Two-year college Chancellor and likely Republican gubernatorial candidate Bradley Byrne spoke today at the monthly Chamber of Commerce lunch in Vestavia Hills. He’s a decent speaker, low-key and well-informed. He went through an impressive list of high-tech jobs that are coming to Alabama, and he emphasized the need for a well-educated, highly trained work force.
He didn’t give any specifics as to how that would be accomplished in school systems where the tax base is too low to cover toilet paper for the school restrooms, much less computer labs. But he was, after all, speaking to an affluent crowd, and — to be fair — a community that has been quite willing to pay some of the highest property taxes in the state to fund excellent public schools.
The local politicians were out in force, including Sen. Jabo Waggoner, Reps. Greg Canfield and Paul DeMarco*, JeffCo Commissioner Jim Carns, and District Attorney Brandon Falls. I don’t know if they expected an announcement of Byrne’s intentions, but they didn’t get one, just a terse “I’m considering it.”
Byrne, a business-friendly Republican speaking to a suburban Chamber of Commerce, didn’t come close to drawing the crowd that was present for Artur Davis when he spoke last August. That may not bode well for him in November 2010.
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*Paul, who’s my favorite Republican in the legislature, sat in the back with the troublemakers — i.e., me.