The Political Round-Up
Hudson kicks off; For where the Bell toils;
Keep Fred, says Fred; Ison event set;
Brown out of the blue;
Middle Bay Light on the move?
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Notes and quotes.
Connie Hudson will kick off her campaign for a third term as the District 6 representative on the Mobile city Council with a rally at Wintzell's Oyster House on Airport Blvd. in west Mobile from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, June 16. Hudson is chairman of the council's finance committee. Hudson is seen as a heavy favorite to win re-election though she has opposition from military veteran Albert Cheatham. Despite his politically unfortunate name, Cheatham has expressed confidence in his ability to oust the incumbent.
For where the Bell toils
Politically active Mobile attorney Raymond Bell has relocated his practice to 206 South Royal Street. An official for the Mobile Area Democratic Association, Bell is legal counsel for the Mobile Housing Board, among other clients.
Booting it off with Fred
The campaign committee to re-elect District 1 Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson will hold a kick-off reception at 5 p.m. Friday, June 26 at Wintzell's Oyster House on Dauphin St. in downtown Mobile. For more information visit www.keepfred.com or inquire at keepfred2009campaign@yahoo.com.
2010 campaign season underway
Ed and Lillian Gilley will host a reception for state Rep. Jamie Ison at their Spring Hill home on July 14. The Republican legislator is seeking re-election to the House District 101 seat next year.
Brown, Moore or less, in lead
for U.S. Attorney post here
Kenyen Brown, a former assistant in the U.S. Attorney's office here, is now the frontrunner to become the Obama administration's nominee to head the office. Brown must first navigate an FBI background check ~ no sure thing, especially if agents discuss his job performance here with a former supervisor who sought Brown's dismissal. Before that process played out, Brown landed a job in Washington with a congressional
subcommittee. If Brown
does take over
leadership of the local
federal prosecutor's
office, the return of
another former assistant,
Richard Moore, as
Brown's first assistant has
been rumored -- quite a remarkable turn if it occurred given Moore's political proximity to U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions. You could hardly blame Democrats for scratching their heads and wondering aloud, "I thought Obama, the Democratic nominee, won the election?"
Now serving as an Inspector General for TVA, Moore suggested that even Machiavelli himself would blush at crediting such intricate speculation, too Machiavellian even for Machiavelli. Moore said he still had a farm in Fairhope where he and his wife intended to retire, but he expects to remain an Inspector General at TVA for the foreseeable future. According to Moore, in recent years inspector generalships haven't been as susceptible to political turnover as other federal postings.
If Brown does emerge as U.S. Attorney for the federal Southern District of Alabama, there will be some discomfiture among the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, the senior Democrat in Alabama's congressional delegation, and his advisory committee of lawyers, former judges and law school deans that helped him decide which names to forward to Obama's administration.
According to Davis, the selection process would "provide more transparency and more merit-based scrutiny than Alabamians have ever seen in the context of federal appointments."
A Jan. 20 deadline was set for applicants. The screening committee completed its interviews by Feb. 13 before submitting its recommendations. Its picks for U.S. Attorney here were, first, current assistant Vicki Davis and, second, former U.S. Magistrate Pat Sims.
Brown did not even apply for the appointment, much less interview with the committee.
Somewhat sheepishly, since he served as Obama's campaign chairman in Alabama, Davis has explained that he and his committee performed their task as promised, delivering their choices for the White House to consider.
On other fronts, things have gone better for Davis, specifically the announcement of prominent plaintiff lawyer and former Lt. Gov. Jere Beasley as the Davis campaign's chairman. Beasley's role effectively serves as an announcement that state Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, the sole Democrat on the nine-member court, will stay put rather than seek the Democratic nomination for governor. State Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks will remain as the sole champion for those Democrats who fear that Davis cannot win the general election. Davis is seeking to become the sate's first black governor. However, skeptics point to the 39 percent of that state that Obama carried in 2008, suggesting it is a roadmap to Davis' destination as the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in 2010.
Middle Bay Light high and dry?
The Alabama Historical Commission's Historic Sites Committee will stage a public forum on the future of Middle Bay Lighthouse Tuesday, June 23 at 1:30 p.m. in the Magnolia Ballroom at the USA Brookley Center here, 254 Old Bay Front Drive.
For more information, visit here or call 251-431-6445.
The AHC encourages the public to attend this forum to discuss the future of the Middle Bay Lighthouse and learn more about its condition. The AHC owns the lighthouse and is examining a proposal to move the lighthouse ashore to Battleship Memorial Park. The Historic Sites Committee will not make any decisions at this meeting concerning the lighthouse, but the AHC will consider all comments at this meeting in future decisions it makes about the lighthouse.
If you are unable to attend the forum and want to voice your opinion, please call the AHC public comment line at 334-230-2693, or e-mail your comments to Mark Driscoll, Historic Sites Division Director: Mark.Driscoll@preserveala.org.
Another Wallace rally
District 3 City Council candidate Ron Wallace will stage a second "Rally for Change" from 1-5 p.m. Saturday, June 27 at Stewart Road Park, 1320 Stewart Road. The Wallace campaign will provide refreshments and entertainment. For more information, email/call info@wallacedistrict3.com
District 2, City Council forum set
The Old Dauphin Way District will hold a candidates forum Thursday, June 18 at 7 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church featuring Mobile City Council District 2 contenders William Carroll (incumbent), Lakisha Dotson and Jeffery Jones.
Rob Holbert of Lagniappe will serve as moderator. The church is located at 1356 Government Street.
