THE WRIGHT ANGLE - By Scott Wright
March 11, 2013

GOP says 'do as we say, not as we do'

According to Wikipedia.com, “hypocrisy” is defined as “the state of promoting or trying to enforce standards, virtues, etc., that one does not actually hold.” Let those words linger as we review the Alabama Republican Party's actions on a few of the issues its members repeatedly declared important during the last election cycle: jobs, education and accountability.

Republican Gov. Robert Bentley, a doctor who once swore he would “first, do no harm” to his fellow man instead seems intent on harming as many as 300,000 in this state who stand to benefit from coverage under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Instead, Bentley said “no thanks” to upholding the tenets of his Hippocratic Oath. To the point on jobs, by declining to take part in the ACA, our governor ultimately risks the closure of rural hospitals across Alabama, according to a recent warning from state health officer Dr. Don Williamson. Corporations typically look to expand into areas with strong healthcare systems, and after they get a good look at what Doc Bentley is allowing to happen in Alabama, those corporations--and their jobs--are all going to pass on through to Georgia, Mississippi or Tennessee.

State Sen. Del Marsh (R) last month said he agreed with Bentley's decision to forego Medicaid expansion because the system still has a few bugs and Marsh said his policy is “don't expand something there is a problem with. Fix the problem first.” That’s odd, because last week Marsh and the GOP showed their hypocritical nature by greatly expanding an education system they consistently refer to as “broken”.

Surprised? You shouldn't be. The Alabama GOP has been working to undermine education since taking over in 2010. Republicans have already attempted to raid the Education Trust Fund, repeal curriculum standards, and revoke the state Board of Education's authority to establish new standards. When the GOP railroaded the Alabama Accountability Act (AAA) into law on Feb. 28, they diverted millions in public funds to private schools at the expense of, ultimately, up to 90 percent of the schoolchildren in Alabama.

The Alabama Association of School Boards has already estimated the cost to the Education Trust Fund at $30 million if only 10 percent of students in “broken” schools participate. And the Alabama Education Association has a list of concerns about future unintended impacts of the law longer than the backstretch at Talladega Superspeedway. After the GOP’s late-night bait-and-switch, a gloating Bentley ratcheted up the hypocrisy even further, calling the new law a “historic education reform that will benefit students and families across the state.”

But we already know that Bentley and his ilk don't care about “students ... across the state” because if they did they would write legislation to improve so-called “broken” schools instead of redistributing what little money they are already, grudgingly, giving them. The GOP isn’t improving education, it is violating it. At midnight. In a dark alley. Against its will.

Amidst the subterfuge swirling around the passage of the AAA, the Republican supermajority also recently sent to the House Senate Bill 122. According to AL.com’s John Archibald, SB122, advertised as an attempt to increase accountability, actually does the opposite by taking state auditors out of the state’s merit system. According to Archibald, this move would leave the auditors “stripped of autonomy … protection … and the ability to look at the agency [the Legislature] that most needs their attention.”

Attention Alabamians: The guys we sent to the Statehouse in 2010 are thumbing their noses at us all. “Do as we say, not as we do,” they’re guffawing from atop Goat Hill. If you didn’t know the definition of “hypocrisy” before, you most certainly know it now.

Wright has been managing editor of The Post since 1999. He is a native of Cherokee County.