EDITORIAL: Politics in Alabama: You need a scorecard to keep up

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[September 10, 2010]

EDITORIAL: Politics in Alabama: You need a scorecard to keep up

Sep 10, 2010 (The Anniston Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- For more than a century, Alabama was a one-party state, and that one party was the Democratic Party.

Within that not-so-big tent were white people of various leanings and inclinations. Led by white men of property, Alabama Democrats accommodated eccentricities by isolating them, took in populists and co-opted them, and generally convinced voters that they knew what was best for the state.

Then came Republicans -- which many Democrats already were in everything but name -- and Alabama became a two-party state.

Only really it wasn't.

Since neither party had much of an organization or demanded much from its members other than their vote, supporters could, and often did, say they voted for the person, not the party.

However, it didn't take long for a party apparatus to develop and party labels to become important ways of identifying who Alabamians should vote for -- or, at least, parties wanted you to believe that.

So the party-switching began, as candidates sought to align with those who would most likely get them elected. (Yes, there was ideology involved as well, but in this state, ideology is all-too often a convenient excuse for a practical political decision.) Most noticeably, white Democrats became Republicans; U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa, is the classic case, but he was hardly alone. And they are doing it still.

Recently, Jefferson County Judge Suzanne Childers left the party that elected her to join the GOP. You might recall Childers carrying a gun into the courthouse when budget cuts reduced security in the building. Well, now she is a Republican.

When asked why she made the switch, she told the Birmingham News, with remarkable candor, that "it's in the people's best interest if I remain a judge." Is she saying that she might not be re-elected if she had stayed a Democrat, and somehow that would not be a good thing for "the people"? Sounds like it.

So she became a Republican so she could get re-elected. But let's not make it all about a desire to remain in office.

Childers told The News that she discovered she was a Republican when she found herself agreeing with positions taken by Fox News' far-right commentators. Is she saying Fox News is a recruiting tool for the GOP? Sounds like it.

Rupert Murdoch and the Billionaires Boys Club must be overjoyed at that.

However, one has to wonder what sort of training in the law Childers must have had, and what sort of legal philosophy that training produced, so that she could be swayed by a news channel at this stage of her career.

Has her courtroom conduct been shaped by Judge Judy? And what impact has Dog the Bounty Hunter had on her views on criminal justice? The GOP might want to take a hard look at its new member. Not every convert should be added to the plus-column.

To see more of The Anniston Star or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.annistonstar.com/. Copyright (c) 2010, The Anniston Star, Ala.

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