The fruits of crisis: Alabama’s top political stories of 2017

Friday
Dec 29, 2017 at 8:31 PM Dec 29, 2017 at 8:31 PM

By Brian LymanMontgomery Advertiser (TNS)

If 2016 proved a year of crisis in state government, 2017 was when the fruits of those crises finally blossomed.

The state saw a governor fall and a new senator elected to the U.S. Senate. But there were a host of other matters that will likely resonate in 2018 and beyond. Below, the Advertiser’s picks for the top 10 stories of the year.

10. Autism bill: Years of organizing by parents and interested groups produced a rare win over entrenched Montgomery interests in May when the Legislature approved a bill mandating coverage of autism therapies for children in most cases. The Business Council of Alabama and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama opposed the bill, and it suffered procedural attempts in committee to kill it. But with strong public pressure, the bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Patterson, R-Meridianville, managed to get through the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey in May.

9. Day care licensing: Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, pushed for a bill to extend oversight of unlicensed day cares in the state, after a series of high-profile scandals, including a staph breakout at Sunny Side Child Care Center in Montgomery in 2015. Legislators negotiated for weeks over the bill, which Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville killed on the final day of the session. The issues the bill sought to address remain. In August, Kamden Johnson, 5, died after a driver left him in a van operated by an unlicensed day care center in Mobile.

8. Redistricting: Following guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal court ruled in January that legislators used race in an improper way when drawing 12 of the state’s legislative districts in 2012. The ruling set in motion a long process that only culminated in the final days of the session, and after marathon filibusters. The new maps reduced racial polarization in some areas but drew criticism from Democrats for preserving a GOP legislative majority in Democratic-leaning Jefferson County by drawing legislators living outside the county into it. The new maps have thus far been upheld by federal courts.

7. Micky Hammon’s long fall: One of the last holdovers from former House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s leadership team, the Decatur Republican saw his political — and legal — standing collapse in about seven months. Following criticism within the GOP caucus over what some called a lack of leadership, Hammon — sponsor of 2011’s HB 56, targeting undocumented immigrants — announced he would step down as House Majority Leader in February, and in July announced he would not seek re-election. In September, Hammon pleaded guilty to felony charges of misusing campaign funds, leading to his removal from office.

6. CHIP: Congress’ refusal to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) on Sept. 30 could have major ramifications in 2018. The program covers more than 150,000 children in the state of Alabama but went into limbo after Congress missed a deadline to renew it on Sept. 30. If Congress does not act to find a fix before Feb. 1, Alabama children enrolled in the program could lose coverage.

5. Executions continue in Alabama: The state of Alabama executed three inmates this year — Thomas Arthur; Robert Melson and Torrey McNabb — but not amid fights that extended to the last minute before their executions. McNabb’s execution in October — in which he raised his right forearm and appeared to grimace 20 minutes into his execution — raised new questions about the effectiveness of midazolam, a sedative intended to render an inmate unconscious. The Alabama Legislature took a variety of approaches to the issue in the spring. It passed a bill that would cut the time it takes to execute individuals and another one that removed judges’ power to impose the death penalty on their own.

4. The prison crisis: While reforms approved by the Legislature in 2015 began reaping benefits in a big way this year — overcrowding fell to a decades-low 159 percent in September — the system still struggles with health care and aging facilities. After a weeks-long trial — in which a witness for inmates committed suicide after testifying — U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in June ruled the state’s mental health care system “horrendously inadequate.” DOC late in the year proposed a remediation plan that would increase the number of mental health workers in prisons. The proposal needs funding from the Legislature, and Thompson could still order changes if proposed remedies prove inadequate.

3. Michael Sentance resigns: The former Massachusetts Secretary of Education took the reins of the Alabama State Department of Education in late 2016 and — with the tacit or explicit approval of local officials — launched an ambitious takeover of Montgomery Public Schools in January to address academic and fiscal shortcomings. But Sentance lost support from state and local officials over what they said was poor communication from the superintendent and amid questions about the hiring of outsiders in some elements of the process. Sentance resigned in September. Former state schools superintendent Ed Richardson is serving on an interim basis.

2. Gov. Robert Bentley resigns: It was a sex scandal that consumed the former governor, led to the Alabama Legislature rolling out an impeachment process for the first time in a century and capped off three years of leadership turmoil in the state of Alabama. Bentley, facing accusations that he pursued an affair with a staffer and that he helped pay her legal bills with campaign money, saw his political floor collapse under him in early April after the Alabama Ethics Commission referred ethics charges against Bentley to the Montgomery County District Attorney. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia and Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston — who had previously been reluctant to weigh in on the governor’s troubles — called for Bentley to resign before impeachment began. The following week, Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor campaign finance violations and resigned, elevating Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey to the top leadership position.

1. Alabama Senate race: In many ways shaped by the Bentley scandal — and all the ones that preceded it — the months-long race for the U.S. Senate seat once held by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed deep divisions in the Alabama Republican Party; drew worldwide attention and blew unexpected life into the waterlogged lungs of the Alabama Democratic Party. After Sessions’ departure, Bentley appointed then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange — whose office was investigating Bentley — to the empty seat. When Ivey moved the election date to December, a free-for-all erupted in both parties. Strange tried to make the election a referendum on President Donald Trump but was unable to shake his association with Bentley or former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s popularity with GOP voters, who gave him a 9-point victory in the Sept. 26 primary. Former U.S. attorney Doug Jones, taking the Democrats’ nomination, ran an energetic campaign focused on jobs and health care, while Moore disappeared from the trail for long stretches at a time and faced multiple accusations of harassment and abuse from women, most of which dated from his time as an assistant district attorney in Gadsden in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Moore denied the charges. Jones won a narrow 1.5 percent victory Dec. 12, powered by high African-American turnout and the loss of normally Republican counties — like Tuscaloosa and Lee — to the Democrats, providing some unexpected hope to the party ahead of next year’s state elections.

Friday
Dec 29, 2017 at 8:31 PM Dec 29, 2017 at 8:31 PM

By Brian LymanMontgomery Advertiser (TNS)

If 2016 proved a year of crisis in state government, 2017 was when the fruits of those crises finally blossomed.

The state saw a governor fall and a new senator elected to the U.S. Senate. But there were a host of other matters that will likely resonate in 2018 and beyond. Below, the Advertiser’s picks for the top 10 stories of the year.

10. Autism bill: Years of organizing by parents and interested groups produced a rare win over entrenched Montgomery interests in May when the Legislature approved a bill mandating coverage of autism therapies for children in most cases. The Business Council of Alabama and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama opposed the bill, and it suffered procedural attempts in committee to kill it. But with strong public pressure, the bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Patterson, R-Meridianville, managed to get through the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey in May.

9. Day care licensing: Rep. Pebblin Warren, D-Tuskegee, pushed for a bill to extend oversight of unlicensed day cares in the state, after a series of high-profile scandals, including a staph breakout at Sunny Side Child Care Center in Montgomery in 2015. Legislators negotiated for weeks over the bill, which Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville killed on the final day of the session. The issues the bill sought to address remain. In August, Kamden Johnson, 5, died after a driver left him in a van operated by an unlicensed day care center in Mobile.

8. Redistricting: Following guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal court ruled in January that legislators used race in an improper way when drawing 12 of the state’s legislative districts in 2012. The ruling set in motion a long process that only culminated in the final days of the session, and after marathon filibusters. The new maps reduced racial polarization in some areas but drew criticism from Democrats for preserving a GOP legislative majority in Democratic-leaning Jefferson County by drawing legislators living outside the county into it. The new maps have thus far been upheld by federal courts.

7. Micky Hammon’s long fall: One of the last holdovers from former House Speaker Mike Hubbard’s leadership team, the Decatur Republican saw his political — and legal — standing collapse in about seven months. Following criticism within the GOP caucus over what some called a lack of leadership, Hammon — sponsor of 2011’s HB 56, targeting undocumented immigrants — announced he would step down as House Majority Leader in February, and in July announced he would not seek re-election. In September, Hammon pleaded guilty to felony charges of misusing campaign funds, leading to his removal from office.

6. CHIP: Congress’ refusal to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) on Sept. 30 could have major ramifications in 2018. The program covers more than 150,000 children in the state of Alabama but went into limbo after Congress missed a deadline to renew it on Sept. 30. If Congress does not act to find a fix before Feb. 1, Alabama children enrolled in the program could lose coverage.

5. Executions continue in Alabama: The state of Alabama executed three inmates this year — Thomas Arthur; Robert Melson and Torrey McNabb — but not amid fights that extended to the last minute before their executions. McNabb’s execution in October — in which he raised his right forearm and appeared to grimace 20 minutes into his execution — raised new questions about the effectiveness of midazolam, a sedative intended to render an inmate unconscious. The Alabama Legislature took a variety of approaches to the issue in the spring. It passed a bill that would cut the time it takes to execute individuals and another one that removed judges’ power to impose the death penalty on their own.

4. The prison crisis: While reforms approved by the Legislature in 2015 began reaping benefits in a big way this year — overcrowding fell to a decades-low 159 percent in September — the system still struggles with health care and aging facilities. After a weeks-long trial — in which a witness for inmates committed suicide after testifying — U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in June ruled the state’s mental health care system “horrendously inadequate.” DOC late in the year proposed a remediation plan that would increase the number of mental health workers in prisons. The proposal needs funding from the Legislature, and Thompson could still order changes if proposed remedies prove inadequate.

3. Michael Sentance resigns: The former Massachusetts Secretary of Education took the reins of the Alabama State Department of Education in late 2016 and — with the tacit or explicit approval of local officials — launched an ambitious takeover of Montgomery Public Schools in January to address academic and fiscal shortcomings. But Sentance lost support from state and local officials over what they said was poor communication from the superintendent and amid questions about the hiring of outsiders in some elements of the process. Sentance resigned in September. Former state schools superintendent Ed Richardson is serving on an interim basis.

2. Gov. Robert Bentley resigns: It was a sex scandal that consumed the former governor, led to the Alabama Legislature rolling out an impeachment process for the first time in a century and capped off three years of leadership turmoil in the state of Alabama. Bentley, facing accusations that he pursued an affair with a staffer and that he helped pay her legal bills with campaign money, saw his political floor collapse under him in early April after the Alabama Ethics Commission referred ethics charges against Bentley to the Montgomery County District Attorney. House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia and Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston — who had previously been reluctant to weigh in on the governor’s troubles — called for Bentley to resign before impeachment began. The following week, Bentley pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor campaign finance violations and resigned, elevating Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey to the top leadership position.

1. Alabama Senate race: In many ways shaped by the Bentley scandal — and all the ones that preceded it — the months-long race for the U.S. Senate seat once held by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions revealed deep divisions in the Alabama Republican Party; drew worldwide attention and blew unexpected life into the waterlogged lungs of the Alabama Democratic Party. After Sessions’ departure, Bentley appointed then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange — whose office was investigating Bentley — to the empty seat. When Ivey moved the election date to December, a free-for-all erupted in both parties. Strange tried to make the election a referendum on President Donald Trump but was unable to shake his association with Bentley or former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s popularity with GOP voters, who gave him a 9-point victory in the Sept. 26 primary. Former U.S. attorney Doug Jones, taking the Democrats’ nomination, ran an energetic campaign focused on jobs and health care, while Moore disappeared from the trail for long stretches at a time and faced multiple accusations of harassment and abuse from women, most of which dated from his time as an assistant district attorney in Gadsden in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Moore denied the charges. Jones won a narrow 1.5 percent victory Dec. 12, powered by high African-American turnout and the loss of normally Republican counties — like Tuscaloosa and Lee — to the Democrats, providing some unexpected hope to the party ahead of next year’s state elections.

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