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Alabama Scene
In 1819 when our forefathers wrote the state's first Constitution they specified that the president pro tem of the Senate would be first in line to succeed to the office of governor. The Constitution remained this way until 1867 when the socalled "Reconstruction Constitutional Convention" created the office of lieutenant governor and specified that the occupant of that office would be first in line to succeed the governor. When white Democrats regained control of state government in the mid-1870s another constitutional convention was called and the delegates very swiftly abolished the office of lieutenant governor and returned to the old plan. Their thinking: Any office created by the carpetbaggers and scalawags couldn't be of any worth. In 1900 William J. Samford (for whom Samford Hall at Auburn University is named) was elected governor. Not long thereafter he became gravely ill...he was in fact terminally ill. On Inauguration Day in December of that year Samford was so sick that he took his oath of office in his bed in Opelika...the only governor in Alabama history sworn in outside the Capitol. When the Senate met in January, 1901 to elect a president pro tem it was a given that they were in reality electing the next governor. It was a contentious battle in the Senate but finally Sen. William Dorsey Jelks of Eufaula, a weekly newspaper publisher, was elected. A few months later Gov. Samford died and Jelks became governor. By coincidence the 1901 Constitutional Convention was in progress at the time, and there was a public outcry over gubernatorial succession in Alabama...the people didn't like the idea that a governor could be elected by 35 members of the Senate, as Jelks had been. The idea of re-creating the office of lieutenant governor was proposed, and after spirited debate it was put into the Constitution which was subsequently ratified. One of the strongest arguments against creating this office was that many delegates to the convention were convinced it would be a stepping stone to the office of governor... that every lieutenant governor would surely be a candidate for governor the next election They were half right. Countless incumbent lieutenant governors have run for governor but most of them have been singularly unsuccessful in their campaigns. Only two incumbent lieutenant governors have been elected governor of Alabama since 1901--Thomas E. Kilby in 1914 and Don Siegelman in 1998. Compare that with the lieutenant governors who have run for governor but failed: Jim Allen in 1954; Albert Boutwell in 1962; Jere Beasley in 1978; George McMillan in 1982; Steve Windom in 2002. Two lieutenant governors during the past century have moved up to the governors office...Albert Brewer upon the death of Gov. Lurleen Wallace and Jim Folsom Jr. following the felony conviction of Gov. Guy Hunt. But ironically, both of them lost when they ran for a full term as governor. Quite simply, the office thought by some to be a stepping stone to the governor's office has more often than not been a dead end. Now comes Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, who hopes to do what only two of her predecessors have been able to do. We will know in June or November whether she beat the odds. * * * Years ago there was a paper mill in Tuscaloosa which created such a foul odor that a frequently seen bumper sticker in that city was "Tuscaloosa Smells Bad." The odor of the paper mill has long since been corrected but there is now another smell coming out of Tuscaloosa which is no less foul. State Rep. Bryant Melton Jr. of Tuscaloosa gave some $85,000 of his legislative "pork" money to the Alabama Fire College Foundation which is located in that city. It has now come to light that the Foundation gave Melton's daughter at least $60,000 in scholarships while she attended med school at UAB. This deal smells a lot worse than the paper mill ever did.
By the way, the Alabama Democratic Conference last week endorsed Melton for another term in the Legislature. If he is re-elected the taxpayers can only hope he doesn't have another daughter who aspires to go to med school.
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