Quite often, as I’m scrolling through my email inbox or the various messages that come my way on social media, there’s a recurring question from many disillusioned Alabama voters—and that includes, believe it or not, a fair number of conservatives and moderate Republicans who are dissatisfied with the current state of political discourse—who have read my criticism and critiques of Alabama’s various lawmakers.
“But is there a decent candidate?”
To be honest with you, as much as it pains me to say it, there have been times in which I could not answer yes. The Alabama Democratic Party, in recent years, has done a particularly poor job of recruiting and training viable candidates for office. In many races, they have fielded no candidates at all.
At the same time, gerrymandering has all but eliminated the moderate Republican, leaving behind ALGOP candidates who are only interested in a who-loves-Trump-the-mostest contest and addressing fairytale issues, like transgender athletes, that no actual person has ever truly worried about.
All that said, though, this is still a problem created by voters.
The simple fact is Alabama voters have failed over and over to vote for truly quality candidates instead of voting for whichever goober their chosen party trotted out. Voters did it when Democrats controlled the state. They’ve done it for the past 15 years under Republican rule.
And then they all had the nerve to blather on complaining of how terrible politics is, how the lawmakers are out of touch and how nothing good ever gets done. As if those lawmakers in office fell from the sky and the voters played no role.
But they did play a role. They bubbled in the straight-ticket option on the ballot or just blindly picked the candidate from their preferred party without knowing a solitary thing about them.
Let me give you an example of that happening—before it happens.
In the 5th Congressional District, where Republican Dale Strong is currently representing this state in Congress, there is a Democratic challenger. Her name is Candice Duvieilh.
The comparison of the two candidates is humorous. While I’m sure Dale Strong is a nice enough fellow who truly does want to do a good job and serve the area well, if you went into a lab and crafted a candidate to represent the Huntsville area in Congress, you’d come away with Duvieilh.
On this week’s episode of Alabama Politics This Week, she outlined her credentials. Prepare yourself.
“I have 15 years of public sector experience,” Duvieilh said. “I taught in a Title I school district for five years. I taught seventh grade English language arts and special education. I am a policy analyst. I’m a government accounting expert. I have a bachelor’s in public policy. I have a master’s in public administration and nonprofit management, and I have a doctorate in education administration.”
Currently, Duvieilh works for a private company that develops software that audits government spending. Her job is instructing the programmers on how the software should audit various agencies.
Let all of that sink in. And then apply it to Huntsville.
She’s smart. She’s experienced. She has experience in the exact fields that are important to this area. And she understands better than anyone how the money flows and where it goes.
If you doubt that, you could have gone to the sessions she participated in at an independent bookstore (Blue Apple Books) in Madison. At those, she broke down the federal spending bill and helped people understand where all those billions of dollars were going and what was being paid for with them.
In the meantime, there’s Strong, who at the same time was running away from constituents at his own scheduled town halls. In his two years in Congress, he’s managed to get one sponsored bill passed—a bill that consolidated and streamlined the federal court system in north Alabama. He also was able to insert a few beneficial provisions into other legislation, securing money for some infrastructure projects in north Alabama.
But here’s the thing: we need more than that. And we all know it. Set party aside for a minute and be honest.
Huntsville is Alabama’s meal ticket now and for the foreseeable future. It is already the state’s largest city and it’s growing rapidly. With the right management and proper vision for the future, it could legitimately become one of the great cities in the country—a destination spot for young professionals looking for good schools, good jobs and plenty to do.
But that only happens with the right management. It only happens if the people in charge plan accordingly and smartly, if we implement the proper infrastructure to support the growth and there is proper support for the surrounding communities where many people will actually live.
The district’s congressperson is vitally important in that process. Having someone who understands the flow of money—particularly money flowing from the federal government—and the various components of education and has real public policy experience would seem to be the wisest choice.
So, what are you going to do? I have a pretty good idea.
A good chunk of the very people who complain the loudest and longest about the do-nothing government and traffic jams and the lack of housing and the endless apartments and the lack of water service and the non-existent public transportation and the way education is funded are going to step into a voting booth, ignore the candidate qualifications and vote for the party.
And then a few months from now, they’ll be complaining about the lack of quality lawmakers.
