Alabama Lt. Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. is encouraging people to join his Facebook Fan page. Now, you may already think you have joined! I did, but never saw many campaign updates and asked a campaign staffer about it. ooops! I hadn't joined the "official" page, but one set up by supporters.
The staffer said that the campaign had been working with several groups of supporters who had set up "Jim Folsom pages" and encouraging them to send their fans to Folsom's official Facebook page. The campaign makes almost daily updates and you can keep track of where Lt. Governor Folsom has been and where's he's going to be (in Huntsville tonight, as a matter of fact).
PACT contract holders breathed a huge sigh of relief last night when both the Alabama House and Senate passed a conference committee bill to use money from the Education Trust Fund to help the program.
The key point of contention between the House and Senate was the inclusion of tuition caps for PACT contract holders. The House bill set a cap of 2.5% per year on tuition increases. The Senate bill had no tuition caps.
The compromise bill, hammered out this weekend, splits the difference. Regional colleges and universities will have tuition capped for PACT contract holders while schools in the University of Alabama and Auburn systems will have no tuition caps.
Bob Hill, University of North Alabama government relations director and legal counsel, said he believes the bill is unconstitutional. Hill said the bill discriminates against regional institutions and students who must absorb tuition costs of PACT students.
"Regional schools are always squeezed in between K-12 on one side and doctoral schools on the other," he said.
More about the good and bad in the bill - and a bit of discussion on the systemic issues not addressed by the Legislature or others involved in the process.
All heck is liable to break out this week as Friday at 5 pm is the last chance to decide to run for office -- or what office you're going to run for -- in Alabama. Chuck Dean of the Birmingham News reports that Kay Ivey is making a major announcement this afternoon at 3:30 -- rumor has it she is pulling out of the Governor's race and running for Lt. Governor instead.
That should be good for popcorn sales -- the woman who ran the PACT program into the ground running against its co-founder, Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom, Jr.
A bill (HB228) providing a funding solution (the Education Trust Fund) and cost controls (limiting tuition increases for PACT enrollees) for Alabama's troubled Prepaid Affordable College Tuition (PACT) program passed the Alabama House last week and is expected to come up soon in the Senate. Save Our PACT advocates are urging everyone to call or email their Senators and ask them to:
SUPPORT HB228 in the Senate with CAPS and UNSEVERABILITY.
The CAPS are tuition & fees increase limits -- no more than 2.5% per year for PACT students, tied to the rate in effect on Sept. 30, 2009.
Section 3. No public institution of higher learningshall charge the PACT plan or a PACT plan contract ownermandatory fees or tuition per credit hour in an amountexceeding the cost of mandatory fees or a credit hour as ofSeptember 30, 2009, except that an annual increase of thelesser of the actual annual tuition or mandatory fee increaseor an annual tuition or mandatory fee increase of two andone-half percent shall be allowed for each year thereafter.
The $64,000 question is this:
Is it constitutional for the Legislature to specify what colleges and universities can charge a particular group of students?
Brian at Flashpoint lays out some concerns with the PACT bill, including the one Republicans have raised about whether it passes constitutional muster:
The concern that [Mike] Hubbard raised is that the legislature does not have the constitutional authority to set tuition at state universities controlled by constitutionally established boards of trustees. Such sections of the Alabama Constitution begin as follows:
[The university] shall be under the management and control of a board of trustees…
Now, I’m no lawyer. Does that statement preclude the legislature from micromanaging the universities and usurping the authority of the trustees?
Normally I'd just write that off as Mike Hubbard (in addition to being a state senator, he's Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party) being ornery and opposing pretty much anything a Democrat proposed, but the insistence on inclusion of an INSEVERABILITY clause strikes me as strange.
Section 9. The provisions of this act areunseverable. If any part of this act is declared invalid orunconstitutional, that declaration shall affect the part whichremains.
Brian has searched the ALISON records and says such a clause is extremely rare, and in fact the original bill contained a SEVERABILITY clause which would preserve the remainder of the legislation should any part of it be declared invalid or unconstitutional. This whole thing makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Why?
For a week, I've been meaning to comment on the Huntsville Times' report on the February 2 meeting of the Republican Women of Huntsville.
Alabama PACT killer, Kay Ivey, was the featured speaker atattended an event along with many other AL-05 and Madison County candidates - though, of course, not Parker Griffith. Perhaps he thought Mooncat and I might be hoping to sample some of the Ledges fine chow that afternoon and was worried about getting scratched. Again.
Lee Roop's account of the meeting is riveting - both for who was quoted and who was not.
Remember Kay Ivey, the featured speaker? Roop doesn't even mention her name in the article! This is his complete account of Ivey's attendance and - presumably - speech:
The big news at Tuesday's biggest-ever Republican Women of Huntsville meeting didn't come from the main speakers.
Just talked to +150 people @ Republican Women of Huntsville’s lunch. They’re a great group & got me fired up! Now back to Montgomery.10:52 AM Feb 2ndfrom Ping.fm
The speech must have been quite... memorable. Or not.
UPDATE! Commissioner Mo Brooks emailed me with a correction. The meeting was actually a "Congressional Candidate forum"
FYI – The meeting was set up as a Congressional Candidate forum. Anyone else who spoke was only given 1-2 minutes (time for “hello” but not much more). Hence, Kay Ivey was not quoted because she lacked the time to say anything substantive. An exception was made for Frances Taylor at the end of the meeting inasmuch as she was announcing her candidacy for the legislature.
Sorry for the misinformation, but the only person mentioned in the Huntsville Times' brief announcement before the meeting was Kay Ivey. Putting on my snarky hat, I'd have to note that Ivey rarely says anything substantive - no matter how much time she gets....
No, the actual interesting hijinks started when the AL-05 Congressional candidates started tearing into Parker Griffith, the man with no friends, and then touting their own qualifications for office. Such as they are.
Our local groundhog candidate, Wayne Parker, who pops up every two years to run for Congress, celebrated Groundhog Day by making an appearance.
Wayne Parker, who has tried three times to win Griffith's congressional seat for the GOP, said he's considering a fourth run.
Go for it, Wayne, I've always heard that the 4th time is the charm.
More on the flip, where we'll learn that Phillip thinks waterboarding "isn't that bad" and more.
Alabama candidates have been donating and loaning a lot of money to their own campaigns. In some cases, campaigns would be almost broke without candidate loans - and/or without including January 2010 receipts/expenses - on the reports. And that raises a question:
How many (if any) of these "loans" represent actual money in campaign bank accounts and how many (if any) exist only on paper in the financial report?
It's hard to tell, but you have to wonder.
Kay Ivey is indisputably the queen of funny money campaign loans. As Danny at the Political Parlor pointed out, she has a history of "loaning" her campaign a million or so on December 31st, reporting a huge cash on hand amount, and then "repaying" the loan a week or so later:
Kay Ivey reports $1,561,000 on hand, but she also reports that she loaned herself $1,500,000 on New Year’s Eve. This is a regular trick she does. The New Year’s Eve loan shows up on the annual report for the year, but she repays the money almost immediately after the New Year so that the money is not really in her campaign account but a few days – long enough to inflate her year-end balance.
You can see an example here in this report for 2008 [.pdf]. On January 2, 2008, she pays back a $1 million loan that she made a few days before at the end of 2007. You can see on the same form that she loans herself a million dollars again on December 31, 2008. Three days later, on January 2, 2009, she repays $975,000 [.pdf] but in the meantime reports a 2008 ending balance of $1,003,137.54.
Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks also raised eyebrows with his report of a $500,000 personal loan to his campaign on 1/8/2010. Now, according to campaign finance rules, the report was to have stopped at December 31, 2009, but Sparks included a number of contributions made in January of this year.
More about that on the flip - along with info about his January 11, 2010 contribution haul totaling $249,050.
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.
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?"
“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”.
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."
Under Kay Ivey's "leadership," the Alabama PACT Board met today for a "special" meeting at 8am in Montgomery. The Alabama PACT Board voted to change the terms of every existing PACT contract in a way that will cost the average university student at least an extra $500/semester beginning in the fall of 2010.
Under Kay Ivey's "leadership," this change was made with no notice to the PACT parents and students, no notice to the press, and no notice to those candidates running for governor and state treasurer.
This is the "leadership" and committment to transparency that Treasurer Kay Ivey promises to bring to the state if she's elected governor. Or, if you prefer... it's PACT 2.0: Piss Away Citzens' Trust in Alabama's government and institutions."
There are so many things to criticize about this that it's hard to pick just a couple, but let's hit the high points first:
The meeting notice wasn't posted on the Alabama PACT Web site. It's there now. It wasn't yesterday. And you'll LOVE the reason Cowgirl Kay Ivey gave for that...
This important meeting was held between the Christmas and New Years' holidays when most folks are on vacation or relaxing with the family.
At least one PACT board member didn't know about the meeting as late as last night.
Inexplicably, the PACT board voted to change the terms of the PACT contracts - in such a way that immediately gives hundreds, if not thousands, of PACT contract holders standing to sue the PACT board for breach of contract. 'course, they probably aren't worried for themselves. Remember, they bought themselves liability insurance (paid for out of the PACT operating funds) in 2004.
All this is brought to you by Cowgirl Kay Ivey, who promises to do for the State of Alabama what the did for the Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program. Note that first word in that title: PREPAID.
In Kay Ivey's view, that is just another example of her committment to "transparency in government." It fades away over time until it means absolutely nothing.
Stay tuned. On the flip, we'll cover the following:
How the meeting was called.
What happened.
How this changes the equation.
Why take this action now?
Read more and learn why Kay Ivey has just proved that she's the best example available of the worst in Alabama politics.
"I am pleased that after more than a month from when State Representative Greg Wren’s proposed legislation guaranteeing PACT contracts was first released that Treasurer Ivey has decided to support the 45,000 PACT families that the proposed legislation protects”.
“Treasurer Ivey’s additional statement, regarding the apportionment of PACT funds among colleges and universities for their reserving of enrollment for PACT students, lacks substance. Ivey’s proposal relies on the altruism and generosity of universities to assume the full financial burden caused by PACT’s mismanagement under Ivey’s administration. In no way do Ivey’s proposals provide any financial solution for PACT, it merely passes the buck.”
I'm with Sherer on this one. Instead of calling the plan her "Kay Ivey Partnership for PACT" it would be more descriptive to call it "Kay Ivey Punts PACT." (Who names stuff after themselves anyway?)
Just who is she planning to "partner" with anyway? Most of Alabama's colleges and universities have shown absolutely no inclination to work with Save Alabama PACT, the Treasurer's office, or the Legislature.
In fact, University of Alabama officials have flatly told Save Alabama PACT leaders that they "don't care" if they lose PACT students becuase those slots could be filled by students from out of state who bring in more revenue.
However, Ivey acknowledged the universities and colleges could not be forced to go along with the proposal. "There is no forcing anybody," Ivey said. Ivey said she hoped the universities and colleges would be wiling to discuss her ideas.
Unless she's totally delusional, Ivey has to know that this proposal is dead on arrival at Alabama universities. Even her proposed bribe of the ever-dwindling PACT money won't be enough.
Depserately pursuing the far right fringe, Bill Johnson said both doctors performing abortions and their patients should serve jail time.
Robert Bentley, Bradley Byrne, Kay Ivey, Tim James and James Potts all think doctors should go to jail for performing abortions. Ivey, at least, also thinks women who want abortions are unbalanced -- or maybe it's broader than that and she thinks women who don't agree with her are unbalanced.
State Treasurer Kay Ivey, the only woman in the 2010 gubernatorial race, voiced the majority GOP view: "Doctors ought to know better, and when patients are desperately asking for that, their mental state is not necessarily sound."
Sounding almost reasonable in comparison, Roy Moore wouldn't say what he thinks about jail time for doctors and patients, just that it should be up to the Legislature.
Democrat Artur Davis said neither women who have abortions nor doctors who perform them should go to jail. His primary opponent, Ron Sparks, declined to answer the question.
"Having been a governor myself, I know she's got the experience and vision to do a good job," Romney said in a statement released by the Ivey campaign.
"Some candidates may talk about being a conservative, but Kay Ivey is the real thing. I've seen her stay true to her conservative principles as State Treasurer, and I know they will guide her as governor of Alabama."
Mitt probably should have reviewed Ivey's performance as Treasurer before endorsing her ... or he could have just reviewed her performance as chair of his 2008 presidential campaign in Alabama -- if Kay did such a great job for him, why did he come in a distant third in Alabama on 2/5/08?
Not quite related, but still interesting: Artur Davis is making an announcement in Mobile at noon. Is it about the tanker contract, some big new industry, or a big endorsement?
At the Save Alabama PACT meeting last Wednesday (11/4) after the PACT board meeting, Treasurer Kay Ivey faced tough questioning from parents about why the PACT board sat for 7 months in 2008 and watched the fund ride the stock market all the way to the bottom.
The parents' anger and disappointment wasn't a surprise, but Ivey seemed completely unprepared for the tough questioning. And it's no wonder: the Alabama media has pretty much given her a pass. I haven't seen a single interview or news report that asks the tough questions or confronts Ivey's version of PACT fantasyland.
Instead, it's left to parents to state the obvious:
"When you lose 50% of a fund, you've lost a heck of a lot of money and most of us were smart enough to go: 'Hey! I'm going to stop this bleeding. I'm going to get me a band-aid and put it in a money market.'
But we went seven more months like that with your board of directors. We need somebody who's accountable for that money before the seven months goes by."
The media hasn't asked the hard questions; they've left it up to parents to ask. They didn't even stay for the entire meeting; just skedaddled off to dinner and deadlines. Wouldn't it be cool to have a reporter from the Birmingham News pursue the PACT board with the same zeal as they have other elected officials?
The PACT board - particularly Kay Ivey - tries to deflect these questions and blame the stock market, blame the economy, blame anybody or anything except their own mismanagement. They want us to look to the "future" and to "solutions." Yep.
We need solutions, but it's hard to solve a problem when you don't have a firm handle on what caused it. And it's even more difficult when the people in charge don't seem to want the whole story to become public.
Why the tapdancing Kay? If nobody did anything wrong, then there's no reason to block Davis, Sparks, Sherer, an others' calls for a full audit. Unless, of course, you're afraid that accountability in the PACT program might uncover some uncomfortable truths about your role in the meltdown.
Video of the parent takedown of Ivey is on the flip. It's well worth the 2 minutes to see concerned citizens angry about real issues that affect the state and their children. But not just angry: demanding real answers and not doubletalk from their representatives.
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.
What do you get when you cross a donkey with an elephant in Alabama?
It appears that you get a well-connected pol like Democratic candidate for Treasurer, Charley Grimsley, a guy adept at playing both sides of the political game. He's boasted about his friendship with Lt. Governor Folsom while donating $5,000 to Roy Moore in 2006. He contributed $2,000 to George W. Bush in 2004 (the day before the election) and $2,300 to Barack Obama last October.
Oh, and there's also a Karl Rove connection, slight but there nontheless. Mr. Grimsley donated $1000 (another link says $2,000 but that info seems suspect) to the now-defunct "Progress for America Voter Fund," a 527 organization. It's described by SourceWatch this way:
PFA was established in 2001 to support George W. Bush's "agenda for America." The PFA Voter Fund, which was set up in 2004, raised $38 million in support of Bush's 2004 election bid.
Progress for America, a "friends of the party" organization "operated by Tony Feather, the former political director of Bush-Cheney 2000 and a close friend of White House political adviser Karl Rove, is described by some Republicans as a new group dedicated to corralling outlawed party soft money," Steve Weismann, Associate Director for Policy at The Campaign Finance Institute wrote January 28, 2003.
Progress for America Voter Fund (“PFA-VF”) is a conservative issue advocacy organization dedicated to keeping the issue record straight on the campaign trail and serving as a “Political Truth Squad”.
PFA-VF is currently producing issue advocacy TV ads on President Bush’s plan to revitalize the American economy and wage a world wide war on terror.
Future PFA-VF television ads will expose John Kerry's record as the most liberal member of the United States Senate — even more liberal than Teddy Kennedy or Hillary Clinton!
Contribute to our cause to bolster support for conservative policies in the media and see your donation in action when we place our ads on television in your state.
It seems odd that a Democratic candidate for Treasurer, Charles Grimsley would be a contributor to such a group.
In October 2006, they published a brochure explaining how we were winning the war in Iraq and shut down in 2007 after the Federal Elections Commission raised questions about its political activities in 2004.
Just as troubling to progressive Democrats, is Mr. Grimsley's enthusiastic support of Roy Moore in 2006. He donated $5,000 to Moore's campaign and even reserved the Web site domain name (for $60!) to keep it out the hands of the wrong people, according to the Decatur Daily:
"If you don't go out and buy up all components of a name, sometimes your opponents will come in and do so," Grimsley said. "The first thing you know, there will be negative information out there on a site that has your name on it. I didn't want that to happen."
Grimsley said he lives near Sipsey River in Pickens County and he believes Moore appeals to people like his neighbors in rural areas.
Too bad Mr. Grimsley wasn't an early supporter of Kay Ivey for Governor. I'm sure she wishes an alert supporter or campaign staffer had thought to reserve KayIvey2010.com!
More about the interesting history of Mr. Grimsley, his political posts, and contributions on the flip.
The state Commission on Community Service Grants killed a proposal by State Treasurer Kay Ivey that she said would have given the public easy access to information about the grants through the Internet.
"It's totally unacceptable that expediency supersedes accountability and transparency for the taxpayers and people of Alabama," Ivey said after the meeting.
You all know I disagree with Treasurer Ivey's handling of the PACT program, but I fail to see why posting proposed Community Service Grants online for the public to see is a bad idea. Now I haven't seen or heard her exact proposal, "that grant applications be posted on the lieutenant governor's Web site 30 days before a commission hearing for public review," but the basic concept seems like a sound move toward more open and accountable government.
Cowgirl Kay Ivey is at it again. Her delusions of support from Alabama PACT parents and students were on full display last May:
"...I was deeply gratified to hear from those in attendance time and time again, "Kay, you concentrate and work hard for a solution for PACT— we’ll all be waiting here for you at the time you decide to move forward with your plans for 2010."
But now, we find in this news item (titled "PACT 'Going Fine' State Treasurer Says") from the Shelby County Reporter that she's decided the rewrite the history of the Alabama PACT program debacle. Surprise! She's not responsible:
“The fact is, the market just damaged every investment company there is,” Ivey told the group. “The market just hit everyone. An RSA (Retirement Systems of Alabama) study showed there was not mismanagement of funds or anything like that.”
Democratic candidate for Alabama Treasurer, Jeremy Sherer, was quick to respond. He's a nicer person than I am, because he didn't recommend either resignation or medication:
“I think she is more focused on running for governor than upholding her responsibilities as treasurer right now,” Sherer said. “There were unsound investments made by the PACT board while the economy was tanking.”
The treasurer candidate also blasted Ivey for what he said were overly conservative investment practices over the past few weeks.
“It’s just bad financial management during bad economic times. She is not utilizing her due diligence in managing those investments,” Sherer said. “Now, when she should be capitalizing on the rising economy, she is playing it conservative.
“The next treasurer will be a stakeholder in PACT, and will have to work hard to manage those investments,” Sherer added. “But none of those are topics she is talking about right now.”
Sherer's entire statement on Kay Ivey and Alabama PACT is on the flip.
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.
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.
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!
According to a new Alabama Education Association poll sent to Politico today, Representative Artur Davis is currently leading all major Republican hopefuls in the 2010 race for the governorship.
Former Judge Roy Moore -- the president of the Foundation for Moral Law a hero of the Christian right for his battle to install the Ten Commandments in his court -- is the closest, down six, while State Treasurer Kay Ivey is the furthest behind, down twelve.
Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks isn't doing too hot either: he's down by thirty points.
Lt. Governor Jim Folsom called in sick with a stomach virus, but did Treasurer (and gubernatorial candidate) Kay Ivey step up to task of running the scheduled meeting of the State Executive Commission on Community Service Grants? No, she did not. Kay instead stood downstairs from the meeting hall and told the media she wouldn't preside over the meeting -- or even attend -- forcing cancellation due to lack of a quorum.
"As the presiding officer, I will be without a voice or vote," she said in her Capitol office moments before the meeting was supposed to start one floor above her office.
State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton and state Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks did show up for the meeting, but had to cancel it because at least three members must be present to conduct business.
Sparks, a Democratic candidate for governor, was unhappy that Ivey, a Republican candidate for governor, stayed in her Capitol office.
"She showed Dr. Morton and I not much respect," Sparks said.
The reporter did some fact checking and found that Cowgirl Kay made motions and cast votes at an earlier meeting of the same board where she presided in Folsom's absence, so her "I'd be without voice or vote" excuse looks like bunk.
This is more than just a spat between Sparks and Ivey -- millions of dollars in community service grants to schools, fire departments and other organizations will be held up waiting for approval from the Executive Committee. Times are especially hard right now and communities need those grants. Way to show your leadership ability, Treasurer Ivey.
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The key point of contention between the House and Senate was the inclusion of tuition caps for PACT contract holders. The House bill set a cap of 2.5% per year on tuition increases. The Senate bill had no tuition caps.
Alabama PACT killer, Kay Ivey, 
How many (if any) of these "loans" represent actual money in campaign bank accounts and how many (if any) exist only on paper in the financial report?
The parents' anger and disappointment wasn't a surprise, but Ivey seemed completely unprepared for the tough questioning. And it's no wonder: the Alabama media has pretty much given her a pass. I haven't seen a single interview or news report that asks the tough questions or confronts Ivey's version of PACT fantasyland.
It appears that you get a well-connected pol like Democratic candidate for Treasurer, Charley Grimsley, a guy adept at playing both sides of the political game. He's boasted about his friendship with Lt. Governor Folsom while donating $5,000 to Roy Moore in 2006. He contributed $2,000 to George W. Bush in 2004 (the day before the election) and $2,300 to Barack Obama last October. 
"...I was deeply gratified to hear from those in attendance time and time again, "Kay, you concentrate and work hard for a solution for PACT— we’ll all be waiting here for you at the time you decide to move forward with your plans for 2010." 
Democratic candidate for Alabama Treasurer, Jeremy Sherer, was 
