Off To Montgomery, Again
I’m going to Montgomery for the District 54 contest hearing. It’s scheduled for 2 pm; perhaps it will actually occur this time. I’ll post ASAP.
Danny at Doc’s Political Parlor has a good source and some interesting predictions for the outcome of this hearing:
A source-who-is-more-connected-than-most told me that Joe Turnham and Joe Reed have reached a compromise that Turnham can grudgingly stomach regarding who will sit on the hearing committee tomorrow to determine the winner of the House District 54 Democratic primary. The source did not know who would sit on the committee.
The source also believed that the committee’s ruling tomorrow might come down in favor of Gaynelle Hendricks rather than the originally declared winner Patricia Todd. However, the source added that tomorrow’s ruling will not matter so much because whoever loses the hearing is expected to appeal to the party’s Executive Committee that meets on Saturday. The source believes that Saturday is when the key decision will be made. Indeed, I am told that some supporters of the candidates wish to pack the Saturday meeting to observe and/or influence the ultimate proceedings and decision rather than to attend tomorrow’s meeting.
The source’s belief was that the facts of the matter were in Todd’s favor, and that if the ruling went against her after Reed’s publicized and heavyhanded attempts to influence the outcome, it could be a P.R. disaster for the party.
Yeah, I know this was a close election, but a winning margin of 59 votes is still a winning margin. Close doesn’t give the loser the right to a do-over. And even though the contest papers claim Patricia Todd received “illegal” votes, that particular accusation seems perfunctory. It isn’t the real focus of the dispute. Because of the memory card screwup, the votes were carefully recounted on election night, and Jefferson County party officials had no problem certifying the result. Joe Reed will have to find another pretext to take the election away from the winner.
I persist in the naive hope that party officials will do the right thing, but Danny’s source echoes the pessimism I’ve picked up from Todd supporters. Clearly this won’t end today. I just hope it ends well, eventually.
August 24th, 2006 at 7:43 am
Kathy, I will look forward to hearing what you have to say about the hearing.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:15 am
Where in MTGY is the meeting? I’ll be down there this afternoon and would like to show my support for Ms. Todd.
Loretta
August 24th, 2006 at 8:25 am
Loretta (and anyone else in the area), that would be great! The hearing will be held in the RSA building (Alabama Center for Commerce), 401 Adams, Room 770.
Saturday’s Executive Committee meeting will be held at 10 am at the Embassy Suites, 300 Tallapoosa Street in Montgomery.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:38 am
I remember the date of July 26, 1986 for two reasons. My husband and I got married that day, a lovely ceremony at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens followed by a reception at the civic center hotel downtown. In the room next door to our reception, the Alabama Democratic Party committed suicide. That was where the party’s the executive committee took the nomination away from the person who got the most votes and gave it to the loser. Twenty years later, the party is on the verge of doing the same thing. George Bush and his coterie have forgotten Vietnam, and the Alabama Democratic Party has forgotten Guy Hunt.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:38 am
Kathy,
Is this the RSA tower building or is it a different RSA building?
August 24th, 2006 at 9:10 am
Best I can tell from googling and my limited knowledge of Montgomery, this is a different RSA building. The name on the front of it is Alabama Center for Commerce; it doesn’t say RSA. Hope that helps.
Lisa, you’re so right. We are shooting ourselves in the foot, or maybe the heart, yet again.
August 24th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
Kathy, in your report of the proceedings, I hope you include some description of the crowd that shows.
August 24th, 2006 at 3:35 pm
I am sorry that I did not make it to the meeting as I had planned. The radio interview in Auburn went on longer than I anticipated and it was 1:30 by the time it wrapped up. Keeping my fingers crossed that all went well.
August 24th, 2006 at 4:37 pm
Can you please incude who was on the committee?
August 24th, 2006 at 5:19 pm
Wow, well after 5 p.m., nothing from you, nothing on the wires, nothing on anything that I can tell. Must be quite a hearing…