PARCA Annual Meeting

Just back from attending the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) annual meeting in Birmingham, courtesy of the nice folks at the Birmingham financial consulting company Waters and Company. They had an empty seat at their table and invited me to come up and use it! Saw lots of folks I know, and lots of folks who I had never met in person but who knew me from TV. Public Service Commissioner Susan Parker, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce Executive VP Barry Copeland, Former State Representative Bill Fuller, Public Health's Dr. Don Williamson, Alan Collins with FOX-6 and Bob Davis with The Anniston Star...to name a few from the first category. I was pleased to meet the President of Samford University, Andrew Westmoreland, and Lynne Berry of Berry Millsaps Properties in Huntsville (and others as well!). I arrived in time for sit in on a panel discussion titled "Stewardship of Public Resources in a Stormy Season". All of the panelists were interesting, but I noted the divergent views of the Department of Public Safety's Colonel Chris Murphy [far left in the photo] and Jefferson County Family Court Presiding Judge Brian Huff [Second from the right]. The Colonel boasted of the marijuana seizures his department has made, while Judge Huff, a Republican, by the way, talked about finding alternatives to jail for simple pot possession. Apparently Mayor Langford has been on a rant about kids wearing baggy pants in school and he wants to increase the number of officers patrolling the school hallways. Judge Huff offered that jail cells aren't the place for baggy pants offenders. (You'll recall that Langford himself was indicted in December on charges of taking bribes when he was a Jefferson County Commissioner.) His Honor was not in the audience at PARCA, but Governor Riley was. He spoke about ethics at lunch (to much applause), and announced that the "state's checkbook" will be online starting next month. He also said starting in October you'll be able to search that online listing to see who's getting money from where. Riley signed an executive order to that effect today. He also reiterated his displeasure with the 'Buy American" aspects of the Federal stimulus program because it will hurt the "foreign" companies that have located in Alabama. And he's pushing for legislation to give the Ethics Commission subpoena power. I know the Commission's Jim Sumner has been pushing for that for years, so it's good to see the Guv on board. Now all we have to do in convince the legislators who might be the target of those subpoenas to agree.