The 2006 Ballot

I should have done this earlier, but I neglected to pick up a sample ballot from the courthouse until today. To that end, here are my selections for tomorrow’s voting:

Governor: Bob Riley (Republican)

• While the state of Alabama could certainly do better than Riley, his challenger, Lieutenant Governor Lucy Baxley, has no real platform other than her “We Love Lucy” signs and a promise to eliminate annual real estate appraisals. I figure the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t (not that I think Riley is evil, but you get the idea).

Lieutenant Governor: Luther Strange (Republican)

• Strange is a former D.C. lobbyist, which does give me pause. However, given the fact that this office is essentially powerless, I won’t hesitate to cast my vote for Strange over his challenger, Jim Folsom Jr., who tries to take sole credit for bringing the Mercedes plant to Alabama.

U.S. Representative, District 7: Daniel L. Maguire (Independent)

• Incumbent Democrat Artur Davis has no challenger. Therefore, I’ll be writing in my own name…and running against him if we’re still here the next time around. (You should write me in, too!)

State Senator, District 21: Phil Poole (Democrat)

• Poole, the incumbent, has a good record—plus an A+ rating from the NRA. His challenger, Joe Saxton, didn’t even bother to fill out the NRA’s questionnaire…so I imagine my rights as a gun owner are not very high on his list of priorities.

Attorney General: John Tyson, Jr. (Democrat)

• Tyson is the current District Attorney for Mobile County, and an honorable man by all accounts. While I like Troy King personally, I think he is more concerned with positioning himself for a future run at the governor’s office than he is with doing a good job as Attorney General.

Secretary of State: Beth Chapman (Republican)

• Chapman currently serves as state auditor, and her record in that position is spotless. Her opponent, incumbent Nancy Worley, has been a lightning rod for controversy and criticism—notably from members of her own party. Good riddance to Worley.

State Treasurer: Kay Ivey (Republican)

• I trust Republicans more with my money than Democrats (at least on the state level).

State Auditor: Samantha Shaw (Republican)

Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries: Albert Lipscomb (Republican)

Chief Justice, Alabama Supreme Court: Drayton Nabers, Jr. (Republican)

• Nabers is the incumbent; Sue Bell Cobb is the choice of Alabama’s trial lawyers--enough said.

Associate Supreme Court Justices:

Place #1: Champ Lyons, Jr. (Republican)

• Lyons has no challenger in this race.

Place #2: Tom Woodall (Republican)

• Woodall is the incumbent, and I see no reason to replace him with a Democrat.

Place #3 – Lyn Stuart (Republican)

• Stuart currently serves on the court and, like Woodall, I see no reason to replace her with a Democrat.

Place #4: Glenn Murdock (Republican)

• Murdock and John H. England, Jr. are vying to replace the retiring Justice Bernard Harwood. Murdock is a conservative, and I’d rather have more conservatives on the court.

Court of Civil Appeals Judges:

Place #1: Terry Moore (Republican)

Place #2: Craig Pittman (Republican)

Place #3: Terri Willingham Thomas (Republican

Court of Criminal Appeals Judges

Place #1: Greg Shaw (Republican)

Place #2: Kelli Wise (Republican)

• Wise is the incumbent. Plus, she’s hot (for a 44-year-old mom, at least!) and she once told me I had beautiful eyes (at a state College Republicans convention when I was an undergraduate).

Place #3: Sam Welch (Republican)

Public Service Commission

Place #1: John Rice (Republican)

Place #2: Perry O. Hooper, Jr. (Republican)

Amendments

Amendment 1: NO

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, authorizing the governing body of the city of Prichard to establish an Alabama Foreign Trade Investment Zone as a special tax district for the purpose of importing duty free and quota free articles eligible under the United States General System of Preferences and the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act; would specify that the value of land and improvements on the land within the district would be assessed and taxed for ad valorem tax purposes by county tax officials under a single site valuation system; and would provide further for the contractual powers of nonprofit organizations.

I’m not entirely sure why Prichard needs to establish this Foreign Trade Investment Zone, but (without doing exhaustive research) I would speculate that it would grant tax breaks to foreign companies for doing business in Prichard.

Amendment 2: NO

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to require the levy of an additional local ad valorem property tax in those school districts of the State in which local ad valorem property taxes for general public school purposes totaling less than 10.0 mils are otherwise levied, so as to ensure that such taxes totaling at least such amount are levied for such purposes in every school district in the State of Alabama.

First off, this is taxation without representation. Why should I, a citizen of Tuscaloosa County, decide how residents of Lamar or Hale Counties should be taxed? This amendment has been touted by its proponents a means for districts to reduce their sales taxes once their ad valorem taxes are at least 10 mils. I hope, dear reader, that you weren’t drinking anything carbonated when you read that last statement, because it probably came out of your nose. What do you think is the likelihood of any local government in this state reducing sales taxes without being absolutely forced to do it? I think this “justification” for the amendment is a load of B.S. But it’s still not as big a reason for me to vote against it as the fact that it equals taxation without representation

Amendment 3: NO

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to provide for the election of the Macon County Board of Education from four single-member districts and the county at large, and to provide for staggered six-year terms of office.

This doesn’t necessarily sound like a bad thing, but since I don’t live in Macon County and I don’t know the entire story, I’m voting No.

God, I hate Alabama’s constitutional system, which requires constitutional amendments for local laws. Some—like Amendment 1—require the whole state to ratify the amendment for one locality. Others, which are only ratified by the applicable county, still take the form of amendments to the state constitution. This is where the real constitutional reform needs to take place.

I won’t bother going into the Tuscaloosa County amendments, but I’ll be voting No on at least numbers two and three. (Number One might have some merit.)

We’ll see how it goes tomorrow!