The Political Round-Up
Big Rich move; They said it;
State visit; Bentley gets driver;
Obama: 'To the moon, Huntsville'
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Ashley Rich, a veteran assistant district attorney for Mobile County, has scheduled a news conference today at 2 p.m. when she will officially announce her candidacy for district attorney in elections this year.
A Republican, RIch has long aspired to the position, but previously has said she would not run as long as veteran District Attorney John Tyson Jr. intended to seek re-election. According to Rich, her announcement today will not create an inconsistency with her previous stance.
Tyson has not yet publicly withdrawn from the race. However, earlier this week, he accepted an appointment by Republican Gov. Bob Riley to command the governor's anti-gambling task force. In addition to the oddity of a Republican appointing a Democrat to a high-profile assignment, the move amounted to a Riley raspberry of Troy King, the Republican attorney general who has jousted with the governor over the law governing electronic bingo in Alabama.
Tyson is the only remaining, non-judge holding county-wide elective office here as a Democrat. A Democrat has held the office in Mobile County for more than a quarter century. The county's last Republican chief prosecutor was Charlie Graddick who left the post and the party to become the state's Democratic attorney general. Graddick is now back with the GOP and is the presiding judge on the circuit court bench for Mobile County
Mark Erwin, an assistant attorney for the Mobile County Commission and former chairman of the Mobile County Republican Executive Committee, launched his campaign for district attorney in the fall last year. Erwin has raised about $35,000 in campaign contributions. Rich's anticipated entry as a candidate would scuttle earlier reports that, with Tyson's exit, she was leaning toward supporting Erwin's bid rather than seek office herself.
Tyson's withdrawal from the field would leave any Democratic contender with ground to make up. Tyson has drawn support from traditionally GOP corners in the past, including local Republican icon ex-Congressman Jack Edwards and former state Republican Party Chairman Roger McConnell.
Party primaries are set for June 1.
Rich has been with the DA's office for 14 years and for the past several years has been assigned to the murder team. Three convicted murders are on death row after Rich successfully prosecuted the charges against them.
Rich received her law degree from Mississippi College School of Law in Jackson, Miss. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.
He decided to become a lawyer after working as a paralegal in the office of Mobile attorneys Richard Taylor and Sid Jackson. Putting herself through law school, she clerked for Bob Kendall, the late former presiding judge of Mobile County Circuit Court. During the clerkship, she was impressed by the work of the assistant district attorneys, she said, and later pursued a job as a prosecutor with Tyson.
"I am a born prosecutor," Rich said.
She and her husband Ritchie Hurt are the parents of two children, son Ryan, 9, and daughter Madelyn, 5, both students at St. Luke's.
Rich disputed any reports that she ever pledged her support to Erwin if Tyson did not seek re-election.
"I always told Mark that if Mr. Tyson was going to seek re-election that I would support my boss 100 percent," she said. "Although Mark is a friend, I always maintained that I would support the person who put me in position to be one of the best prosecutors in Mobile County and that's John Tyson."
RIch said she would not take a leave of absence from the district attorney's office to campaign for the position. She said she would "continue to serve the citizens of Mobile County" while restricting her campaign to off-duty hours in the evenings and on weekends.
They said it
In the wake of President Barack Obama's state of the union talk Wednesday evening:
U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala.:
- “Evidently, the president plans to proceed with his budget-busting health care takeover, cap and trade energy taxes and wasteful second stimulus bills. If he was truly serious about tackling the deficit, he’d start by putting the brakes on these big spending programs."
Democratic gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala.:
- Last night, in his State of the Union address, President Obama spent a lot of time talking about job growth. I've been calling for shifting the national focus to job creation for some time now, and as a candidate for governor, it has been my priority. In the coming weeks, I'll be rolling out a full jobs plan for our state, but first I want to hear from as many people as possible."
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.:
- “President Obama’s rhetoric on fiscal responsibility unfortunately lacks credibility. A temporary freeze on 17 percent of the budget is insufficient when this administration has already proposed annual trillion dollar deficits for years to come."
Mobile attorney and local Democratic Party leader Raymond Bell:
- "I think he provided reassurance that he is not just focused on healthcare reform and that his administration is going to fulfill the initiatives set out in the campaign."
GOP candidate for governor Bradley Byrne:
- "The focus must be on creating jobs, not creating larger debt. A good government fosters private sector growth by paving the way, not getting in the way, and only then are jobs are created. Alabama cannot wait on Washington. We will not emerge from this recession by waiting for our taxes to be redistributed in the form of bigger government and more federal intrusion."
Peter Gounares, Republican congressional candidate in Alabama's First District:
- "Last night, President Obama gave a speech intended to please everyone, yet left most unsure of his true agenda. He spoke of spending a freeze, while at the same time talked about another stimulus bill. He spoke of cutting taxes on small businesses, yet still insists his health care plan move forward. One thing we have learned during President Obama’s first year in office is that what he says he will do and what he does often conflict. Obama will continue to be a believer in big government as an answer. But we as conservatives must be consistent. If we are going to criticize the Democrats and Obama for their spending, then we must replace our Republicans who have been all too eager to pile on to our national debt; even more so than Obama has done. (Otherwise), we ourselves are in essence promoting wasteful government spending and the government take over of the private sector."
Brad Warren, former chairman Mobile County Democratic Executive Committee:
- "(I'm) no longer drinking the kool aid. He has been a great disappointment."
Secretary of State to visit MobileGOP
The MobileGOP will host Alabama Secretary of State Beth Chapman Thursday, Feb. 18. It will be Chapman's first visit with the local Republican Club. Chapman is seeking re-election this year. Details will be released as they develop, said Terry Lathan of the MobileGOP.
Bentley gets driver
The campaign of Tuscaloosa physician, state legislator and Republican candidate for governor Robert Bentley has hired Bob Wickers, a media consultant who worked on Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign. Huckabee won Alabama's Republican presidential primary in 2008. Bentley noted that Wickers has experience in leading come-from-behind victories.
Obama: 'To the moon, Huntsville'
A foreboding permeates the economic mood in Huntsville these days with the future of manned space flight - and 2,200 local jobs - in doubt. Speculation continues to build that President Obama's proposed 2011 NASA budget may ground the Constellation program, including the Ares I and Ares V rockets.
