Former Alabama Republican Party Chair Bill Armistead is not pleased with what the super-majority Alabama House and Senate are doing with all that power. Of course that's also part of the reason he is no longer chair, but here are his comments as the legislative session is down to ten meeting days with no agreement on what to do about the huge deficit in the Genera Fund budget:
It’s Time for Alabama Republicans Act to Like Republicans
By
Bill Armistead
It
was my honor to serve as Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party for
the last four years. When talking to Democrats and Independents about
joining the Republican Party. I was always proud to say that Gov.
George Wallace was wrong when he said, “there is not a dimes worth of
difference between the Democrat and the Republican parties.” I took
great pride in explaining how our conservative Republican values were
much different than the liberal Democrat values.
Now, some of our Republican leaders in Montgomery are acting more like Democrats than Republicans.
Republicans
won great victories in November with a promise of no new taxes.
However, soon after the election Gov. Robert Bentley announced he was
going to break his promise and push for new taxes. He has even
threatened to call the legislature back into special session 10 times if
necessary to pass his tax package. He defiantly said that he was
going to get his taxes passed and there was no other option.
Fast
forward to last week. My good friend and former Senate colleague,
Senate President Pro Tem, Del Marsh, announced that he was introducing
legislation that would dramatically expand gambling in Alabama as an
alternative to raising taxes. All forms of gambling have been put on
the table: A lottery, Vegas-style casinos for Alabama’s dog tracks and
the Poarch Creek Indian Reservations.
What has happened to our conservative Republican leadership in Alabama?
Passing
new taxes and expanding gambling is not the answer to Alabama’s
problems. New taxes will be passed on to hard working Alabamians and an
expansion of gambling causes the poor to get poorer while the gambling
tycoons getting richer and richer.
It
appears that some in Montgomery have taken a page out of the play book
of President Obama’s former Chief of Staff and now Mayor of Chicago,
Rahm Emanuel who once said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” The
budget deficit is our “crisis” and the tax and spend, pro-gambling
liberal Democrats are jubilant that two of the states top Republican
leaders have come over to their side on these issues.
The
Democrats are gleefully saying that Republicans have finally adopted
their agenda: increasing taxes and expanding gambling! Politicians
talk about taking care of those in need but adding taxes and expanding
gambling is the worst thing they could do for those who are having a
tough time making ends meet.
Conservative
Republican leaders in other states are balancing their budgets without
tax increases or expanding gambling. Most are actually giving their
citizens tax cuts. No one seems to want to make the hard choices in
downsizing government. They have told us that they have right-sized
government but their job is not finished. I’ve served in the executive
branch and legislative branch of government and I know that we can do
this. It takes creativity and determination to get the job done.
During
my eight years in the Alabama Senate there was not a day that we didn’t
have a dark cloud hanging over us threatening an expansion of
gambling. Even though we were very much in the minority, I am proud to
say that we Republicans stood together and fought gambling every time it
popped its ugly head up. The gambling lobby must be thrilled that the
one-time solid Republican opposition to gambling is now actually
proposing an expansion of gambling.
Before
the legislature rushes to get this windfall of gambling income they
need to calculate the cost of expanding gambling in Alabama. Costs such
as lost productivity on the job. Increased unemployment. Personal
bankruptcies. Suicides. Increased crime. Incarceration. And, social
services treating gambling addiction. Georgia
State University has estimated that the total cost of pathological and
problem gamblers in the United States is over $5 billion each year.
Government
sponsored gambling is dishonest, financially damaging to citizens and
is a major contributor to the unfairness and inequality in American
life. It’s a policy experiment that has failed. It has failed because
it is proven itself to be blatantly dishonest and it has failed to
generate genuine economic growth. Predatory gambling is a
something-for-nothing scheme that veils the most cut-throat business in
the country. It milks existing wealth instead of creating new wealth
because it is a business based on people losing money.
Republican
leaders in Montgomery should back away from expanded gambling and tax
increases. A better idea would be to reform the budget making process
beginning with the consolidation of the General Fund and the Education
budgets. There is no good reason to operate with two separate budgets.
Another budget reform measure would be to eliminate the large amount of
funds earmarked for specific items in the budget. Alabama earmarks 88%
of all the funds in the budget, leaving only 12 % for legislators to
work with. Alabama’s earmarks are the highest in the country with the
average being 25%. Making these changes would give legislators more
ability to prioritize spending.
The
governor and our conservative Republican leaders in Montgomery need to
put together a sustainable plan for state government to live within its
means, instead of increasing taxes and expanding gambling. Spending
time exploring an expansion of casino gaming in the state is penny wise
and pound foolish. Our leaders need to stop gambling on the fiscal
health of the state and come up with sustainable ways to balance the
budget. It’s not an easy task but they asked for the job and now we
expect them to do the job we sent them there to do. And, I believe they
will.
(Bill Armistead is the immediate past chairman of the Alabama Republican Party and former State Senator)
Bill Armistead
Former State Chairman (2011-2015)
Alabama Republican Party
Taxes and gambling are separate issues. I consider the 10 percent Alabama sales tax on everything, especially groceries, to be highly immoral.
ReplyDeleteEssays like this just make me happier to live in Maryland now.