By Editor Bob Terry
On Feb. 5, elected leaders from across Alabama will gather in Montgomery to begin the annual session of the Alabama Legislature. What will happen, no one knows.
Since those chosen for leadership positions last year continue in place, the opening days will not be marked by battles for office. However, it is unclear if the Alabama Senate will continue to be mired down in disagreements over procedural rules. Those disagreements effectively closed down the Senate last year. Only a few items considered vital to the general welfare and economic development of the state made it through the legislative process.
For the most part, the men and women who make up the Legislature are good people. Most are church-going people. At least 65 legislators are members of Baptist churches. Alabama should have a strong moral and ethically based state Legislature. The Legislature should be transparent and marked by all the signs of good government.
Unfortunately that is not the case. Poll after poll shows a general distrust of the Legislature. Although there is general agreement on the need for ethics reforms in government, nothing happens. Conflict of interest situations make statewide headlines. Public officials end up in jail. State government performance is rated near the bottom when compared to other states.
Even good people find it difficult to work in an environment like the one that has grown up around the Legislature over the past 100-plus years. No other state has such a paternalistic approach to government as Alabama. Practically nothing can be done by the state’s cities and counties without asking, “May I?,” of the state Legislature. The idea of self-government is voided by the necessity of gaining permission from the Great Father in Montgomery — the Alabama Legislature — even for local matters.
The power concentrated in the Legislature has a corrupting nature, and the results are seen in the low esteem with which Alabamians regard the state Legislature. While polls indicate that a majority of Alabamians distrusts the Legislature, those same polls indicate that most Alabamians like their own state representative or state senator.
One reason is that the Legislature as a whole is an abstraction to most of us. We do not know it or see it in action. But we do know our state representative or state senator. We are in civic clubs with him or her, work with him or her in the chamber of commerce, go to church with him or her, do business with him or her.
If we want to talk to our legislators, we can. They are our neighbors. They listen to us. We like them.
That personal relationship between elected legislator and local constituents is the hope for the upcoming legislative session and the hope for good government in Alabama.
During an associational meeting in October, someone chided Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), about the gambling and alcohol bills approved by House of Representative committees in 2007. Ireland responded, “Those are the guys you send us. If you want the situation changed, go talk to them.”
ALCAP does a great job monitoring bills of concern to Alabama Baptists and other evangelical Christians.
Over the years, Ireland has become one of the most influential figures in Montgomery. But he is the first to acknowledge that a visit or telephone call from a concerned citizen in a representative’s or senator’s home district has more impact than he can have alone.
As a convention, Alabama Baptists are concerned about our state Legislature and the men and women serving there. On Feb. 6, the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) is sponsoring its Annual Legislative Prayer Luncheon. Elected officials from every branch of state government will be present. Throughout the year, the SBOM’s office of Christian ethics, led by Joe Bob Mizzell, makes information available to Alabama Baptists about bills of interests before the state Legislature.
All of this is to encourage Alabama Baptists to be involved in the legislative process by getting to know their elected officials, by praying for them and by letting officials know of one’s positions on various issues.
For months, Ireland has been telling everyone who will listen that 2008 will bring another major effort to expand legalized gambling in Alabama. The most effective way to stop it is to let your elected officials know that you oppose any more expansion of legalized gambling in the state.
The men and women elected to the Legislature need your prayers and support as they wrestle with major decisions each day. They also need your guidance and encouragement.
Your contacts help them act in ways that overcome the suspicion and distrust abroad in our state. Your encouragement helps them reflect the strong ethical and moral foundation of our state. Your watch care helps them act in ways that benefit the general welfare of Alabama and not the personal gain of a private interest.
If you do not encourage your state legislators, who will help them stand against the interests of private gain and public evil?
Mark the date on your calendar — Feb. 5. Be sure you pray for the Alabama Legislature that day and every day the Legislature is in session. And before that date, contact your state representative and state senator to encourage them as they execute the public trust placed in them by the voters of their district.
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