like a doctor waiting to treat a patient until gangrene has set in, amputating both legs, then wanting accolades for saving the guy's life!  If Lt. Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. was waiting for an opportunity to step in and be the PACT hero, Hubbard and Hubbert have handed it to him on a platter.
As a board member, Folsom bears some responsibility for the problem, and he made a strong statement of support at the board meeting on Tuesday, pledging to work with the legislature to take quick action. In this battle of titans, who will emerge the victor? The 2010 governors race could depend on the outcome. Video of Folsom's statement on the flip.
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Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 22:46:22 PM CDT
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The PACT Board meeting will be Tuesday morning at 10 am in Montgomery at the State Capitol Auditorium. It would be nice if another big crowd showed up just to let the Board members know Alabama citizens are paying attention to this issue. God willing, countrycat and I will be there and I hope many other folks from the Facebook groups and the other websites following this story will be there as well. Stay tuned. I hope the entire PACT Board (below) takes the trouble to attend this meeting. - Honorable Kay Ivey, Chairman
- Mr. Willie Huff, Vice Chairman
- Mr. Bradley Byrne
- Dr. Gregory Fitch
- Honorable Jim Folsom, Jr.
- Dr. Harold J. McGee
- Mr. Tom Broughton
- Mr. Russell Buffkin
- Mr. Ricky Jones
- Mr. W. Daniel Hughes, Jr.
At the very least, the ones who aspire to higher office, presumably Ivey, Byrne and Folsom, had darned sure better show up. We haven't given it much attention on the blog, but I want to go on record with a word of thanks to Rep. Craig Ford (D, HD28) for making a reasonable proposal to get the PACT Program back on a firm financial footing. Having ridden the market down to current levels, it would be foolish to liquidate the assets, send everyone a refund and walk away now. Unless the equities in the PACT portfolio are truly junk, they're probably going to recover some value once the general economy picks up. Honestly, buy high and sell low is the worst possible investment strategy.  Some may (and do) quarrel with the funding source Rep. Ford proposes in the short term, but the truth is that there isn't a huge shortage in the next few years. The challenge for the PACT Board and other interested parties (Governor Riley and the Legislature) is to get through the next few years in good order and put the PACT Program on a solid footing for the long term.
And to those involved parties who want to advance themselves in 2010, a word of advice: It's time for a hero. If you aren't the knight in shining armor you're probably the bag holder.
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Sun Mar 22, 2009 at 11:37:55 AM CDT
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 Kay Ivey was in Huntsville yesterday, and the Huntsville Times reports she had this to say about Alabama's troubled Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) Program:
Ivey told the breakfast audience at Trinity United Methodist Church that she has "been hunkered down" with the board and financial risk experts to find solutions to shore up the program for the short term. "That is my mission," said Ivey, who is a board member and whose office oversees the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Plan (PACT). ...
"We've got to find a way to continue to serve the children," Ivey said in a 20-minute speech. "Tending to business requires creative solutions."
Creative solutions are good, but I'm not liking the "hunkered down" with the Board part. The innovative solutions on the table ought to be discussed at the public Board meeting on Tuesday*, not pre-decided and just put up for a formal vote at that meeting. *PACT Special Called Board Meeting
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Location: State Capitol Auditorium
Montgomery
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Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 00:13:27 AM CDT
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From Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom's spokesman - links mine: Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, Senate President Pro Tem Rodger Smitherman and House Majority Leader Ken Guin are in Washington to meet with President Obama and other national leaders. The three-day trip was arranged by the National Conference of State Legislatures. It began Wednesday with a visit to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It continues Thursday with other congressional leaders. The trip ends Friday with meetings with Obama, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. A spokesman for Folsom, Chip Hill, says the lieutenant governor felt it was vital to get a firsthand briefing on economic recovery plans and the congressional agenda.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and NCSL Joe Hackney of North Carolina made statements to the press after this evening's meeting, emphasizing the impact of the Economic Recovery Package on state budgets and on the lives of people in the states. Hackney said "In speaking with the other leaders, the recovery act is having an enormous impact in saving jobs that would otherwise have to be cut because we all have balanced budget requirements in our states all except one I believe. And the jobs that would be cut teachers, health care workers all throughout our state government apparatus. These jobs are being saved by this recovery act and putting money on the street and back into our economy." About $3 billion of the Economic Recovery money will be spent in Alabama and the package is estimated to create over 50,000 jobs in our state. If you poke around the NCSL website, you will see they have some interesting meetings and educational sessions, including a Webinar on healthy foods that just concluded. I'd like to think the more progressive members of the Alabama legislature participate in some of these Webinars -- they're free, involve no travel and it's very easy to link up and see/hear the presentation.
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The video below the fold is kind of a bonus from our recent interview (see 
