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St. Clair County Republican Party meets

Thursday, the St. Clair County Republican Party met for their monthly session in Pell City. The group focused on the upcoming Republican primary.

Former St. Clair County District Attorney Van Davis (R) spoke for two candidates that he has endorsed.

“I am here supporting Billy Murray,” for sheriff. “I worked with him during my 18 years as District Attorney. I was asked to speak a few words for a lady I am supporting for Attorney General, Alice Martin. I met her when she was the U.S. Attorney. My perception of her was that she is a tough prosecutor.”

Later, Davis said that he was involved in a public corruption trial in Lee County, “Battling day in and day out with a criminal defense team that was unruly.” Attorney General Luther Strange abstained from the case because his campaign had done business with Craftmasters Printing, which was involved in the case. In the Attorney General’s Office, “We were really having internal problems,” from people in the office who did not want the prosecution to go forward. “When she came in [as Deputy Attorney General], our problems were gone in 30 days. She called me up and said whatever you need in manpower and resources are yours. She is an incredible lady. She is extremely smart and is by far the most qualified person in the Attorney General’s race.”

St. Clair County Board of Education member Bill Morris (R) said, “I have been asked to serve as Governor Ivey’s county campaign coordinator. I would like to introduce the central Alabama Ivey campaign coordinator, George Anderson.”

“I am honored to serve as Governor Ivey’s field representative,” Anderson said. “I came down three
weeks ago from Iowa. When I started out in politics, we did door to door walking from paper lists, that has all been condensed into phone apps. We are using the advantage dialer for phone calling.”

“We are the best supported candidate in the state,” Anderson said. “We have 67 percent support but we can not let off the gas or we will have a runoff. My job is to make sure that that does not happen. We are reaching out to hard Rs. I was a regional field director for the RNC in Iowa. I also worked for the Iowa Republican Party. I come from an evangelical background. Hopefully I can recruit your help to get Governor Ivey back into office.”

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State Senator Jim McClendon, R-Springville, said that the legislature set an all-time record. “We are allowed to meet just 30 legislative days in a session. All the time I have been there, we always barely make it. This last session, we actually met 26 legislative days and saved the taxpayers $100,000. Not every bill got passed but teachers got raises. Income taxes and sales taxes are coming in at all time highs. Our economy in Alabama is a reflection of the economy nationally. We put money into the prison system and are going to add some troopers for the first time in years. We have added some money into mental health, but not nearly enough. We may have a federal judge tell us we have to put in more.”

Sen. McClendon said that under current law, when cities have over 12,000 residents, the mayor goes from being a voting member of the council to a chief executive with a council being a separate legislative branch. Moody is close to that threshold. “We passed a state law giving those cities a choice. They can make that choice until they reach 25,000 residents.”

McClendon said, “I would like to say a word for a candidate in a down ballot race for Agriculture and Industries. Senator Gerald Dial, he has done a lot for St. Clair County. If it had not been for the way the districts were redrawn, I would likely not be your Senator. It would be somebody who lived in some other county and they would not be here. He is a strong friend and ally of mine, and I would love to see him get that position. Agriculture is the biggest industry in Alabama. It is not a very high profile job but a very important job.”

Former St. Clair County Republican Party Chairman Paul Thibado said, “I am here to speak for Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh for lieutenant governor. I have always supported her for everything she has run for. I got to know her when she was state Republican Chairman and she was an excellent chairman. She is going to come to St. Clair County and will spend a couple of days here. I will be calling on help with that.”

Thibado said, “The new ethics law [HB317] is a decay of the legislative process. I would like to recognize Sen. Jim McClendon for voting against it. It was passed and was signed, and it was a decadence to the state. There will be more money paid under the table, and Jim voted against that and that means a lot to me. That is a bad law that got signed by the Governor and that breaks my heart.”

St. Clair County Deputy Freddie Turrentine is chairman of the St. Clair County Party bass tournament. Turrentine reported that the St. Clair County annual bass tournament was a tremendous success and that the party had raised the most they had ever made in the tournament. The party will begin awarding scholarship awards in May.

St. Clair County Republican Party Chairman Lance Bell announced that the next meeting will be at the City Market Grill in Pell City on May 24 at 11:45 a.m.

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Judge Robert Minor announced that Judge Bill Weatington was in the hospital for five or six days but got out of the hospital on Saturday and would be returning to work on Friday, April 27.

Riverside Mayor Rusty Jessup announced that he is running for state House District 30 and asked for the group’s votes.

The major party primaries will be on June 5, 2018.

Brandon Moseley is a former reporter at the Alabama Political Reporter.

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