The Wright Angle
March 26, 2007

Streaking through the streets of Montgomery

By Scott Wright

This is your action news reporter on the scene at the state Capitol in Montgomery and, if you'll pardon me, sir -- Yeah, I did see what happened (for one day, at least).

I'll be glad to tell you all about it, but you're probably not going to like it.

I traveled to Montgomery last week with a group of business and community leaders from Cherokee County. Frankly, I'm not sure why they let the likes of me tag along, but I've never considered myself an investigative reporter, so I didn't delve into that mystery too deeply.

Over the course of our 25 hours in the state capital, we did a lot of walking. We walked past the state Capitol, the newly renovated state archives building, the state house, the First White House of the Confederacy, and more weight-bearing columns and wide-open third graders than you could shake a stick at -- and don't think I didn't find myself looking for an unattended blunt object on at least a couple of occasions. (How is it possible that the phrases "stop running" and "be quiet" are so universally ill-received by the ears of 8-year-olds in public places?)

If we spent more time doing anything other than walking during our visit, it was listening. Everyone in Montgomery has plenty to say. The ratio of microphones to eardrums in the state capital must be at least 3-to-1. We attended committee meetings and floor debates, bumped into a visiting presidential candidate (Sen. John McCain), witnessed impromptu PR presentations and at least one major voter protest (over the legislators' 62 percent pay raise).

We took time to visit with Rep. Richard Lindsey, who graciously spent over 2 hours picking our brains, answering questions and sharing his insights about a few of the honest-to-goodness "good things" the government is up to these days. And Sen. Larry Means was quite candid and cooperative in an interview for a front page story in this week's edition of The Post.

By the way, Rep. Lindsey voted for the pay raise and Sen. Means voted against it, in case you're curious. Both agreed that legislators deserved some sort of compensation increase, but that this particular matter was poorly handled.

We listened to folks talk about the film industry in Alabama and what the pertinent government agencies are doing to try to make sure the rest of the world sees a little more of Alabama through the lenses of the Hollywood bigwigs. We visited with Dr. Renee Culverhouse, who is once again the interim chancellor of the state's 2-year college system. Culverhouse, who sounded to me like she'd rather pick a bale of cotton the old-fashioned way than be responsible for cleaning up Roy Johnson's mess, told us she's eager to see construction get underway at the new GSCC campus in Centre. We told her every last one of the 25,000 people who live in Cherokee County is more ready than she.

We talked with a business industry lobbyist who applauded us for taking the time to drive down to Montgomery. He said the best way citizens can ensure that state government doesn't grind to a halt over partisan bickering and mudslinging is for people to get involved, call their representatives, and take the time to show up in the state house when there's an issue being debated that they feel passionate about.

The lobbyist told us he thinks the teachers will get their 7 percent pay raise this session, but he cautioned that other state employees probably won't. He said the legislative pay raise, while only costing around $2 million a year, could lead to future cutbacks in the General Fund budget. He also warned us that the level of vitriol in the state Senate has reached the point where senators are more interested in insulting each other than in passing legislation.

Because of that, he said, no one in Alabama should be overly optimistic about the number of new laws that will be hitting the books over the next four years.

If you ask me, though, that's one "streak" no one would complain about.