Perry County Commission Chairman Albert Turner, Jr. announced in a June 2nd, 2023 post on his personal facebook profile that House Bill 209, legislation intended to curb the political campaign malpractice of ballot harvesting, was "dead". What stands out in particular regarding this dubiously prescient prediction is that at the time of its posting there were still several days left until the 2023 Alabama legislative session ended on Tuesday, June 6th. This uncanny prognostication's stunning nature begs the question, if the sponsor of the bill Rep. Jamie Kiel did not know that his bill was "dead", how did Turner have that coveted information in his unlikely possession?
Rudimentary logic could perhaps lead to the conclusion that the only possible source for that information would be the one person who had it in their power to kill a bill in the senate that had already passed through the house, that person being Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed. Providing the advanced assurance that the bill was dead may by chance have Reed's fingerprints all over it, whether he personally delivered that message to Turner himself or communicated it through one of his associates. Unfortunately, neither Rep. Kiel nor Secretary of State Wes Allen were so privileged as to have gotten the memo.
In an exclusive interview with the Examiner, Rep. Ed Oliver went to great pains to shed light on this shocking end for HB209 and other critical pieces of conservative legislation that were inexplicably scuttled despite broad support from a super majority of Republican members of both houses and their constituents. Asked specifically about the dubious nature of Turner's announcement, Oliver responded "There it appears the leadership of the senate had already made a deal a week out to kill bills. They have to be kidding. I saw that, I am very disappointed. I think as Republicans we should all be very disappointed that our senate leadership appears to have sold out to the Democrats, I hope that is not true." Addressing the sense of incredulity provoked by the senate leadership's failure for two consecutive years in a row to pass conservative legislation and the emergence of a puzzling pattern of obstructionism that defies being dismissed as coincidental, Oliver stated "I think that is something that as Republicans, we need to address that. It's not a coincidence, people blame all of these different lobby groups and organizations. No, we have a super majority, we can pass exactly what we want to pass. Unless leadership doesn't let it get onto the floor. That is why our constituency which is hugely Republican should be angry."
"Those are the things that we did pass, but we did not pass any Republican legislation to speak of. We just left a lot of it to die for no apparent reason. If we have a super majority we ought to be able to pass Republican bills."
Bills that did pass in this year's session include a grocery tax reduction, tax exemptions for overtime pay and ARPA distributions which received strong bipartisan support due to their appeal to centrist sensibilities, standing in stark contrast to the bevy of conservative legislation that went nowhere upon reaching the senate. In light of these late developments, Oliver stated "Those are the things that we did pass, but we did not pass any Republican legislation to speak of. We just left a lot of it to die for no apparent reason. If we have a super majority we ought to be able to pass Republican bills." Urgent concerns such as critical race theory being taught in the state's schools and the influence of ballot harvesting in the upcoming 2024 election fell by the wayside in favor of middle of the road crowd pleasers such as the aforementioned bills that were not Republican platform issues yet were passed, prompting Oliver to remark "I think it is embarrassing, actually. That is crazy stuff, absolutely crazy. I am very disappointed in that, there's no reason for us to fail to pass Republican legislation. We're disappointed in what came out of the senate. There's a ballot harvesting bill that it was very important that we got it passed before this next election, and we let it die, there's no reason we did that. A week out, there had already been a deal struck to kill that bill, nobody told me. They're still telling me it's going to go to the floor."
"Apparently there is a disconnect between the senate leadership and what our constituents and voters think that we need to do."
Democrat Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton has brandished the threat of filibuster to stall conservative bills from passing, bringing him to the fore of discussions among senate Republican leadership in regards to which legislation should be pursued. Singleton's standing front and center caused Oliver's response "There is no reason for him to be. We have got a super majority, we can cloture every single vote. We could pass any piece of legislation we wanted to. I am on the steering committee for the Republican caucus in the house and I am also on the state executive committee for the Republican party. I would like to think that what we decide is important, is. Apparently there is a disconnect between the senate leadership and what our constituents and voters think that we need to do."
Senator Sam Givhan's Senate Bill 171 which sought to bring accountability to the position of the State Health Officer met an equally untimely demise in this legislative session upon which Oliver remarked "Givhan's bill was also in the senate and also one that he thought was going to pass. Also one that they had just about gutted. He was extremely disappointed in the support he got as well. Maybe there is something that I am just not seeing or understand about how all of this works. I would just like to think that people are a little more honest about whatever their politics are, I just think there is something we're losing." He went on to elucidate "The legislature should be functioning, we are elected by voters. 75% of my electorate, I won by 75% when I first got elected. Those were Republican votes that voted for me, I think it is very important that we represent those people." Expounding on the senate leadership's mysterious role in this murky morass, Oliver described the senate as a place where "good legislation goes to die. If they would just be honest and say they don't want to vote for Republican stuff that's fine. You're sitting there just absolutely heartbroken because people that you trusted lied to you."
Considering the proposition that Singleton's filibuster threats may have cowed the senate Republicans, Oliver scoffed "We can cloture every single filibuster they do and call for a vote. Anybody that tells you they're afraid of Bobby Singleton's filibuster is using that as an excuse because we have a super majority and we can cloture him on every vote. We can pass Republican votes starting day one and Republican bills one after the other and cram them down their throat and then say 'How do you like this?' and then everybody sit there and let's talk about how we get legislation passed that helps people." Expanding on his thoughts regarding cloture as an effective legislative tool, Oliver remarked "We do it in the house, everybody says 'well, the senate is different, there is only 35 people'. I am not a senator, I may not understand. We should be more circumspect, remember who elected us and try to represent those people. I don't care about the complexities of all these various special interest groups and I sure as hell don't care about trying to make Democrats happy. Elections have consequences, we would be wrong not to represent the folks who voted for us."
Further illuminating the sorry state of affairs for true conservatives in Montgomery, Oliver said "What happens is you have people who think they are safe in their districts and they don't care about what happens in Montgomery until it comes home to roost with them. That is why I think it is important that people are aware of what their legislators are doing. If I do something that my electorate doesn't like I have to go and explain it, I think that is fair." Adding a further sense of urgency in the immediate aftermath of the legislative session coming to a close was the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on June 8th requiring the State of Alabama to redraw its congressional maps to add a 2nd district with a majority black population that would in effect hand the Democratic party another seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Underscoring the disconnect between Republican voters and the leadership that they have elected were tone deaf remarks made by Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Nathaniel Ledbetter praising the 2023 legislative session during a June 2nd interview on the Alabama Public Television program Capital Journal. Doing a victory lap in celebration of what he considers to be a highly successful session, Ledbetter remarked “If you look at everything that has been accomplished this session, the things that have happened. If I could have scripted it, I probably would not have scripted it this well.” Ledbetter went on to tout the joys of bipartisanship by saying “Man, our members have just worked together. We passed the overtime bill which I was a cosponsor to with the leader of the Democratic party. I mean, that never happens, but I felt strongly about that bill because working men and women of Alabama needed that break.” Republican voters may be left to wonder what is in Ledbetter's drink that has got him feeling so good when conservatives are feeling so bad.
"Why are some bills leaking through and others that are vitally important getting killed? Who is killing them and why?"
Recognizing the massive impact this U.S. Supreme Court judgement will have on Alabama and the entire nation, Oliver stated "I think about how important it is that people pay attention. We have got a marxist regime in the White House and all of that is filtering down to us in my little rural county. I think you will see a better job from the caucus in the next year, the Republican caucus will come out swinging. There is no benefit of the doubt, these are people that are wearing big R's on their chest and they are Democrats and they are conspiring with Democrats to hurt Republican legislation. I think that is very dangerous and I think that is what the left is trying to do right now, to make people on the right think that it doesn't do any good to vote anyway."
When asked about additional common sense legislation that failed to pass, Oliver answered "There were a bunch of good bills that just did not make it this time. I had a MASA bill, Medical Association of the State of Alabama, I developed it and got them to support it. It was a rural physician bill, a tax credit to encourage physicians to move to rural areas. The amount of money it cost the taxpayer was nothing and it got killed, but MASA supported it. You're sitting there scratching your head going 'What in the world are we doing?'. You're just wondering 'Why are some bills leaking through and others that are vitally important getting killed? Who is killing them and why?"