Liberal tears flowed and teeth were gnashed by the legion of sore losers forming the pro-gambling faction at the State Capitol building in Montgomery as this year's legislative session came to a merciful close without the passage of a gambling expansion bill on Thursday, May 9th of 2024. State Senator for District 27 Jay Hovey was on the losing liberal side of this epic political battle royale, forever removing any doubt over whether he is the sort of weak-kneed fake Republican who would cross party lines to vote with Democrats in furthering their big government agenda. During his 2022 campaign for state senate, the central accusations leveled against then candidate Hovey were in regards to his liberal political inclinations which was a perception based upon his questionable voting record while he was in office as a City of Auburn councilman. Hovey vehemently denied being a liberal at that time, engaging in a slew of social media tirades breathlessly invoking a buffet of boilerplate platitudes with the professed intention of shoring up his vaguely established "conservative" credentials.
Adding fuel to the fire of the enigma swirling around Hovey's suspect political leanings was the fact that large numbers of registered Democrats requested Republican ballots in the 2022 GOP Primary so that they could specifically vote for Hovey. Why was it that self proclaimed bleeding heart liberals felt so inspired to vote for Hovey as to sway the results of a primary for a political party that they unabashedly hate with a passion? Is Hovey some kind of Richard Shelby, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney fake Republican crypto-liberal?
Woke Auburn University Professor, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist and Jay Hovey voter, Anton DiSclafani
According to Hovey, democrat voters crossing party lines to vote for him and put him over the top with a highly suspect one vote "victory" to secure his state senate seat is all simply a massive coincidence. Hovey swore time and again on a sky high stack of Bibles during his 2022 GOP primary campaign that he is most certainly a super conservative true blue Alabama Republican. That is all water under the bridge now, so we can move on and get back to the future of this past week, the last remaining days of the 2024 legislative session. Hovey showed his true colors once and for all by voting with Democrats against fifteen of his Republican colleagues in favor of gambling expansion in Alabama during a razor thin crucial Senate vote that failed by only one vote, just like the margin of his primary "victory". Another huge coincidence, they seem to follow Hovey everywhere he goes.
Hovey sided with the gambling lobby, but were there other voices of righteousness and reason calling him back to Jesus and his self-proclaimed "conservative" values? Here's a text message that went out to Republican voters across Hovey's district;
It's a safe bet that Hovey got an earful from a wide swath of his constituents urging him to do an about face and vote against the gambling expansion.
On top of that, Attorney General Steve Marshall demonstrated far more good conservative sense than the liberal losers that Hovey has aligned himself with who support a gambling expansion.
Hovey and his fellow senatorial Lee County legislative delegation buddy Randy Price repeated the same nonsensical bogus law and order talking points ad nauseum about expanding "legal" gambling in order to crack down on illegal gambling in the runup to their failed legislative putsch. Who's legal wisdom would you rather adhere to on law enforcement matters in regards to gambling, our truly enlightened Attorney General or an amateur senator riding the Auburn gravy train named Hovey? Sounds like voters better call...the AG!
All is well that ends well, for now.
Now that the battle is temporarily over, what kind of people did Hovey find himself in cahoots with? Are they nothing but a bunch of sour grapes?
There were some good guys in this fight, true Christian soldiers who stood fast and held the line against the gambling expansion. ALFA Insurance opposed this gambling expansion which in turn prompted the corrupt cretins in the legislature who have been bedazzled by the casino lobby to seek revenge by attempting to derail an ALFA supported bill that would have created the Alabama Farm Center project in northern Jefferson County which seeks to provide our state with a new facility to host rodeos, livestock shows and agricultural education events. This Farm Center Project would boost wholesome family friendly tourism and enhance education about agriculture, but no, the gambling goons amongst Hovey's craven cohort are hell bent on shutting it down because they are big mad about not getting their way with creating more parasitic casinos to fleece poor black communities and further fill Montgomery's overflowing coffers.
One of the saddest aspects of this entire shameful fiasco is the fact that Hovey had the unmitigated temerity to boldly proclaim during his speech before a meeting of the East Alabama Republican Club at T-Bones Steakhouse in Phenix City that his "religious convictions" would prevent him from ever supporting a gambling expansion.
Hovey must have had his poker face super glued to his noggin' that evening. So, tell us Jay, does what happens in Montgomery really stay in Montgomery? When the time comes for Hovey's re-election, that may not be a bet worth taking.
Cry more, sore election loser