[Speaker's Commission members from left: (not pictured - Lynn Robinson), Rep. Ed Henry, Rep. April Weaver, Cliff Sims, Rep. Micky Hammon, John Killian, Rep. Kurt Wallace, Rep. Barry Moore]
Speaker Hubbard’s Commission on Alabama Values and States’ Rights held it’s second forum last night in Shelby County [See notes from the Decatur meeting HERE]. Leaders from numerous conservative organizations came out to talk about issues that are important to them and their members. A few of the organizations represented were the Alabama Federation of Republican Women, Rainy Day Patriots, Alabama Eagle Forum, Alabama Citizens For Life, Shelby County Republican Party, and the Alabama Policy Institute — among others.
House Majority Leader Micky Hammon chaired the meeting and facilitated the discussion that lasted well over two hours and covered a broad range of policy issues. Some of the topics put forth for discussion by the citizen leaders in attendance included:
Predatory lending practices of pay day loan companies
Common Core Standards
Forever Wild
Budget reform
Public pension reform
Various pro-life issues
School choice
Medicaid reform
Prison reform
Requiring disclosures by state agency lobbyists
Taxpayer bill or rights
Healthcare exchanges and the healthcare compact
The Commission is planning to hold a few more meetings around the state, compile the input, and present some recommendations to Speaker Hubbard and the House Republican Caucus as they formulate their legislative agenda for the 2013 session. I believe the agenda will ultimately be made stronger by the feedback the Commission is getting directly from people all across Alabama.
We’re also pleased to be accepting online input from people across the state.
The Commission launched a website that allows you to send your ideas directly to us online — so you can participate even if the Commission doesn’t make it to your city. If you have a few minutes, visit ALValuesAndRights.com and leave your thoughts. The website also allows you to select from a list the three conservative policy areas that are most important to you. That way you can contribute even if you don’t want to get too into the weeds on specific legislative ideas.
Below is a chart that gives a snapshot of the general feedback we’ve received online so far from thousands of Alabamians. I hope you will add your voice to the debate. Together we can continue bringing conservative reforms to our state.
Lynn Robinson
On a quick side note, last night was Speaker’s Commission member Lynn Robinson’s birthday. She drove a couple of hours down from Addison to spend the evening serving on the Commission. Thank you, Lynn, for your sacrifice!
Cliff are you aware that Del Marsh’s office spent $16,000.00 on 11/5/2011 with Newsouth Books? Newsouth Books is the publisher of Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard’s book, “Storming the Statehouse.” Would a purchase of this nature fall under state bid laws? Would an expenditure of this nature be a legitimate use of state resources?
That’s a shit-ton of racist black helicopter people in one room.
And that’s a lot of hatred in one tiny sentence.
No, a lot of truth. I see the sponsor of HB56 sitting there as well as other people who either supported it or wanted something even stronger. I also see a lot of people who believe Agenda 21 is real. I also see people who want to dismantle public education but hide behind statements like “education is the civil rights issue of our generation.” No. Civil rights is still the civil rights issue of our time. Until brown people can walk down the street without fear, there will still be work to be done.
I also see the man who runs this website sitting there at the right-hand of the most hateful man in Alabama. With friends like that it’s no wonder half that garbage that is posted on this site is racist, homophobic, anti-education, fear mongering vitriol.
Not near as angry as the private emails you send in. Try harder.
Alright how about this you arrogant son of a bitch. You and everyone like you are the scum of this state. You walk around with your chests poked out like you’re doing something. Like your making one bit of damn difference for the people of this state. You’ve done nothing but help YOURSELVES. You’ve helped yourselves to the MONEY. to the POWER. and preyed on the ignorance of people who think that our President is on the same level as Hitler and believe that the D beside his name stands for DEVIL. You and Mike Hubbard and Robert Bentley and Micky Hammon and Scott Beason and the people sitting by you at that table with the smug looks on their faces may be on top now but you cannot continue trampling on the good people of Alabama and expect us not to rise up against you. Your time will be short in power and one day Alabama will realize we are living in 1812 instead of 2012 and when they do, you all will be out of a job and out of “friends.”
That’s a little bit better effort but “arrogant SOB” is still pretty unoriginal. “Scum of the state” is at least a step in the right direction. Also, not to nitpick, but at the end where you say, “we are living in 1812 instead of 2012,” shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Cliff,
After parsing Kelvin’s comments and looking for their hidden meaning, I think I have discovered that he does not like you. Did you get that kind of vibe?
Gene, I wasn’t sure…but now that you mention it…
Kelvin, this is nothing most of us haven’t heard before. Folks who can’t argue facts usually resort to name-calling and making assumptions. Sometimes it can even be entertaining. Yours – not so much. Kinda sad, actually.
For the record, one issue that concerns many conservatives is school choice. We don’t want to dismantle education, but we do think that the money that’s supposed to be spent on kids should actually be spent on the kids rather than a dozen administrators pretending to do a job that can be performed by 3 or 4, or worse, redecorating their offices every couple of years or attending so-called educational seminars held in swanky places out of town when they could get the same information via teleconference. Folks who have kids in schools that are failing deserve better. I support a school choice voucher system that would help parents be able to send their kids to a better school of their choice. Liberals do not support school choice. They prefer giving folks the choice to abort babies.
I haven’t yet understood the issue with forever wild that would make someone be as against it as some people seem to be.
I don’t believe in the Agenda 21 conspiracy stuff. I simply don’t think it’s a good idea to have to borrow money from the trust fund to balance the budget but then turn around and spend tens of millions a year on buying up land.
It’s the same concept as Governor Romney’s remarks about PBS and Big Bird. When money’s tight, you cut the extra’s and focus on the necessities. When the state has to borrow money to fund the necessities, it seems foolish to pour more money into FW. This is a fiscal issue for me.
Not preserving Forever Wild would be plain stupid. We allow oil and natural gas companies to access our natural resources in the Gulf and in turn we use 10% of the investment income to protect other natural resources. The money the Forever Wild receives is capped at 15 million but actually averages around 12 million. That is %2 of the Medicaid budget and about 5% of the Corrections budget. I think we can tighten our belt a little to make sure we pass on land to later generations that is in a natural state and free for all to use.
“It is our task in our time and in our generation to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours”
John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The budget shortfall this year was only about $130 million. $10 million or so from Forever Wild along with a few other measures would have helped the cause in balancing the budget rather than “borrowing” from the Trust Fund. I want to preserve natural lands as well, but I still don’t understand why allowing lands to remain natural is a multi million dollar a year affair. The less interference with the land the better, right?