By Staff
Bob Ingram, Alabama Scene
MONTGOMERY–Former Gov. Don Siegelman has put out another mass mailing seeking contributions to help him pay his mounting legal bills.
He said his legal expenses in his long-running case in federal court have already topped $500,000 and the meter is still running.
While Siegelman is looking for money the federal prosecutors in the case are looking for a new judge. They have filed a petition with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals asking that Federal Judge U. W. Clemon be removed from the case.
This appeal to the higher court came after Clemon refused to recuse himself from the case.
His name is Jim Sullivan, an Andalusia native, and if he had his druthers, he would probably like to continue to remain anonymous. It lessens the likelihood anyone will challenge him for the job.
Sullivan was appointed to that post in 1983 by Gov. George Wallace and now he is such a permanent fixture that rarely does anybody run against him.
Four years ago his only opponent was an unknown Libertarian, and in November he will be elected to another four year term without any opposition at all. The Democrat Party…which once ruled the state…has not put up a candidate against him since 1996
Sullivan grew up a Democrat…his father, C. J. Sullivan was a huge George Wallace supporter and served in his cabinet…but he later was "born again" politically and became a Republican in 1995.
My favorite story about Jim Sullivan has nothing to do with his remarkable career in politics, it has to do with football.
He was an outstanding wide receiver at Andalusia High and was recruited by Ole Miss. Sullivan caught a touchdown pass in his very first game as a freshmen…but…as he ruefully told me in an interview years ago…that was the first and only touchdown he scored in his college career.
The producers of the documentary, Emerging Pictures, noted that Mrs. Liuzzo was the only white woman to die in the civil rights movement and yet she is known by relatively few people.
"Her murder is attributed by historians as providing the final piece of leverage that led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act," a news release accompanying the film claimed.
The documentary, entitled "Home of the Brave", will be shown at a yet to be determined theater in Montgomery in October.
The raise is admittedly a small one…their salaries will be boosted from $158,000 to $162,000 a year. But with all the talk of fiscal responsibility, you might have thought that Alabama's delegation would have voted solidly against the raise. It didn't happen.
Republicans Robert Aderholt and Mike Roberts voted "no," but Republicans Spencer Bachus and Terry Everett and Democrats Bud Cramer and Artur Davis voted for the raise.
The raise must still be approved by the Senate before going into effect, but there is little doubt about its fate in the upper chamber. It will surely pass there as well.
Her victory at Atlantic City admits her to an exclusive sorority of Alabama women who have won that title–Mobile's Yolande Betbeze in 1951 and Heather Whitestone in 1995.
I haven't confirmed this, but Alabama's batting average in the Miss America pageant…three winners in 54 years…has to be near the top.