Birmingham Blues

A three-judge panel ruled against Gov. Bob Riley yesterday, saying his appointment of a Jefferson County Commissioner to replace Larry Langford requires Justice Department approval. The panel didn’t remove George Bowman, who was appointed in November, and it gave Riley a February 5 deadline, coinciding with a scheduled special election, either to appeal the decision or to state that he will seek approval for his appointment authority.

This is one big confusing mess. There is a 1977 state law on the books that grants Jefferson County the right to hold special elections to fill Commission vacancies when there is substantial time before the next regularly-scheduled election, which in this case would be 2010. A similar law for Mobile County was declared unconstitutional in 1988, and at that time the legislature gave appointment authority to the Governor, although it has since passed laws allowing special elections in some counties.

In 2005, Riley exercised his appointment power in Mobile County, replacing the newly elected Mobile mayor with perhaps the only black Republican in the area. His decision was overturned as a violation of the Voting Rights Act, and Mobile County held an election in October 2007 to fill the seat. Of course, Riley has appealed the ruling, and the case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. Riley also points out that then-Gov. Don Siegelman appointed a replacement for JeffCo Commissioner Chris McNair when he retired in March 2001. McNair, however, had already served more than half of his four-year term at the time of his retirement, while Langford had more than three years remaining when he was elected mayor of Birmingham.

Everyone got all of that?

The law says JeffCo citizens get a special election if a Commission seat is vacated well before the next scheduled election, but it doesn’t define “well before”. Similar laws have been ruled unconstitutional, but not this one. The Justice Department, not exactly a bastion of concern for voters’ rights under the Bush administration, overruled Riley in the Mobile case, and now a panel of judges has concurred that he needs Justice Department approval of his appointment power. Riley’s spokesperson says there has been no decision regarding an appeal, and the Justice Deparment has approved the February 5 special election, which coincides with the statewide Presidential primaries.

Riley’s appointee Bowman is running, along with political consultant and real estate agent Kamau Afrika, Birmingham City Councilor William Bell, former JeffCo Commissioner Reuben Davis, former JeffCo public information officer Orville Ifill, and former state representative Eric Major. (Bowman, while nominally a Democrat, hasn’t exactly covered himself with glory so far, voting along with the Republicans on the Commission to give $15,000 to the right-wing Eagle Forum while claiming to know nothing about the organization.)

Guess what, folks? This tussle is yet another consequence of our crappy 1901 constitution, which severely limited home rule. Over time, different counties and municipalities with enough political clout have been able to push through legislation that gives them some control, and we have ended up with a patchwork mess where no one is sure who has the right to do what. I don’t know who will ultimately prevail in this dispute, but right now the people of Alabama are losing. At least the voters of Jefferson County have a law to fall back on when they demand the right to choose their own representation. Other counties would be out of luck.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many people are working so hard to reform our Constitution, here’s Exhibit Z-squared of its negative effect on all of us.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.