Opinion | Piecemeal approach to ethics reform continues, and it’s questionable
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Two bills designed to dramatically alter current ethics laws were approved by the House Ethics Committee last week. As introduced in the House, HB387, sponsored...
View ArticleOpinion | Crusaders against payday lenders sink to new low
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter When well-intentioned organizations host speakers whose goal is to tar a particular individual or business, it dirties the good works mission of the group and...
View ArticleOpinion | Notes on a theme: Nonsense
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Mammoth prison spending contract headed to contract review The State of Alabama is entering into a contract to pay Wexford Health Sources Inc., nearly $400...
View ArticleOpinion | New ethics reforms are born to die
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Long-awaited legislation to strengthen and clarify existing ethics laws is being sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston. Senate Bill...
View ArticleProposed ethics law revisions offer promising first steps
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter At first glance, an omnibus ethics bill sponsored by Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, R-Anniston, is a beast of a bill by Alabama standards, but it may...
View ArticleOpinion | Prison healthcare contract could be a fool’s errand
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Whether through ignorance, graft or just an unwillingness to look past the second ripple in the pond, the state’s current plan to address the prison healthcare...
View ArticleAnalysis | Gov. Ivey’s campaign kick off solid, steady, shocking
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter When Alabama’s Governor Kay Ivey took the stage at the Montgomery Renaissance Tuesday night to kick-off her campaign for governor, she was buoyant, charming and...
View ArticleOpinion | Is HB317 a return to the orgy of greed and corruption?
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter At least it seemed for a moment that the cancer eating away at Alabama’s state government was in remission. The rise of Gov. Kay Ivey and Speaker Mac McCutcheon...
View ArticleBCA’s Canary linked to lobbying firm partnership
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Documents recently uncovered by the Alabama Political Reporter appear to show that Business Council of Alabama (BCA) C.E.O. Billy Canary has personally profited...
View ArticleThere is already a fix to clarify and strengthen the ethics laws
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Before then Attorney General Luther Strange took his ill-fated appointment to the U.S. Senate, his office prepared legislation to clarify and strengthen...
View ArticleCommission for “Ethics Reform and Clarification” is pure fantasy
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter A Senate joint resolution creating The Code of Ethics Reform and Clarification Commission sponsored by Republican Senators Arthur Orr, President Pro Tem. Del...
View ArticleOpinion | AG Steve Marshall defends complicity in sexual assault
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Last week under the headline, “State attorney general defends decision to keep accused sexual harasser on staff when he was a DA,” al.com’s Howard Koplowitz,...
View ArticleMoore supporters seek revenge against Sen. Shelby
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter A group of Judge Roy Moore’s supporters is planning to introduce a resolution to censure Alabama’s U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby because he publicly stated that he...
View ArticleGov. Ivey asks, “Why do you serve?”
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter In her first State of the State address, Gov. Kay Ivey hit all the right notes, even when evoking legendary composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s statement on why he...
View ArticleWill leaders lay fundamental groundwork for tomorrow or wimp out?
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Results from the Alabama Political Reporter’s first Influentials poll show that many of our state’s best thinkers see an urgent need to invest in...
View Article2018 might be better … cautious warning aside
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter When we look back over 2017, it would seem there is little cause for celebration, and yet, there are signs of a better year to come. As we ponder the coming...
View ArticleA Christmas of light, hope and acceptance
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter For Christians around the world, Christmas is a special day set aside to remember, honor and celebrate the birth of the Christ Child Jesus. It is also the...
View ArticleMeasure for measure: The politics of 2017
By Bill Britt Alabama Poltical Reporter From Aesop, we learn that, “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” And Oscar Wilde teaches us that, “No good deed goes unpunished.” So it is...
View ArticleIn US Senate race, a Democratic coalition played to win while many...
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter Democrats are elated, Birmingham’s big mules are relieved and the once dominant Alabama Republican Party — whether they will admit it or not — is in trouble....
View ArticleWaiting for the postmortem analysis of Tuesday’s Senate election
By Bill Britt Alabama Political Reporter In the distant future, cooler heads will perhaps give a detailed examination of this U.S. Senate race to determine the postmortem of the news media, political...
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