“Rumors and Rumblings” is a weekly feature that runs each Wednesday. It includes short nuggets of information that we glean from conversations throughout the week. Have a tip? Send it here.
It’s been a slow week in the rumor mill coming off of the holiday weekend… and it’s all been made worse by the fact that Yellowhammer is in the process of relocating from Tuscaloosa to Birmingham. Nothing seems to make folks more upset than R&R not being ready when they fire up their computer on Wednesday morning…my apologies & thanks for reading.
There may be additional rumors & rumblings added as the day goes on…
1. Last week we gave you the lay of the land in House District 34. A pack of candidates was poised to jump in the race to succeed Rep. Elwyn Thomas who was recently appointed by Governor Bentley to be Executive Director of the Alabama Manufactured Housing Commission.
Those candidates were:
James Bryson – Mayor of Highland Lake, Alabama
John Dobson – former District Judge, current head of the Blount County adult drug court
Jim Murphree – former Democrat State Representative who Elwyn Thomas defeated in 1998
Donny Ray – Executive Director, Blount-Oneonta Chamber of Commerce
David Standridge – Blount County Probate Judge
Tim Whitley – Farmer, former president of the Blount County Farmers Federation
Over the last week, third party polling showed Blount County Probate Judge David Standridge with a commanding lead among likely voters. The polling indicated that Standridge has strong favorables among Republicans and also showed him outpacing the competition by a large margin on issues such as integrity, values and job creation.
2. I’ll be speaking in Birmingham on Thursday to the Summit Investors Group. Their political action committee, Summit PAC, hosts regular luncheons and meetings that enable investors to support pro-business political candidates. Well known Birmingham businessman and philanthropist John Sellers chairs the group. If you’re interested in bringing me in to talk to your political group or civic organization, drop me a line here.
Explain why Bentley just appointed Beth Chapman to the board of the Children’s Fund AND Chapman accepted? Children’s Fund gives money to Shelby CASA – and who is paid $60K to serve as its ED? Beth Chapman. Haven’t we been through this before Beth?
Is Luther Strange looking at running for something other than AG in 2014?
Not that I’ve heard. What else would he run for that cycle? I don’t get the impression he has a desire to be governor and I don’t foresee any U.S. Senate seats opening up in that time frame.
mayor bryson. he’s extremely popular all across that legislative district.
Is that you?
^^ This is why I love the YH comment section.
Judge Standridge will be a great candidate. I wish he had been able to raise the funds to compete in the Congressional race earlier this year. Cliff do you know if he will be getting any financial help?
My sense is that he’ll be able to round the money up to be competitive. He was up against a fundraising juggernaut with Bachus in that Congressional race and any other significant financial support quickly rallied around Beason. He should be in the driver’s seat in this one though.
Cliff, is the Summit event open to the public? Where is it taking place and what time?
I don’t think it is but I’ll double check. If you’re interested in joining the group though, send me an email through YH’s contact page & I’ll forward along to the group’s chairman.