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Alabama Scene
But once the House members have passed the bill it goes to the Senate where it is never heard from again. For five straight years the same thing has happened…the bill is passed by the House but is never even considered in the Senate. And now…here we ago again. The 2007 Regular Session is but a couple of weeks old and already the House has passed the measure again. It is now in the bosom of the Senate, as the expression goes. Any bets on its approval in that chamber? A tip of the hat should go to Rep. Jeff McLaughlin, D-Guntersville. He has been the persistent sponsor of this legislation on every occasion. Unfortunately, he has no control over what the Senate does… The Secretary of State of Alabama is the chief election officer in the state. They should certainly be familiar with all the election laws. One of those laws quite clearly forbids an elected official soliciting campaign funds from employees who work for them. Here is what it says: "It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee to solicit any type of political campaign contributions from other employees who work for the officer or employee in a subordinate capacity." Former Secretary of State Nancy Worley has been indicted by a grand jury for violating that law. She called the indictment a "Republican witch hunt", her lawyer called it "much ado about nothing." Nobody denies that last spring Mrs. Worley…then campaigning for the Democratic nomination for a second term…sent a letter to her employees urging their support and including a bumper sticker. And while the letter did not make a specific request for money, there was an envelope and card enclosed that had spaces for contributions for as little as $25 to as much as $1,000. Was that a violation of the above-quoted law? That is what a jury will have to decide… There is no denying that politics in the State House is pretty much a man's game. There are a few women legislators, a handful of women lobbyists and association execs…but the overwhelming majority of the players are male. Last week one of the few women association executives…Dr. Sandra SimsdeGraffenried… the executive director for the Alabama Association of School Boards…announced she would retire at the end of the regular session. For 19 years she has headed up the school board group and earned nothing but plaudits for her work. Don't say anything to her about the "weaker sex"- -she has made a lie of that line. Her decision to retire comes only a few months after the unexpected death of her husband, former State Sen. Ryan deGraffenried… This is far afield from politics but it is too bizarre not to include in this column. Talk about a wholesale, high-profile house cleaning, consider this: Last week, only moments after she had anchored the 5 p.m. news on WPMI-TV15 in Mobile, Kim McCrea was summoned to the office of the General Manager and fired. An hour later, only moments after they had co-anchored the 6 p.m. News on the same NBC station, Peter Albrecht and Drexel Gilbert were summoned to the same GM's office and fired.
General Manager Bob Franklin, who wielded the axe, said the wholesale firings were brought about because of the station's low ratings on its news shows.
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