The See-Saw
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Who's up? Who's down? Politically speaking, of course. A new feature in the Mobile Bay Times.
UP: U.S. Rep. Artur Davis.
There has been a lot of tut-tutting directed toward the Birmingham congressman over his naked, yet futile (at least futile to the political cognoscenti) ambition to win Alabama's governorship in 2010.
Republicans have been salivating over the prospect of Davis dooming Little Jim Folsom's very real chance to reclaim the governor's mansion in Montgomery. Many Democrats were either condescending or sharply critical of Davis' foolish, self-serving agenda in scuttling the Democrats' best bet to regain the state's top office after eight years of GOP Gov. Bob Riley.
In the end, who is right -- Davis or the Democrats' smart-play strategists -- remains to be seen.
However, of late and despite the lackluster Obama returns in Alabama which seemed to extinguish the aspirations of any black candidate for election to statewide office, at least in the near term, events seem to be playing out favorably for Davis.
A series of issues have rolled in like perfect political waves for Davis to surf upon and score points with an appreciative electorate.
First, Davis' break from Congress's black caucus in the furor over the seating of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich pick Roland Burris to succeed Obama as the junior senator from the Land of Lincoln. Opposition to Burris did not necessarily spring from racism, suggested Davis, and might as easily be traced to Blagojevich's diminishing credibility (the Illinois state senate Thursday decided 58-0 not to spare the Rod) given tape recordings of his ham-handed wheeling and dealing of the office.
Then, there was Davis' chivalric turn in defense of Alabama's fair Azalea Trail Maids from a caddish NAACP loud-mouth who objected to their appearance at Obama inauguration festivities. No, said Davis, young ladies of all races and creeds attired in hoop skirts of the Antebellum days in the South did not necessarily prompt images in the mind's eye of slaves being whipped and traded like livestock, notwithstanding the knee-jerk reaction of an NAACP geezer.
Lastly, most recently and likely most importantly, Davis was central to bringing U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pittsburgh, to Mobile. Murtha chairs the Appropriations Defense subcommittee and as such is a key figure in the awarding of a $40 billion military refueling tanker contract. Although U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner of Mobile, and possibly Davis' Republican opponent for governor in less than two years, was also involved in Murtha's visit, the rose petals will be strewn in Davis' path if Mobile and EADS/Northrop Grumman split the contract with Boeing, untying that political Gordian knot and enabling Brookley Field to become the third site in all the world for the manufacturing of large aircraft.
The cold, hard numbers would seem to form an insurmountable obstacle for a successful Davis gubernatorial bid. But Davis has a dream. And today there are fewer nay-sayers than there were a few weeks ago.
DOWN: Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr.
Even (excluding judicial posts) the last standing, countywide Democratic officeholder's former stalwart lieutenant John Furman is weighing in against the veteran prosecutor. Now in private practice, Furman criticized his ex-boss for failing to act in the matter of ex-Circuit Judge Herman Thomas who resigned amid allegations of removing inmates from jail and "spanking" them in his secret courthouse office at odd hours. (Then again, any time set aside for freeing prisoners to paddle their behinds could be considered an "odd" hour.)
In an interview with Lagniappe's Rob Holbert, Furman was quoted:
"I think it’s clearly politics (alleged prosecutorial disinterest in following up on the Judicial Inquiry Commission investigation that led to Thomas's resignation).
Tyson ran for Attorney General in 2006. Because Tyson had prosecuted David Thomas and also was heavily involved in the investigation at Bishop State and the criminal activities over there, Joe Reed and the Alabama Democratic Conference withheld their support from John as a statewide candidate and caused him to lose to Troy King. There’s no question Tyson would have beaten Troy King and been attorney general had not the ADC withheld their support.
Whether it’s to be re-elected district attorney or running for governor as some have speculated that he might want to do, he has no chance without the ADC. And frankly, in my opinion he simply doesn’t have the stomach for this. He’s not going to risk his political career prosecuting Herman Thomas."
Tyson said his office remained "interested" in the Herman Thomas situation, as did other agencies, implying that action may still be forthcoming on allegations surrounding the then-judge's conduct. Ethical considerations prevented him from elaborating, according to Tyson.
Still, if Tyson were to pursue an investigation of the ex-judge, he could give rise to the same dilemma that may have cost him the office of Attorney General in 2006 when he lost to King.
Tyson had a surprisingly close call in the Democratic primary against Montgomery attorney Larry Darby, whose atheistic, Holocaust-denying, white supremacist views were generally thought to be out of the mainstream. Nevertheless, Darby received 44 percent of the vote -- 162,628 votes with all but one precinct reporting -- compared with Tyson’s 56 percent.
Tyson's office at the time was scrapping with Mobile County School Board member David Thomas and Bishop State Community College, which may have antagonized Joe Reed, a politically powerful figure with the Alabama Education Association and the Alabama Democratic Caucus.
Tyson's squeaking by Darby was seen as a sign that neither the ADC nor the AEA was especially enthusiastic about Tyson's candidacy.
And further troubling Tyson, who wisely would desire a rematch with King rather than battle a fresh GOP foe, and his near term political future, it appears as likely that Tyson, as the Democratic nominee, would face the ambitious, would-be rising star of the Alabama GOP, Luther Strange. The Birmingham attorney/lobbyist is said to favor a run for AG in 2010 rather than reprise his 2006 bid for lieutenant governor which fizzled at the end, in large measure because of his poor showing in Mobile. More than most incumbents, King has shown a proclivity to alienate members of his own party. That can be courageous or foolhardy, but in either event it can make for a nerve-racking primary season.
